Tangled Webs

I stood at the edge of the pond, gray water lapping against the dark, twisted roots that rose out of the silty ground like the writhing bodies of black snakes.

All around me stood dark trees, their jagged, leafless branches cutting cracked shapes across the overcast skies. A cold wind was blowing, sending shivers through my body as I wrapped my arms around myself, and I jumped as a group of crows suddenly exploded from the bushes beside me, their raucous caws echoing as they climbed their way higher into the tumultuous sky. An eerie red glow traced the edge of the horizon, as though painted on by a blood-dipped finger. I was afraid for a moment that I was all alone in this weird place - until I looked out across the pond and realized with horror that I wasn't.

To my right, about twenty paces from where I stood and facing towards the reddened horizon, was a dark-cloaked figure. Long gray hair cascaded down her back, course and tangled like dying moss. As the wind whistled through the branches above me, I felt a creeping dread sneak up my spine. I took a step backwards - and the figure must have heard the slight squelch of my sneaker in the mud, as I saw her head turn slowly to face me.

It was a banshee, I realized with a start. Like Mrs. Murdoch.

No; not like Mrs. Murdoch.

This one radiated something colder. Something more....ancient.

This banshee stood tall and imposing, and her face was nearly as gray as her hair, crosshatched with black lines as though the shadows of the branches had imbedded into the cracks of her skin. From her ashen face stared two yellow, pupil-less eyes which glowed with an unearthly light. Though I knew her eyes were blind, she still seemed to see me, as she took a step forward, one gnarled hand raised towards me like a claw.

I tried to turn and run, but I suddenly realized that I couldn't move - I was frozen in place, my muscles paralyzed though my mind was screaming at me to get out of there. The banshee began to move towards me, her mouth opened wide, a gaping black hole that seemed like it might swallow me as she began to scream…

(((0)))

I shot up in bed as my alarm blared on my nightstand.

I put a hand over my chest, trying to calm my pounding heart as the mist of the nightmare dissipated. Some banshee, I thought as I shut the screaming alarm off.

Even though it was a weekend, that didn't mean I was going to sleep in. If there's one thing my dad and I have in common, it's that we like our routines.

I stumbled downstairs, following the smell of fresh coffee and frying eggs.

Dad was at the stove, flipping eggs in a frying pan. He hadn't bothered to get dressed yet, and was wearing his green flannel pajama pants and worn-out T-shirt with a cartoon drawing of two teepees which read 'Too Tense' across the chest. His light brown hair was sleep-flattened on one side and his glasses were slightly fogged from the steam coming off the stove. He didn't look like someone who kept silver blades in the lining of his jackets or who knew sixteen ways to kill a wendigo.

"Oh, morning, Sam," he said as I stepped into the kitchen.

"Morning," I replied, heading for the cabinet to grab my favorite Garfield mug.

"Kettle's hot if you want tea," Dad said, transferring the eggs to a plate.

"I choose to live dangerously," I replied, reaching for the still-gurgling coffee pot instead. I made myself a bowl of cereal and we both sat down, eating in silence for a few minutes.

"So, I told Scoot I'd meet him at the comic store later today," I said after a little while.

"Ok."

I poked at my cereal, glancing up at him.

"I won't stay out too late," I added. Dad looked up at me and then grimaced, rubbing a hand over his face.

"I'm sorry about last night, Sam; I didn't mean to be short with you. I've just had a stressful couple of days."

"Anything in particular?" I asked. My dad wasn't the type to get ruffled very easily- when you worked with dangerous monsters for a living, you really couldn't be - so if he was getting stressed, it had to be something serious.

But he just waved me off.

"It's nothing," he said, "just something I need to look into. Nothing you need to be worried about at the moment."

I had heard him say those words before, usually to patients. Patients who he didn't want to scare.

I wanted to press him for more information, but he quickly cleared his throat and changed the subject.

"I have a house call today," he said, "if you're interested in coming. We'll be back before noon, so you'll still have plenty of time to hang out with Scooter."

(((0)))

Of course I didn't say no to joining Dad on his house call.

Would you say no to seeing real-life monsters? Also, I needed the education. You might not guess it, but there's kind of a shortage of doctors who specialize in supernatural creatures - that's one reason I'm choosing to follow in my dad's footsteps and become a monster doc when I grow up. And it's not like you can go to school for that, so my only option is to hang out with my dad as much as possible and learn as much as I can.

"So, where are we going?" I asked, climbing into my dad's old Chevy truck. We may have a nice house and plenty of money, but my dad refuses to upgrade anything that still works. That's why we still drive his beat-up blue truck that's about a hundred years old.

My dad buckled his seatbelt and started the car.

"Do you remember the Jorogumo?" He asked.

Part of learning how to care for monsters is learning about all the different types that are out there - and there's way more than you would think. I wracked my brain, knowing that I had read the name before in one of my dad's books…but for the life of me, I couldn't remember.

"Something… Japanese?" I said lamely.

"She's a type of yokai," he explained, as we began to drive, "you remember the book I had you study about them?"

"Yeah, I remember," I said, as some of the memories came back, "so, what kind of yokai is she?"

"Her name is Mrs. Mori. The yokai she's descended from is called the binding bride," he answered, "the spider woman."

I felt a shiver down my spine. There aren't too many things that I'm afraid of, but spiders? Spiders are definitely on the list.

"You think you'll be ok?" Dad asked, glancing sideways at me.

"Yeah," I said quickly, "totally fine. So, what's wrong with her?"

"A difficult pregnancy," he replied, "the baby is a hybrid, so she's been having complications."

I felt my face go a little whiter. The only medical thing that still made me squeamish was birthing. So a birth and a spider lady? This was going to be…interesting.

It was a long drive to Mrs. Mori's house. Most monsters don't want to live too close to a town or major city. They prefer to be well out of the way, where they'll be harder to find.

After nearly an hour of driving through fields, we came to a long driveway. At the end of the driveway stood a small house, surrounded by tall, dark trees. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves as we turned down the dirt drive.

We stopped in front of the house and climbed out of the truck. My dad got his medical bag out of the back seat, and we went up to front door together. It looked like any other house from the outside; a red door and a welcome mat, flower boxes in the windows. The only thing that was a little different was all the spiderwebs. To my right hung a massive, intricate web, and in the center of the web hung an enormous yellow garden spider. I swallowed hard as Dad knocked on the door.

We heard soft footsteps from inside the house, and I braced myself as it slowly opened.

The interior of the house was dark, so it was hard to see what lay beyond. In front of us stood a young boy, who shyly held the door halfway open as he stared up at us. He was probably around six years old, with light skin and straight black hair. He would have looked normal, if not for the fact that he had a second pair of eyes. He looked back and forth between me and my dad, both sets of dark eyes squinting in the sunlight.

"Who's there, Kaito?" Called a voice from inside. We heard louder footsteps and a man emerged from the shadows. He was tall and blondish, and he lay a hand on the boy's head as he greeted us.

"Are you the doctor?" He asked my dad.

"Doctor Hain," Dad confirmed, stretching out his hand, "nice to meet you."

"Daniel," the man replied as he shook Dad's hand, "thank goodness you're here; she's been worse today."

"We'll get to work then," Dad said, and we followed Daniel and his son inside the house. Inside was the same as outside; a pretty typical house, aside from all the spider webs. Daniel was careful not to disturb any of the low-hanging webs, ducking beneath them as he led us towards the back of the house. We came to a room at the end of the hall, and Daniel leaned in the doorway.

"Hey, Kyomi," he called softly into the room, "the doctor's here."

There was a soft reply from within the room, and Daniel waved for us to follow him.

We entered the small room, which looked to be a crafting room. To the left stood a sewing table, a few projects, and a weaving loom. To the right were a couple of reading chairs and a recliner. On the recliner lay Kyomi Mori. Her eyes were shut - unlike her son who only had four, Kyomi had eight, each set smaller than the last and moving up her face in a graceful curve. Her skin was the same pale white, and her long black hair was draped over the back of the chair.

Daniel moved towards her, kissing her gently on the forehead between her eyes and moving her hair out of her face.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. Kyomi only grimaced in response.

"Hello, Mrs. Mori," my dad said, as he set his bag down, "we're going to get you feeling better, ok?"

Daniel gave her shoulder a squeeze, then reached for his son's hand.

"I'll take Kaito in the next room so you can work," he said to Dad, "call me if you need anything."

"I will," Dad answered, "and don't worry; she'll be just fine."

Daniel nodded, but I could see the worry in his eyes.

"When did the pain first start?" Dad asked, as he began his examination.

"Last week," she replied weakly, "I thought the baby was coming; it's past time."

Dad was gently feeling his way around her stomach. Her skin was so light that it was almost translucent, and something was moving just under the surface.

"The egg sac has developed too much," he said after a few moments, "I believe this child has more spider D.N.A. than your son has; it's growing much faster. We'll need to remove it surgically."

My heart started to pound, and Dad put a hand on Mrs. Mori's shoulder as he said,

"Don't worry, it will be a simple procedure; nothing like with a human child. It shouldn't take us more than half an hour."

I knew he said that to calm my nerves as much as hers.

"We'll just need a local anesthetic," he continued as he lay his bag open on the table beside the recliner, "would you like your husband to come back?"

Mrs. Mori shook her head and let out a little laugh.

"He's too squeamish," she said, "he'll probably faint."

Dad nodded as he began to prepare for the procedure, scrubbing his arms with antiseptic before I helped him with his gown and gloves. I also donned protective gear in case I would need to assist.

Dad pulled a syringe of anesthetic and injected it around the base of her belly. She grimaced, and I saw a flash of her long white fangs. My dad continued making conversation to distract her as he worked. Mrs. Mori was mostly quiet, her dark eyes staring up at the patterns on the ceiling.

"We weren't planning on having another child," she said after a little while. Dad had just begun to make an incision, and my heart rate quickened as his scalpel drew a curving line across the thin skin of her stomach. There was no blood; spider-woman anatomy is a lot different than a human's.

"After Kaito, we were afraid of what might happen," she continued, "there's no way to predict how they'll turn out when they're only half monster."

She turned slightly towards me, and for a moment I felt all eight of her eyes stare into my soul. Now my heart was racing for a different reason. She knew. Somehow, she knew about me.

"Alright, we're almost done," I heard my dad say, "I can see the sac now. I'm going to start removing it; from what I can see, everything looks good. Sam, I'll need your help in a moment."

I stepped closer to my dad's side. He was reaching into the incision, pulling out what appeared to be a white ball of silky gauze.

"The egg sac is encapsulated in arachnid species," he explained to me as he gently removed the sac, "so we don't need to worry about other internal attachments. It can be easily removed."

He held the sac out to me and I carefully took it in my arms. The white silk was soft to the touch, and the baby inside squirmed as I held it close. My dad stitched up the incision, and when he was done, he took the sac out of my arms and examined it briefly before holding it out to Mrs. Mori.

"Would you like to do the honors?" He asked her.

She took it, a soft smile spreading across her face. She held the writhing bundle for a moment before extending a claw-like nail and cutting through the gauzy webs. Inside the ball of web lay a tiny baby girl - who looked like any other baby, aside from the extra pair of arms sprouting from her sides.

My dad called for Mrs. Mori's husband, and a moment later, Daniel appeared in the doorway. His face was still pale with worry as he walked in with Kaito by his side.

"Would you like to say hello to your new daughter?" My dad asked cheerfully, pointing him towards his wife's side. Mrs. Mori beamed at him, her smile reaching to all eight of her eyes. Daniel embraced his wife, and looked like he might cry as he took his new baby in his arms.

"She's beautiful," he said, before looking up at my dad with a voice full of gratitude, "thank you; thank you so much."

"It's what we're here for," my dad answered. He made up some bottles of meds and a list of follow-up instructions for Mrs. Mori, and told her to call him if she had any problems. They thanked him again, and we were on our way, leaving the four of them together.

I helped my dad pack up the supplies, and we got back into the truck, ready for the long drive home. I was glad that Mrs. Mori and her baby were fine, but I felt like a dark cloud had settled over me. I couldn't get Mrs. Mori's face out of my mind; the way her eyes had stared right into me, as if they could see everything I tried to hide. And now I wondered how many houses there were like this one, tucked away on the edges of nowhere, hiding people who would never - or who could never - be found.

My dad must have sensed something was wrong as we got back onto the main road; he reached for the volume knob on the radio, turning down the Toby Keith song that was twanging through the speakers.

"Something on your mind?" He asked.

I shrugged.

"Just…I don't know. Is she going to be ok?"

"As far as I can tell," he answered, "we can never guarantee, but it was a simple procedure and everything went well - "

"I meant the baby," I interrupted, "being born half and half like that. I mean…what kind of life is she going to have?"

He thought for a second before answering.

"A different one," he said finally, "but one full of love from what I can see. She might join society in the future, if she chooses; but many choose not to, and live happy enough lives in their own small communities."

"But it's dangerous to have hybrid kids, isn't it?" I asked, "You saw Mrs. Mori back there - like, she would have died if we hadn't helped her, right? And it's not like she can just go to the hospital. If hybrids are that unpredictable, shouldn't it be, like, illegal to have them? Wouldn't it be better if they just didn't exist?"

My dad's eyes flashed at me, but his voice remained steady.

"Sam, where is this coming from?" he asked, "Did something happen?"

I wrapped my arms around myself and shook my head.

"No, nothing happened, I just…I just don't think anyone should have to grow up being a freak."

"You know I don't like you using that word, Sam," he said, "and there is absolutely nothing wrong with being hybrid."

I stared at the dusty dashboard, trying to quell the storm of emotions that threatened to rage inside me, as the sun shone through the windows and Toby sang about beer for his horses.

"I just hate thinking that -," I stopped myself, "Never mind. I'm just tired. I don't want to talk about it."

I knew I wouldn't get out of talking about it later - my dad wasn't going to let this one fly - but for now he was quiet as I laid my head against the window and pretended to sleep for the rest of the drive home.

Of course, my dad wouldn't admit that there was anything wrong with hybrids, even if it was the truth. He'd never admit that they were dangerous, or that they were unnatural, or that they were some kind of unholy abomination. He'd never admit to any of the horrible things other monsters said about hybrids.

He'd never admit, because I was one.