Orlu was too far for them to hear anything, but he was clearly speaking to Udide. Then he stepped up to the cocoon and brought out his juju knife. Sunny could hear the cutting from where she was, sort of an unzipping sound.

“Oh my God,” Sunny whispered when she saw the shiny gray-brown head pop out of and then rip through the cut Orlu had made. Its big head was round, it had round fluffy-furred ears and large round blue eyes. It had some sort of black markings on its forehead, but she couldn’t see them from where she was. It didn’t look much like the grasscutters she was familiar with, large groundhoglike rodents related to porcupines. It sniffed around with its great nose. It sniffed Orlu, who stood very still. Then it looked at Udide, started, and retreated back into its cocoon.

Udide brought a leg up and kicked the back of the cocoon, and the flying grasscutter grunted loudly like a pig and shot out. It came running right at Sunny, Chichi, and Sasha; its huge blue eyes wide with fear and shock. They all turned to run. Then Sunny heard Orlu’s voice right beside her ear. “Get down!” And because she was so used to trusting her friends, Sunny dropped to the ground, landing on top of Chichi. Sasha dropped right beside them.

Foooo! The flying grasscutter lived right up to its name as it took off low enough over their heads that they could feel and hear its wake. Sunny looked up just in time to see it whip and snap its long furry tail as it zoomed toward the cave ceiling and then disappeared.

“Just wait,” Orlu’s voice said. When she looked back, he was standing there, his juju knife to his neck. He was using voice-throwing juju and specifying it to just the three of them.

“There!” Sasha said, pointing at the entrance to the cave that led into darkness.

The flying grasscutter stood with its backside pressed to the wall as it looked into the cave.

“It wants to run, but it’s too scared,” Chichi said. She laughed.

From afar, the great creature looked forlorn and kind of cute as it grunted and pressed itself to the wall. It was basically a newborn. What a place to wake up to—a giant spider and a dark cave full of smaller spiders. “I’d be scared, too,” Sunny muttered.

“Don’t let it flee,” Orlu’s voice said. He was walking to them. “If it flies into the cave, it’ll escape and we won’t be able to catch it, trust me. They are intelligent. It’s made by Udide, so it’ll understand any language. Talk to it or . . . something . . . softly. But hurry.”

They walked over to the grasscutter. It stared at them, its nostrils flaring widely. The marble light was dim here, but it reflected its eyes and in that moment, Sunny knew she could gaze into them for hours. They were like jewels and they were kind, too. But there was something else about the creature’s face as a whole that made her want to slow down. It wasn’t just cute, it was sneaky and sly. This was verified when she felt the ground pulled from beneath her feet. She fell awkwardly.