Away from Asa, from the panic of the moment, the fury I had yet to quash, I breathed easier.
“You get murdery when you love people, huh?”
Three steps after Colby’s question, I managed to grate out, “I get murdery over you, yes.”
“You like Asa, a lot.”
“I do.” That was easy enough to admit. “But I don’t think I like that I like him.”
“You believe it makes you weak.” She tugged on my ear. “Vulnerable?”
“To love someone is to give them power over you.” I scratched my wrist under the bracelet. “That’s dangerous for someone like me. I don’t like feeling controlled. No. I don’t like feeling out of control.”
“You don’t like feeling at all.” She snorted. “You treated me like you do Asa, in the beginning. You were nicer, because I’m a kid, but you didn’t know what to do with me.”
“Colby…” I slowed my breakneck pace. “I’m sorry if I did it wrong.”
Her velvety feet tickled as she climbed my face, forcing me to hold her stare.
“You did a great job. You just had to get the hang of it. You’ll get the hang of Asa too.”
Dragging her down into my arms, I cuddled her against my chest. “How did you get to be so smart?”
“Clay vents about you guys a lot.” She giggled. “A lot.” She grinned up at me. “I mostly just told you what he’s always telling me. He thinks he gets it, but he doesn’t. Not like I do.” She turned solemn. “This stuff is hard for you. You have to work at it. More than most people.”
“Thanks?”
“Nobody loves like you do.” She rubbed her cheek on mine. “It’s worth waiting for.”
A bubbling noise drew my attention to the water in time to save me from the tears burning the backs of my eyes. A pair of red orbs set in a knotty black face emerged from the water, bubbles popping near the tip of its flat snout.
“That’s a makara.” She pressed against me. “They have ten legs and three mouths.”
A shudder rippled through my shoulders. “Nice to know I went swimming with that.”
“You went swimming with a lot more than that.” Colby wrinkled her nose. “To save your boyfriend.”
“Goddess bless, not you too.”
As often as Colby traveled to work with me in hairbow mode, I knew exactly where she picked up the habit. I only just trained the girls to use Asa’s name instead of calling him Boyfriend. I did not want to fight that battle on two fronts.
A quick check over my shoulder told me the guys were hanging back, giving us space to talk, which was nice. I had no doubt they overheard every second word, no matter how low we kept our voices, but I appreciated the gesture.
“Do you see that?” Colby leaned forward. “Is that a string? From a balloon maybe?”
The milky white cord was too thick for that, but it had no business out in the middle of nowhere. Though I had to admit, balloon releases were popular, and those suckers ended up as trash in the darnedest places.
“I’m not sure.” I slowed as we neared where it hung over the boardwalk. “It kind of looks like…”
“Spider,” Colby squeaked. “Nope, nope, nope.”
An eight-legged nightmare the size of a small pony descended from the canopy. Its body gleamed in oil-slick colors, its eyes opaque as moonstone, and chelicerae, pincherlike appendages, extended from its mouth. They click-clacked together, dripping ichor, and its fangs gleamed.
In the blink of an eye, Colby was gone, and I was alone. “What kind of familiar are you?”
“The kind that does not want to get eaten by a spider,” she squeaked. “I’m a moth, Rue. A moth.”
Even in cat-size moth mode, she was no match for this monster arachnid.