Page 53 of Moist!

chapter eight

CANTIS

I’ve found the perfect trinket for Fee, but lose sight of it when the cavern plunges into darkness.

“Ooh, hello there.” I follow the emetic voice up to the ceiling.

In the dark it's hard to see up that high, but I can just make out the gleam of something smooth and rounded.

There's a shifting, a rustle, a click, and then a set of long, spindly legs emerge from the heavy shadow.

My throat goes dry, lips and tongue numb as I piece together what it is I'm looking at: a diving bellista, the diving bell spider's much larger, and more vicious, cousin.

My legs turn to jellyfish as it slings webbing to block the entrance; I watch in horror as rope after rope of thick, sticky webbing rains down from above, quickly covering the whole room.

None of the bedtime stories mentioned that their webs glow in the dark, but I’m at least thankful for that, now that the bellista is covering the only other source of light.

We can’t see in the dark in our walking forms.

“It’s been a while since my bait has caught anything, and now I get–” Another rope of web collects over my head and Fee’s, sliding the gems off her scalp, before going back to the spider, “--a mermaid and siren? What a wonderful surprise!” I try to catch Serafina’s eye so I can motion to her to run at the first chance she gets, but she’s transfixed by the creature above us.

“With my hoard, all I usually get is a measly human wanting to get rich. Their lives are so short, so limited in how much suffering they can experience,” it chuckles. “ Pain .” The bellista shivers at the word, which makes me shiver in turn. I don’t know how I can get us both out of this.

“But you,” it continues, looking at each of us, “you have long lives. You must be teeming with suffering.” Its smile shows off the fangs I know are filled with venom. “A little agony, surely a taste of torment. I haven’t eaten in such a long time; you two lovely morsels have made my day.”

The next time it looks away from me, I try to back up and webbing surrounds me before I know it, plastering me to the cave wall behind me. The bellista lowers its body so that all eight eyes are right in front of me, reflecting the fear plastered clearly on my face.

“I can always tell when someone’s gonna be a runner.” It has the nerve to laugh as it rights itself. With me immobile, the bellista turns its focus solely on Serafina.

“Now, you first. Tell me what pains you.”

Serafina looks at me for a moment. I try to fix my face to tell her… I don’t know what. Something, anything that will give her the strength to leave me behind if she gets the chance. I don’t know if she sees it in my eyes, but I hope so.

“M-my shoulders are a little sore,” she answers. The bellista’s laugh booms in the cavernous space.

“I don’t want your physical aches, mermaid. Those are nothing, crumbs at best. I want what pains your heart. What suffocates you at night. Give. Me. Your. Heartache.” The bellista enunciates each word, crouching closer and closer to Serafina.

“I, um, I get left out a lot by people who are supposed to understand and care about me.” The diving bellista takes an audible sniff of the air around Serafina.

Fee’s flinch hurts my heart. She should never have to flinch.

I should be making sure of that. The guilt of bringing her here, staying here for hours, starts to cloud around me, stealing my breath.

“Now, that there is tasty, but it’s hardly a meal. I’m feeling generous, so you’ve got one more chance.” I watch in horror as webbing slithers over the piles of gold we so carelessly perused just moments before, binding Serafina.

“It hurts to be lonely,” I don’t know if her gasp is because of her confession or if the webs that have latched onto her like seaweed are hurting her.

“And I’m certain I’m the reason.” Her face scrunches, eyes closed, as light pulses along the webbing touching her, all the way back to the creature, and then dies out.

Serafina slumps to the floor as the webbing retracts, but her eyes open quickly, and it looks like she’s trying to raise up on her arms.

I can’t see her after that though, because the bellista swoops down, taking up every inch of my vision.

“The siren,” it says, “one to cause pain, not carry it, and yet you’re overflowing with it. What a delicious delight.” I’m not sure if it’s really speaking to me, or itself, but its low voice is ominous either way.

“You know what I want.” One of its short, hairy front legs reaches out and ruffles my hair, “don’t you.” It’s not really framed as a question, but my mind goes blank trying to answer. What pains me?

I don’t like that human men are so violent and manipulative to women and children.

But that’s why I was born, it’s my purpose to get rid of them, so does that pain me, or do I just not like that they exist in the first place?

I could mention the incident , but did that hurt me, or was I disappointed that the other sirens didn’t follow the morals that I’d been taught all my life?

Was I lonely like Serafina, or was I just a loner?

And Serafina. Was that pang in my heart every time I looked at her pain, or something else?

What pains me ?

I don’t get the opportunity to consider it any more.

The webbing surrounding me tightens and I realize the bellista has lost its patience.

Light pulses through, this time from the creature to me, and it shocks my system over and over again until I can barely string a thought together.

I think I hear screaming, but I can’t place where it's coming from, before everything goes black.