Scarlett Hayes's Arc

Chapter 5 of 9

They went through on three. The falls hit like ice fists, then let them fall onto wet rock behind the water. Scarlett coughed and wiped her eyes. They stood in a small cavern lit by purple crystals. A carved stone waited on the wall ahead, marked with the same runes that had trapped them. More of the falls, a second set, blocked the only way forward. Azumi hovered close, dripping. "Please don't touch that one." "I have to." Scarlett studied the marks. They spiraled inward, like water down a drain, with a curled shape carved at the center. "The first stone flooded us because I read it wrong. I pressed all the runes. But look. They go in an order. Center last." "You're guessing." "I'm reading." Scarlett's hands shook. One wrong touch and both falls would seal the cavern. They would drown between two walls of water. She traced the outer spiral without touching. "The boy came through here. He didn't die. So there's a safe path." A new voice cut through the roar. "There is. You just found half of it." Scarlett spun. From a crack in the black rock climbed a woman with a spider's lower body, eight dark legs folding neat beneath her as she settled. Her purple eyes fixed on Scarlett with cool patience. She moved like she owned the stone. "Who are you?" Scarlett said, backing toward Azumi. "I keep the crossings." The spider-woman tilted her head at the runed stone. "Press the spiral inward, one mark at a time. Skip a step and the walls close. The boy pressed them slow. Most who rush end up part of the water." Azumi read her face and grabbed Scarlett's arm. "She's not lying. I can feel it. She's bored, not cruel." Scarlett looked back at the stone. She could wait and hope, or trust a stranger with eight legs. She chose. She pressed the first outer rune. It glowed soft green, not the harsh flare from before. Her breath caught. She pressed the next. Then the next, working slow around the spiral. Each one warmed under her finger. "Center last," the spider-woman said. Scarlett touched the curled shape at the heart of the stone. The runes flared once. The second falls parted like a curtain pulled aside. Behind it hung a great wooden bridge, dark timber and iron chains, lowered across a black gap. Solid ground. A real crossing. Azumi whooped and spun in the air. "You did it! You actually read it!" Scarlett let out a shaky laugh. Her legs felt like water. She had learned the stones. The trail led over the bridge now, and she could follow it without drowning. The spider-woman started back toward her crack. "The bridge leads to where your boy went. But he was not running from nothing." She paused. "He was running from what waits on the far side. You'll want me with you."