The descent into the Hollow Nest was silent, except for the soft clicks of spider legs brushing stone and the wet suck of humid air. Syza led them with an elegant, hypnotic sway to her hips, her body glistening with a faint sheen, half-silk and half-flesh. The spiderkin around them crawled along walls, upside-down on the ceilings, even slipping between cracks with unnatural grace. None dared speak, and not one of them met Allen's eyes.
Rinni clung to his side, her arms wrapped around his waist, her nose buried in the hem of his coat. "I don't like how quiet it is," she whispered. "It's like they're scared of something."
"They are," Fina muttered, stalking just ahead of them, her claws clicking against the obsidian floor. "And we haven't even seen it yet."
