Page 76 of The Spider Queen
An army of shiny onyx-colored mechanical spiders poured from my mouth.
They all resembled Thane.
A sea of black crashed into gold. Metal scraped against metal. The sound reverberated in my brain and rattled my teeth.
Something else inside of me wanted to escape, so I opened my lips again.
Wispy, white music notes flew out of my mouth. They hovered in the air and began to change. Slowly at first and then all at once. The notes flattened and turned into silky threads. They wove together to become a dewy spider web that gently floated down over black and gold insect bodies.
The wasps were trapped, their golden wings entangling in the web. Black spiders stepped across the web, crushing the golden wasps beneath their many legs as they walked toward me.
Flapping wings stilled and then the wasps were silent.
The army of spiders surrounded me, but I wasn’t afraid.
Their front legs stretched out as their black shiny bodies rose in the air.
They were bowing to me.
I tilted my head and bowed back.
Poppy…Thane whispered.
I’m here…somewhere.
Danger, Poppy. Danger is still coming.
Chapter 27
I woke up in a cold, quiet room. My eyes flipped open to a white ceiling with fluorescent lights above me. My brain seemed foggy and I couldn’t figure out where I was.
The soft sound of approaching footsteps hit my ears.
I moved to sit up only to find I couldn’t.
“Poppy? Poppy, can you hear me?”
A face swam into focus—female—and someone I didn’t recognize. She had brown eyes, gray hair, and wore a white coat a few shades brighter than the stark white walls of the room I was in.
She reached into her jacket and pulled out a light. With a click, she turned it on and shined it into my eyes.
I shrank back and attempted to move my arms. They refused to budge. I tugged harder, feeling panic well up inside me.
“Easy,” she said in a soothing tone.
I wanted to throw something at her.
My limbs wouldn’t budge because they were bound.
“Poppy, listen to me. You’re at MUSC.”
My mouth was too dry to speak.
The doctor recognized my struggle to talk, went to the bedside table, and poured a cup of water from the blue plastic pitcher. She had to hold the straw in the cup to my lips because I was restrained.
Restrained.
Like a mental patient.
