Page 2 of The Spider Queen
“How did I get here?”
“She and her boyfriend brought you to the hospital—”
Boyfriend.
“I need to call my boyfriend, Hunter,” I said. Panic surged inside of me again.
“Your cousin has already called him,” she assured me. “But I think it’s best if you rest now.”
“I don’t want to rest!” I yelled, fighting against the restraints. “I want to get out of here! I want to go home!”
The doctor called for a nurse, and a moment later a plump brunette came into the room. She injected something into my IV and a few moments later, lethargy settled over my body.
My senses went foggy, words faded to a dull murmur around me, and my eyes drifted shut.
Oblivion came once again.
Chapter 1
“Ew! What the hell is that?” my cousin asked, leaning over my shoulder to stare at the webpage.
“It’s aCebrennus rechenbergispider. Nocturnal and native to the Erg Chebbi desert in Morocco.”
“That’s disgusting,” Anita exclaimed, giving a dramatic shiver.
“It’s not. It’s beautiful! Watch.” I clicked a link and a YouTube video popped up. A moment later, a spider cartwheeled across the sand, doing acrobatic flips, impressing the hell out of me.
Not so much with Anita.
“I love you, but spiders are gross.”
I peered closer at the screen, enraptured with one of nature’s most unique species. “They’re not gross,” I said, knowing we were about to engage in a conversation we’d had a dozen times already. “If it weren’t for spiders, the bug population would be out of control. They eat mosquitos. Not to mention—”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard this all before. They’re still creepy as hell.”
Anita left my side and went over to the red couch and flopped down. Putting her feet up on the coffee table, she reached for the remote. Moments later a soccer game captured her attention. Just like Anita couldn’t understand my fascination with spiders and my desire to study them, I didn’t understand how she wanted to study sports medicine. Broken bones and blood?
No, thanks.
“Oh, yes!” Anita said, jumping up with a fist pump.
“Injury?” I asked without taking my eyes off the computer.
“Yes! I just saw an ankle snap!”
“And you call my interests weird,” I teased.
Anita laughed. “They are weird.” She muted the TV. “You study bugs.”
Rolling my eyes behind my glasses, I said, “Idonotstudy bugs. I study spiders.”
“Archna-what’s it called?”
“Arachnology.”
“Are you sure we’re cousins?” she demanded in good humor.
“Nope,” I said. “Not sure at all.”
