She felt like a bearfly had crawled down her throat and died. Her head pounded. Something tickled her face and a very large form pressed her into the back of the couch she’d been sleeping on. She opened her eyes to slits and discovered it was Pierus taking up all that room. He was fast asleep. She put her hand on her face and found Fluffy Ducky nestled there, eyeballing Pierus with all eight eyes. “Fluffy Ducky.” She tickled the spider’s back. “What are you doing?” Two metallic clicks above her head made her open her eyes all the way. She looked straight into the barrel of Poppy’s gun, which was pointed at Pierus’s head. Behind it, Poppy glowered from under a chaotic mess of wild, knotted hair. Hippy grabbed Fluffy Ducky and shielded him on her chest. “Don’t shoot my spider!” “I wasn’t going to shoot your spider,” Poppy said. “I was going to find out what the hell’s going on here and then shoot the muse.”
