The Human Hunter

Chapter 15

Double uh-oh, actually. Emma noticed Legs standing out on the ledge behind Goliath.

Widow let a quiet growl rumble from his chest and narrowed his eyes on Goliath, almost as if he were sizing him up for a fight. Emma didn't think that Widow could ever take the much larger kin, but right then was definitely not the time to find out.

We need to try and end this without fighting. Two against one is already unfair, and Widow is drugged.

She slowly stood as she sent a few quick thoughts to the black widows hanging about on the ceiling of the main cavern. They began to appear within moments, but for some reason, neither Goliath or Legs seemed the least bit worried. In fact, Goliath started toward them, making Widow bare his teeth as Emma carefully stepped behind him, hugging Salem closer to her chest.

She expected a fight at any moment, but when Widow's steady growl actually began to quiet, she noticed that Goliath was actually skirting them, not moving directly toward them.

The other boy?

She sent a thought to the spiders to wait and watch, then followed Goliath with her eyes as he walked along the edge of the room until he was kneeling in front of the little boy still standing beside his bed. He gave the child a small smile and held out a hand to him. "Come here, Foster. We have to go now."

To Emma's surprise, the boy hurried into Goliath's arms, sparing her and Widow a quick, nervous glance.

"Don't mind them. The girl is a human, like you, for the most part, and Widow can't do much against me."

Emma caught Widow rolling his eyes and grinned, then returned her attention to Goliath as he walked back out of the cave.

"Be careful with him. His instincts are flaring up, which is totally normal from what I've seen of these kin, but they can be dangerous if you aren't paying attention to your actions," Legs said as he joined Goliath at the entrance to the cave, gesturing for Emma to come over as he spoke.

She was hesitant, not entirely trusting of the trainer given their previous interactions. When Widow started toward the two, she hesitantly followed after a few moments.

Whether I like it or not, I need Widow's help to get out of here, and if he trusts them in this situation, then I'll just have to do the same.

When she got closer to where the three had stopped, Legs looked at each of them for a moment, then nodded. "We need to leave now."

Really? You want to go, too?

Looking up at him, Emma narrowed her eyes. "You're actually going to help us escape?" she asked, knowing that she sounded skeptical, because she was.

"Let's just say that we have our own reasons," Goliath said as he wove a few strong lines of thread across his chest, effectively tying Foster there for safety. Emma looked to her right at the same time Widow turned his attention to her. She wouldn't be able to hold her brother while they escaped...

"Can you do that for Salem?" she asked Widow, hopeful that he would agree.

He nodded without hesitating and gently took her brother from her. She was surprised to see that Salem wasn't nervous or trying to get away from him.

Right, Goliath had said that Widow had been the one to initially help him before.

He quickly webbed Salem to his dirty chest, then looked back up at her with a lopsided smile.

"Hurry up, Emma. We don't have time to stand here," Legs said, drawing her attention to him. Seeing him crouching impatiently and giving her his back, she knew that she would have no other choice if she wanted to get out of the caves. She'd have to trust him. Deciding not to waste more time, she climbed onto Legs's back and held on as he stood up. She felt two gusts of wind lift her hair slightly as Widow and Goliath darted from the cave and began climbing ahead of them. She noticed as she watched them that Goliath had Catch on his shoulder, making her silently wonder where Fuzz was at that moment.