“Do you remember that night when we first talked under the eaves?” Furi asked.


    “How can I forget? You nearly knocked me off the veranda, I was so surprised to find you there watching me.”


    “That seems fair, considering.”


    “Indeed.”


    “You talked about my parents’ love story.”


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    “Ahh,” I sighed. “The records.”


    “How far is the journey?”


    “A fair distance. Mountainous. And dangerous.”


    She paused, waiting to see if I would offer.


    “You want to go.”


    She averted her eyes. Knew I wouldn’t like the idea. “The journey is full of risks, and it would delay my resuming work on the anti-venom.”


    She nodded her agreement with this. The antidote to her poison was all-important. An antidote was unlikely, however. A stab of guilt twisted in my gut for raising Furi’s hopes on that score. But the records—the records lay at a perilous elevation well beyond the reaches of the Spirit Garden, where jorogumo hunted freely from human and beast who ventured near. I didn’t like to go alone, and liked even less the idea of taking Furi there.