Welcome back to the Atlas, friends.
Today, we’re diving back into the collaborative world of Asteria Geisterblum ‘s wonderful writing prompts. This entry, “The Spider In The Way,” follows our magical spy, Leander, who is having a very bad day. He’s lost his target, and now he has the creeping, skittering suspicion that he is the one being hunted... by a creature that shouldn’t be magical at all.
Read Chapter 1 here ➡️
The prompt:
Thank you again Asteria for providing such an interesting prompt!
Prompt: Leander’s reflection has been misbehaving. It hasn’t followed his movements since yesterday and now it’s wearing different clothes.
Tarot Card: There won’t be a Tarot Card this week because there is a spider right above the bag they are stored in and I am deathly afraid of spiders, so this will be your “Tarot Card” prompt to include in your story: Leander can’t reach something he needs to use because of a spider.
The Spider In The Way - Chapter 2
Leander walked home from the market in the shadows, sulking. He had lost his loser persona. The irony of it all grated at his very core. HOW had he been seen? Has peacetime made him soft? That cloaked and chaotic Clover had been wily and somehow managed to see right through him.
He was sure she could sense the presence of magic, just like he could. The way she had smiled at him when she pulled the pea out from under his hand, the calculated way she had detected his surprise at feeling the pea disappear before lifting the cup. It wasn’t a look of someone who had just won, it was the look of someone who related, who knew what he knew.
This could be why she had been cursed by Lord Thibault’s retinue. Anyone with that level of awareness would be a threat to be dealt with, especially if you are practicing illegal magic.
I need her on my side, before she is turned against me.
Leander’s house was on the outskirts of the small town, where thin cobbled lanes slowly turned into dirt tracks and eventually evaporated into the countryside. He walked home now, sticking to the soffit of each building he passed, ducking through alleys when he got the chance, and avoiding anywhere that would be deemed inviting. Noises sometimes floated down the streets, of people laughing, chatting, or selling wares. He would immediately turn away from such invites and find a new route. He ducked into another alley, the stench of the tavern’s back door hitting him. This route would add ten minutes to his walk. He balled his fists, fighting the urge to just stride out into the open and be damned. Instead his mind went to the coin he had at home, the sister pairing to the coin he had given to Clover. If he was going to contact her, this had to be the safest way, and if he was right about her, she would feel the magic as he changed the text around the edge of the coin.
He tugged at his malachite green cloak, pulling it from his shoulders and stuffing it in his shirt pocket. His market clothes were no longer needed, better he looked like a common serf.
Suddenly he felt a prickle on the back of his neck, a subtle hint of magic near him. He turned quickly around a corner and then tucked himself in a narrow gap between the local tavern and the towns cloth-makers house. Watching intently, he scanned for any sign of movement. A little spider skittered into view, crawling along a wall on the far side of the street. Nothing unusual about that, but then it stopped as if waiting for something.
I am being stupid, it’s a common spider. A large and slightly creepy common spider, but a spider none the less. Clover has just made me uneasy.
Leander sidled out and continued walking. He was closer to the edge of town now, and was briefly admiring the large oak that stood tall by the stone wall of the church, when he felt it again. That sensation of magic, subtle as it was. It tickled his spine like a feather. His breath hitched, and he flattened himself against the cold stone, straining his ears. The street remained empty. A tang of iron in his nose hinted at a sudden heady dose of adrenaline. Someone, somewhere, was following him…
He ducked behind the wall and hid in the shade of the giant oak and watched. As before, no one came into view. The street and the green beyond were completely empty, with all the townspeople in the market square doing their shopping.
He stayed there for a few more minutes, waiting, when suddenly he noticed a twitch of movement again. Another spider! Or was it the same one? It was just as large, easily the size of his fist, and it was creeping along a grassy verge just across the road from him. Big enough to fold the grass underneath its abdomen as it cluttered along like a little sootball.
More suspicious of it than before, Leander stayed behind the wall and instead crawled along the ground. Once he was out of eyeshot of the spider, Leander ran through the churchyard back to his home. Leaping over the opposing church boundary wall, splashing through the adjacent pasture, and squeezing through the railed fence until eventually he was back at his own yard. A small empty pig sty was tucked into the corner of his small cobbled square of space, a bleak gray little area that seemed to leak light as though it was an allergen. The yard backed onto a large house. Leander looked up warily, the upstairs windows were closed, so the landlord was out at the market still, something Leander was very grateful for. Their last run-in had been spectacular, an argument about loud unexplained noises coming from his small single room. Luckily his loser persona played right into people’s expectations of someone who might make loud unexplained noises.
He slotted his key into the door, turning it to the left, and entered his non-magical home. A simple dusty room with a corner bed, a dresser, a hearth, and a small kitchen table. It was not much to look at, but it served his purposes as a careful cover to his real identity. The sight of all the layers of dust on various surfaces set his mind at ease. No one had been in, and there were no…
There was a soft thrumming sound coming from his bedside cupboard. His blood ran cold. He froze, his hand still on the key, the thrumming sound seeming to fill his entire skull.
Here? Not in my non-magical home… Surely I haven’t been that stupid have I?
But the sound was unmistakable. The sister coin to Clovers was vibrating. He had been stupid enough to leave a magical item in his non-magical space. He hurried over to go and pick it up, keen to catch Clover despite his foolishness, especially if she was intentionally trying to contact him. He batted away a few books to reveal a large gold coin, pulsing with a warm glow and vibrating against the crude wooden surface of his cabinet, but something else stood in his path.
The spider.
The absolute cheek of it was nauseating. He backed away, a cold sweat pricking his hairline. His throat tightened, and he had to fight the urge to simply flee the room. He noted that there was in fact a slight disturbance in the dust against his wall after all.
How had it been so fast?
Taking a few steps back Leander watched it carefully, it didn’t move at all from its spot on the coin, and seemed to be attracted to it. When it did move, it was just in a small leggy circle, as if to get a better look at it. Was the spider like a magpie and liked shiny things, or was it drawn to the magic of the coin? The coin was still glowing and vibrating and he could feel the frustration growing, jaw clenching, as he watched the opportunity to quiz Clover slowly slipping away. And yet, he couldn’t touch it. What if the spider was magic itself? Suddenly it occurred to him, he needed to find out for sure, and he knew just how.
Striding over to his small kitchen, he grabbed his only glass container, and his chopping board before taking them both to the kitchen table. He positioned the glass at a fourty-five degree angle above the board and held it steady with the tip of his left index finger. Then, eyes fixed on the spider, he quickly concentrated on the chopping board, flicking his right hand thumb over it and began inducing the atoms inside the wood to remember their aliveness, just for a moment. A sudden small pop issued from the wooden surface, and a small patch of green leaves billowed out of what had moments before been dead oak.
The spider suddenly stopped and appeared to look up. And then quick as a flash, far faster than Leander was comfortable with, it ran over to the board and admired the leaves as if it had just seen the most exciting novelty of its life. Leander dropped the glass over the top and trapped it with his hand firmly on the top. He stood in silence with his hand over the glass and looked to the coin. Its glow had gone, and it was no longer vibrating.
Blasted spider! I’ve now missed that call.
He leaned closer to the glass, his eyes narrowing. He’d missed the call, but what was this thing? It didn’t just follow magic; it seemed to feed on it. His skin crawled as he watched the little creature roving around the inside of the glass and admiring the leaves. His skin felt itchy as he watched the little movements. He couldn’t shake the phantom feeling of tiny, skittering legs on his own neck. He now knew for sure that this thing was almost definitely a spy. The only reason you invent a spider that follows magic, is to find magic. His stomach sank. The leaf trick. The key. The run home. He had just given this thing a full magical report, start to finish. The thing needed destroying, and fast! Leander smirked.
If this thing likes magic, time to give it a show that it will never forget.
Picking the chopping board and the glass tentatively, he walked towards his door, peering out the side window shrewdly, just to be sure the coast was clear. Assured of the quiet, he whipped his key from the kitchen counter and stepped outside, closing the door behind him. And then carefully, so as not to drop his cargo, he slid the key into the lock and this time turned it to the right, eyes slightly unfocused. When he opened the door again, a totally different space greeted his eyes. His real home. It was much larger, warmer, and cosier, and with splashes of colour and pepperings of intrigue adorning every surface, shelf, chair, and cushion. It was a cave of wonders by anyone’s standards, to Leander, it was heaven.
Placing the trapped spider down on his bureau desk, underneath a heavy book for added security, he relaxed for a moment. Breathing in the heady smells of herbs, tinctures, distillates, and all manner of delicious concoctions. Some magical, some decidedly not. His shoulders started to unwind and he felt knots in his back start to untie. A slow twinkle started to gain purchase in his eyes again as he soaked up the atmosphere of his safe little corner.
Hanging up his cloak, he wandered over to the mirror and spoke.
“Hello, had a good day?”
“Same old really, I have been mooching about some of the mansions we spoke about, but other than that, nothing has changed.”
Looking up, he noticed his reflection was wearing a different outfit today. A fetching dark suit that seemed to soak up the light around it.
“Thats new.”
“Yes, while you keep going about like a scruff-bag, some of us have standards.”
A small grin played on Leander’s lips. The reflection’s snobbery was, as always, a strange and grounding comfort..
“Something is new with you too I sense. You have had quite the day. What have you found?”
“A spider”. Leander replied, nonchalant.
“Pff. A spider. What a waste of my ti-”
“A magical spider. A spy-der”
Both of them stood still for a moment, and then in unison they guffawed.
“Gosh, I never could stand up to a good pun, or a bad one for that matter. Go on then, let me see it.” The reflection’s gaze swept the room, its shoulders slumping slightly. “You’re hiding it, then. Pity.”
“You will see it momentarily, but look, it’s clearly dangerous. I am afraid we need to destroy it. Leander stood firmly, a clear show of strength. “You are by far the most magical thing in this room, and it is attracted to magic. Do you think we can multiply your aura? I suspect we might be able to overload its poor little arachnid mind and cause it to implode.”
“Really, Leander, I am not some performing monkey.” The reflection considered itself for a moment before looking up begrudgingly. “How much did you have in mind?”
“I was thinking a factor of ten”
“A FACTOR OF TEN! My goodness, what on earth do you think I am here for, this is not acceptable!”
“Look, do this once for me, and I PROMISE, I will buy you that mirror in the place you like.”
“The reflection’s eyebrows shot up. ‘The... the one with the climbing roses?”
“Yes,” Leander sighed, “the place with the garden”.
“FINE! Let’s get on with it then, shall we. I will go and look in my wardrobe.”
Ten minutes later Leander had moved every single reflective object in his home and created a semicircle of mirrors which he then carefully placed the spider, still in its upturned glass, in the centre. Stepping back carefully, he put his fingers in his mouth and gave a little dog whistle. The ten makeshift mirrors, consisting of kettles, trays, actual mirrors too, all started to glow subtly, and within each one strode forth, like an actor on a stage, his reflection.
He really meant it when he said he would be going to look in his wardrobe.
On each surface his reflection was wearing a totally different outfit. Some very sombre, some grotesque, others chaotic, and some were even borderline charming. Inside one mirror in particular, his reflection was dressed as a rabbit simply floating there in mid air. Leander blinked twice at that one in surprise, wondering where on earth he could have gotten an idea like that.
P.S. For my fellow ‘Strings of Us’ explorers who spotted the floating rabbit reflection, yes, that was 100% intentional. The Atlas is sometimes interconnected!
Within each literal performance was also a performance of magic. The floating rabbit, flowers growing out of the ground at incredible speed, a grotesque golem spewing lava, and even a pastiche of his very own Leander the Loser personality trying and failing to do a standard issue card trick. A rare, genuine smile spread across Leander’s face. He stood taller, his posture unconsciously mirroring the confidence of the golem in the mirror.
The spider meanwhile was suddenly captivated, there was magic in abundance all around it, and its head snapped from the kettle to the tray, then back to the rabbit, unable to settle on a single, magical target. It started spinning around trying to find the best angle to see all of it. The movements became slowly, and then less slowly, more and more chaotic. Its body started to shake and vibrate with the intensity of it all. A strange noise started to churn out of its body, a squealing hissing sound like wind passing through a crack in a window. And then suddenly, the smell. Instantly familiar from that morning. The smell of grave dust and burnt sugar. He recoiled from the smell. Clover. His mind flashed to her hand at the market, the black tendrils. Had she marked him? Was she the spy? But before he could get closer to analyse the spider further, it popped and imploded, leaving a burn mark on his chopping board and a smashed glass on its side.
He stepped up to the scar on his board and peered at it. The patterns across it were identical to the patterns that had started wrapping around Clovers hand. Tendril like, as if a fungus was growing outwards, but inky black.
“Well, that was exciting,” his reflection offered, staring at where the spider had been. “Good call on overloading it like that. It won’t be reporting back anytime soon now I dare say.”
“No I don’t suspect it will, still, I will need a new chopping board and a glass. Lest any spiders try again.”
“And a new mirror!” His reflection retorted.
***
That evening, Leander sat down on his armchair and pulled the coin from his pocket. Whispering gently to the metal he called upon its origins within the centre of a burning star, and ushered its particles and atoms into a new form. Holding it up to the light of his lamp, he rubbed a thumb over it and watched as the letters around the outside edge re-arranged.
Clover, we need to talk, soon! Meet me tomorrow. I will send the location soon. Be careful, you have been bugged.
And so, with a terrible pun and a little help from his many reflections, Leander neutralizes the “spy-der.” The immediate threat is gone, but the mystery is deeper than ever: his potential ally, Clover, is the one who “bugged” him, and he’s just sent her a message. This was such a fantastic and fun prompt from Asteria!
Now, I’d love to hear from you. Leander’s paranoia (and his aversion to spiders!) turned out to be 100% justified.
As writers, how do you like to use paranoia in your stories? Is it a fatal flaw that destroys a character, or is it a sign they’re the only one seeing the truth?
I loved this and I so hope there's more! I haven't spent much time in the short-story section of substack and I'm so excited I found you from Gary Brogan. I love the feel of this world. I look forward to exploring the rest of the Atlas