Gross, gross, gross gross!

Lin hovered a hand over the wall of the webbed dome, pausing for a moment before pushing against it. To her surprise it wasn’t sticky in the slightest, instead strangely smooth like polished marble. “Is Morgan really here?” she asked.

“She is,” Avalon looked up by her feet. “Morgan is waiting inside.”

“Great…” Lin carefully scanned the structure for any doors or windows. “Now how am I supposed to get in?”

“Like this.” The ferret’s eyes glowed along with the gem on its forehead. A golden light twirled around its body, and as it walked forward, the wall of webbing parted so that the creature could pass. The passage expanded until finally it was large enough for Lin to enter. “Follow me!”

“S- Seriously?”

Now that Lin could see the wall’s interior, she realized how thick it actually was. The webs built inwards into endless darkness, from which poured out a mass of miasma that threatened to choke the girl if she moved even a step further. “I… I can’t go in there. It’s impossible!” She fell to her knees and her vision blurred as the world around her faded to black…

Then, from the darkness, came a voice:

“Don’t go to sleep! Weren’t you going to play with me?”

Lin opened her eyes to see Avalon pawing at her hand. The light encircling its body wrapped its way up her arm and around the rest of her like a protective cloak. In an instant the world became clear and the air suddenly breathable.

“What did you do?” she asked, inhaling sharply. She stood back up, and looking at her hands she realized that the light around her was actually dancing about like fireflies. Beautiful.

“I made you better,” Avalon answered. Wagging its tail, it climbed up the leg of her pants and made its way to her shoulder. “Hurry!” it insisted. “Inside!”

There was no turning back now. Putting on a determined face, Lin walked into the unknown.

Though pitch black from the outside, as Lin proceeded into the structure she noticed that the inner walls emanated dim, red light. Strands of webbing dangled above, alongside signs and banners that once belonged to the outside world. In the near horizon, she spotted the daycare she had come to recognize after biking past several times.

The building itself was strangely untouched, its walls and ceilings clean compared to what was outside. It would have seemed ordinary if not for the occasional skittering of legs behind the walls, plus the miasma seeping from its depths.

Following the path of toxic air, it wasn’t long before she met with two large doors. From what she could tell, the source of this magic and miasma hid behind their protection.

“She’s in there,” said Avalon. “Morgan’s in there.”

Miasma burst from the doors as Lin forced them open, momentarily blinding the girl in a fog of black and purple. As the mist settled her eyes went wide at the sight before her.

Behind the doors was a cafeteria large enough to hold an entire school’s student body. Chairs and tables lay scattered across the room, half-eaten trays on some of them suggesting they had been recently used. What caught her attention however were the mass of cocoons hanging from the ceiling. Each one pulsed with an eery thump, almost as if alive.Were they alive? Was something alive inside?

Her eyes followed the eggs to the centre of the room, in which was stationed the largest cocoon of them all. Looking closer she saw a face peeking out of it; a face that she somewhat expected yet still couldn’t help but call out in surprise.

“Morgan!”