Chapter 27
The cat-sized spider, after basking on Taylor’s power returned to his normal routine, which in this case was hunting for food. Worse yet was when the spider decided Taylor and Luna were perfectly acceptable meals. He scurried on the canopy above, out of sight and making no noise whatsoever. If it wasn’t for her power, Taylor would have no idea he was there.
Last time she’d been here, her presence had been masked by the bugs and the spiders just wanted to know what that new interesting thing was. Now, her power seemed a far away concern on the spider’s mind, with potential prey taking most of his attention.
Then the spider tried to tug on his silk-line, probably to send a message to other spiders in the nest.
“Oh,” Taylor whispered.
She clamped down hard on that, taking hold of the spider and preventing him from doing anything. The critter tried to flee, his mind scampering and frantic, but no matter how much he rebelled, an ant was still an ant.
That put a huge crimp on her plans. For some reason, Taylor had assumed the spiders were friendly. They certainly seemed friendly with Hagrid, but now, they were treating both Luna and her as food.
“What is it?” Luna asked.
Taylor glanced at Luna, unsure of what to do. She could pretend nothing had happened, then control all the spiders to behave as friendly as she thought they were. She could cancel their plans and go back to the castle without lying to Luna or endangering her friend or her secret. Or she could just tell the truth, and just gloss over the secret part. Luna knew most of it already, and hopefully wouldn’t ask questions.
“I don’t think the spiders like people,” she said. “The one above us thinks we are food and is trying to call other spiders.”
Luna looked up, squinting at the dark canopy. “Should we go back?”
Taylor shrugged, uncomfortable. “I can promise we won’t be in any danger from the spiders, but I don’t know if Aragog will talk to us either.”
Luna peered at Taylor’s eyes, then nodded. “Let’s go meet him.”
Taylor released the spider, nudging him to leave them alone. She didn’t want to control any of them, but she also wasn’t going to let them put Luna in danger.
The spider fled as soon as he was free, his mind in full-blown panic.
Before they continued, Taylor turned to Luna and made sure she was mostly covered by her clothing. Rebel strands of hair were hidden, and the hood of her robes lowered to keep her face out of sight.
“Don’t give them your name,” she said.
Luna nodded.
Deeper into the forest, Taylor noticed how desolate the area around the nest was. She couldn’t find any living animals, there was spider silk strung everywhere, even bugs that weren’t spiders had deserted the place. Any flyer she used to scout ahead had to be brought in against their instincts, and she had to manually fly them around the webs or lose them altogether.
Spiders abounded in the area. It wasn’t just the giant spiders. There were so many new types of spiders that Taylor would need a book to list them all. They scurried on the ground around them like a living, leggy, hairy carpet.
“Why are you sad?” Luna asked, touching Taylor’s face.
Taylor touched her own face, noticing the cold wetness near her eyes. She’d been hoping the spiders, being sentient creatures, would become new friends. Learning they were consummate predators was a painful truth.
She sighed, kicking at nearby leaves. “I thought they’d be friendly.”
“Maybe it was just that one?”
It wasn’t just that one.
Deeper into the nest they went, and more and more spiders caught their trail, and more and more surrounded them. The spiders chittered and skittered, clicking and talking and plotting their capture. With each attempt, Taylor gently nudged them away, creating a wave of panic clicking and scampering.
It was like Taylor could hear their thoughts regarding them as food. She certainly could hear their words.
“Men?” “Food?” “What?” “It’s in my head!” “Aragog!” “Aragog!”
They couldn’t move very quickly now; there were tree roots and stumps blocking most of the way. After a while, the ground sloped downwards, though the trees were as thick as ever. More and more spiders circled them, with Taylor gently pushing them away whenever one decided they were acceptable food.
After what felt like hours walking, they had reached a vast hollow, a hollow which had been cleared of trees, so that daylight from the overcast sky shone brightly onto something that made Taylor’s attempt at a nest feel worse than amateurish.
The forest floor curved into a steep slope, towards a misty domed web in the very centre of the hollow. Spiders milled all around: Spiders the size of carthorses, eight-eyed, eight-legged, black, hairy, gigantic, and beautiful.
“Aragog!” they called, clicking their pincers with each word spoken. “Men! Men in the hollow! Aragog!”
And from the middle of the misty domed web, a spider the size of a small elephant emerged, very slowly. There was grey in the black of his body and legs, and each of the eyes on his pincered head was milky white.
“The queen finally arrives,” Aragog said.
“Hello, Aragog,” Taylor said. “I am Queen, and this is Princess,” she blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Hello, Aragog. It’s nice to meet you!” Luna said.
“You are a queen,” Aragog said. “But you sound like men.”
It took Taylor a moment to parse the words. “I am human, yes.”
“How is that possible?” Aragog asked.
Taylor had no explanation, she didn’t even know why Aragog called her a queen. Was it because of her ability to control bugs? She glanced at Luna who was looking awed at all the giant spiders.
“Why have you come? For my brood?” he asked when no explanation was forthcoming from Taylor’s side.
And wasn’t that a good question? Why had she come here? Taylor might not have thought things through at all.. She saw the spiders and all she could think was about meeting them, maybe asking about the horror, too. There had been no other deeper motivation besides that.
“There have been attacks in the school. The heir opened the Chamber of Secrets,” Luna said instead. “Hagrid knows about it, and that makes him sad.”
“A boy has been petrified,” Taylor added.
Aragog clicked his pincers angrily. “So that’s why he’s been visiting so much, that fool.”
“What happened?” Taylor asked, seeing an opportunity to learn something.
“Years and years ago, they believed that I was the monster that dwells in what they call the Chamber of Secrets. They thought that Hagrid had opened the Chamber and set me free. That’s why they made him leave the school.”
A few pieces clicked into place. The book had never named the student that had been expelled, and Taylor had never considered that Hagrid had been that student. It made a terrible sort of sense. If he’d been blamed for opening the chamber the first time around, he was probably waiting until people started to blame him again.
“But you aren’t the horror,” Taylor said, nodding along. “Whenever it shows up, all the spiders try to flee here. You keep them safe.”
“The thing that lives beneath the castle,” said Aragog, “is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others. Well do I remember how I pleaded with Hagrid to let me go, when I sensed the beast moving about the school.”
“And what is it?” Luna asked.
More loud clicking, more rustling. Again, Taylor gently pushed the encroaching spiders away, their panicked reaction causing ripples in the sea of bugs.
“We do not speak of it!” said Aragog, his pincers clicking loudly. “We do not name it! I never even told Hagrid the name of that dread creature, though he asked me, many times.”
“But why do you fear it?” Taylor asked, tilting her head. “With this many spiders, couldn’t you just… swarm it and kill it?”
Aragog stopped, and the whole nest stilled with him.
“Leave, queen.” His pincers clicked so rapidly Taylor barely understood him. “My brood is not yours to spend.”
“Spend?” Taylor repeated. “I wasn't-”
“You think we should attack the beast.”
“Yes. You might be able to kill it, then you wouldn’t have to fear it.”
“And how many of my brood would die?”
Taylor hesitated, glancing at Luna. The whole scenario expanded inside her head. Whatever this horror was, she could swarm it with normal insects, drown it in bugs. It didn’t have to be any of the sentient spiders doing the bulk of the work. They could help finish the monster if normal bugs weren’t enough, and Taylor would keep them safe.
But she couldn’t say that out-loud. Explaining that would reveal the last of her secrets.
“I don't know,” she said instead.
“You don't know,” Aragog repeated, “and yet you would send them.”
Luna grabbed her hand and squeezed.
“You speak like a queen who never had to care whether her brood dies. Leave,” he said, ponderously turning and disappearing back into his hollow.
Taylor watched Aragog disappear, a scowl twisting her face. She was angry, sad, and very frustrated. She’d come here hoping to make friends, learn about the horror. She’d learned many new useful things, but ended up offending the biggest, most dangerous spider in the forest.
The spiders all around wanted to come closer, to throw silk, capture them, bite them. Most of them felt as agitated as Taylor. Their conversation hadn’t been subtle and the spiders could feel what her power could do.
Unfortunately, it seemed that making friends wasn’t something Taylor was good at.
A spider scurried away from the trove, skittering closer. She was just shy of double the size of a normal tarantula. Maybe because it was a very young spider, but this one felt more curious (and hungry) than angry. Taylor let her approach and offered her hand.
The spider climbed on it, and immediately tried to bite.
“No biting,” Taylor chided gently.
The spider clicked her pincers, like she was trying to speak and didn’t know how to.
“Do you have a name?”
More clicking answered her. Taylor was pretty sure it meant no.
“What about Arabelle?”
The spider clicked her pincers again.
“Arabelle,” Taylor said again. “Because you’re pretty.”
The newly named Arabelle climbed Taylor’s arms, then up onto her head. From there, she jumped onto Luna’s offered hand. Luna giggled as the deadly spider inspected her from head to toe, attempting to bite her several times. After the third attempt that Taylor prevented, Arabelle finally stopped trying.
On the way back, Taylor was confronted with another problem she hadn’t considered. Arabelle hadn’t stayed behind in the forest. She still clung to Luna’s robes, and Luna seemed delighted by playing with the critter.
"Princess? I like that. Mum used to call me that when I was little," Luna said, running a finger over the spider’s body. "Queens have better crowns than princesses. Do you have a crown, Taylor?"
Taylor sniffed, haughtily. “Does Nap count?”
Luna giggled.
“I think you’d be happier being a princess instead of a queen,” Luna said when the silence stretched.