Getting Into Trouble

Lemon cowered behind Pop and Tab, her yellow wings fluttering nervously. 

“I don’t think we should be here,” she said quietly. 

Pop looked back at her “Would you relax?” 

“The Readers have all gone home and no one comes over to the Shadowlands” Tab quipped. 

“That’s precisely why I don’t think we should be here. What if something happens?” Lemon’s wings moved faster generating a slight breeze. 

Pop grinned mischievously and tucked her wing-blown hair behind her ear. “What if?” 

As if they had rehearsed it, Pop and Tab both lifted off the ground simultaneously and flew off in the direction of the Shadowlands. Lemon scrambled to get purchase in the air, hovering more than she was flying. This was as far outside the city limits that she had ever traveled without a chaperone. Of course she had traveled to Fiction Port but it was easy to feel safe that close to the Imagination Factory. This was different. Being outside the safety of Oratory City and flying directly into the DNR District felt like a death wish. She hoped it wasn’t.  

The three fairies landed softly in a single patch of stray sunshine dancing outside the shadows of the towering dilapidated shelves. Even the light dared not touch even the farthest edge of the Shadowlands. 

The twins softly stepped outside the safety of the light. Their feet left deep impressions in the dust, a trail following their steps. Everyone was careful not to disturb the dust covering the imposing structures. Lemon craned her neck up to try to read the titles on the spines of the books at ground level. 

“History.” A voice breathed in her ear. Lemon spun around, limbs almost colliding with Tab, a mischievous smile on his face. 

Lemon smacked Tab hard on the shoulder. “What the fic! That wasn’t funny!” 

Tab’s smile widened. “It was a little funny, you should have seen the look on your face.” Lemon scowled. “Not that look. That look will give you wrinkles even Imagination can’t fix.”

A small bubble appeared next to Tab’s head and Pop’s voice emerged softly, saying “I think I found something, come see.” The bubble popped, the communication spell complete. 

Tab and Lemon walked softly up beside Pop who was looking intensely at a crack in the wall, visible through a large gap in the book spines. Her hands were on her hips, dust floating off of them. 

“Whatcha find Poppy?” smirked Tab. Pop gestured towards the cavern with an expectant look on her face. “You found a…grotto? I mean I know we live in the city but surely you know how nature works?” 

“Look at the path to the entrance.”

Tab made a display of squinting, hemming, hawing, and general noises of ‘effort’. Pop’s eyebrows furrowed together further and further until she slapped him. 

“Hey!” He exclaimed, “why is everyone hitting me today?” 

“Because you’re being extremely slappable right now.” Pop replied. “Now look at the path and the books. No dust.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I certainly didn’t clean them.”

Tab opened his mouth to snipe back when Lemon interrupted. “D-d-did you hear that?”

Everyone was quiet for a moment, listening for anything other than the stillness that enveloped them. 

Tab scoffed and started to speak when Pop put her hand over his mouth. The twins finally heard what had scared Lemon. A slight twang like a wire being plucked. 

And steps. 

The trio turned to retreat back the way they came. Coming up the dark dusty path was a large lumbering eight legged creature with a smaller form on top of its body. It didn’t scurry like most mounts did, and the steady determined steps sent chills up the fairies spines. 

Tab was the first one to pull everyone out of their frozen fear, dragging Pop and Lemon as quickly as he could away from the spider. Half running and half flying they stumbled their way through the maze of book piles scattered about. The deeper they went the less the stacks acted like stacks and the more it was a labyrinth of forgotten texts piled higher than they could ever imagine. 

A deep voice rumbled out from the darkness.

“You’re a long way from home little drafts”

Still stuck in the maze of books Lemon frantically searched for a way out. “I’m going up!” she said in a panic.

“No wait Lemon” Pop responded, almost as panicked, “your wings can’t take that altitude and you might not have enough Imagination left!”

For a split second, time stood still. Lemon looked at Pop in that moment with her eyes full of fear and the decision crossed her face in a blink. Pop knew exactly what Lemon was thinking and reached out to stop her but it was too late. Lemon had taken off at top speed. Straight up. 

There was little the twins could do now. To follow Lemon was to invite peril. All they could do now was try to get out of the Shadowlands and away from the mysterious voice on the spider.

Tab pulled Pop once more. They scrambled around books and under pages, trying to keep their breath as they navigated. “Do you think that’s-” Pop began. 

“I sure hope it’s not!” Tab answered her half-spoken question. Neither of them wanted to say out loud what they were thinking. That they were being pursued by Arach, one of the only fairies to be banished to the Shadowlands for using Chimera-a twisted form of Imagination. Rumor had it that Arach was once a revered member of King Diction’s closest circle until he started playing with the dark forces of Chimera. 

In their frenzied state to try to escape the labyrinth of the Shadowlands and avoid being caught by the dangerous figure atop the eight legged beast, Pop and Tab failed to see the web until it was too late. The almost invisible threads gave no indication of their presence here in this darkness. It hooked them as though there were a thousand thorns digging into their skin. Wrenching and pulling, each thread tangling more and more as they struggled, the twins became more and more desperate. They could hear the scuttle of the spider coming closer and closer, their doom just out of sight. 

Tab pulled as hard as he could, struggling against the deadly embrace of the web. He managed to rip one of his wings free, a gasp of pain rending out from inside of him. The veins in his wings felt like they were on fire but his right side was free of the trappings of the web and that’s all that mattered. He pulled out one of his boot knives, being careful not to get his right side caught in the web again. Carefully he stretched his body to try and cut away at the webs that were holding Pop but the minute his first cut hit the web the threads curled around the knife and held it fast. Cursing he let the web absorb his least favorite knife as he wracked his brain to try to think of another way out. 

The web itself started to vibrate, the sound of plucked wire rising from the threads. 

They were getting closer.

Tab could reach his wrist knife but just barely, the patience needed to wiggle it costing precious seconds he wasn’t sure if he had. 

The vibrations were getting stronger.

Tab didn’t give himself time to think. As soon as the knife was out of his gauntlet he brought his arm up behind his back and sliced upwards. 

He fell to the ground, barely able to see his hands in front of him. His wings. He had destroyed them. He would never fly again. He stumbled a little as he picked himself up but managed to stay upright. 

There was screaming. Who was screaming? Was it him? 

He turned around. 

Pop was still entangled in the web, more and more threads covering her body as she strained against them. Tears streaked down her face as her body heaved with sobs. Tab limped over to her. He grabbed her arms and tried to pull her down even though he knew it would be useless. He could feel part of her come up from the threads and that hope made him yank with all of his might. 

“Please” Pop begged “You have to go! I can hear them getting closer!”

“I can’t…” Tab trailed off, jagged breaths taking over his speech, “I can’t leave you. Don’t make me leave you.” He rested his forehead on hers. She leaned into him and whispered, “I’ll always be a part of you.”

The shock of the full transfer of Imagination pushed him back away from Pop and the web. She hung there, suspended by the embrace of the deadly threads. She didn’t move. 

“I can feel you, my worthless footnotes. Do not think you can escape my grasp.” The grave voice rumbled through the darkness once more, seeming to travel along the invisible threads of the spider’s web. 

Tab ran.