Prompt: Web of Blessings (Chapter 8)

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Summary: Sier is surprised to find an enormous arachne, Vanelope, hiding out in his greenhouse. She intends to raise her clutch of spiderlings inside over the cold winter, but they have to elude detection first.

[Story Listing]

[First Chapter]

[Previous Chapter]

Chapter 8

Sometime in the afternoon, Jennie found herself on the phone with Sier in a particularly animated conversation.

"Jennie? You gotta check on Vanellope for me."

"What!? Why me? Isn't she your problem?"
"Mei's dragging me out to a thing! I can't get out of it! You're the only one I can turn to!"

"Gah, seriously!? You're the one Grandpa's been groomin' to take over the greenhouse! I dunno how anything works!"

"It's not anymore complicated than a flying machine, right?"

"That's not the point, Sier! She was gonna eat me!"

"She was not going to eat you, that's ridiculous. Spiders inject a particular digestive enzyme into their victims that dissolve their internal organs into a-"

"UGH! Sier, that's disgusting!"

"I-it's how it works!"

"Gah, if I do this one thing for you, are you going to shut up about spider facts??"

"Yes! She's probably bored being all cooped up, just... bring her some books?"

"Fine, fine, I'll go and deliver some stupid books. But you owe me, alright?"

"I can try and get Mei to stop practicing her pickup lines on you. Is that a start?"

"...That could work. Fine, I'll head over."

Kaclick. Jennie hung up the receiver, heaving a heavy sigh.

"Somebody's gonna get their head bitten off by the end of this... what is that kid thinking?" Jennie ran her hand through her hair. She went to the living room, fussing over the shelves.

"Just pick some books at random... Historic Battles of Bastille, Cooking With Eggplant, Nute Dukem Does The Network..."

Jennie picked on a random hodgepodge of eclectic books, shoved them all into a pilot's bag, and hurried out the door. She figured her old man would be in a mood upon her arrival...

"Why are there still cobwebs!?"

...yup. She called it.

Lyle, Sier's grandfather, was back at the greenhouse, absolutely fuming. His hands were firmly planted to his hips as he surveyed the state of the place. Jennie hurried over to get his attention.

"Hey, Grandpa! Sier asked me to sub in for him today." Jennie waved. "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah! The webs! Just take a look at this!" He blurted, flourishing his hand. Jennie cocked her head to the side.

Among the tops of the trees were thin strands of webbing. They formed a translucent canopy over the grounds of the greenhouse. Jennie grimaced, cocking her head to the side.

"It wasn't like this last night..." Jennie muttered to herself.

"I give the boy one job to do, and he flakes on it anyway! Why do I have to be the one to deal with a lazy grandson!? He's gonna take off ten years of my life with this nonsense..." Lyle muttered, shaking his head.

"U-um, it's not his fault!" Jennie exclaimed. "I, uh, I was here!"

"...you were? Whyzat?" Lyle's eyebrow cocked up as he shot Jennie a look of befuddlement.

"Y-yeah, just last night! Mom and Dad had me run over to check on him, because he was late coming home. And there wasn't anything like this when I got here..." Jennie scratched her head.

"...you're sayin' this mess just up and showed up all at once while nobody was around." His mouth flattened.

"Tch. Believe what you want, old man, I got no reason to lie." Jennie crossed her arms, rolling her eyes.

"...Maybe we got a spider infestation." He muttered, glancing to the treetops above. "Blasted things. Must be an entire colony."

Lyle tried to shove the broom into Jennie's hands. "Just clean up after your lazy brother, I need to head upstairs, make sure the damn paperwork's sorted."

"I-it's doesn't look that bad, grandpa!" Jennie exclaimed, her eyes scanning the treetops above. "I mean, don't spiders help with pests and all that?"

"It's an eyesore is what it is!" Lyle growled. "This place's got to look spotless! I already got opportunistic jackals trying to swoop in on this place, I don't wanna give them any reason to up and take it!"

"...eh? Whadya mean, grandpa?" Jennie cocked her head to the side.

"Baaah, it was some rich fat cat, name escapes me, Macklemore or something." Lyle scoffed. "He's been tryin' to buy the greenhouse, and lowballin' me on every offer at that. I don't need to give him ammo that this place might be fallin apart, the loon would probably try to get an in with the government that way."

"...Jeez... is it that bad?" Jenny grimaced. "A hostile takeover?"

"He's had his own goons posted outside lately. I ain't stupid." He muttered, shaking his head. "I'll die before I let this place fall into the wrong hands. But that means not giving the officials a reason to shut this place down. Like rot and cobwebs."

"I-I hear ya! I-I'll do a sweep of the place!" Jennie's grip on the broom tightened. "Happy to help if it keeps you from getting a heart attack, y'know?"

"...your consideration's appreciated." Lyle muttered, feeling Jennie was, perhaps, making fun of him. "I'll be upstairs."

He gestured to the stairs before clambering up. Jennie turned to the cobwebs again with a conflicted grimace, waiting until Lyle was out of sight and out of earshot.

"Is she gonna be mad if I clean these up?" She wondered. "Heck, is a broom even gonna work against this stuff? They're huge."

Jennie paced forward to get a better look. She was straining her neck trying to make out the top of the tree; she scowled.

"Heck to this. She can fess up herself while she's staying here rent-free. Thought Sier told her to behave." She muttered. "And I need to find a ladder anyway..."

Jennie hurried about the grounds of the greenhouse in an attempt to track down the spider woman Sier let inside the night prior. Jennie figured it'd be easy enough; she was enormous, how well could she hide?

Pretty well, apparently. No matter where Jennie looked, she saw hair no hide of the woman. She scratched her head, looking around.

"She's not in any bushes, she's not in the fruit garden, she's not up in the rafters... where the heck is... she... huh?"

She glanced towards one of the glass panels of the greenhouse. One of the panels was opened, left ajar; a drafty breeze blew indoors.

"...N-no way... there's no way she would've..." Jennie uttered, her eyes wide as dinner plates.