The spider was covered in brown fur, with a shaggy orange stripe of longer hair down the middle of its abdomen. Newt thought it looked like a mohawk. It was roughly the size of a large dinner plate.

The most startling thing about this creature was its eyes.

Newt was surprised that there were only two of them. They were a pale crystal blue. And so very human in their appearance. Unnervingly so.

The spider squatted on Stygian’s unconscious body, looking from person to person before locking onto Newt. It shifted its head from side to side, but kept its eyes on her.

Why me? thought Newt. Why is it staring at me like that?

Below the mandibles, the spider’s mouth opened and hissed. It raised its two front legs and shook them. It looked like it was about to pounce.

Then Newt noticed Rowan.

He was backing away, face white, body trembling.

Dr Bloom’s eyes darted about, searching for something. She made a grab for the discarded welding equipment.

The spider jumped and somersaulted, web shooting out at Dr Bloom. The sticky substance hit her in the face and she fell over. Yelling, she frantically wiped at the web, trying to get it off.

This spider seems to know what it’s doing, Newt thought. Is it intelligent?

The spider now launched itself up into the air and over Dr Bloom to land on one of the oscillators. It scuttled up the mechanical arm and onto the ceiling where it clung to the dome and continued to watch Newt.

Newt was frozen to the spot. Why is it watching me? she wondered. Is it out to get me in particular? She met its gaze – saw something in its eyes. I think it is intelligent. What do I do?

She looked to Rowan, but he had backed away even further and was whimpering to himself.

Dr Bloom, having finally got the web off her face, was igniting the welder. A tiny blue flame flared into life.

What good is that going to do? thought Newt.

But Dr Bloom flicked a switch and the flame billowed to a metre.

It doubles as a flamethrower? Why aren’t I surprised?

Dr Bloom aimed at the ceiling and gave it another burst. The flames fell short of the spider, but the creature hissed and skittered across the ceiling and down the wall towards the hole. It stopped and gave Newt a last lingering look before jumping.

Brian chose that moment to step into view with a fresh cup of coffee.

The spider landed on his head. Brian staggered back, slamming into the opposite wall.

The coffee cup shattered as it hit the floor, splashing the contents over Brian’s uniform.

‘Restrain that creature,’ called Dr Bloom. But the spider leaped off Brian and scuttled down the corridor.

With a sigh or frustration, and a muttered ‘useless’, Dr Bloom made to follow the spider.

‘NO!’

Stygian was awake, trying to get up. He appeared weak and exhausted. His face was now deathly pale and he shook all over.

‘Don’t hurt Moppet!’ he begged.

‘What?’ Dr Bloom glared down at him. ‘Moppet?’

‘Need Moppet.’ Stygian’s voice was weak and strained – down to a hoarse croak. ‘Familiar.’ He passed out again, his face smacking down onto the floor.

‘What’s he babbling about?’ Dr Bloom looked around uncertainly. She obviously wanted to go and roast the spider, but the mage’s words made her hesitate.

‘A witch’s familiar,’ said Rowan, rejoining the others. Newt thought he seemed very jittery. ‘But did it have to be a spider?’

‘A witch’s what?’ spat Dr Bloom.

‘A familiar spirit in animal form,’ explained Rowan, warming to his subject. ‘Witches and wizards in fantasy books have them. They’re kind of like servants that help with the magic.’

‘What happens if we kill it?’ asked Dr Bloom.

‘I don’t know,’ answered Rowan. ‘If it’s anything like the books, it’ll affect Stygian’s ability to do magic.’

‘Great!’ The exasperation was evident in Dr Bloom’s voice. ‘So we need that creature alive if I’m to get this stupid boy’s help.’ She switched off the welder/flamethrower and tossed it aside. ‘And he’s unconscious.’

Newt thought she sounded as if all these things had taken place purely to inconvenience her.

‘So, what do we do?’ asked Newt.

‘I’m going to get my medical kit and make sure he’s okay.’ Dr Bloom indicated Stygian with a flick of her thumb. ‘You two find the spider.’

‘I’m scared of spiders,’ whined Rowan.

‘So am I,’ said Dr Bloom. ‘But I’m a doctor and you’re not. So it’s probably best I look after our visiting mage, while you go find his familiar pet.’

‘Come on,’ said Newt, heading for the corridor. ‘I’ll go first.’

‘What do we do if we find it?’ asked Rowan.

‘Keep it contained until I get Stygian back on his feet,’ instructed Dr Bloom. ‘Then he can do whatever it is he needs to do.’

Rowan joined Newt by the hole in the wall, and they peered through. Brian was still pressed up against the corridor wall. There was no sign of the spider.

‘Which way?’ Newt wondered out loud.

Rowan shrugged.

‘We could split up?’ she suggested. ‘I know this way is full of elevator bits, but I could climb over it.’

‘No way!’ Rowan’s eyes were wide with panic. ‘I am not going off on my own in search of a giant spider. That’s the sort of stupid thing, stupid people in stupid horror movies do before dying horribly … and stupidly.’

‘Well then, let’s go this way,’ said Newt, indicating the direction free of debris. ‘The door to the warehouse is still open. It might have gone in there.’

‘Brian! Coffee!’ Dr Bloom’s voice echoed from the portal chamber.

Brian jerked forward, straightening up as if snapping to attention. He moaned and turned towards the wrong end of the corridor.

Poor Brian, thought Newt.

‘This way,’ she said, gently putting a hand on his shoulder and leading him in the right direction. ‘You too,’ she said to Rowan.

They dropped Brian off at the kitchenette, where he went straight for the coffee machine. Newt and Rowan continued on.

‘Do you think it’s all weapons?’ asked Newt as they entered the warehouse and gazed at the rows and rows of storage shelves.

‘It wouldn’t surprise me,’ said Rowan. ‘I reckon she’s a bit of a mad scientist.’

They began to wander up and down the aisles. There was shelf upon shelf of crates and boxes with serial number labels that meant nothing to them. Newt couldn’t help herself – she stopped and opened one of the boxes. It was full of grey armour.

‘Not just weapons. Stuff to protect you from the weapons as well.’

Rowan looked across to a box on the opposite side and lifted the lid. He squealed and slammed it shut again.

‘What is it?’ asked Newt.

‘Music! Boy band CDs.’

‘Boy band CDs?’

Rowan shrugged. ‘I suppose they could be considered weapons of mass destruction.’

‘Was that a joke?’

Rowan shrugged.

‘Because I actually like boy bands.”

They were interrupted by a scuttling sound from above.

Newt looked up to see the spider disappearing over the top of the shelf. She saw Rowan cringe. This must be really hard for him, she thought. Not that it was easy for her.

‘That way,’ she mouthed to Rowan.

They tiptoed to the end of the aisle and peered around into the next. No sign of it.

Then there was another sound from two aisles along.

‘It’s fast,’ she whispered. ‘We’ll never be able to catch up to it. And even if we did … then what? How do we contain it in such a large space.’ She hesitated a moment, as if coming to an important decision. ‘Why don’t you go and tell Dr Bloom that it’s in here. Close the door on your way out so it can’t get away.’

‘What about you?’ asked Rowan.

‘I’ll stay here and keep searching. I’ve got an idea and I think it will work best if I’m on my own.’

‘Are you sure?’ Despite what he was saying there was relief on his face. He was eager to get out.

‘It’s just a spider,’ said Newt, trying to sound confident.

‘A very big spider,’ corrected Rowan.

Newt reached over to a shelf and grabbed a metal rod from a stack. She swished it through the air. ‘Just in case.’

As Rowan left, Newt continued along the end of the aisles, looking down each one. As the door clanged shut in the distance, she caught a flash of movement in the far corner, accompanied by a scurrying sound. Keeping her eyes on that spot, she slowly made her way to the shadowed corner.

Yep, something was there. She stopped and took a deep breath.

I can’t believe I’m doing this, she thought.

‘Hello … Moppet,’ said Newt tentatively. ‘If you’re Stygian’s familiar, I’m hoping that you can understand what I’m saying. Um … we don’t want to hurt you.’ She suddenly realised that she was holding a metal rod. She carefully put it down on the floor by her feet and held up her hands. ‘See. We just want to get you back to Stygian.’ There was no response. Newt took a step closer. ‘Please. We’re just trying to help.’

Something raced out of the shadows right past her. She yelled out as she staggered back.

But it was just a rat. It ran off under the shelving.

Breathing hard, with her heart pounding, Newt leaned against the nearest shelf, trying to calm down …

And looked straight into a pair of pale blue eyes staring at her from beside a crate. She screamed again and in her haste to get away, fell backwards onto the floor.

The spider jumped down at her feet.

It reared up on its back legs. It quivered and hissed.

Its mandibles clicked frenetically.

Newt tried to crawl away, but was too scared to take her eyes off the creature. As it advanced, her hand found the metal rod she’d discarded. Snatching it up, she held it high, then threw it at the spider.

A glob of sticky web shot towards it, hitting it and diverting it. The rod clattered noisily to the floor.

Panic overtaking her, Newt scrambled to her knees and tried to crawl away.

The spider leaped.

Newt felt it land on her back. Its hairy legs wrapping around her shoulders, its mandibles brushing against the back of her neck. She crashed to the floor and everything went black.