Hannah

57

Hannah, Holland and Max were somber as they excused themselves early from the meal and retreated ostensibly to retire to their apartment. “I need to see my mom.” Max had said when they reached the stairs in the entrance hall that would lead them up to their temporary home.  “I need.” His voice stopped short.

Hannah and Holland already knew. “We know, we’re going to check in with Caspian and Aspen and make a plan. Together.” Holland said, taking them out the front door of the pack house. Around to the lower basement access around the side of the home. Both doing all they could to support their mate. Holland held one hand, Hannah was on his other arm.

The basement was silent. This part of the pack house did not get much use. There hadn’t been a need for cells except for occasional drunks or full moon craze striking a young wolf. Max was distraught, he didn’t understand what Hannah had meant when she explained why Caspian was taking his mother away to the cells like she was a bomb. Holland took the lead, following the scent of Hannah, it was for the best that Caspian got himself positively coated in Hannah's scent right before dinner. It made it easy to ensure they stayed on the right path, with needing Max to focus on where they were heading.

As they turned a corner they started to hear a strange song. Aspen was singing in a way that made it obvious to even the non magical mates, that he was working a spell. Something subtle was happening on the wall of the cell.

It wasn’t until they were much closer that Hannah realized what she was seeing,“Spiders” she breathed out. Terrified. Dozens and dozens of different spider species, all working together, weaving interconnected webs around the entire cell block wall.

Hannah froze in place. “Max I’m sorry I, spiders, no. bad. Um. I can’t.” Caspian came to stay with Hannah, leaving Holland to be the one to help Max approach the door to look in the window of the solitary cell.

Max and Holland were speechless. Judy had torn the entire room apart, fabric scraps and feathers littered the room. Judy was now standing with her arms crossed in front of her. Like she was wearing an invisible straight jacket. Max and Holland heard Hannah behind them. She was cranky and bossing Caspian around. “I’m fine, my body is reacting to the spiders. Go help Max, tell him about the thing and the stuff and do the planing thing!” It made Max smile, just a little bit. Hannah was fire. He was going to need that spark for whatever came next. Thank the Goddess he had Hannah and Holland, and Aspen and Caspian.

Holland was there as Caspian explained as simply and cleanly as possible, that his mother had been influenced by the God of Darkness who was looking for ways to rebuild his influence in the worlds. Judy had gone from rude to deranged astonishingly quick. They were going to need help.

Once Aspen finished his chant, the spiders finished their work. Some stayed behind to maintain the enormous strangely patterned wall of webs, most dispersed. All going wide around Hannah. “Sorry, I didn’t know you didn’t like spiders. I couldn’t think of a faster way to lay a ward that would be strong enough on my own or with Caspian.” Now that the number of spiders in the nearby area was closer to normal Hannah wasn’t rooted hard to the spot. She could take a few steps, not enough to look inside the cell to see how Judy was.

From how Max was feeling, she guessed it wasn’t good. Aspen Held Hannah’s hand. “I know spiders are good, and nature and normal, I don’t normally freeze up like that, there were just so many.” Aspen fell even harder for Hannah. She had been terrified to her bones. A real phobia. The entire time he had felt her fight against the fear she knew was irrational to be there for Max, not running away even when her autonomic response was telling her to run hard and fast.

“The spiders are going to help maintain the spell with their weaves. They are very intelligent creatures, they understand the danger inside Judy right now.” Aspen was speaking more and more, being more assertive. In a dark dark moment, Hannah found the light. Being needed was making Aspen grow.