Curse of Arachnaman by Hayden Thorne Page A

time he struck a pose. The car didn't slow, and all we saw was it going straight for him and then getting swept up in one fluid motion. Magnifiman held it up above his head like it weighed nothing and flew off with it.
    "Good evening, ma'am!” he called out.
    "Good evening! Thank you!” Mom yelled back, waving. I just stared.
    When the street was again safe, Mom and I moved forward. Her mood restored itself, and she was once again humming while I struggled with the two bags of Chinese food. I think we were about a block away from home when Mom suddenly stopped. I had to walk another ten feet forward before I realized that I'd just left her behind, and my wrists throbbed. Irritated, I stopped and turned.
    "Mom? What's up?” I said.
    Mom didn't answer right away. She just stood there, quiet, as if she were listening for something that only she could hear. She looked up, sweeping her gaze along the top of the grungy apartment building across the street from where we stood. I stared at it, frowning. I didn't see anything unusual there. It was typical lower-middle-class housing, with decaying bricks and some broken windows, the lights all yellow and murky. Nothing looked suspicious on rooftops anywhere, either.
    "Mom!” I called. “Come on, these things are heavy! And I'm starving!"
    She didn't seem to hear me still, but after several more seconds of standing, listening, and searching, she finally sighed and walked toward me.
    "I'm sorry, honey,” she replied, taking one of the bags from my hold and gently guiding me back home with a strangely firm hold around my free arm.
    "What's wrong? Did you hear something?” I asked.
    "Hmm? Oh, no. It was nothing. I thought I saw something move up there, but it was just my imagination.” She ended that with a small laugh that sounded a little tight and forced, but I didn't push things. We just fell silent for the rest of the way, and once we crossed the threshold, I suddenly realized that I was panting and a little sweaty. That was because we'd practically run the rest of the way home, or at least Mom had made me pick up my pace for whatever reason. Like we were running away from something.
    I was a little unnerved by that, but I said nothing to her when I followed her to the dining room and helped her set the table. I did try to watch her, though. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary other than the fact that her hands trembled a little, and she didn't bother to hide it.
    After dinner, I called Peter and got his voice mail. No surprise there, but I did make sure to stay up kind of late to wait for his call back. It didn't come till about eleven, and he sounded dead tired.
    "Hey,” he said, yawning. “What's up?"
    "I'll keep this short, I promise. Sounds like you had a pretty rough day out there."
    He chuckled. “Comes with the territory."
    "Okay, did Trent say anything about the neighborhood where he nabbed a carjacker? Mom and I were out, and we saw everything. But other than the carjacking thing, was there anything else he mentioned to you about the area?"
    Peter was silent for a moment. “Uh, no, really. Why, did anything else happen?"
    So I told him about Mom's odd behavior and the rush home, as though she were running away from a threat.
    "I wonder if she saw something,” I said. “She really looked like she was suspicious of something in the area, but when I tried to look around, I didn't see anything weird or out of place. Then again, it was getting dark, so the shadows didn't help. Mom still seemed freaked out when we were at home, but she wouldn't talk.” I shivered. “Talking about it kind of makes my skin prickle. It was just creepy."
    "Okay. I'll tell the others about what you said. That area's always been bad news, Eric. I wish you and your family would take the longer and safer route to Uncle Chung's."
    I smiled. “I know. After tonight, though, I wouldn't be surprised if Mom forced me to take the bus just to get some takeout Chinese food from now on."
    "Just be