“Thank god you’re here.”

  As soon as Jesse had heard the doorbell ring to the Vanderwebb’s house, he raced to answer it, practically pulling Alicia and Noah inside.

  It was the afternoon following their ghost hunt and the final day of their babysitting job. When Jesse and Siobhan had arrived earlier, the three spiderlings had pelted them with questions about the doll and what happened after they were put to bed, and were disappointed when they were told they’d have to wait, then shifted gears to ask about Alicia and Noah. After about an hour of incessant pleading, they had finally caved and asked their friends to come over to help watch the kids for the remainder of the day until their parents came home.

  “You can thank us by splitting that payment with us,” Noah told him.

  “Honestly, they don’t seem that bad,” Alicia said. “Maybe we should have joined you from the start.”

  “You only say that now that we’ve already done all the hard work.”

  “Miss Alicia and mister Noah are here!” Charlotte announced, having crept up silently behind them.

  Her siblings ran over from where Siobhan had been trying to hold their attention in the living room, a feat easier said than done.

  “Hey, guys,” Alicia said. “How have you been?”

  “Bored,” Jeremy informed them. “We wanted to see you.”

  Noah nodded in understanding. “Yeah, these two aren’t very good babysitters, are they?”

  “Hey!” Siobhan looked indignant.

  Jesse wanted to protest as well, but thinking about it, they did literally lose the kids in a haunted house last night. Not exactly babysitter of the year material.

  “But now that we’re here, we can get this party started,” Alicia announced. “Who wants to play a game?”

  “I do, I do!” all three of the spiderlings scrambled after Alicia as she led them back to the living room.

  They all took part in a game that Alicia had invented called Ghost Hunters, where the spiderlings pretended to track down the evil Joseph Waylor, who had somehow escaped and was now seeking revenge. She, Jesse, Siobhan, and Noah played the part of his ghost henchmen, doing everything they could to stop the hunters from reaching the source. It was honestly a lot more fun than the other games they had tried to play with the spiderlings, and leagues more fun than the actual ghost hunt had been, involving lots of chasing, shouting, and overly dramatic death scenes.

  During a snack break, Alicia plopped down on the sofa next to Siobhan.

  “So, I noticed something weird today,” she started nonchalantly. “It looks like Adrienne hasn’t posted to her Instagram since last night. Normally she posts like fifty times a day. Would you happen to know anything about that?”

  Siobhan innocently sipped her juice box. “Mmmmm... I don’t really know what you’re getting at. But she did look a little... green this morning. I don’t think she’ll be Instagram worthy for the next couple of days.”

  Jesse, overhearing this, remembered how pleased Siobhan had looked with herself when they met up that morning, and inwardly smirked.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” Alicia said, but her eyes shone with gratitude.

  “Please, I’d been saving that hex for her since the moment I found it in my spellbook. You just gave me a good excuse to finally use it.”

  “Well, thank you anyway.”

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  “It’s no problem. Sorry I can’t do anything about the cheerleading tryouts, though.”

  She sighed. “It’s okay. Maybe it’s time I move on. Besides, no cheer practice means more time for spending at Gravewood with my friends.”

  Alicia threw her arm around Siobhan’s shoulder as she said that and the other girl blushed, pretending to be too absorbed in her juice box to comment. Jesse was just starting to formulate a way to tease her when he heard the front door open.

  “We’re back!” Cynthia’s voice announced from the foyer.

  Already? He’d thought that they wouldn’t be arriving until later tonight, but it was only five o’clock.

  “Mommy!” All three of the spiderlings rushed to greet their mother, leaving their snacks forgotten in the living room.

  Jesse had to do a double take when he got up to follow them, because the woman standing in the doorway only somewhat looked like Cynthia Vanderwebb. She had the same face, hair, and skin tone, but the large spider body that he had come to associate with her was completely gone, instead replaced with a regular human figure, the black pantsuit and heels she was wearing accentuating the legs that were definitely not present on her every other time he’d seen her.

  “I missed you too,” she told her kids. “Did you all behave while we were gone?”

  “They were little angels,” Jesse said, one he got over his initial shock at her appearance. Fallen angels, more like.

  “Woah,” he heard Noah say as the others came to join them, stopping in their tracks at the sight of Cynthia.

  The corners of her mouth quirked up and she gave a little spin for their benefit. “Strange, isn’t it? I normally like to stay in my regular form while here in Gravewood, but human form is more convenient for travel.”

  “We didn’t know you could change like that,” Siobhan said.

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, as I’m sure there is a lot I don’t know about you. Speaking of, how did they do?”

  At first, Jesse thought she was talking to them, but she had turned her attention back to the spiderlings.

  “Noah and Alicia are the best babysitters ever!” Jeremy exclaimed. Then as an afterthought added, “Jesse and Siobhan are cool too.”

  “Oh, they are, are they?”

  “Miss Alicia played fun games with us and mister Noah told us stories.”

  “Can you leave again soon so they can come back and babysit us again?”

  Cynthia threw her head back and laughed. “If they get such glowing reviews from you three, then they must have done a great job. Sure, we can invite them again, but not too soon. Don’t you want to spend more time with your dear mother now that she’s home?”

  The Cynthia who was surrounded by her kids was far different from the Cynthia who constantly scolded them whenever she saw them. Maybe it was because Jesse and his friends weren’t her kids, but whatever the case was, it was the first time he ever got the feeling that she really did have a softer side to her.

  “Where’s Mr. Vanderwebb?” Siobhan asked.

  “David’s out bringing in the luggage with the rest of the kids.”

  Jesse peeked around her through the open doorway, eager to catch a glimpse of the husband she’s mentioned but that they’ve never met. He didn’t exactly know what to expect, but somehow, a perfectly normal looking middle-aged man with the head of a spider was unsurprising. He supposed both Cynthia and her husband being half-spider explained why some of their kids turned out to be full spiders. David was coming up the driveway, suitcases in hand, surrounded by a horde of varying shaped and sized spider children.

  “Thank you for looking after these three,” Cynthia said, drawing his attention back to her. She bit her lip. “And, I was wrong about you.”

  That last bit looked like it was directed at Alicia specifically, and she looked caught off guard by the woman’s sincerity. “Oh, uh, that’s okay.”

  She pulled a neatly rolled wad of cash from her pocketbook. “Here, your payment for the past three days. As well a little extra, since there are four of you to split it between.”

  “Oh, thanks.” In all of the excitement, he’d nearly forgotten that they were getting paid. He made to take the money from her, but she held fast.

  “I half expected to return to a burned down house, but you all did remarkably well,” she started. “That being said, I have another proposition for you. All four of you, this time.”

  Jesse tensed, already knowing what was coming.

  “You won’t be babysitting again,” she assured them. “Summer is approaching, and with it, the annual weeklong day camp we host here in Gravewood. Hank is the one who runs it, I’m far too busy for that, but some of my kids like to attend. If you’re interested, I know they’d love to have you come as well. There aren’t many kids your age in the neighborhood and I think it would be good for the younger ones to have some nice older role models to look up to. You can bring Ashton with you, too.”

  Another invitation to Gravewood. Here we go again.

  “We’d love to, Mrs. Vanderwebb,” Jesse said. At this point, we might as well just move in.

  She let go of the money, flashing him a rare smile that showed her needle-like fangs. “Wonderful. I’ll let Hank know you’ll be coming. It will be fun, I promise.”

  “We can’t wait.”