Chapter 75: Little Miss

Emily Muffet sat on a broken log staring at Gene as though he had just announced that the sky was secretly made of cheese.

The giant spider’s corpse remained crumpled against the distant cliff face.

For the first time in years, she wasn’t running.

For the first time in years, the skittering had stopped.

And somehow the most confusing thing to happen all day wasn’t the monster.

It was Gene knowing her family name.

“How do you know who I am?” she asked again.

Gene rubbed the back of his neck.

Selene crossed her arms.

“Oh, this should be good.”

“I’m not sure how to explain this.”

Emily narrowed her eyes.

“Try.”

Gene sighed.

“Okay. First question.”

He pointed at her.

“Have you ever heard of something called a nursery rhyme?”

Emily blinked.

“A what?”

“Right. Kind of thought you wouldn’t .”

Gene nodded.

“That doesn’t help.”

Selene sat beside Emily.

“Start from the beginning.”

Gene thought for a moment.

Then he sat down across from them.

“Back in my old world there were stories.”

Emily nodded.

“Everyone has stories.”

“Well these stories were a bit different.”

Gene picked up a stick and began drawing in the dirt.

“There were thousands of them. Fairy tales. Myths. Legends. Nursery rhymes.”

He paused.

“And one of them involved someone named Miss Muffet.”

Emily immediately sat straighter.

“My family name.”

“Exactly.”

Gene finished drawing a small figure sitting on a hill.

“The story went like this.”

He cleared his throat dramatically.

⸻

“Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,

Eating her curds and whey.

Along came a spider,

Who sat down beside her,

And frightened Miss Muffet away.”

⸻

Silence.

Emily stared.

Selene stared.

A bird chirped somewhere overhead.

Emily finally blinked.

“That’s it?”

Gene nodded.

“That’s it.”

“That’s the whole story?”

“Yep.”

Emily looked offended.

“That’s a terrible story.”

Selene burst out laughing.

“See? I told you it doesn’t help that much.”

Emily folded her arms.

“A giant nightmare spider monster hunted my family for generations and your version is just…”

She waved her hands.

“A girl being scared of a spider?”

“Pretty much.”

“That’s stupid.”

Gene nodded immediately.

“Honestly, I agree.”

Selene laughed harder.

Emily found herself smiling despite everything.

It felt strange.

Almost wrong.

But also nice.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed.

The smile slowly faded as she looked toward the dead spider.

“What if you’re right?”

Gene tilted his head.

“About what?”

“What if this place is connected somehow?”

The humor vanished from all three faces.

Because it wasn’t completely impossible.

Not anymore.

Not after seeing the cat.

Not after Jack and Jill.

Not after the road.

Not after everything they had seen.

Gene slowly nodded.

“I’ve been wondering the same thing.”

Emily frowned.

“What exactly is this place?”

Selene glanced toward the mustard-colored road.

“We don’t really know.”

Gene sighed.

“We’re taking a test.”

“A test?”

“A Dreamseer test.”

Emily looked even more confused.

Gene realized how ridiculous everything sounded.

Then again, most of his life lately sounded ridiculous.

So he explained.

Emily listened carefully.

The longer he spoke, the wider her eyes became.

When he finally finished, she sat silently for nearly a minute.

“So… You built a hotel full of monsters?”

“Technically yes.”

“You own a giant immortal slime armor?”

“Also yes.”

“You have a daughter figure who can tear open portals?”

Gene smiled.

“Yup that’s Lilith.”

Emily blinked.

“What kind of life is that to live?”

Gene stared into the distance.

“A weird one.”

Selene nodded.

“Very weird.”

They sat quietly for a moment.

Then Emily looked toward the dead spider again.

Something bothered her.

Something important.

She swallowed.

“Why did it hunt us?”

Nobody had an answer.

Gene stood and approached the corpse.

The giant monster looked even larger up close.

Its body was covered in scars.

Old wounds.

Burn marks.

Sword cuts.

Evidence of countless battles.

Generations of fighting.

Gene carefully examined the creature.

Then he noticed something.

“Guys.”

Selene and Emily approached.

Gene pointed toward the spider’s abdomen.

Something was embedded in its shell.

Something metallic.

Selene crouched beside him.

“Is that…”

“A lock.”

Emily stared.

Sure enough.

A large iron lock had somehow grown into the creature’s body.

It looked ancient.

Older than the spider itself.

The lock was covered in strange symbols.

Several resembled eyes.

Others looked like twisting spirals.

Gene’s stomach tightened.

The lock looked familiar.

Not exactly familiar.

More like…

Connected.

Connected to something he had seen recently.

The Puzzle Box.

The same strange style.

The same impossible geometry.

The same unsettling patterns.

Athena suddenly spoke through Gene’s helmet.

WARNING.

UNKNOWN CURSED ENERGY DETECTED.

RECOMMEND CAUTION.

Gene slowly stepped back.

That was never a reassuring sentence.

Emily looked worried.

“What does it mean?”

“No idea.”

Gene frowned.

“But I don’t think your family was being hunted by a normal monster.”

The lock suddenly clicked.

Everyone froze.

Nothing happened.

For several seconds.

Then another click echoed from inside the spider’s corpse.

The symbols glowed faintly.

Athena immediately spoke again.

WARNING.

ENERGY SIGNATURE INCREASING.

ENERGY SIGNATURE INCREASING.

ENERGY SIGNATURE INCREASING.

“That’s bad, right?” Emily asked.

“Usually.”

The lock clicked a third time.

Then cracked.

A tiny fragment fell away.

Dark mist began leaking from inside the corpse.

Gene immediately stepped in front of the girls.

The mist drifted upward.

Slowly gathering into a shape.

A silhouette.

Human like.

Tall.

Thin.

The figure looked toward them.

The top of its face hidden beneath shadow.

Then it began to smile.

Not a friendly smile.

The kind of smile predators used.

The kind of smile that knew too many secrets.

The figure’s voice sounded like rustling paper.

“Interesting.”

Nobody moved.

The figure looked directly at Emily.

“One still survives.”

Emily shivered.

The thing turned toward Gene.

Its smile widened.

“And the Horror Summoner arrives exactly as predicted.”

Gene’s eyes narrowed.

“Predicted by who?”

The figure laughed softly.

The sound reminded him of rusty chains on rotting floorboards.

“Sss…our game continues.”

“What game?”

“The game your ancestors started.”

Gene froze.

Ancestors?

The figure slowly pointed toward the road.

Toward the distant horizon.

Toward wherever the test would come to an end.

“The answers await at the end.”

The mist began dispersing.

“Wait!” Gene shouted.

“What are you talking about?”

The figure’s smile widened one final time as its form started shredding into the void.

“Remember…  Rabbit…. Key.”

Gene immediately remembered the note from Selene’s grandmother.

Do not trust the rabbit.

The figure dissolved.

Vanishing completely.

Silence returned.

Nobody spoke for nearly a minute.

Finally Emily broke the silence.

“That kind of made me miss the spider.”

Gene groaned.

And somewhere far away, hidden beyond the next stage of the road, a rabbit opened its eyes.

Waiting.

And staring at a watch.