Serena looked ragged when they met on the last evening in the cave. Everyone was satisfied that Cassandra had managed to escape them, Jake’s latest overflight of the forest had rooted out a dozen spiders of good size which he had promptly killed, but nothing else. Now they would have to decide what to do.
Sam was sitting with them, given a warm blanket by Shyla and held close by Nacomi. They had arrived on the second day and pitched in with a will. Shyla’s book (now that the evil spirit within was gone) proved invaluable in giving spells to rid a person of any type of parasite and healing. She’d worked tirelessly beside Serena and Stacey as they struggled to remove the spiders and heal the wounded.
The fruit of their labors slumbered all around them, dreaming peacefully until another human shook them awake. There were so many, however, that they couldn’t simply take them to a local place and have them be found. Somehow, they’d have to bring the searchers to them.
“I might be able to lure one close, get him to follow me here.” Jake offered half-heartedly. No one bothered to point out why it wouldn’t work.
“How about if I called them and showed them?” Shyla asked. “I can pretend to be a hiker or something that stumbled across them.”
‘You don’t look much like a hiker.’ Serena pointed out. It was true; Shyla’s original clothing had been tattered in their confrontation, and she’d found a sturdy dress and matching shoes in a trunk at the foot of her bed. They were simple and plain, but hopelessly outdated. She looked very nice in the dress, but hardly appeared as a modern hiker.
“None of us would.” Jake pointed out.
‘True, but we can play to that strength, and appear as they expect us too.” She finished, brushing her arms off. A moment later she stood clad in a dark blue dress. Her long white hair swept down her slim shoulders, shimmering in the light as if it had been brushed all day.
“Going Lady on us? We had better find you a tramp to escort you.” Jake joked. She glanced disapprovingly at him, then grinned.
“Right. I can do my disappearing act after leading them here. Also, I can advise them to the health of the people, something I can do best because I am the one that treated many of them.”
Which was strictly true, Jake admitted to himself. But he didn’t think saying “I placed my horn on them and healed their bodies and wiped their minds” was going to be any help.
“I don’t like it.” Jake grumbled. “It’s very risky. You might not be able to escape, or turn into a unicorn and be caught.”
“I’ll be fine, mother hen.” Serena chided. “And before you point out Nacomi and Sam, let me remind you Sam will need to be asleep as well to keep her from being singled out. Same with Nacomi. You need to be home for when the police come.”
“I still don’t think…” Jake began.
“No, she’s right.” Nacomi looked up from her sister. “I’ll need to be at the door when the police come to tell me about finding Sam.” She said. “If they ask, I’ll say I went to the crime scene for a while before returning to the apartment to wait.”
Jake didn’t think much of the plan, but agreed it would be the most likely to work, and having some good credit stored with the people if they were found out couldn’t hurt either.
“All right. But what about you Sam?” Jake asked. “We should ask you if you want to forget all this.”
A half-smile quirked her lips as she looked fully at him from her trance-like stare at the fire.
“Like all the others you gave a choice too?” she asked.
Everyone glanced around uncomfortably, but said nothing. They’d done it to keep themselves safe, and let the poor people try and recover some peace of mind and normalcy afterwards, but they hadn’t asked this time.
She surprised them all by laughing. It was small and somewhat weak, but had genuine amusement behind it.
“It’s okay, I know why you did it. And yes, I would like to forget. What that monster did…the feel of that cold, slimy tube pushing into me…the pain…” she broke off with a shudder. Nacomi put her arms around her sister, tears sparkling on her face.
Sam reached up and grasped Nacomi’s hand. Everyone looked away while the sisters shared the tender moment. A minute passed, and then another. Somewhere in the forest a cricket chirped noisily. Then,
“Okay. I’m ready Serena.”
Serena laid her horn on Sam’s forehead and a moment later her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she slumped. Nacomi eased her down onto her back and drug her towards the others.
After ensuring Sam would be comfortable when she woke, Nacomi hopped on Jake and gave him a squeeze with her knees.
“Let’s go.” She said impatiently.
Jake loped through the woods; his tracks were all over the place anyway, there’d be no way to cover all of them up so he wasn’t going to bother hiding them now.
In a very short amount of time they reached the edge of the trees and Jake took off into the sky. A few beats of his wing gave him sufficient height to stoop a little and pick up speed. He didn’t want to be far away in case Serena needed help.
Nacomi didn’t speak at all while they were flying, nor when he dropped her off in the courtyard of her apartment complex after landing on the roof of one. He’d landed a little hard and shook the ceiling of the apartment below, so by the time he’d left there were three or four people on the roof looking for damage or any sign of a fallen object.
Jake managed to escape without alerting them by simply climbing up the side of another building and throwing himself into the air with outstretched wings. A short glide, and he could start to labor higher into the sky.
He made it to the edge of the forest where a sheriff’s car was parked. He could see Serena walking into the woods with a shell-shocked looking woman who kept staring at her as one would a ghost or something supernatural.
Which I guess is a good way to consider her, Jake thought.
He soared overhead and strained to listen in on their conversation, wishing he was down there to help. He waited.


Serena stepped lightly around a fallen branch, turning to steady the sheriff when she stumbled over it.
“Please be careful, or you will get hurt.” Serena rebuked.
“Sorry.” The woman apologized, immediately turning beet red. But she did not look away.
Serena sighed. “This way.” She said, taking the woman’s elbow and nudging her forward. She found the sheriff’s antics completely unprofessional and disappointing. But perhaps she could be forgiven. Brian and Shyla had told her that her human form was so strange and beautiful that it defied description and made the mind wonder if she was even truly there. “A fey on the very edge of conscious thought and rational, making the brain question if it is truly processing such a signal from the eye”, is how Brian put it. Whatever that meant.
Despite the difficulty, they still managed to make it to the clearing fairly quickly. Once she noticed the bodies lying around, the sheriff gasped and stooped over the nearest one and ran a check for a pulse. Her face broke into a relieved smile.
“She’s alive!” she exclaimed excitedly.
“All of the ones you see are.” Serena said grimly. The sheriff looked up sharply, then ran a count.
“You’re right, there’s…let’s see…about fifty-three people still missing here.” She said finally.
“Meals, I’m afraid.”
“For what?” The woman asked shakily, as if unable to picture such horror.
“Someone made of darkness and hate.” Serena said vaguely. She thought saying a giant spider did it would simply be laughed at, or politely disbelieved. “But we’ve driven her off, for now.”
“We?”
“My friends and I.”
“And who are they?” the sheriff coaxed, looking intently at her.
“Ah, I’m afraid that must remain my secret for now.” Serena smiled sadly at her. “Someday we’ll be less afraid of you, but for now we must remain hidden. Please, you can ask many questions later, but for right now we must get these people help. My healing has aided them greatly, but they will have need of others before they can wake.”
The sheriff blinked in confusion but reached for her radio and called in.
“Lou?”
“Yeah, Sheriff?” A male’s voice answered.
“We found most of the missing people. It’s out in the old Treetopia land, about a mile in. We need ambulances, stretchers, and all the help we can get to get these people out of here.”
“So the call was real?” the man’s voice sounded disbelieving.
“Yeah Lou. Call the chief as well and bring him in on this. Looks like the latest batch of kidnapped is here as well.”
“Right.”
A moment later, he came back on. “Sheriff? Lou. Chief is on his way with what sounds like half his force. Oh, and Maude down at the hospital is sending out the paramedics. We’ve called into the city as well for more, and they’re supposed to be coming. Could be an hour before they get there, though.”
“Okay, Lou. Thanks.”
She released her button and looked up and jumped in surprise. Serena had taken the opportunity to slip away to the far side of the clearing. Hidden from view, she watched the sheriff look around frantically for a while before giving up and returning to the victims.
Serena nodded to herself and began to step down the path towards the edge of the forest. She paused a moment and cupped her mouth a little.
“Stay with them, and I will bring your friends.”
The sheriff jerked, but Serena had already turned and run away, down the trail. Her feet fell lighter than falling leaves, and her hair swept behind her like a pennant in the wind.
She waited at the edge of the clearing for what seemed like an eternity, until several police cars bearing the emblem of the city and a pair of ambulances from the county showed up. The people got out of the vehicles and rushed around. The paramedics grabbed stretchers and large bags and air bottles while the police grabbed flashlights and guns. They started to walk towards the trees, looking for a path, following a hulking man with grizzled stubble on his chin and streaks of white in his short brown hair.
Serena stepped out from behind the tree where she’d been watching. Immediately lights flicked to her and everyone froze.
“Greetings.” She said dulcetly. “We must hurry. The path you are seeking is this way.”
Without waiting for a reply, she started walking back up the path. For a few steps nothing else sounded, but just before she turned around again, she heard the loud rustle of clumsy feet and knew they were following.
The chief hurried up to walk beside her. They strode on in silence for a few minutes, Serena painfully conscious of his eyes flicking over to her every few seconds. At last he spoke.
“You’re not from around here, are you?”
The question was so unexpected that she laughed merrily. “Is that the best question you can come up with? ‘You’re not from around here’ indeed! You are correct, my home now is in the mountains, but I shall not say much more on that subject, or on who I am, Chief. A girl has her secrets, and I have more than most.”
The chief was silent for a few minutes, then said, “Secrets aren’t always a good thing.”
“Some are, if they protect people.” Serena told him. “Not all secrets are, yes. But the ones in this case protect, so I will not bend.”
The chief looked about ready to argue, but Serena just looked at him and he subsisted.
They hurried along for some time until they finally reached the clearing. Then everyone stopped and gasped. The sight of the people laid out in orderly rows and seemingly dead inside a clearing that had been created by something of intelligence but just as clearly not human, was jarring to them.
Serena didn’t let them have the time to recover, or she knew they would be more interested in asking her questions than in helping the people on the ground.
“Hurry, they will need to have water and food as soon as possible, good food.” She added.
The people passed her and were bending down over victims before they realized what they were doing. Most kept on in stride, but one or two hitched before continuing. Even the chief was bending over a young woman and looking very relieved when he found a pulse. The two looked much alike, and Serena figured they had to be kindred of some sort.
Rather than ask and find out, however, Serena took a step back, intending to slip away quietly and let the people recover.
“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” The Sheriff asked suddenly, coming from behind her and making her jump. How had the human snuck up on her so easily?! Curse her small ears that deadened the world! She longed to be back in her unicorn body!
Almost as if the thought had conjured the thought, she realized that she was feeling like she was turning.
Uh-oh, my time must be nearly up. Come on! Hold it for just a few more minutes, she pleaded with her body.
“We need you to answer some questions.” The Sheriff said firmly as the chief stopped in front of her, crossing his arms and looking sternly at her as well. A couple of other police men and a deputy also came to surround her.
Knowing that if they came any closer, Jake would do something stupid to try and help her, she cast about for anything she could do or say to get out of there.
Almost unbidden, the words came to her lips as her hand came to point imperiously at those before her.
“I have aided those that lie hurt before your feet. Your duty, your honor, is to take care of them first. All other concerns should be, must be, secondary before that.”
She raised her voice so that it carried throughout the clearing. A wind kicked up that stirred the trees and grabbed at clothing, snatched webs and rustled leaves. The medics shielded their patients with their own bodies, but stood agape when those patients they had been trying to rouse simply opened their eyes and smiled up at them.
“Awaken, awaken and breathe the free air again!” Serena cried. “The darkness has passed, the shadow banished. Let no troubles disturb your minds or sorrows weigh on your heart. Let not the shadow return! Smile again, and let laughter and joy banish shadow and speed the fallen to peace!”
As she spoke, a glow filled her eyes, and she realized it was coming from her forehead. The policemen stepped back, groping for their pistols at first. Then they stared around with wide, wondering eyes as the people on the ground stood and greeted each other with happy smiles and cries of relief at the finding of a loved one, and words of remembrance for those they couldn’t find and knew had passed on.
Serena felt a surge of energy through her, illuminating the forest in a brilliant display of white light. She felt a slight pop, and a feeling of flight. Briefly, she thought of a tree some distance back that she had passed on her journey towards the clearing. When the light faded, she realized she was standing right next to the tree.
Had she watched herself, she might have seen her body dissolve into an orb of light that sped away from where she’d been standing as only light can, before settling next to the tree and forming back into her own body.
Feeling the breeze of the wind in her mane and feeling her sturdy hooves standing on the ground made her feel normal again.
At last. She thought to herself. I am back. But I daren’t leave yet. Cassandra’s evil has infected even the forest around the clearing. I must make sure everyone can leave there safely before I can go.
With a sigh, she slipped into the denser trees and made her way silently back to the clearing. She could feel Jake standing there as well, invisible though he was. He’d found a good spot some yards back on a rock that could look through the boughs of two tall trees where the webs were thinnest.
They stood there together for the long hours that the police where there. They watched as they led the rescued away in ones and threes while more folk came. Police, fire and medical poured into the area. The police and crime scene investigators busied themselves in collecting statements and studying the remains of the battle that had taken place; the scorched earth, the splintered tree, and even one of Brian’s arrows. Serena hadn’t realized they’d left it behind.
As for the spider bodies, they’d taken care of them before the last of the rescued were pulled from the caves. Fearing that some may only be wounded, or that they may have some disease, and that they would upset the awake, Jake and Asbiorn had piled the bodies together and Jake had turned them into a pile of ash. They’d argued long about leaving one body nearby for the police to find, and so that they would have some idea what had happened and who they might have to face in the future. Ultimately they’d decided against it. The signs that something not-human had been there were fairly obvious, and the spider bodies were so frightening and horrific, that people might start trying to kill anything that moved at night for fear of being attacked by one, or spray the entire forest and farmlands about with powerful pesticides to try and kill them and only succeed in vast destruction of harmless insects. Jake pointed out that the police wouldn’t have the tools necessary to face the Spider Queen. Instead, they’d have to most likely find her and finish her off themselves anyway. For now, she would be unlikely to be much of a threat, being sorely wounded and without the aid of her brood.
The trees brooded darkly, seeming to hate the light brought by the humans and the noise. They hunched away from the clearing as much as they could, and more than one technician scurrying about had been tripped by a tree root. One of them had sprained her ankle from a particularly aggressive root and been led away. Serena’s magic countered their desire to do much more, however. They didn’t like her, she was certain, but they listened to her commands at least.
She tried to cleanse them of the darkness, which worked on many, but not all. An old oak, in particular, seemed to delight in the dark energy he’d absorbed from the Spider Queen. He rebuffed all her efforts to heal him, and was the chief mischief maker in the clearing.
The oak quieted after Jake walked over and whacked the trunk with his claws, gouging deep lines through the bark. The warning heeded, the tree let Serena put him in a deep healing sleep. She only hoped that when the tree woke again, it would be in much better mood.
When CSU had swept the scene thoroughly, the reporters flocked in to gawk and take pictures of the remaining webs and the splintered tree. They weren’t allowed into the cave, but they stood at the entrance and peered in.
It took the rest of the day and most of the night before the last human left. Jake and Serena stepped down off the boulder they’d been standing on. The two had taken turns watching over the work, but now they both looked forward to a long rest.
“Want a lift?” Jake asked as he stretched his neck to work out a stubborn kink. “I can take you back to your glade and then get back to my bed. I’m kind of tired.” He grinned.
‘I would like that.’ Serena told him. ‘It could be fun, and Nacomi certainly seems to enjoy flying around on your back.’
Jake chuckled. “Yeah, well.” He shrugged. “Anyway, once we get some sleep, we need to have you look at your magic pool and locate Cassandra for us. We can’t let her remain on the loose.” He paused. “Also, she knows my first name. Brian let it slip accidentally in the cave, and I don’t like the way she stilled at that. We need to find her fast before she figures out who we are.”
Serena stilled. The implications were staggering, and she immediately thought of their parents, then Stacey’s sisters and parents, and Brian and Tom’s and Rachel’s, even Nacomi would be in danger! Cassandra was vindictive, that much they’d determined. If she figured out who they were, or had been! She shuddered.
“First thing in the morning.” She agreed as she clutched his neck spike.
Jake walked to the edge of the forest with her on his back. Spreading his wings he lunged into the dark sky and steered towards home.