The Lie Spinners (The Deception Dance) (41 page)

When
May sets a plate of steaming noodles and peanuts before me, I ask
her, “Those blades by your fire dancing equipment, they’re
for the Siva Afi?” I point to the hall leading away from the
living area where equipment lines one wall.

May,
still standing, hands me a folded blue T-shirt. As she sits across
from me, she brushes her long black hair behind her shoulders; she’s
again wearing very proper, entirely covering clothes. “Yes,”
she answers, “It is for preforming the Samoan fire knife dance.
Do you know the Siva Afi?”

“
My
friend Hayvee from home was supposed to teach me that next. She did
teach me the Thai Lanna Sword Dance, though.”

“
Really?
That is one of my favorite fire weapon dances to perform.”

“
Oh,
I didn’t learn with flaming swords; I’ve only ever used
wooden swords,” I amend. “And I only had a couple
lessons.” I take a bite of the noodle dish that I recognize as
Pad Thai, the spices ignite my mouth. I cough. “Oh my god,
spicy.” I manage.

She
jumps up returning a few seconds later with a glass of what looks
like milk but when I take a sip I realize is coconut milk.

“
Thanks,”
I say, still coughing. When the spice finally subsides in my mouth, I
lower my voice and whisper, “I lost Kasem, but how do we know
that no one else spies on us-magically or otherwise?”

“
Mængmum
can only spy if one of his spiders is in the room, close enough to
listen for him, and I know how to keep them away; otherwise, he only
has spells to move his voice out, not pull voices to him,” she
says. “Even if you don’t see his spiders, I still would
be careful what you say everywhere else. Almost everyone on this
island fears him, that is its own type of power; but here we are
safe.” She sets down her fork and stares at me, her dainty
mouth curving into a small not-quite-happy smile. “I see that
you’ve figured out what you want from me.”

“
Yes,”
I say, “but I also don’t feel right asking you to
endanger your life for me and my sister.”

“
But
that is why you are here.”

“
Yeah,
I guess that’s true.” I bite my lip, and then ask, “Is
it even possible?”

She
stares into my eyes; her irises are so dark they look black. She
gives me the tiniest of nods.

I
chew on my lip, trying to come up with a way to go about convincing
her without sounding completely heartless. “Maybe you wouldn’t
have to get any more involved; if you just told me how…how to
find her, where to look and how to release her…?”

“
No,”
she says furiously. Her eyes widen and her lip trembles in what I can
only read as terror. “You do not want to release what sleeps in
his sacks. If you got it wrong...” She shakes her head. “
I
would have to release her.”

“
Perhaps…perhaps
we can help each other. You could come with us—escape. Stephen
is part of an organization—”

“
An
organization that would not help me,” she says with certainty.
“And, I can never leave Mængmum, he has my spider.”

“
Your
spider
?”
I ask, but I’m almost positive I know what she’s
referring to. I can’t believe I didn’t make the
connection earlier. I answer myself by saying, “After a person
takes the Venom they get a moving tattoo...a spider; and if that
spider is
big
enough
,
Mængmum will what? Collect their spider tattoo?”

She
nods.

“
So
all those spiders covering his body belong to other people?”

She
nods.

“
And
when you give him your spider, he gives you what?”

She
closes her eyes. “Venom, every day.”

“
Can’t
you steal back your spider? He was trickling spiders onto that one
woman...”

“
Yes,
but not
her
spider. Even if I could steal my spider, I am a thread in his web;
the only way for a thread to be released from a web is for Mængmum
to weave it out, otherwise the entire web tears. He might
accidentally kill me, but he will never willingly release me; I am
too strong a thread. He needs my power.”

“
I’m
not sure I understand your meaning; you’re talking about your
web-tattoos?” I ask, but the heavy feeling in my chest makes me
aware that I’m playing-dumb; I don’t want her to answer.
If she doesn’t speak she can’t confirm the terrible ideas
that have been cementing in my mind.

“
No,
the web tattoos are just part of the spell.
We
are his web, his power web.”

I
stay silent for a long time, but, knowing that I have very little
time, and that time is slipping away, I force myself to whisper,
“Venom has demon blood in it, doesn’t it?”

Her
eyes fly open but I’m not sure if it’s surprise or
something else on her beautiful dainty features.

I
whisper very low, “What did he trade for that much blood?”

“
He
did not trade anything,” she says, equally low.

A
wave of relief flashes through me. I run my hands through my hair and
sigh, almost laughing; I was just about positive that she was going
to tell me that The Spider turned hundreds of people into unnatural
demon-infected magicians.

Her
whisper comes even lower, and for a moment my brain won’t
process what she says. When the words come, they don’t only
process, they detonate in my mind like tiny explosives.

“
He
stole the blood,” May says, “He stole all of it.”

Day
Twenty (continued)

A
flash of images speed through my mind: the canopy of web, spanning in
all directions. Giant spiders, weaving, darting, ballooning white
sacks within the web. Linnie, eyes closed, comatose and enveloped in
a sack, her sack in a long line of bulging white sacks. Count Furfur,
a shadow wielding spears of lightning.
Räum
exploding into a giant bird, red eyes searing me. Andras, a dark
angel swinging down his Hell wrought blade.

“
He
stole
all
the blood from greater demons?” I whisper.

She
inhales a long breath, and then nods.

“
The
greater demons...” I say, having a hard time getting the words
out, “...they’re all in the web, ballooned in silk?”

“
Almost
all of them, yes,” she says, sounding almost like she’s
apologizing. “He released a couple in exchange for them
completing services.”

“
And
The Spider infected... turned hundreds of people into magicians so
that he could—what?”

“
Create
a web of power, funneling enough power into himself that he can
conjure and contain as many greater demons as possible. He keeps
those of us who can access the most power close to him at all times.
It is through our web of combined power that he conjures, spells
unconscious, balloons, and then drains the greater demons.”

“
Why?”

“
Why...
what?”

“
What
exactly does The Spider want?”

“
He
wants to drink the blood of as many greater demons as he can summon.
He’s combining the infections; each time he gains a little more
power, but less and less. He has no plan to stop.”

God.
Help. Us. All.

“
My
sister is in there,” I say, numbly, “she’s inside
there...in the web.”

“
I
know,” May says. When I look at May I absently notice that she
cries silent tears. I’m detachedly confused for a moment before
I remember what Stephen said that he thought May felt guilty. I had
thought he meant that she felt guilty because she could help me save
Linnie, and wasn’t doing it; but that’s not it. May feels
guilty because she is a part of this power-web; she’s adding to
The Spider’s power source; her magical-power-line feeds power
into Linnie’s prison, and so much more.

And
she’s doing it for Venom (or at least that’s how it
started).

“
Is
the power-web strong enough? If he keeps summoning demons, is the web
strong enough to hold them all?” I ask, terrified of the
answer.

She
wraps her hands around her neck, rubbing absently, and then shakes
her head. “This last month, there were maybe one or two people
who took the venom and had spiders big enough to join the web, but
they do not have that much power. I don’t know why, each month
the infected are getting less and less powerful. And he’s
planning to summon again--”

“
When?”

“
The
night of the full moon.”

“
You
can’t
stop
him?”

“
No
one can stop him. He thinks he can contain it, they all think they
can, but I
know
that they can’t...” she shakes her head, miserably. “He
says he needs stronger Venom, that this last batch was weak and he
can only get so many strong vials from a demon before it dilutes. My
guess is he will raise a High Duke.”

“
When
are you going to get her out?” I ask.

She
looks up at me, startled. Maybe it was the hard edge in my voice,
maybe it’s the anger in my face, but she regards me almost
wearily. “I cannot—”

“
Yes
you can. You already told me that you can. You’ve agreed to
help me whether you realize it or not.” I lean over the table.
“You agreed to meet me. You told me what’s really going
on. You’re
here
risking your life because you helped create something beyond
monstrous, and that monster is about to break lose. My sister...”
I tap my chest, “...my innocent sister, is front row and
center, she’ll be the first of the hundreds, maybe thousands,
who are most likely going to die on this full moon. You are the only
person who can get her out.”

I
look straight into her black eyes, trying to force my convictions
into her. “You have a chance to do this one good: help get
Linnie out so that Stephen and I can leave this island. You know and
I know that you’re about to face twenty-something pissed off
greater demons. Whether or not I’m a casualty of this full
moon’s massacre if you don’t get us out, I’ll die;
the gates of Hell will open and you won’t just be dealing with
the greater demons; you’ll be dealing with them and their
armies
.
So, when?”

She
swallows and for a moment I’m sure she’s just going to
clam up, shut down and ask me to leave. “The hardest part will
be getting
you
off the island; there is a complicated and dangerous spell that The
Spider cast; if you travel more than half a mile from Koh Phangan’s
shore that spell will call a greater demon who can control storms; if
called, that demon will make sure that you can’t escape the
island. We would have to break it.”

“
How
long will it take?”

“
Perhaps
a week...but I cannot get your sister out until the day of this full
moon. The Spider only leaves the web to summon; the only way I will
have any chance of getting to your sister out is if he and the rest
of the members of the web are not there. We will need to smuggle you
out... I have an uncle who brings pigs back and forth from the
island; he would do it in part as a favor but for this big of a risk
you’ll need to pay him. I have no money.”