Arachnophobia

By S. Mack

I tried to keep my face blank and detached, but knew it wasn’t working. My chin jutted out sullenly, and my eyes were angry. “You want to what?” I bit off, getting even madder when Jason appeared to be imitating sincerity. I had never realized how good he was at imitating it.

But really, he couldn’t have expected me to believe that. It was absurd.

“I know you think I’m cheating on you,” he said, and I froze. He pretended not to notice my shock, for which I couldn’t help but feel mildly grateful. “Alex told me.”

I scowled. I hadn’t even told Alex! “And then last month, when I couldn’t even make it to your birthday party—god, Kayla, I’m so sorry. But it wasn’t—it still isn’t—anything I can control.”

I got up and headed for the door.

“Kayla!”

“You said you wanted to go see a movie,” I tossed over my shoulder.

He moved to block my way, nervous, but so characteristically determined, “I lied—”

“I figured,” I muttered furiously, shooting him a dark look before turning away again. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his jaw clench firmly, and I sighed. I knew that look. He knew I knew that look.

“Kayla,” he began, and I huffed impatiently, but he knew I was about to cave. “Kayla, just—just let me show you something, okay?”

“Fine.” He led me back to the living room, and indicated that I should sit on the couch. I hesitated, thinking he’d sit next to me and try to take my hands in his like they do in the movies, which I definitely didn’t want him to do, but I sat.

He didn’t sit with me. He remained standing, legs shoulder width apart and looking quite distressed, in front of the TV. “Okay,” he said. His hands slid into his pockets, then back out again. “Okay, look. I’m going to tell you my biggest secret here—”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re in the witness protection program?” If he thought that would fly, he was dead wrong.

“—and you can’t go spreading this around school. You’re probably not going to believe me, but I have to know you won’t ever mention it to anyone, even in passing.” His eyes were firm but anxious, and despite myself—and maybe in spite of myself—I found myself wanting to alleviate that anxiety. So I nodded, and he continued. “Okay—I’m a werespider.”

My eyebrows shot up and I blinked slowly. That was not what I had expected. “What?”

“I know you’re scared of spiders—and I’m not playing some kind of sick joke on you, Kayla, I swear.” The words spilled from his mouth in a rush. “My family—my parents—they’re kind of—in charge of all the other werespiders in the city, so when we change, we’re bigger than normal spiders, so we can’t go out on the full moon—”

“You’re a what?” I cried. “A what?”

He stopped, as if my reaction had pulled him out of his frantic ramblings. I watched as he collected himself. Shoulders back, chin up, face calm. All except for his eyes—he was still nervous and unsettled. “I’m a werespider,” he said calmly, “It’s like being a werewolf, but I don’t change into a wolf on the full moons.”

“You change into a spider,” I said dryly. He nodded, and I shook my head, trying to hide my smile. “Great,” I said, and a laugh escaped. Jason was completely insane. All of this was completely insane. “Great—you’re a werespider. Well, Jason, you know how well I get along with spiders, so until you change back into a human, I think we should just—you know, steer clear of each other for a while.”

“You don’t believe me,” he said flatly. His face was grim, as if he’d expected my reaction.

“Seriously, Jason,” I said, “Get real. If you didn’t want to come to my party, you should have just said so. You don’t have to make up some completely lame—and not to

mention completely unbelievable—story, a month later, just to soothe your conscience.” I got up to leave but he was suddenly there, in front of me, with his hands on my shoulders.

“Wait,” he was saying, “Just wait. I’ll prove it to you. Just sit back down and wait a minute.”

I frowned at him. “Jason—”

“I’m going to change,” he interjected. “Now. Sit down, and you’ll see. If you want to leave after that, I’ll let you. I promise.”

With an angry huff, I gave up and plopped gracelessly back onto the couch. “Well, hurry up,” I snapped.

He returned to his place in front of the TV, eyes closed. I watched his adam’s apple bob up and down once as he swallowed. “Just—no matter what happens, it’s still me in there, okay?”

I rolled my eyes, but stopped dead when I realized something really was happening.

It was absolutely terrible to watch him change, and it took everything I had to keep from screaming. When he changed into a spider, he didn’t shrink to the size of a normal spider. It was one of the perks of being part of the royal family, I suppose. He

grew six more legs, three on each side of his torso, and they grew long and furry, and all the joints changed. His waistline pinched at the same time his face started to twist and grow pincers and fur and extra eyes. I closed my eyes, not worried so much about hyperventilating than screaming my head off. If I were to start hyperventilating, I’d eventually stop, one way or another. If I started screaming, I didn’t think I would ever be able to stop. Talk about hurting his feelings.

“You see why I didn’t want to take you out to dinner last month?” he said, and I blanched. He sounded the same as when he was human, but that mouth! It was just like Hollywood would have portrayed it—only thirty times worse. “It was the full moon that night, and I have to change on the full moon, just like any other shapeshifter. But—well, there are plenty of other shapeshifters that don’t have to stay home and hide out when they change because they blend in. Raccoons, dogs, cats—most other spiders.” He looked right at me, and I had to take a deep breath. I knew I must have looked completely freaked out—and I was, but also I knew I was going to hate myself for letting him see it later on. Right then, I was having enough trouble keeping it together without worrying about how wretched I’d feel once I realized how I’d stomped all over his feelings. Jason was a sensitive guy.

“Okay,” I said shakily, “Well, I—I believe you now.”