Page 33 of The Spider Queen
“No,” I whispered. “No, no, no, no, no.”
Fear wrapped its unyielding claws around my throat and squeezed.
Breathe.
I screamed.
My door burst open and Anita rushed in, wielding a bat. “What? What is it?” she demanded, looking around for a threat.
“I saw a Palmetto bug,” I lied.
She lowered the bat. “Shit. Yeah. Those make me scream too. Cockroaches that fly? Fuck all that noise.”
I let out a strangled laugh. “Right?” I glanced at her weapon of choice. “Really?”
“I grabbed the first thing I could. I’m good in a crisis.”
Jonah appeared in the doorway, dressed in real clothes. “You guys okay? You see a spider or something? Want me to kill it?”
Oh, the bloody irony, I thought miserably. I stepped in front of my dresser to shield the spider in the cube and gave Anita a pointed look.
“Uh, maybe I should fill you in on Poppy’s life.” She pushed him out of my room and followed him.
Closing the door, I leaned against it and stared at the cube.
Beautiful little liar.
“Okay, that’s enough,” I snapped.
Why did you try to drown me?
“What the hell is this?” I sank to the floor, pulled up my knees, and rested my head on them. Something was happening. Something I didn’t believe was possible.
I believed in science—there had to be a rational, logical explanation. Reason would get me through this.
You won’t find an explanation for this in a textbook.
“Hush, you.”
Great, I was talking back to it.
“You got a name, Spider?”
Don’t call me that.
“How can you talk to me? And why is your color darkening? Aren’t you dead?”
The spider didn’t reply.
“Just as I thought. I’m not going insane—Iaminsane.”
Not insane.
“Then what is this?” I demanded.
There was a knock on my door. “Are you okay? Who are you talking to?”
“I’m on the phone,” I called back.
