Chapter 9

Ray felt as if he were falling forever. “Shit, this is boring. I should have stopped or woken up,” he thought. Concentrating, he finally got a handle and felt himself slow, then stop. “Well, that’s good, but I’ve been falling for a while. How far? I don’t know.” Looking at what he thought was up, he tried to concentrate again. Finally, after a few minutes, he started to feel his body begin to rise. The bad thing was he wasn’t feeling anything. He could swear that for a brief moment he’d felt Nali, but that had to be a dream. She couldn’t separate now; to do so would mean death for both of them. It seemed like a while before he felt his body speed up, though he felt no closer to escaping the dark pit. At least he was starting to feel a little better.

Briefly, he forced his eyes open. He saw a worried Elizabeth and could hear a frantic Nali. For the life of him, he swore he could see both of them in Elizabeth’s face. They both looked at him almost as soon as his eyes snapped open, then gasped as he fought to keep them open, and finally sunk back into the darkness. This time he at least wasn’t falling. Nali and Elizabeth could feel how weak Ray was. It felt almost as if he’d expended almost all of his energy.

“Damn it!” Nali thought. Then she was surprised. Where had that come from? She’d warned Ray that he only had so much energy, though to Nali, it appeared he was far beyond where he had been when she first entered him.

Nali whispered to Elizabeth, “We have to give him some of our energy, or he will die. It is the only chance he has.”

Shaking for a moment, Elizabeth was scared, but only for a moment. She loved Ray far more than she’d let on, though she had a feeling that Nali did also. Perhaps that was why their energies were so compatible? Unsure of how to talk to Nali, Elizabeth was hesitant to try. “I know I agreed to help her, thereby helping me, and I’d do almost anything for Ray, but I’m so unsure of what to do,” she thought.

“Elizabeth,” Nali started again, “just think like you usually do. I too would do almost anything for Ray, including risking my life for him. It feels the same for you. Yes, I think that may be why we are so compatible. We both have to do this, Elizabeth. At the same time, if we don’t, he could die, as could we. As you stated before, if he dies, then we both may also. So please concentrate with me.”

Both concentrated on Ray. Neither saw the shadowy forms near the door, nor did they see them smile and disappear. Ray felt so light, so tired. “Damn, I guess I did it this time. That’ll teach me,” he thought. “Shit, it was the only way to get rid of that bitch of a queen spider. Just hope that this will help my endurance more. Then maybe I can kick that creepy crawler’s ass all the way to her death!” He floated for quite a while. Then suddenly, he felt two presences. At first, he was unsure. Then he started to feel the now familiar energy of Nali. If that wasn’t strange enough, a moment later, he also felt Elizabeth. But why were they both here? Was he in such peril that they both felt that he needed their intervention?

“I feel him. He’s very deep. I will most definitely need your help to bring him out,” Nali told Elizabeth.

Ray could feel both of them tugging at him, bringing him once again close to the surface. The thing was, it was so peaceful here. No stress, no worry. Couldn’t they just leave him there for a while longer? With a final tug, they both managed to get Ray further to the top and out of danger. Both breathed a sigh of relief when Ray finally opened his eyes again. “Ray,” Nali said, tears in Elizabeth’s eyes, “please don’t do that again. Your energy was close to ceasing to function. I was afraid that neither of us had enough strength to bring you back.” “I’m sorry, Nali, Elizabeth. I had to. I killed six of the queen’s daughters and seriously damaged her, though I am afraid that all I really did was piss her off even more,” Ray grimaced as he tried to move, finding that he was still very weak.

Though he could feel his energy rapidly returning, Ray was still unsure that all that he’d done would make the queen weak enough next time to defeat her. Once he was out of bed, he began to pace, trying to come up with more ideas for ways to defeat the eight-legged freak. Alone, Ray saw dozens of ideas but knew that he still hadn’t the energy to pull them off yet. Elizabeth had left to show Nali some of her and Ray’s world. Plus, if they were going to live with Ray, they needed more proper ladies’ clothes and other essentials.