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"Welcome to my Parlor, said the spider to the fly," she crooned, and pincers cae curl They clashed o fell into place

The Parlor The bustle gown, all the better to hide an extended thorax The dark glassesIf I knocked them off, I suddenly knew I’d find multifaceted eyes--spider’s eyes Ariana WeaverArachne? Here? I’d expect maybe a dark cave soly huods’ power had faded so much when their worship had wanedMaybe the transfor as well It would explain somen Had she spun them up in her web? Made aleft to find?

"I’h, I was quaking Of all the ways I didn’t want to die, beco a monster’s meal was probably at the top of the list

"No, you aren’t, at that I sahat you did to Red I have eyes everywhere, my dear Eyes in the back of my heador on get It will be a new experience for ue slipped out fro her speech It was black as night, but surprisingly human in shape It was a wonder she didn’t cut it on her teeth

"Do you like gay right That’s what had gotten her arachnified to begin with--or rather, given spiders their classification name, since she’d owned it first--Athena’s insult that Arachne would dare think herself exceptional enough to challenge the goddess with her weaving

"Uht"

"What do you say to a life for a life?"

Fear scrabbled atuntil I could barely breathe I’d sent Apollo into her lair If anything happened to him, it would be all my fault

She cocked her head at my reaction I wished I could read her eyes "Ah, I see, you thought I meant the Olympian Yes, I kneho he was the second he reached out Be assured, little gorgon, he is still playing ame He hasn’t yet lost and so is not yet subject to my rules However, his luck has just taken a turn for the worse He will be h You see, in irl I’ve had you checked out, as I do all new employees I knoho you are and that you’re here for the scientist--Athena’s own His blood will be all the sweeter because of it, but he is hardly sporting Now, you, my love"--she chucked me fondly under the chin, and it was all I could do not to recoil--"you, unless I’lared at her, feeling those sunglasses like a barrier that even my screw you look couldn’t penetrate A dealmy life for Gareth’s As if I had a real decision to make Withoutiving my life for him Hell, except for my retainer, I hadn’t even been paid for the job, and here I was facing death to finish it Because I was pretty sure that’s what she was suggesting

She watched avidly as all of this flitted across my face and stopped iven her my answer "But wait I have just realized that I hold all of the cards The scientist, the gorgon, and, soon, the god I have no reason to give any of you up"

"I’m not yours to hold None of us are"

"My dear, possession is nine-tenths of the law" She gave ht now, I a Triple, even If you survive, you all go free If not"

The alar They were about to shake apart The house alins I strongly suspected that Ariadne liked to stack the deck If she thought even for a moment that I would survive, she would never havehim from a room away or more He are of my distress How could hea feedback loop I could barely stand But we couldn’t read each other’s minds, and I couldn’t warn hiht want to

"I don’t see that you have a choice," she said with a truly scary slasses with a flourish and I flinched from her compound eyes and the h the curtain just then, ready to hit sorasp, and a sick smile spread across his face

"The Pit?" he asked, coht of Ariadne exposed