The next morning William got up even earlier and started the day with what he thought was a cunning plan he would go back to the place he had met the old man and push him for more details no matter what he would have to do he would eventually find the answers he wanted.
He headed straight out that morning without much consideration on what he wore and what people would think if they saw him, he assumed he could remain undetected with his new speed as well if he needed to he could use the shadows to hide.
He ran as fast as he could even using his spider legs to get there faster, it was black outside as it was before dawn.
He got to the spot the old man was before and he waited as he was sure the old man would show back up or at least it was a hope that he would as of right now it was his only hope to figure out anything.
He sat down in the tree about three meters off the ground and practised with his spider limbs as he wasn't sure how strong they were he guessed they were just as strong as his legs.
After sitting for hours and not being able to figure out what strength his spider limbs have as he did not know how strong his legs were, he had never done any working out and did not have a solid gage of what his legs could do so he ended up wasting time he was cold and dark he slowly closed his eyes falling asleep.
he awoke to the light filtering throw the treetops as dawn came upon him, steering him from his slumber he looked around and was shocked and ashamed that he had fallen asleep and was now sure he had missed the old man.
Jumping from the tree he landed with a thud on the ground and tripped over a root that had grown out of the ground making a loop before feeding back into the ground he did not see this root before he climbed the tree and was surprised how he had managed to climb the tree without noticing.
"what the fuck why does this shit happen to me" he slammed his foot into the tree making a massive dent in the tree but not breaking it this only made him angrier as he was sure of his strength and knew he could break this tree with a punch let alone a kick.
he battered the tree starting with kicks then moved to punch then after all that failed he used his spider legs and used all his strength to hit with all four legs still, after all, that, all he could do was dent the tree a little more while blood ran down his fists and his skin showed marks on them.
The hit shook the tree and it reverberated throwout the entire forest scattering all animals in the forest around him.
"shit why can't I break this tree what is it ironwood or something" he screamed
'guess I can't do anything else might as well go home and see if he lives around here.'
...
After he got back he pretended to care about how his parent's days were going to go and how his little sister was going with school but all he thought about was how he could find the old man as he only got a good look at one decerning feature of the old man, a small scar on his cheek no longer than his pinky finger.
After his parents went to work and his sister to school he took off leaving the empty house to start to walk the streets, beginning with ones that were close to the forest as he assumed a hunter would live no more than a 20-minute drive away he was not sure how he would know what house it would be but he knew he would have to give it a shot as he could not sit at home anymore even for a second he had forgotten how much he hated waiting for tomorrow to come he would prefer to walk the street in the burning sun street after street, plan bland house after plan bland house(or so it felt).
Finally coming to sit down near an old grand looking house that could have been standing for centuries by how old it looked not in a rundown way but in the air about the house as if the first generation were still inside the house, it must have only been built in the 1940s which was a common enough sight in Australia when you went closer to the old parts of town but it was strange it was here after all a lot of houses was designed after the houses from that era even now but none as big as this one, each house had a different style and feel but this just felt old more then it looked.
letting curiosity take over he moved around the back of the house as most Aussie houses have large space between it was not hard in the slightest, he was not too worried about being found out as everyone was already at work or school when he thought this far he hit his head against the brick wall of the house as it dawned on him if the old man worked or anything like that he should be not home right now which made him understand how fruitless his endeavour had been.
Even if he was able to find the old man he would be not home right now so he had been basically wandering around for hours for nothing.
Slamming his head into the wall again he lamented how many hours he had wasted on this and then remembered he had nothing else to do anyway so he was not sure it was a waste to wander the streets.
After sitting by the house in the shade for a while he decided to head home and try doing something more useful until he could search again.
When he got up an old man rounded the corner of the house and saw William sitting there in a daze as he was not expecting anyone to find him.
"What are you doing" cried the old man, as he was looking at William the shadows had already covered his face again he was terrified.
"I didn't mean to," said William before he realized this old man looked a lot like the man he had seen but even older.
The old man was taken aback but soon looked William in the eyes.
"I did not expect you so soon Anansi" said the old man shocking william had he actually ended up at the right place somehow in a street of thousands what were the chances.
zero that is the amount of chance he had as even his 20 minutes drive was plucked ever so elegantly from thin air making it a wild goose chase, to begin with.
That is when the man got on his knees and started to pray to him, this was a little awkward, to say the least as it was not very smart for an old man to get on the ground each time he saw him.
As William moved closer the old man looked up and the shadow mask slowly removed itself this allowed the old man to see the awkward smile on his face as he moved closer and helped the man up asking what he meant.
"hey old man get up I'm not this Anansi and I don't know who that is but it is awkward when you jump down on your knees like that"
"I don't believe you Anansi, but I will get up as you asked" the old man would never believe what came out of this young-looking man's mouth as Anansi is a trickster and thus his words should not be taken to heart so easierly.
As the old man was sure that the youth standing in front of him was a trickster god who was powerful enough to make the whole world and could take on basically any form so how could this old man not believe he was Anansi after what his son had seen and how the shadows cradled this young man covering and uncovering him with ease like it was natural for the shadows to heed his command.
"Please come inside Anansi" said the old man now no longer bowing but it seemed like the old man was not going to call him anything else.
After William slowly walked into the house.