Chapter 15

Having nothing better to do, Dana followed her friend aimlessly into the room where Velvet’s egg spent a good chunk of its time. Arachne eggs were notoriously hardy, and capable of hatching in very short amounts of time if needed. However, the Arachne inside had a much better chance of success if given a proper incubation period. Time didn’t technically pass in the Library, so the egg stayed here only when neither Eulalie or Mike could safely watch it.

A pair of rats with hand-crafted aprons were waiting nearby. When Eulalie set the egg in its nest of blankets, the rats brushed some smudges that looked suspiciously like Cheeto dust off of the egg’s shell.

Eulalie stepped back and contemplated the egg, her features suddenly hard to read.

“When your girlfriend died, how long was it before you would wake up in the morning and know that she was gone?” Eulalie’s fingers pulled at a piece of webbing she produced from a pocket on her skirt.

“Not until I died, honest