Finally, I managed to tear the web around where it was caught. The sticky strands were still all over its wings but I was afraid to try and get those off for fear of tearing the delicate, gossamer structures.
“Almost free,” I told the flying seahorse, who had at last stopped chiming in that leaning-on-the-doorbell way. “Almost out of there, little buddy.”
But the seahorse chimed again and I saw its dark, intelligent eyes roll upward.
Looking where its gaze was directed, I saw a large, black shape in the crook of two branches just above my head.
It was the spider—getting ready to pounce.
It hissed menacingly, baring fangs as long as my finger. Holy crap! My stomach did a slow forward roll—I did not want that thing on me!
Guess I didn’t hit him hard enough, I thought numbly. At that moment, the last strand of web tore free. I cupped the little flying seahorse in my arms, turned, and ran as fast as I could, just as the spider pounced.
I felt its hairy legs scrabbling at my back but I shrieked and reached behind me with my free hand—the one not holding the seahorse—to beat at it. It fell off but a quick glance back showed that it was scuttling right at my heels, its mandible-like fangs snapping angrily. Clearly it thought I was stealing its prey and it wasn’t about to let me get away with it.
“Help!” I shouted, my breath tearing in my throat as I ran as hard as I could through the tall grass. “Help!”
Suddenly Ari was there, his eyes burning gold with protective rage.
“Kaitlyn?” he asked, making my name a question.
“After…me,” I panted. “Giant…spider.”
He seemed to understand the situation at once. His eyes narrowed when he saw the thing chasing me. Just as he had in the Dining Hall back at Nocturne Academy, he opened his mouth and a gout of flame shot out.
The spider was at once engulfed in fire. It made a hissing, shrieking sound like a tea-kettle gone crazy and danced madly in a circle for a minute before flopping over on its back with its legs curled into a shriveled mass above it.
After that, it twitched once or twice and was still. The unspeakable smell of roasting hair and flesh rose from it, making me gag and I moved quickly away.
Sinking back down on the bed of leaves where we had slept that night, I realized I was still holding the shivering little flying seahorse protectively close to my chest.
“Hey, little guy,” I whispered, daring to stroke the top of his head with a single finger. “Hey, it’s okay now. He’s gone—it’s all right.”
“Are you all right?” Ari came up to me, a look of concern on his face. “I thought you were just going to wash your face. How in the world did you get mixed up with a hisser?”
“Is that what you call it?” I gave a shaky laugh that came out sounding kind of croaky. “It looked like a giant spider to me.”
“Actually, that was normal-sized for us,” he told me. Everything is bigger in the Sky Lands. Things are simply…built on a larger scale here.”
“Really?” I looked at him, wide-eyed. “Remind me to stay away from the really big spiders like tarantulas, then.” I shivered.
“Well, what were you doing near it in the first place?” he asked, frowning. “Hissers can be dangerous if they bite you—they have a really potent venom in their fangs.”
I thought of the finger-long fangs of the now-shriveled spider and felt sick when I remembered the way it had jumped on my back. If I hadn’t brushed it off and Ari hadn’t burned it to a crisp, I had no doubt it would have bitten me to pay me back for robbing it of its prey.
“I was trying to rescue this little guy,” I said, opening my cupped palms to show the tiny jeweled seahorse. It still had some sticky strands of web on its wings and it was biting at them ineffectually with its sharp little teeth.
Ari’s eyes grew wide.
“A chimeling!” he breathed. “And one with golden wings at that. Dios, Kaitlyn, do you know how rare those are?”
“Well, since we don’t have any at all in my world, no I don’t,” I said distractedly. I was trying to peel the sticky web strands off the little creature’s wings without hurting them. At first he seemed angry and chimed at me in his doorbell voice. He even breathed a tiny tongue of fire and I had to snatch my fingers back quickly to avoid being burned.
Strangely, his fire didn’t bother me. Maybe because it was so small or maybe because I could tell he was in trouble and I was so intent on helping him, I couldn’t spare any time to be afraid.
“Look, Mr. Seahorse,” I said sternly, looking into his bright, ink-spot eyes. “I’m just trying to help you. As soon as I get the webs off your wings, I’ll let you go. I promise.”