Cruel Descendants (Hades's House #1)

by Nikki Kardnov

I feel a whisper of legs on my neck and bat at the sensation. Then another on my leg. And another on my neck. I twist away from the rock wall, backpedaling, but my boot catches on a sharp edge of the stone floor. I’m falling before I realize I am, before I can correct myself. When I slam to the stone, the air is knocked out of me and I blink back tears. Coppery blood fills my mouth. The phantom flame flickers across the cavern ceiling and the ceiling moves. I’m lying there trying to catch my breath when something drops from above, plinks against my forehead and then scuttles over my nose. I lurch upright only to see I’m covered in spiders from my boots to my waist. They’re a quickly rising tide. A scream rips from my throat. I scramble back, batting at my legs, my face, my chest. They’re everywhere. I can feel their spider legs scurrying up my arms and crawling into my hair and crawling into my ears and— —I scream and scream and scream and— Laughter.