"Camping with my folks when I was eight," Shamira said, finally dropping the napkin and facing her gleeful dinner companions. I stumbled into a set of webs the size of Montana, and I wound up with a dozen of those evil little buggers all over me. I couldn't think of a way to get rid of them, so I went charging into the creek, which was fuh-REE-zing."

Clara started laughing so hard that she fell out of her chair.

"Some decorum, young woman," Shane said, staring at the ground where his shaman was rolling around, thinking of a soaked, shivering, and arachnid-addled little version of Shamira.

"I'm scared to death...