We’re five minutes out, Issy’s voice said directly into my head as she checked the map on her smartwatch. Are you all ready for the briefing now?

  I heaved a heavy sigh, but a smirk pulled at my lips.

  Yeah, I guess so, I thought. Are you sure we have to this time? I mean, we probably already know everything we need to know, right?

  Phoebe snorted and glanced across at me.

  I assume so, she added. I doubt Avery has anything new to tell us.

  Issy’s eyes narrowed as she looked back at us, craning her head to see everyone around her flowing hair.

  I’m sure she’ll find something to tell us, she thought back flatly, her tone utterly lacking enthusiasm.

  Oh, she definitely will, Mel agreed. Let’s see what she has to say, I guess.

  Issy moved her hand to shield her mouth from the wind, bringing the other one up to join it.

  “Avery,” she said into the smartwatch on her wrist. “ETA four minutes and thirty-nine seconds. What do we need to know about the situation before we land?”

  A nervous laugh came from my earpiece.

  “Oh, goodness!” Avery gasped, sounding panicked.

  I had to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing, but Livvie wasn’t as successful. A loud snort came from behind me, and I glanced back as Issy sent her a chiding look. It didn’t really matter, though. Avery wouldn’t have heard us. Our microphones were switched off when we were flying. It was the only way to prevent the entire team in the control room from being deafened by the constant wind.

  “Yeah, sorry. Didn’t realise how close we’d gotten,” Issy lied.

  She had. It was an intentional decision, just like the decision to fly at that specific altitude. For some reason, the trackers in our earpieces lagged at some heights. The tech team couldn’t work out why that was, but we took advantage of that knowledge, sticking to the altitudes we knew to be safe whenever we didn’t want to be bothered by the constant stream of conversation that would flow from Avery’s mouth if she knew just how close we were to the location.

  “Don’t worry! It happens,” Avery said brightly before launching into an explanation. “Approximately forty minutes ago, a swarm of giant spiders—”

  “How giant?” Phoebe interrupted her to ask.

  There was a slight pause, just as when Phoebe had asked Issy, and I felt nervousness grow within me. They had to be huge if people were so worried about telling Phoebe the truth.

  “It… varies,” Avery replied carefully. “Some aren’t too big. They’re about the height of a medium-sized dog, and I believe the largest confirmed sighting we have is… ah, just over seven foot.”

  “Seven… seven foot tall?” Phoebe clarified.

  “Yes.”

  I glanced across at Phoebe with a grimace. All the colour had drained from her face, and her eyes were wide. She hadn’t slowed at all, but it seemed as though she was no longer paying attention to anything that was going on around her.

  You can go home if you want, I offered softly. We’ll meet you there after.

  Phoebe blinked, remaining silent for a moment. It seemed as though she was debating taking me up on the offer, but something was stopping her from doing it. She clearly longed to be far away from the giant spiders and to never come face to face with them, but she was too brave.

  She shook her head, squeezing her hands into fists at her sides.

  No, it’s okay, she told me. I’ll be fine. But if they aren’t flammable…

  Then you can leave straight away, Issy promised.

  I plan to, Phoebe grumbled darkly.

  “Sorry about that interruption,” Issy said into her watch again. “Please continue, Avery.”

  “Of course. So, a swarm of… fairly large spiders emerged from the cave system beneath Nottingham,” Avery told us. “We’re not sure whether they originated down there or simply used the vast network of caves and tunnels to transverse the city without being seen. The majority of the entrances to the system are boarded up or were blocked off long ago, with a few minor exceptions. They’re mostly tourist attractions. You know, educational experiences, ghost tours, escape rooms, and that kind of thing. Although, why anyone would want to do an escape room in a cave is beyond me. I mean—”

  “What happened once they came out?” Issy asked, interrupting Avery before she had the chance to launch into yet another speech about escape rooms.

  She was surprisingly passionate about them, but then again, she was surprisingly passionate about a lot of things. Still, it had been a shock to hear her say that the mere fact that anyone wilfully chose to do escape rooms was proof that humanity was doomed. They went against the evolution and the theory of natural selection, apparently.

  I didn’t really listen to the rant. I tuned out after about ten minutes, but she said something about it making no sense to her. Apparently, according to the theory, humans should have evolved to not enjoy being locked in generally cramped spaces. People should have an innate fear of them because they usually lead to death.

  That’s what she said. Or at least, I was pretty sure she did. She also said something about how they were a slap in the face to Darwin and that he’d be rolling in his grave if he knew about them, but that part didn’t make any sense to me. Maybe she had a point, but I didn’t try too hard to figure it out.

  It was funny whenever Avery got worked up about something like that, though. It was rarely something that actually mattered, but she cared far too much regardless, and I really didn’t get what she hated so much about escape rooms. I’d never done one, but they seemed kind of fun to me.

  I think I’d enjoy it. The thought of having to solve puzzles and riddles and that kind of thing with a time limit scared me a little, but it also seemed fun. Maybe I’d be good at it, but even if I wasn’t, it would make me feel like a detective or a spy or something.

  A jolt went through me. I was a spy. Or I was going to become one in the other world, the one with the Academy. I was avoiding it for the time being, but I would be a spy there one day. Perhaps I’d get locked in a room and have to solve a series of clues to get out for real someday.

  It seemed dangerous, and part of me was scared, but a larger part was excited.

  “Oh!” Avery cried, clearly realising she was meant to be briefing us. “Not a lot, really. I mean, there was the initial panic, which caused a bit of a stampede, obviously. That’s still somewhat ongoing, but it’s mostly stopped. Either people have gotten away from the spiders, or they’re in hiding.”

  “Okay… and what about the spiders?” Issy asked. “What did they do? The report said they weren’t attacking people, right?”

  “Yes. I mean, no. They weren’t attacking people. They’ve captured a handful of humans; we believe there are nine, but the picks seem opportunistic rather than intentional.”

  There was a slight pause whilst that information sunk in. It was reassuring. If the spiders were just capturing people who got too close to them, that was probably a good thing. It meant they were unlikely to be particularly organised or to have a specific goal or intention, which always made the fight a little easier.

  “And what about the spread? Before we left, it said they hadn’t gone too far. Are they still staying close to the tunnel entrances or—”

  Issy was cut off by the rapid clicking of a mouse, and we waited for Avery to find the information she needed. She was taking too long, though. Impatience grew within me as the silence stretched on, and I wished I could grab my phone and scroll through the report myself rather than having to wait for Avery to do it.

  I couldn’t, though. Obviously. I didn’t have my phone on me. It was in the void or wherever it was until I transformed back into my normal clothes, but even if I had it on me, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to bring myself to use it. It felt too dangerous. I was far too aware of how much damage something like a phone could do to a person if it fell from that height.

  “They have ventured a little further now,” Avery said eventually. “But they’re mostly staying within a… three-mile radius. The majority of the spiders are staying close to the city hall, however.”

  Does it seem coordinated? Mel prompted.

  From what I’d heard, it didn’t, but it was always good to ask. Issy normally did. It changed how we fought.

  “Does the spread seem coordinated?” Issy echoed, sending a grateful smile back at Mel. “Are the spiders communicating?”

  I think before, I would have assumed they weren’t. I didn’t know much about spiders or many other animals, but spiders couldn’t talk. I was aware there were other ways of communicating that didn’t involve speech, but I would have just assumed they weren’t doing that.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  But I’d learnt better. There were too many attacks. I’d witnessed too many creatures, that shouldn’t have been anywhere near as smart as they were, doing terrifyingly intelligent things, and that made me more cautious. It made me more aware of the potential.

  “We… don’t believe so,” Avery responded hesitantly. “It’s hard to say for sure. The group closest to the city hall seem somewhat organised, but we’re not certain.”

  “Okay—” Issy started to say, but Avery cut her off.

  “They’ve not breached the building yet, as far as we’re aware. Our communication with the people inside has been disrupted, but before that happened, they had begun barricading the doors and windows. Hopefully, that should keep the larger ones at bay.”

  “And the smaller ones?” Issy asked as the city came into view in the distance.

  It was little more than a speck. A cluster of buildings, slowly growing more dense.

  “We’re not sure.”

  There was a slight pause before Issy spoke again.

  “Do you know if it was intentional? Whatever happened with the communication?”

  “We don’t. It may have been intentional, but it’s equally possible the signals are just being blocked by the web somehow,” Avery said. “Or there may be someone working with the spiders and directing them to attack certain areas to isolate those in the hall whilst also launching a remote attack.”

  “Is that likely? Do you have a suspect?”

  Avery didn’t reply for a moment, and I waited, holding my breath. It was harder when a human was working with the creatures. They were immediately more scary. Not only did it mean they had found a way to communicate with them and, therefore, were likely to be very smart and dangerous, but it also meant they were protected. The creatures always defended them far more than they should have, and that made things worse. It always did.

  “We… don’t at the moment. Tom’s working on it, though!” Avery informed us. “From what we can see, there are no external attacks coming, but we’re not certain. We were monitoring a handful of individuals who live in Nottingham.”

  “Are they all accounted for?” Issy questioned.

  “No. We’ve managed to find seven, but the locations of the other five are still unknown. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are involved, of course,” she added. “The situation on the ground is chaotic, so it could just be a coincidence. It is possible we are just not currently able to locate them, but they aren’t involved with the attack at all.”

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. That absolutely was possible, but I couldn’t quite make myself believe that it was a coincidence. They seemed few and far between. Judging by the worried look Phoebe sent me, she felt the same way, and the rest of the girls seemed equally concerned.

  We’d slowed ever so slightly, trying to give ourselves as much time as possible to gather information before we reached the city. That was fine, though. It wasn’t really an active attack. From what Avery was saying, the spiders weren’t hurting anyone, so we had time.

  We should have started the briefing sooner, I thought to the others with a sigh.

  Livvie snorted again.

  Is, can you ask if the missing suspects have worked together before? she requested.

  Oh, yeah. That’s a great question!

  “Have any of the missing five individuals worked together in the past?” Issy said into her watch. “And were they near any of the entrances before the attacks began?”

  “As far as we’re aware, they weren’t, but it’s hard to know for certain. We might not be aware of every entrance, and we don’t have eyes on them all the time. And as for the working together in the past… one sec, I have the information somewhere here,” Avery muttered before pausing. The loud clicking of a mouse sounded once more as she searched frantically. “Ah, yes! They… have. Well, some of them have. We have unconfirmed reports that two of the potential suspects worked together in a research lab approximately… seven and a half years ago, and… ah. Two other suspects went to primary school together, and both lived in a small village on the outskirts of the city. That doesn’t necessarily mean they knew each other, but…”

  She trailed off, and we glanced across at Alice. It wasn’t intentional, but she was the only one of us who lived in a small village, and her expression made her feelings clear.

  “We can assume they did?” she said flatly.

  “Yes. There were only twelve people in their class at the primary school, so it does seem likely,” was Avery’s answer.

  That made sense based on Alice’s experiences. If the village where they’d grown up was anything like Alice’s, everyone knew everyone. It was kind of creepy and reminded me of the village near where my grandparents lived. It felt like if we did anything wrong there, people would be talking about it immediately, and news would get back to Alice’s parents.

  We didn’t really care about that, not anymore, but it was still intimidating. Her parents didn’t tell us off or anything, but I don’t think any of us liked knowing we were being watched. It happened wherever we went, but it just felt more oppressive in that village. It was part of the reason we didn’t stay at hers that much, despite how big her bedroom was.

  “And the research lab the others worked at,” Issy started. “Do you know what they were studying? Could it be related at all?”

  “I think so… Alex, did you have that information?” Avery snapped.

  We waited as a muffled voice came through the earpieces, but it was too soft to pick up. The noise suppression on Avery’s microphone was too good, and that was always frustrating. I hated when I was able to hear someone talking but couldn’t actually pick out the words.

  Slow down a bit more, Issy thought to us as we waited. We’ll get to the city hall in under a minute at this pace.

  Immediately, we eased back a little. My eyes scanned the streets below as we passed, searching for signs of spiders or anything else, but we were still too far out. There was evidence of chaos. Too many cars were on the road for the time of day, and I assumed they were all trying to get as far away from the centre of the city as possible.

  “Okay,” Avery said. “Their lab wasn’t particularly noteworthy. It was privately funded and seemed to have been focusing on theoretical physics mostly, but I don’t believe it made any real breakthroughs. We would have heard of them if so.”

  She laughed loudly, but we didn’t join in. It felt as though we weren’t a part of the joke she was enjoying for some reason. Perhaps it was just more information that was above our pay grade.

  She’s talking in past tense, I pointed out. When did it shut down?

  It wasn’t necessarily related, and I knew that, but something was nibbling at me. It felt like I was missing something, but I wasn’t sure what. My brain was aware of something, aware of some connection, but I couldn’t figure it out. It was just there, pulling at the back of my mind and making me feel unsteady.

  “Is the lab still in operation?” Issy asked once Avery had finished laughing.

  “Yes, but I doubt it will be for much longer,” she said. “In the past year alone, it’s gone from fifty-seven employees to… six.”

  I couldn’t help but wince. I knew very little about business or how anything like that worked, but it seemed like a big change and not in a good way.

  “But the two suspects don’t work there anymore?”

  “No. Once was fired seven and a half years ago, and Harriett… six months ago,” Avery said. “Do we know what she’s doing now?”

  She was clearly talking to someone else. Her tone always changed a little when she did. It became sharper and more clipped.

  Do you think there’s a connection between the lab firing a bunch of people and the city hall? Livvie asked. Like, could this be the reason they’ve targeted it? Maybe some of the councillors could be to blame or something?

  I’ll ask.

  “Unemployed,” Avery told us. “But will probably start working at the local university before too long.”

  “Great,” Issy said. “And do we know who’s funding the lab? Is it linked to any of the councillors or, like, the mayor or something? Is there even a mayor of Nottingham?”

  “There is. Her name is Carole McCulloch,” Avery said without hesitation. “But no, we don’t think there’s a connection between her or any of the other councillors. The councillors’ offices aren’t even based in the city hall. They were moved a long time ago. I don’t think they even have the council meetings there anymore. Let me check.”

  An aggressively loudly clacking noise came through the earpiece, and I winced. Somehow, the noise suppression blocked out other people’s voices, but Avery’s typing could be heard perfectly.

  At first, before I’d seen her in the control room, I thought it was some kind of weird glitch with the microphone. I assumed it was amplifying the volume, but then I saw her at the computer, and immediately, I began to feel bad for anyone who worked nearby. They must be at risk of going deaf.

  “That’s okay,” Issy hurried to say. “I doubt it’s import—”

  “Got it!” Avery cried. “I was right. The city hall is mostly used for administration these days. So, there were no councillors inside. The only people there were public servants and civilians who were unfortunate enough to be visiting at the time. We’ve reviewed the list of those inside, and there’s no one of note, really. We don’t believe they were targeting a specific person or department, but if anything changes, we’ll let you know.”

  “Okay, great,” Issy said.

  Is that… is that it? Phoebe thought.

  I stared in the direction she was looking, seeing the giant white building that was just starting to come into view. For a moment, I wasn’t sure why she looked so confused. The building looked strange. It was white and a little bulky looking. No windows could be seen, making it look more like a prison than a government building, and that felt wrong.

  It was. The city hall shouldn’t have been white. The bricks were probably another colour or something, and the shape was wrong. It shouldn’t have been so weird looking, but it was entirely encased in a white, wispy material that shrouded it from view. Even the dome on top of the hall was hidden.

  Web. It was webs, I realised as I spotted the black dots, and my eyes turned wide. They were everywhere. Clusters of dark shapes clung to the outside of the building, and my heart began to pound as I realised just how many there were. We were still far away and high up. It was hard to work out just how big the spiders were, but I could tell they were huge.

  That’s it, Issy sent back grimly as Avery blabbered on about the departments that were still based within the building.

  I barely even heard what she was saying, though. All of my attention was on the scene in the distance as I tried to take it all in and understand exactly what I was seeing. It was so much worse than Avery made it seem.

  Something was down there, though. It was calling out to me, and I blinked, letting my eyes leave the city hall in search of whatever it was. My gaze roamed the large empty space in front of the building, blanketed in a layer of webbing, until it found my target.

  A fountain.

  There was a fountain down there, I realised as a slight smile appeared on my lips. I could use that. I would use it.

  “What’s our goal?” Issy asked, interrupting Avery. “Do we have to capture the spiders, eradicate them, or focus on rescuing specific targets and civilians?”

  Those were the normal directives we were given before a fight like the one before us, and they all seemed equally likely. Sometimes, especially when it was mutated animals or a potential alien terrorising a city, the science team asked us to capture them alive, which was always difficult.

  It was more tricky. It meant we had to get closer to them and use non-lethal force to simply incapacitate them rather than being able to use the full extent of our abilities, which was more difficult. It didn’t feel natural, and we had to constantly be aware of what we were doing, which made it even harder to defeat them before they hurt others.

  I preferred that, though. It was harder, but I didn’t like killing others. Even when it was an animal or an alien rather than a person, I still felt awful. I knew it was the only way sometimes. There were too many people in danger, or the risk was too high, but it still made me feel guilty. I liked to think there was always another way, but it wasn’t always true. I knew that.

  “Eradicate them.”