“What’s in the backpack?” Ethan asked to Alex as the four of them gathered in the dungeon entrance.

It was the last day of January and for the first time in over six weeks the Diving Club was going to attempt some diving. An excited Alex informed all the members the day before that he had something he wanted to try. This was actually quite a surprise considering how much he seemed to be terrified of the spiders on the third floor.

“You’ll see,” Alex said with a knowing smile.

If you say so, Ethan thought hitting the button to call the elevator. Whatever Alex had in mind it had better be good because their spirit weapons were pretty much useless against the spiders. They were just too small and too fast, though compared to normal spiders they were huge.

“It’s about time you found your courage,” Quin said to Alex. “I thought we were going to have to drag you back down here.

Alex didn’t respond but instead glared at Quin while Bella, ever the peacekeeper, said, “I wasn’t very fond of them either. I think it’s brave of all of us to come back down here.”

Alex smiled fondly at her while Quin just gave her a blank look until the elevator doors slide open and the four of them climbed in. Ethan hit the button going down to the third floor and a moment later they were descending.

Exiting out onto the third floor was disorienting. Just like the first time, going down only to step out onto the top of a mountain confused not only Ethan’s head, but the rest of his body as well. He hoped this time he’d at least keep himself from falling like an idiot.

“Let’s move out a little ways and then I’ll go over what I’ve brought and the plan,” Alex said motioning for Ethan to lead them along the mountains.

Doing as he was instructed Ethan began moving the group in the direction of the cave though Alex stopped him once they’d gone a decent way from the elevator and were on a flatter part of the mountain top.

“Hopefully you have an exterminator hiding in that pack,” Ethan said smiling at his own joke.

“Not an exterminator, but rather exterminators,” Alex replied pulling out a candle lighter and holding it up triumphantly.

“What’s with the lighter?” Quin asked looking less than impressed.

“Patience my dear lady,” Alex said dramatically. “First put these on though.”

He rummaged in the bag and pulled out four respirators. Not the fancy kind with valves, but the cheap kind you’d see worn around hospitals by people trying not to breathe in illnesses.

“You want us to put face masks on?” Bella asked sounding unconvinced by the idea.

“Yeah, I’m going to wear one myself as well,” Alex said and to demonstrate he deactivated his armor and pulled the respirator over his nose and mouth before reactivating his armor. “It’s not that bad.”

His voice sounded slightly muffled as he implored Bella to take the masks with the hand they were in. She finally did as he wanted by grabbing them and passing them out to the other two.

One by one they deactivated their armor, put the masks on, and then reactivated their armor. Ethan was not at all a fan of this. The mask made it hard to breathe and was uncomfortable to boot. How in the heck did people walk around wearing these things all day?

“I know they’re not fun,” Alex said pulling some long heavy gloves out of his backpack and putting them on, “but I think they are a necessary precaution. The fumes produced by this stuff can be quite nasty.”

“Just show us what your plan is,” Ethan said starting to get annoyed at all the theatrics.

He was never one for too much drama and right now Alex was very much enjoying building anticipation among his friends.

Finally he metal spray can out of his bag and held it aloft like it was the big reveal. Ethan didn’t get it. Ethan didn’t get it at all. What was it?

“Is that spray paint?” he asked confused.

“No,” Alex said rolling his eyes. “Like spray paint would pack the kind of firepower we need for this. Come on man, it’s Engine Starter Fluid.”

“Engine Starter?” Quin asked also clearly not understanding.

“Alex, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Bella said looking nervous, clearly understanding something that the other two did not.

“Relax Bella,” Alex said smiling at her. “It’s perfectly safe. I’ve taken all the necessary precautions.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is not perfectly safe. DO NOT try this at home.

Turning away from the group and pointing the spray can out over the side of the mountain he began spraying before clicking the lighter and holding the flame up into the stream of liquid. A second later the liquid was gone and a torrent of fire was now shooting out in front of Alex.

Ethan’s eyes went wide and he took an involuntary step back from the heat that was being produced. Grinning he shook his head at the audacity of the other boy.

“Alex I thought I told you no flame throwers,” Ethan said still grinning.

“Hey you told me we wouldn’t be able to buy and bring a flame thrower down here,” Alex said stopping the spray of flames and turning back grinning. “You didn’t say anything about not making our own.”

“You do realize how volatile that fire is?” Bella asked still looking concerned. “It will burn everything in sight.”

“That’s the general plan,” Alex said winking at her.

“Everything includes us,” Bella said softly.

“Hey I’ve brought everyone fireproof gloves, and with our spirit armor around the rest of our bodies I figure the risk of burns is pretty minimal,” he said shrugging.

Bella looked like she was about to argue some more but whatever she was going to say was cut off by Quin saying, “Now this looks fun, give me that stuff. I want to try.”

“I knew someone would see my side,” Alex said happily reaching into his bag and pulling out a pair of gloves, a can, and a lighter before handing them to Quin. “Like my momma always said, the only good spider is one that’s been burned to ashes.”

“You’re mother did not say that,” Ethan replied laughing.

“No, she didn’t,” Alex admitted before adding, “but it’s the thought that counts.”

“How did you get all of this stuff?” Ethan asked curiously. “Isn’t that stuff like highly controlled or something?”

“No,” Alex said laughing. “I ordered a crate of it off of Amazon. They even brought it right to our dorm for me.”

“That’s just--,” Ethan began before Bella finished for him, “Dangerous.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault I paid attention in Chemistry,” Alex said shrugging.

I don’t recall Thorton teaching us anything like this in Biology, Ethan thought. Maybe he was in the wrong class. All they seemed to do in Biology was poke at dead squid.

A wave of heat suddenly came from his left as Quin unleashed a stream of flame just like Alex had showed them. Her face lit up and she looked like a child experiencing her first roller coaster.

“This is awesome,” she said delighted. “I take back every time I thought you were a coward, Alex.”

“You thought I was a coward?” Alex asked with a mixture of surprise and hurt in his voice.

“Yeah pretty much every day you wouldn’t come back down here,” Quin replied shrugging. Anyways let’s do this.”

“Sure,” Alex said and he looked like he wanted to say more but then shook his head and pulled out materials for both Ethan and Bella.

Both of them took the gloves, lighters, and cans reluctantly. It seemed like a really stupid idea still to Ethan, but now with Quin excited for it he didn’t know how he was going to point this out. Sure they were likely to burn the spiders, but in the process he also thought it was likely that they end up burning themselves.

In the end he settled on silently accepting the stuff and following behind Alex and Quin as they led the group along the mountain towards the cave. Like the previous time, the journey wasn’t easy, and the thin air did no favors for Ethan.

As they approached the cave, Ethan saw Alex tense up and he really couldn’t blame the other boy for that. Even though he didn’t have the same fear of spiders, the place was like something out of a nightmare and he didn’t much look forward to going back in.

“Alright here’s the plan,” Alex said stopping several feet away from the cave mouth. “We’re going to line up one right next to each other and move forward slowly spraying our flames at every surface in front of us. Move your flames slowly and for the love of God do NOT point them at any of us.”

Following his instructions they lined up with Alex on the right, then Quin, then Ethan, and a very nervous Bella on the left. She looked like she was going to lose what little nerve she had any moment now and make a break for it.

“Are you alright?” Ethan whispered to her.

“I just really don’t like this plan,” she muttered.

“I know, I’m not crazy about it either,” Ethan admitted. “Let’s just see how it goes and if it gets too dangerous we can always bolt.”

“Not if we end up getting burned alive,” Bella said somberly.

“Hey, that’s better than getting eaten by hundreds of spiders,” Ethan said winking at her.

“I don’t know, I might take the spiders instead,” Bella retorted.

“Are you two done being babies?” Alex cut in. “If you trust in the Lord, you’ll be fine. Now let’s light it up.”

I’m not worried about the Lord, Ethan thought. I’m worried about you shooting flames around me.

Quin was the first to get her flame going, followed by Alex, and then Ethan. Bella took a good minute longer than the rest of them before a stream of fire shot out in front of her as well. Slowly they inched forward trying to stay in sync and keep themselves lined up. They had pretty good motivation for this because if one of them got out in front they’d end up getting blasted by flame.

One good side effect of using fire like this was that it lit up the cave in front of them and made it very easy to see where they were going. Spiders of course were everywhere inside, but they didn’t stand a chance against the streams of fire come from the four students. Ethan had to admit that even if this wasn’t the safest thing to do, it was very effective against the arachnids.

A problem was fast approaching that the cave was narrowing as they got further in and soon they wouldn’t be able to march four across. In fact if he remembered correctly it turned sharply to the left at the back and there was only enough room for people to go through single file.

“Alex we’re running out of room,” Ethan called over to the other boy.

“I know, we’re going to have to have some of us stop spraying as we get towards the back,” Alex replied. “Quin, when i tell you, stop spraying. Alright stop.”

Unfortunately while Quin was known for many things, listening was not one of them. She didn’t stop and as Ethan edged past her he was blasted by a torrent of fire. It washed over him like he’d just walked into an oven and caused him to stop his own spray.

Quin realized a moment later what happened and stopped but Ethan was already on fire by that point. Doing as every kid learned at a young age, he dropped to the ground and began frantically rolling around. He felt hard rock scratch through his skin but ignored it until the intense heat disappeared.

“Ethan are you alright?” Bella asked very concerned.

“I think so,” Ethan said breathing heavily. “That was too close. I knew this was a stupid idea.”

“It wasn’t a stupid idea,” Alex retorted still spraying in front of them. “Some people just don’t know how to listen.”

“You hardly gave any notice,” Quin snapped defensively.

“I gave enough,” Alex said staring at her.

“Are you burned?” Bella asked helping Ethan to his feet.

“I don’t feel burned,” checking over the parts of his body he could see.

His spirit armor looked to have taken all the damage. Huge sections of it around his midsection where the flames hit him were completely gone. It was missing from his left arm too which was scratched and bleeding from the rocky ground.

Luckily though the armor served its purpose and prevented the fire from reaching his actual body for which he was extremely grateful. Burning to death was definitely something he never wanted to experience.

“Look at your armor,” Bella said. “It’s half gone.”

“It’ll repair itself over time,” Ethan said shrugging.

“Maybe we should go back for today,” Bella suggested.

“No, I’m good, let's continue,” Ethan replied quickly before adding, “but maybe I’ll walk behind Quin.”

Quin looked at him with an embarrassed expression and he thought she was going to say something but instead she just nodded after a moment. Yep, should have figured apologizing would be too much for her, Ethan thought sourly and this was just when he was starting to be able to tolerate the girl.

“Okay, listen carefully,” Alex said giving Quin a knowing look. “I will go first spraying. I will be the only one spraying and you three will follow closely behind in single-file order. I’d keep those gloves on just in case you’re going to need to spray but for the love of God don’t spray unless instructed and do not point them at anyone else...Quin.”

She didn’t respond verbally to this obvious jab but instead stared daggers at Alex. If he wasn’t careful she’d “accidently” light him on fire next. The look in her eyes said she was definitely thinking about it.

Always the one to try and defuse the situation Bella asked, “Can we just move? I don’t like it in here, so if we could get this over with quickly I’d appreciate that.”

Grunting Alex nodded his head and began moving towards the back of the cave moving his spray back and forth as he went to prevent any spiders from getting close to us. This wasn’t difficult as most of the spiders were fleeing as fast as they could deeper into the cave and away from the flames.

When they reached the narrow opening at the back that turned left Alex took the lead with Quin close behind him, then Ethan, and then Bella clinging closely to his back. Ethan actually felt like the middle part of a sandwich squished between Bella and Quin with almost no visibility. He kept bumping into Quin, but she didn’t notice, or didn’t care enough to acknowledge it.

Honestly he was just glad he wasn’t claustrophobic because between the flickering darkness, the girls, and the cave walls he was feeling very cramped and uncomfortable.

“What’s it look like up there?” he called up to Alex.

“Still just a tunnel,” Alex said. “Hang on it’s gonna go completely dark here for a second while I get a new can.”

Just as he said the light coming from in front of them went out causing Bella to dig her fingers harder into Ethan. Her nails were actually starting to hurt a little bit, but he knew she was afraid of the dark, so he simply gritted his teeth and put up with it in silence.

A moment later the light came back as Alex started on his new can and they started moving again. Bella relaxed her grip slightly relieving some of the sharp pressure on Ethan’s arms.

In silence they walked on. The only sounds being the spraying flames coming in front of Alex and the sound of burning spiders which was not a pleasant sound to listen to. Even though the spiders tried to eat them the last time they were here, Ethan didn’t think he could ever get used to listening to something burn to death. Part of him was actually glad that he couldn’t see that well in here.

“Oh my god,” Alex said stopping abruptly and causing Quin to walk right into his back.

“What is it?” Ethan asked anxiously.

“I think we found their nest,” Alex said with a note of horror in his voice. “Get out here and look at this.”

He scooted forward and Ethan noticed that they must have reached the end of the tunnel because it opened up into a larger cavern. Stepping out Ethan could see by the firelight what Alex was talking about. Spiders and spiderwebs were everywhere in this enormous cavern. The walls looked like they were living things because of the constant movement of the hundreds or maybe thousands of legs moving on them. The only place they didn’t move was the area around the four of them where Alex kept a steady flame going.

The webs were giant hanging from the caverns ceiling and run from wall to wall. They were far bigger than any one of these spiders could have possibly made by themselves but then there were hundreds of them. In the center of one of these webs was a large bundle wrapped up tightly in webbing.

“So we’re burning it all right?” Alex asked as more of a statement than a question.

He clearly didn’t want be in here any longer than was absolutely necessary.

“Wait,” Ethan said. “They’ve caught something there, we should probably check out what it is.”

“Why?” Alex asked looking like he was on the verge of panic. “Whatever it was, it’s probably dead. Let’s just torch this place.”

“We can’t know for sure until we check,” Ethan said calmly. “Alex you and me are going to move up close to that thing. You keep the spray going to keep the spiders away from us, but please don’t hit either me or whatever is in that bundle. I’m going to cut it down with my sword. Quin and Bella will stay back and spray fire to the sides to keep us from getting surrounded.”

“Fine, just be quick,” Alex said shaking his head and moving up towards where the bundle hung from the web.

Following close after him Ethan dismissed his armor and resummonded it in order to summon his spirit sword to him. He’d need to be careful when cutting whatever was trapped in that bundle down so as not to cut it, but he thought he could do it.

Twin eruptions of flame sounded behind him and he knew that Bella and Quin were following his instructions. He was less worried about them than Alex who looked to be on the verge of completely losing it. This must have been like something straight out of his nightmares.

Raising his sword Ethan began to cut through the webbing around the bundle figuring it would be safer to first bring the whole thing to the ground and then try and free whatever was inside. The webbing holding it in place was surprisingly strong and it took a great deal of effort for Ethan to slice through it. Little-by-little though he was able to free it until it finally dropped to the ground.

From up close the bundle was around the same size as he was, which meant that whatever these things caught was fairly large. Slowly he began scraping at the webbing covering it with his blade. It was tedious and time consuming but it was much safer than just sticking the point of his blade straight down into it which might end up stabbing whatever was inside.

After a few minutes of this Alex finally snapped, “Are you almost done? What is taking so long?”

“I’m trying to be careful,” Ethan replied annoyed. “If I just stick my blade in, I might kill whatever is inside so I’m scraping off one layer at a time.”

“Just try to hurry up,” Alex said looking like he was about to turn his spray on Ethan.

A couple minutes after this and he finally had enough of the webbing off to begin to make out a form. The crazy thing was that it wasn’t an animal, it was in the shape of a person, but how did a person get trapped down here?

“Alex,” Ethan said to him after finally clearing the webbing off of the face.

“What?” Alex asked irritable.

“Look,” Ethan replied calmly motioning to the face.

It was the face of a girl around their age. Her skin had a bluish-purple tint that Ethan guessed was from whatever the spiders did to her and her eyes were closed but upon leaning his head in he could hear her breathing.

“How did she get down here?” Alex asked alarmed.

“I don’t know,” Ethan answered removing more and more of the webbing. “Aren’t you glad I didn’t let you burn everything now.”

Alex ignored this question and instead asked, “Is she alive?”

“Yeah she’s breathing,” Ethan said looking at her jet black hair and facial features as he worked.

She was cute, very cute and probably Japanese like Alex. Was she a student from the school? He didn’t remember hearing about any going missing but who else could she be.

“Here take over spraying,” Alex said, “let me check her vitals.”

Of course, let me do all the work and then you get to come in and play the hero, Ethan thought rolling his eyes. He did as he was asked though and swapped positions with Alex letting the other boy inspect the girl’s vitals.

“Her heartbeat is erratic, unlike any that I’ve heard before,” Alex said after checking her pulse. “Her breathing is okay, but she’s ice cold to the touch, we should probably warm her up. Hold that thing very, very still and I’m going to move her closer to the flame.”

Lifting her slight frame, Alex moved closer to where Ethan held the flame nervously. This was asking for a terrible accident.

“If we can get her body temperature up then I think we should try to carry her back to the elevator,” Alex said watching her. “She needs a hospital, there’s only so much I can do down here in this cave.”

“What’s going on up there?” Quin asked from behind the two boys.

“Not a lot,” Ethan answered smiling. “Alex just found a cute girl that I think he’s falling in love with.”

“I am not,” Alex said quickly blushing.

“You found a girl?” Quin asked surprised.

“Yeah, wrapped up in webbing,” Ethan answered. “We’re trying to warm her up before we move her.”

Suddenly the sound of coughing cut any reply Quin would have given off as the girl next too Alex began coughing and wheezing. She hacked for a good minute before opening her eyes and staring wildly around looking completely panicked.

“You’re alright, you’re alright,” Alex said grabbing her shoulders to keep her from shaking. “We’ve got you, you’re safe now.”

She locked her terrified eyes on his and then fell against him clinging on. Ethan noticed that Alex didn’t look displeased with the situation. He could hardly blame the other boy though. The girl was cute. She was even cuter with her eyes open now. The were this beautiful reddish-violet color that seemed to dance in the firelight.

“I’m Alex,” Alex said after a minute. “What’s your name? Are you a student at the school?”

“I’m Ai,” she replied softly, “and yes I’m a student.”

“Do you think you can stand?” Alex asked.

“With your help, I’m sure I can manage,” she said.

Gingerly Alex helped her to her feet and allowed the girl to lean on him when she apparently couldn’t stand on her own.

“This is Ethan, and the two girls over there are Bella and Quin,” Alex said walking her back toward the cavern entrance.

“Girls?” Ai asked snapping her attention in the direction of Quin and Bella.

“Yeah, Bella and Quin,” Alex repeated there names.

“Are you okay?” Bella asked a moment later. “This must have been a terrible experience for you.”

“It was, I’m just glad Alex found me,” she said and Ethan caught Quin roll her eyes out of the corner of his.

“Bella or Quin, one of you should lead and then we’ll follow, and Ethan you spray backwards as we move to keep any spiders from following us,” Alex instructed.

“I’ll do it,” Quin said quickly to Bella moving into the narrow tunnel.

The rest of the group followed as Alex instructed and Ethan found himself walking backwards in order to blast fire to cover their retreat.

“What is that blue armor you’re wearing?” Ai asked.

“Oh that’s um a bit hard to explain,” Alex replied.

“I’m very curious, I’d like to know all about you,” Ai said and now Ethan was absolutely sure that she was hitting on Alex.

“I’m really not that interesting, I’m from Kansas City,” Alex said in an embarrassed but pleased tone. “Where are you from?”

“Hinan,” she answered causing Ethan to think.

She was from the school, that didn’t make sense. Maybe she was just being shy.

“You’re from the town of Misty Oaks?” Alex asked sounding suspicious now.

“Yes, I’m from the town,” she replied. “It’s a lovely place, wouldn’t you agree?”

“It’s fine,” Alex answered a bit stiffly.

“What grade are you in at the school Ai?” Alex asked casually as the group exited the tunnel into the cave.

“I’m a first year,” she replied calmly.

“You’re a freshman?” Alex asked surprised. “So are we, but I don’t remember seeing you.”

“I’ve been down here a long time,” she replied shrugging.

“Have you been conscious the whole time?” Alex asked.

“No, but it’s been a long time,” she replied.

“Hey Ethan that’s probably good enough,” Alex said turning to Ethan. “You can probably go up ahead with Quin and Bella.”

“Okay, if you think so,” Ethan replied stoping the flame and turning around in order to walk straight.

“Ai, I’m going to lean you up against the cave wall for a second so I can grab something out of my backpack for the mountain climb,” Alex said calmly moving her over to wall.

“Sure, just be quick, I don’t think I can stay on my feet for very long without you,” slipping her arm off of his shoulder and allow him to lean her against the wall.

Pulling off his backpack Alex began rummaging inside of it while the rest of the group waited impatiently. Ethan wasn’t sure what Alex needed out of the thing that couldn’t wait until they were back on the elevator. Ai looked to be in decent shape but the girl still needed to be checked out at a hospital.

Frowning Alex straightened up pulling a lighter and a can from his pack and aiming them at Ai.

“Alex what are you doing?” Ethan yelled alarmed as it dawned on him what was about to happen.

“What needs to be done,” Alex said clicking the lighter and holding down the sprayer on the can.

Flames shot forward and hit Ai like a tidal wave. The last image of her face Ethan saw was one of shocked horror. She then began to scream terrible piercing screams that grew higher with every second.

“Alex stop,” Ethan yelled even as he knew it was too late. “You’re killing her.”

Alex didn’t stop instead he continued reciting something under his breath that Ethan couldn’t hear over the screaming.

Suddenly the flaming body of Ai transformed, flattening out and elongating with eight long and terrible legs coming from it. The body of a giant flaming spider surged forward with it’s pincers clicking at Alex and for the second time in the last few minutes Ethan stood completely motionless, shocked.

“Alex, don’t you want to help me?” Ai asked in the same voice. “Did you not enjoy me clinging to you?”

“Our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name,” Alex recited louder aiming the fire directly into Ai’s, now terrible face.

“Ah, stop that, don’t you want a nice girl like me?” Ai asked again trying to push forward through the flames.

“We’ve got to help him,” Ethan finally said snapping out of his surprise. “Hit that thing with everything we’ve got.”

Moving next to Alex he aimed his can and began to hit the spider with fire followed by Quin and Bella who fell in beside him. Ai was doing alright with the single stream hitting her, but with four of them blasting her she recoiled curling her legs underneath her body and screaming in pain.

They kept going until they ran out of fluid and her body was nothing but ash. Alex actually kept holding his can down even after he ran out and had to be stopped by Ethan snatching it out of his hand.

“Alex, snap out of it, we’ve won,” Ethan said shaking his friend.

“Congratulations, you have cleared the third floor by defeating the Jorogumo. The fourth floor is now available to you,” the dungeon boom all around them.

“Alex?” Ethan asked again.

“I should have known better than to think a cute girl would start liking me that fast,” Alex muttered shaking his head.

“Well, she was pretty,” Ethan said, “and you couldn’t have known. Actually how did you know?”

“Her answers didn’t make-” Alex started before he was cut off by Quin saying, “Which part was pretty? Her giant pincers or her eight beautiful eyes?”

This caused Bella to laugh but she quickly hid it when she caught the look in Alex’s eyes.

“Whatever, I’ve learned my lesson,” Alex said. “I’m never trusting a girl again. I’m going to have nightmares for the rest of my life about this.”