Chapter Four

The Spider’s Burrow

A few hours later, Charlotte's eyes fluttered open to meet the white walls of her own bedroom staring blankly back at her. She had been tucked snugly under her bed sheets. Her white curtains flailed around violently in the storm now invading the open window. She jumped from her bed and forced the pane closed against the wind gusts. She glanced at the cuckoo clock hung on her wall. It had already turned ten. How could she have slept so long?

She frantically scanned the room for her shoes, which had been parked neatly by one corner of her bed. Her heart sank when she figured out she had in fact not dreamt what she thought she had after all. She really had mustered up the guts to go into his bedroom. She was in a lot of trouble. Charlotte slipped on her flats and hurried out the door.

She stood very still at the top of the stairs, hands clasped under her chin, listening. She didn’t hear anything and wondered if Valek was even home at all. Did he have a patient? She wondered how angry he was with her. He must be angry. Slowly, she began to descend the stairs, her hand sliding along the polished banister.

“Charlotte?” Valek’s voice lingered threateningly from the library threshold.

She froze on the third to last step, her skin bristling.

“Can I see you in here, please?” His tone struck her like warm poison.

She made her way to the library door; stopping short when she saw him perched on the arm of the garnet-colored armchair. The fireplace crackled in front of him and made threatening ember reflections in his crystalline eyes. She swallowed thickly when Valek stood.

“S-sorry. I know I woke up late. I’m leaving now.” She spun on her heel.

“I think you know that is not what I wanted to speak with you about.” His words halted her once more.

Biting her lower lip a little too hard, Charlotte turned slowly back around. She should have prepared a bit more for this. After all, she had broken the most important rule.

“What is this?” He pulled out the small glass jar, which had once held the glittering lightning bug. Charlotte saw the little fly had become nothing but a brown carcass crumpled at the bottom of the glass.

“It m-must have died.” She winced, her fingers winding in knots behind her back. “I caught it for you because I thought you might like it. Like a little piece of the sun.” Valek sighed and firmly placed the jar on the wooden end table by his chair. The sound of the glass bottom slamming against the wood made Charlotte jump.

“You are not allowed in my bedroom. You know that, Charlotte.”

Her heart sank when he used her full name, instead of the much more endearing term, “Lottie,” he normally liked to call her. He only did that when she was in a lot of trouble.

“I don’t know what made me do it,” she said quietly.

“Charlotte.” He approached her. “I make these rules for a reason. I am only trying to protect you.”

He stopped inches from her, his shoulders back, his stance broad and erect. Blood burned in Charlotte’s cheeks, yet she looked him in the eye in spite of it.

“Why do you have to be alone? Why do you have to do that to yourself?” She fought back tears.

“Because, Charlotte.” His glare pierced her. “It doesn’t bother me anymore. Can’t you see I am trying to protect you?”

“Protect me from what? You?” Her frustration built. “No one should have to die alone!”

“I will not subject you to that!” he bellowed.

Charlotte quaked in his shadow, frightened. He had never yelled at her before. She stared angrily down at the tears splashing on the floor in front of her feet.

“And why did you leave the Occult borders today? I told you, it is dangerous! If you got into trouble, I couldn’t do anything to help you!"

She looked up at him, surprised. “How did you know I left? Will you get out of my head, please? ” The taste of salty tears flooded the back of her throat. “Besides, you make me cross those borders every single night to do what you are unable to do so you won’t kill me!” She jabbed a finger at him. “I don’t see how the amount of danger you put me in is any less significant!”

Valek shuddered.

Charlotte hadn’t realized just how far she had gone until then. She could have said anything to him. She could have called him any name in any number of languages, and it would have never hurt him as much as what she had just said.

“If you regret living here so much, then I grant you your freedom. Just say the word,” he said quietly, sadly.

Charlotte’s mouth fell open. The emotions rolled from her like tidal waves. “You should have just left me in the gutters the night you found me. Did it ever cross your mind that maybe my real parents put me there for a reason?” She bit her lip harder than she had before, regretting everything spewing from her, but she couldn’t control it. He opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. His brows furrowed.

“That was an utterly selfish thing to say.” His voice cracked when he looked her in the eyes. “You are only allowed to leave the Occult when it is unquestionably necessary. You leaving for me is a safety precaution, because I want you here, Charlotte. That is true! ”

“But I have been leaving the Occult every single night for the last ten years.” Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.

“Not anymore.”

“But what about you? What are you going to do?”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“But Valek—”

“And another thing—you are never, never allowed to be in the woods alone!” He pulled his pipe from his breast pocket and lit it.

“But Aiden was with me!” She continued to argue.

“And he did nothing to protect you.” He put the end of it to his lips.

Charlotte’s mouth filled with acid. “Yes, he did! He stopped my bleeding so I wouldn’t be in any danger walking back into this house!” Her hands flew up to cover her mouth.

Valek closed his eyes and calmly blew a perfect smoke ring into the air. He turned his back to her and walked steadily toward the fire. “Do what you want, then. If that’s how you really feel, Charlotte.”

Her arms dropped slowly back to her sides. Of course that wasn’t how she really felt. The honest truth was she had been sketching his face in her drawing book for months. The honest truth was she had snuck into his bedroom because she couldn’t tear him from her mind, because if she were being upfront with herself, he was the one thing in life she treasured more than anything she’d ever possessed. But she quickly shoved those sick thoughts back to the deepest depths of her mind. He could not ever know how she felt. Sadly, she turned and started to leave, hiding her own pained expression.

“Take your whistle,” he whispered.

Grinding her teeth together, she clasped her trembling hand around the small, tarnished thing on the end table beside the door. She placed it around her neck again.

***

Valek listened to her footsteps make their way out into the windy night. He heard the front door open, and then shut with a finalizing thud. He peered out of the large, dusty library window at the small girl pushing through the frigid wind, her arms wound tightly around herself. The wind blew the hem of her dress up around her knees. He thought about running after her, but he knew he ought to just leave her alone. He had never felt the need to yell at Charlotte before, but there was just something about her getting too close to him scared him.

She was like a small, pomegranate seed he held in his hand. If he squeezed too hard, it would burst and the red would spill over and stain his fingertips. She would be so very easy to destroy, and yet she seemed so quick to destroy him. He couldn't deny his instincts. He never told her how he still struggled sometimes. If she walked past and the wind rushed the scent of her mortality to him, he had to force himself to fight that one awful thought.

He knew she didn’t really mean what she said, and he knew she felt sorry the instant she’d said it. Guilt grasped a tight hold of him as he watched her walk alone in to the freezing darkness and fought the urge once more to run after her. But the Regime had just begun to keep a close eye out for Occult people crossing the borders. He had to be home anyway, just in case a patient decided to walk in.

Valek somberly made his way back to his office to take care of some paperwork. Sounds of the house’s foundation settling filled the space Charlotte left vacant. He hated the empty feeling. Even silence seemed too loud when she was gone. He sat at his desk, sighing, and pulled messy patient files from the drawer. He started putting them in some sort of order that made sense to him. It was merely busy work. He actually didn’t need to keep files at all with his photographic memory. He glanced at the desk schedule in front of him. No scheduled appointments tonight. He sighed. No scheduled appointments for the last several months. It seemed nobody wanted to pay a visit to the Vampire doctor.

Maybe he should go after her.

There was a knock at the front door then. He stopped. Curious. Patients always came in through the office door in the back. If it even was a patient. Who could be visiting now? He looked at the carved owl clock on the wall. It was a little after midnight. Charlotte couldn’t be back so soon. That was when he remembered what she mentioned to him last night. Evangeline.

He quickly shoved his papers back into the bottom drawer, and inhumanly sped to the front of the house, taking him about half a second to get from one end to the other. He adjusted his corduroy vest and opened the front door to find the sultry Witch standing before him in a curve-hugging, black dress that only came down to the middle of her thigh.

“Good evening, Evangeline. What can I do for you?” he asked, maintaining his gentleman-like qualities. He did not allow his eyes to stray any lower than her face.

She scoured the house behind him, no doubt looking for Charlotte. Her wine-colored mouth twisted into a wicked smile and she walked in, letting the door slam shut behind her.

***

The harsh wind whipped Charlotte’s matted hair around her face, blinding her as she pushed through it. She was so stupid. She could get rid of some of her pride to go back and at least grab her sweater. The night air was freezing. Her teeth chattered as she hugged her arms tightly around herself. The leaves flew easily from the trees to the wet ground. She saw almost every pair of tavern doors bolted shut, and even the most restless night creatures had turned in for the evening. Nothing was dumb enough to be out in weather like this.

She grimaced as she continued to play their argument over in her mind. He was just as prideful as she was, if not more. Maybe she really would have gotten to live a normal life if he had just left her where he’d found her almost eighteen years ago. Maybe, if he had just gone on about his magical, otherworldly business, someone from her own race would have rescued her instead. Someone normal. Someone safe. Someone who would have turned out to be a lot less confusing, because they would have aged just as she did. Someone she would—no matter what—think of as nothing more than a parent.

Charlotte blinked back the image of Valek’s devastatingly beautiful face behind her sour tears. Crossing her arms over her chest, she dug her nails into her arm, trying to distract from that which was causing her internal pain.

She rooted around in her satchel to see if there was anything left of the traveling potion Evangeline had given her. To her dismay, she pulled out two empty glass bottles. She couldn’t run away now, even if she really wanted to. And she didn’t really want to. As much as Charlotte didn’t want to admit it, she could never leave Valek. But having those spells would have made hunting for him easier at least. Now, she just had to be lucky enough to find someone on the country road. A farmer, perhaps. Though, she knew stumbling across another human wouldn’t be likely on a night like this.

Thunder thrashed somewhere very close by, causing her to leap out of her skin. She decided if it started to rain heavily again, she would turn around and go back. Valek would just have to stay thirsty for one night. She held her arms up to shield herself against the heavy wind as she continued to push through. Maybe she shouldn't even wait for the rain. Maybe she should just turn back now.

“Do you need a lift somewhere, love?”

Charlotte looked up to see an enormous man with four long arms and four long legs walking easily beside her. Clearly the storm was of no worry to him—a Phaser that was only half-changed into his animal form. How unfortunate it must be to turn into a giant spider.

“No, thank you!” she yelled over the wind. No matter how kindly the old man’s face seemed, she was never to speak to strangers under any circumstance. Occult creatures were very dangerous more often than not.

The half-spider looked up at the threatening sky, the cavernous lines in his human-like forehead wrinkling.

“Seems like a bad time to be out here on your own. Where are you off to, little girl?” He ruffled his bushy mustache.

“I live with the Vampire, Valek Ruzik,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m out hunting for him.” She hoped mentioning Valek’s name would be enough to scare the spider off. For some reason, a rather negative stigma had been attached to Vampires recently. Valek hadn’t seen a drop of business in months, aside from Evangeline’s run-in with the Lycan. Charlotte thought again of Mrs. Price’s ignorant words.

The man’s face shifted into an even kinder smile upon recognizing the name as he continued to follow her.

“Ah, yes. Valek! Do send him my regards, will you? It’s been ages since my operation,” the man recalled. “But a girl like you shouldn’t be out here in this kind of weather. There are other things, besides me, that like to stalk in weather like this. They’re just waitin’ for something delicious like you. Why, you don’t even have a sweater,” he observed.

Charlotte stopped again and frowned up at him. It was hard to see through the heavy gusts. “I have to go for him! He can’t go on his own! It’s against the Regime law!” she called over the wind.

The man with the eight appendages thought for a moment. “Those awful Wizards. I have no idea how they’re able to keep the power over some er’ these other Occult people. Especially Vampires. Vampires are very powerful, too, ya know,” he mused. “Why, they’re just a bunch of wisecrackin’ old Elves is all those Wizards are.” His mustache ruffled again.

Charlotte blinked up at him. She hadn’t really thought about that before. What kind of creatures were the Wizards exactly? “Are they really Elves?”

“Yes’um.” He grumbled. “Wisecrackin’ ones. Thinkin’ they're so great just ‘cause they’re all so book smart.”

Charlotte had to chuckle.

“Anyway, I think maybe you should be gettin’ home. There are Lycans and Fairies about in weather like this. Why, you could catch a serious cold, too.” He adjusted the aviator’s goggles on the bridge of his nose.

“What are you doing out here, then?” Charlotte asked, amused now.

“Where there are Fairies about, there are arachnids about.” He winked at her.

That made sense. He was a spider. Spiders eat flies. Well, technically the Fae weren’t flies but they were close enough, she decided. She cringed and grimaced as she pictured the strange man chomping down on one.

“A delicacy!” He licked his chops.

Thunder sounded over them again and a single drop of rain splattered on her nose and then another on her cheek.

“Come!” the man said, gesturing to himself. “Hop on. If you don’t want to go home now, I’ll get ya somewhere safe at least. Maybe not dry, but safe.”

“How do I know you won’t eat me?” Charlotte crossed her arms, half-joking.

He put his two front hands on his hips. “You don’t look like a Fairy to me!” He chuckled.

She laughed, too.

“Besides, I don't have a taste for humans. Too mealy.”

The ground disappeared beneath Charlotte’s feet as one of his large hands grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her onto his back. She marveled at how high up she was. His limbs seemed to be twice the size of his body.

“Ready?” He beamed at her through one, goggled, red eye.

She sucked in a breath of the balmy air through her nose. “Ready.” She gulped and gripped both hands around the scarlet material of his scarf.

They were off. She crouched, keeping her head low, grasping even tighter to him. He moved like lightning through the alleyways of the town, up on the rooftops and down over the cobblestone streets. She shut her eyes against the tunnel of cold rain and the fear of being thrown off.

He was much faster than Aiden’s horse, and a lot scarier. She hardly recognized the city that should have been too familiar to her as it flew by. Everything was a dark, gray blur, once in a while illuminated by the glow of a passing streetlight. She could hardly tell what direction they were going in, but there was something about this Phaser she truly trusted. She kept her face hidden in his back until she felt the large spider lurch to a stop.

“Here we are,” he said confidently. One of his enormously long arms helped her onto the ground. She felt slightly disoriented, but she smiled politely at him and nodded once.

She looked to see that they weren’t in front of her house, but rather just beyond her house, at the start of the dense forest. She could see the top of the mansion behind the trees. All of the lights were on inside, making her little castle glow. It looked so welcoming in comparison to the stormy witching hour.

However, in front of her was a rather large, dirt mound like that of a giant anthill—a very dark hole as the entrance to this strange abode.

“Okay, well…thank you for the ride. But I’ll be going back to my house now.” Charlotte glowered.

He chuckled down at her. “Not a problem, Charlotte. You did well. I thought you might’ve passed out.” He adjusted his goggles again.

Her mouth fell open. “You know my name?”

“Once you told me that you belonged to Valek, I knew exactly who you were.” He smiled, his wiry, frosted mustache bristling. “I’ve heard so much about you over the years. It is a pleasure to actually meet a human girl!” He extended a human hand toward his borough. “You’re welcome to come in for some tea. I make it myself!” he said proudly, his thumbs resting in his vest.

Charlotte looked again at the dark hole in the forest floor, squinting at it, and then back at the face of the Phaser. She turned once, glancing back at her house, and decided Valek probably wasn’t missing her right now, anyway. Why should she be in such a hurry to return to him? “Sure.” She smiled politely. “Thanks again, Mr.—”

“Třínožka,” he informed her, and grabbed her by the hand as they disappeared down the dark tunnel.

Her eyes didn’t adjust well to the blackness of the dirt-packed entrance. Her free hand felt around at the walls so she could guide herself more easily, even though Mr. Třínožka was doing most of the guiding for her. Her fingertips trailed across the winding tree roots and rocks hiding in the topsoil, until finally her eyes were met with a faint, warm light behind a set of patterned curtains.

When the spider pushed through, Charlotte emerged into a rather large burrow he had dug for his home under the forest. Multiples of trinkets, oddities, and collectables lined the walls, stacked next to crude, pillowy sacks that she guessed the spider used for couches.

Another Phaser was playing music from one corner of the burrow. A caterpillar type just as large as Mr. Třínožka, sat folded over a small bench before an old, upright piano. He did not seem to notice the pair had entered behind him as he continued to play.

“That sounds beautiful,” Charlotte said softly.

“That’s just Horris. He’s completely deaf.” Mr. Třínožka began removing his scarf and his knit gloves with the fingers cut out. He laid them on one of the couches.

“He’s deaf?” Charlotte blanched. “How can he play?”

“Charlotte, trust me, it is not a hindrance.” The spider leaned in close to her. “You do not need your ears in order to hear that which you wish to create.” He winked before scurrying off to a different part of the burrow. He called out to her, “Please, have a seat! I am expecting other company and tea will be on shortly!”

Charlotte did as he said, finding one of the large, fluffy sacks and plopping in the center of it. She struggled to keep herself upright, though the softness of it swallowed her, her knees folding up to her stomach.

“I really like your home!” she said so that he could hear her from the other room.

“Thank you.” The Phaser reappeared with a bronze teakettle in one hand and two ceramic jugs in the others. “Earl Grey or chamomile?”

“Earl Grey, please.” She smiled, continuing to try and find her balance in the chair.

His mustache bristled again as he disappeared once more.

“Where do you find all of these things?” Charlotte asked, her eyes scanning the various pieces. There were clock gears, and only halves of sets of human pairs of shoes. There were dented pots and pans, many books, cuckoo clocks, lamps, hunks of un-polished scrap metal, stuffed animals, sculptures, photographs, silverware, snow globes, and about a million other things that decorated the spider’s home.

“I’m a junk collector. I collect junk.” Mr. Třínožka reappeared again with four cups of tea in each of his hands. “Like Horris.”

Charlotte laughed.

He gave one cup to Charlotte, set one down on a small, crooked coffee table, and placed one on the piano in front of Horris before sitting down in one of the couches. “It’s what I do. One spider’s trash is another spider’s treasure,” he said, sipping at his tea. “You wouldn’t believe the things I discover.”

“Thank you,” Charlotte heard Horris grumble under his music.

Charlotte took a sip, too, the hot steam bringing warmth back to her cheeks. She smiled when she tasted the milk and honey, exactly how she liked it. She sipped at it again. “So, who’s the other company you’re expecting?”

As if on cue, a familiar burlap figure came rolling down the tunnel, landing on his backside facing Charlotte and the spider, reeling from dizziness.

“Ah, Edwin! Just in time!” Mr. Třínožka said, one of his arms stretching out to hand him his cup of tea.

Edwin took it, eyes still spinning. “Thanks. Hi, Charlotte.”

“Edwin!” She giggled. “You sure know how to make an entrance.”

Edwin grumbled something incoherent and sipped at his tea.

The evening went on like that for just a while longer and the three talked and laughed while Horris continued to play the piano, seemingly oblivious to the goings-on behind him. Mr. Třínožka told stories of how he obtained some of his more interesting pieces before Charlotte finally stood up, stretching out her arms and legs.

“I better get going. Mr. Třínožka, thank you so much for your hospitality.”

“Any time, my dear. Don’t be a stranger! Say hello to Valek, and tell him not be so careless with a lovely little girl like yourself.”

Charlotte smiled once to Edwin, patting him on the head, before turning and exiting out the long tunnel from whence she came.

The wind had finally died down and the walk back to the steps of her home was quick. She could hear laughter coming from inside. That was when she remembered. Evangeline.

Charlotte burst through the front door, expecting to see the two of them just on the other side. The room was lit, but empty. She looked to see slight shadows moving from inside the library. Her stomach twisted with a feeling she didn’t recognize. She crept over to the library door, hearing Evangeline’s unmistakable, musical laughter. It made Charlotte’s cheeks burn.

Slowly peering around the threshold, the thing she saw next made something hard and icy shatter deep within her chest. Evangeline’s long, sleek body leaned over Valek, who sat in his armchair, tie undone, shirt slightly unbuttoned at the top. Her lips moved slickly across his neck and up to his mouth, and the worst part was…he kissed her back.

Charlotte froze in the doorway, wanting to run out again into the storm. But her legs seemed to be nothing but bricks of lead. A feeling twisted in her gut, like shards of serrated glass, as the onset of salty tears stung the bridge of her nose. She hadn’t realized her satchel had dropped to the floor, shattering the empty spell bottles inside.

Evangeline jumped at the sound and looked to see Charlotte standing there in the doorway.