This was yet another Leopard space hidden in plain sight. Sunny blew her nose and then inhaled through a somewhat unclogged nose. If direct juju was involved, it wasn’t with the use of powder, at least not according to her nose.

“Oh God,” she whispered.

The path descended at a steadier, sharper decline a few feet ahead. And this led right down into what could only be Udide’s lair. The cave looked like the yawning cavernous mouth of a great beast of black jagged rock. And it fit so perfectly into the ground that Sunny could only accept the fact that the cave had probably been there before Udide made it one of her many homes. Maybe it had always been there. Yet only a small part of the city’s population can even see it, Sunny thought. According to Sugar Cream, only .05 percent of humanity was Leopard People.

“Might as well keep going now,” Chichi said. “She certainly knows we’re coming.”

She’s known for a long time, Sunny heard Anyanwu say in her head. Sunny felt a shiver go up her spine as she remembered her dream. Of all things, why a spider? Why, why, why? She imagined Udide scrambling out of the cave lightning fast, right at them, her movements like thunder. Udide wasn’t just a spider; she was one of the Great Ones. She was an ultimate storyteller. She was a weaver. And she was a really excellent writer. Sunny had read more of Udide’s Book of Shadows than its numerous spells that Sasha and Chichi were obsessed with. Udide wrote short stories, too. Sunny had been most fond of those. There was one in particular about an alien invasion in Lagos that she especially enjoyed. It was set in the past, a few years back, and it was funny like a Nollywood comedy . . . with aliens.

Yes, Udide was not just some irrational arachnid that ate flies and looked horrifying. The thought that she was a creature that could be spoken to and possibly negotiated with set Sunny at ease a bit. At least she could beg for her life, if it came to that. She felt Anyanwu nearby bristle at the thought.

The closer they got to the cave the more strongly Sunny could smell it. Smoky, acrid, chemical. Sunny frowned. “Like burning houses,” she whispered. She’d seen a house go up in flames once in New York not far from their townhouse. Sunny had only been five years old when she’d stood in the crowd a block away holding her mother’s hand. However, she would never forget the smell. She shivered at the memory. “Why does it smell like burning houses?”

“What else is a giant spider going to smell like?” Sasha asked. He tried to smile, but it was clear that even he was afraid.

When they got to the opening of the cave, the smell was almost like inhaling smoke itself. The marbles in Sunny’s hands lit everything up. The edges of the cave were covered with thick webbing and when Sunny looked closely she could see that the webbing was peopled with tiny black spiders and dead insects wrapped in more white webbing. This was going to be much worse than sitting on the floor of Sugar Cream’s office.