We were attending a school fieldtrip with our zoology class to one of the largest science labs in the country. Normally I would pass on stuff like this, but I didn't feel like taking the exam I had in math next period. I looked around at some of the machines they used to study some of the specimens. Ketara was even with us that day and all I heard her say was how primitive our technology was compared to the Andalites'.
"Can you please quit degrading my race?" I asked her. "Besides, aren't the Andalites helping us to improve it?"
"Yes Princess Stacey, I apologize for my arrogance."
"Don't call me Princess."
"Yes Princess."
It was hopeless to argue about her calling me "Princess". I was, after all, the leader of the group. Her father called my father "Prince" all the time. My thoughts strayed to my father. He had sacrificed himself to the control of Visser One in order to keep me from going through that nightmare again. Now he is my arch-nemesis, bent on our destruction and the enslaving of the entire universe. I only hoped that my dad didn't break and give up fighting for control of his own body. There was a time where I did give up in order to protect my family, but my efforts were in vain. My mother ended up being murdered, slain by the hand of the evil Yeerk overlord. The fact that she was dead wasn't what bothered me, it was the fact that it was my finger that pulled the trigger. It didn't help to tell me that I wasn't in control of my own actions. It was still my hand she died by!
"Stacey, are you okay?" Cheyenne asked.
I snapped back to the present. "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine."
"Come on, we'll fail this course if we don't pay attention."
I follwed the rest of the class over to a display of small square containers. Each contained a single small spider. One of the scientists that was heading the tour of the lab began to give a small presentation.
"As you know the mosquito and locust population has increased by 25% in the past two years. During that time we created a new species of spider capable of lowering the number of harmful insects in the world. Of the many spiders we observed, only four were eligible for this experiment; the Delana, jumping, net web, and grass spider," she said as she pointed to four spiders in four different aquariums. "The Delana and jumping spider have the ability to jump great distances to catch it's prey. The net web spider's webbing has a tensile strength of a high-tension wire. And the grass spider's reflexes are so great that many beleive it acts on precognition, sort of like ESP."
I sighed and wandered over to the display of genetically altered spiders. They looked slightly different from regular spiders I have seen (and been).
"With these characteristics we were able to create a new gene and fuse it in the genetic code of these twelve new super spiders."
Twelve? I did a quick count. Nine... Ten... "There's only eleven," I said.
"Excuse me?"
"One's missing."
"Are you sure?" the scientist asked. She came over and peered into the empty container. "They must be working with that one. They'll bring it back shortly."
I went over and leaned against the wall as the class looked around. My attention was drawn to a large computer screen. It displayed all the information about the new spiders, their abilities and how they would help lower the mosquito count, which in fact had gotten pretty bad. So bad that the second you stepped out the door you became a walking buffet. I was too busy reading the information on them that I didn't notice I had disturbed a web, or that the spider who had built it had found its way onto my hand. Only after it bit me did I realize it was there.
"Ow!" I jerked my hand in surprise and the spider fell to the floor and scurried under a desk. Before it disappeared I noticed that it was the missing spider from the exhibit. From what I had read on the computer, none of the spiders that were used were poisonous. "That's a relief," I mummbled.
On the way back to school I began to feel a little strange, the bite was throbbing now. I rubbed the back of my hand to try and ease it.
"Are you okay?" Cheyenne asked me. "You don't look so good."
"Got any asprin? I got a raging headache."
She reached into her bag and handed me a small bottle. I swallowed two pills and leaned my head against the bus window. I edured the last half hour of school and went home. I would have flown, but with the way I was feeling flying didn't seem like a good idea. Instead I took the bus. I stumbled out onto the lawn of Aunt Rachel's house and staggered to the front door. Rachel was in the kitchen preparing dinner while Tobias set the table.
"Hey Stacey, did you decide to take the bus?" she asked me. "The others got back fifteen minutes ago."
"Yeah. I don't feel good Aunt Rachel, I think I'll go to sleep for a while."
"You want a bite to eat first?"
"Already had a bite."
I hurried up the stairs to my room. I stripped down to a sports top and shorts. Every part of my body ached and I was drenched with sweat. I felt so dizzy I collapsed onto the bed and pulled the covers up over my head. I felt cold but knew my skin was burning with fever. I closed my eyes and finally fell asleep. It wasn't a pleasant rest either because all I dreamt about was spiders. I was awaken sometime later by Nicole.
"Hey sleepyhead, get up or you'll be late," she said.
"Late for what?"
"School. You must have been out of it, you've been asleep since you got home yesterday."
I looked at the clock on my table. 7:00 a.m. I sprung out of bed and hurried to the bathroom to get a shower. As I got dressed I noticed that my adominal muscles were a bit more tone. I went over to the full-sized mirror on my closet door and looked at myself. The bicep muscles on my arms had slightly increased in size. So had the muscles in my legs.
"Whoa." I turned to the side and saw that my butt was smaller and firmer. "Dreams do come true."
"Planning to compete for Miss Universe?" I blushed with embarassment as I saw Nicole staring at me. "Looks like gym class finally did you some good."
"Maybe."
I finished getting dressed, having to adjust my bra due to the slight enlargement of my chest area (talk about blossoming over night) and ran downstairs to the dining room for breakfast. The others were already at the table. I hopped over the railing and landed in the room.
"I take it you're feeling better?" Tobias asked me.
"Never felt better," I said with a smile.
I sat down and ate with everyone else. When I finished I carried my plate to the kitchen and put it in the sink. The fork, however, was stuck to my hand. I tried to shake it off without drawing attention to myself but it wouldn't budge. Finally I grabbed it and pulled it free.
Weird, I thought.
As the five of us went out the door everyone but me began to morph to birds.
David stopped and looked at me. "Aren't you coming?"
"Think I'll walk today."
"Okay, see ya."
He morphed and flew away. I watched them soar as I walked on, not paying attention to where I was going. Suddenly, I felt a tingling sensation at the back of my head. I leapt upward and landed on the hood of on oncoming car. A car that would have hit me. How did I know?
The driver jumped out. "Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?"
"I'm fine," I said as I hopped off the hood.
"Be more careful from now on."
Indeed I would be. But the whole thing puzzled me, how was I able to know that car was about to hit me when I never even saw it? I shook my head to clear my thoughts and continued on to school. It was during gym class that things got really weird. The coach sent me to the equipment room to get a volleyball but it was on the very top shelf, well beyond my reach. I tried to grab it and had no luck. I threw my arm up in frustration and a thread shot out of my wrist and stuck to the ball. I tugged at it and the ball dropped from the shelf. What the hell was this stuff? It looked like webbing. After removing it from the ball I went back out to the gym. I played some volleyball with a few of the girls. I jumped up and batted the ball over the net. I hit it so hard that it bounced off the floor and...
"Oooow!"
Hit Amanda Rowan in the face.
Oh shit, you've done it now, my mind said.
Rowan was not the type of girl you wanted to be on the bad side of. Even the guys were afraid of her. I turned and started walking away, trying to get out of there before something else happened. I felt the tingling again and ducked. Rowan's fist went swinging past.
"You must think you're pretty funny don't you Berenson?"
"It was an accident, don't get uptight."
"The only accident you're going to have is your face being smashed!"
She swung and I ducked. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, I was able to dodge Rowan's punches before they neared my face. She charged me and I jumped, landing behind her.
"Hold still dammit!"
She began swinging harder and faster, but none of the blows connected. I grabbed her hand after she threw another punch and squeezed. She began yelling in pain. I saw the other fist coming around for another shot. I punched her in the stomach and she flew back and slid across the floor. The onlookers stared at me in both shock and amazement for I had just beaten the toughest girl in school. I had to get out of there. I ran and didn't stop until I reached an empty alley.
"What's happening to me?!" I wondered aloud, then I remembered the spider bite.
Was it possible that it was having some sort of effect on me? Could I be mutating? The last thing I needed was to sprout eight arms. My fingertips itched, as I looked closer I saw fine hairs protruding from them.
"I wonder..."
I placed one hand on the wall, then the other. They stuck! I moved up, higher and higher. When I looked down I was high above the ground, at least ten feet.
"Yeeee-haah!" I screamed as I leaped from rooftop to rooftop.
When I finally came to a stop I was overlooking a wide intersection. The next building was too far for me to jump across to. There was a large billboard sign on the roof. Maybe I could swing across to it. I threw out my arm and... Nothing happened. I tried again and again. Finally I just snapped my wrist and...
THWIP! a string of webbing shot forward.
So that's how it works. I aimed for the sign and fired again. The web attached to the sign and held firm. I stood on the building ledge and took a deep breath.
"Here it goes." I stepped off and... "Whoa!" I was swinging!
I reached the roof and released the webline. It was totally exhilirating! Almost like flying, except I was still in human form. I spent the rest of the afternoon swinging along the city rooftops. I wanted to get as much pratice in as I could for when it came to fighting Visser One again. A thought struck me then. Would these new powers disappear the minute I morphed? I focused on the golden eagle that was part of me and transformed. I snapped my wrist again.
THWIP!
Apparently when the spider bit me, part of its genetic sequence was transferred to me and fused with mine. The others would find this so cool.
You can't tell the others, my mind said to me. If the Yeerks found out, it would put them in even more danger. No one must know. This must remain a secret at all costs.
I knew in my heart that it was the right thing to do in order to protect them. But I wanted to tell them so much. I morphed and flew home. I decided to do a search on the internet about superheroes. Many names popped up; Wonder Woman, Superman, and... Spider-Man. I clicked on a page about Spider-Man and a comic site came up on the screen. I read the story of Peter Parker and how a bite from a radioactive spider transformed him into the webslinger of New York. I studied a picture of his costume. Perhaps I could be like that? I already had the powers. Further down the page was a sub-category about someone called Spider-Girl. I opened that and read. She was the daughter of Spider-Man. Her costume was similar in design, with a few alterations. Perfect for mine. It was a good thing tomorrow was Saturday.