“You have to promise not to scream or shout or really do much of anything. I had to smuggle–” Eva paused for a split second and tried to think of a good nickname. “Rach,” she decided, “past security and I doubt she’d take it well if a flight attendant tries to separate us.”
“That’s reassuring,” Juliana said. The girl was far too interested for her own good.
“Rach?” Jordan questioned.
Eva frowned. “Rach is a West African tarantula. Very large and a bit old. For a spider anyway.”
Shelby looked like she was going to be sick. She brought her hand closer to her chest as if being near the cage was going to hurt her.
Eva reached down to the clasp of the carrier door, but paused. “The moment she starts running around the plane or looks like she might even be considering thinking about the possibility of even scratching anyone, she is going straight back into her cage for the rest of the trip,” Eva said in a stern voice, mostly for Arachne herself.
Eva opened the door. Four long, black legs stretched out of the carrier.
Shelby shook her head and walked straight back to the couches, mumbling ‘nope’ over and over.
The rest stayed and watched as Arachne emerged from the carrier. She crawled out, each leg making a careful step. She turned around slowly, examining all the group with her eight eyes. Arachne turned back towards Eva and twisted her body a little, like she was trying to cock her head to one side. She felt out with her legs against Eva’s own, as if she was making sure who she was.
Eva frowned. The spider-demon was obviously showing off. For intimidation or for attention was up in the air. Probably both.
She scurried up Eva’s legs with frightening speed, eliciting a gasp from Irene. She slid right under Eva’s shirt and continued climbing out the neck hole. Arachne settled herself in on the top of Eva’s head, wrapping some legs around her chin. Her fangs drifted lightly to the top of Eva’s vision.
“Show-off,” Eva mumbled out the corner of her mouth. Juliana quirked an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. Eva snapped her mouth shut and suppressed a sigh.
“Well,” Eva said aloud, “meet Rach.” She brought her hand up and slowly stroked the smooth chitin.
The group as a whole did not look like they knew how to react. The sole exception being Maximilian. “Can I touch her?” he asked.
Arachne immediately tapped her left shoulder.
Eva shook her head. “I’d rather not needlessly upset her. Perhaps after we get to school and she gets acclimated to living in a new place.” Eva gestured at the fangs hanging into her vision. “You wouldn’t enjoy being on the business end of these.”
The larger boy withdrew his partially outstretched hand. He gave a half chuckle and said, “personal experience huh?”
Eva gave a short laugh at that. “I’m not sure I’d be around to tell about any personal experiences, if I had any.” Second hand experience, I might be able to talk about…
“Oh,” was his only response.
Irene spoke up for the first time since her introduction. “We should be getting back then, don’t want to crowd your spider after all.” She gave a nervous giggle and all but dragged Max away.
Jordan, however, stood there. He just stared at Arachne.
Eva fidgeted under the look. “Is there anything else?” she eventually asked.
“A West African tarantula, is it?” he asked with a bit of a skeptical look.
Is he already suspicious? Eva suppressed a groan. If some kid her age suspected within a few minutes, Arachne would be outed as a demon before the week was through if she wasn’t more careful with who saw the spider-demon. “From West Africa. The scientific name is long and hard to remember.”
Jordan gave a small ‘hmm’ noise. “Well, Eva, I’ll head back with the others. Let’s talk again sometime.”
“Sure thing.”
With the strange boy gone, Eva relaxed back in her seat. The relaxing only lasted a moment.
Juliana quickly had her face right in front of Eva’s. Eva pressed herself back. She felt Arachne’s abdomen pinched between her head and the seat, but the spider could take the meager amount of pressure of Eva’s head. It would also help keep the spider from launching at the blond.
The girl’s eyes didn’t even register Eva’s distress. After staring at Arachne for almost a minute, the blond sat back in her chair. Eva relaxed slightly.
“She’s very pretty,” Juliana said.
Eva rolled her eyes at Arachne repeatedly tapping her right shoulder.
“Smart too.” Her eyes were glued on the tapping leg.
“That’s just… She’s well-trained.” Eva frowned at the single left shoulder tap. “I’m glad no one started screaming, unlike the last time I showed people Rach, but you seem very comfortable.”
Juliana waved a dismissive hand. “My mother is a retired mage-knight who frequently goes on ‘safaris’ with my father around the world. They catalog and frequently return home with various creatures. Safe, dangerous, magical, mundane. It’s all the same to them.” She wiggled a finger across her face. “When I was eight, I woke up with a very poisonous centipede crawling on me. It was probably as big as your spider.”
“That’s…” Eva felt a slight tremor go up her spine.
“You shiver at that while you have a giant spider on your head?”
“I know Rach. I’ve been around her for as long as I can remember.”
The crackle of the overhead speaker stalled their conversation. The pilot said they would be taking off momentarily.
“Rach,” Eva said as she lowered her head and patted the table.
Arachne climbed off and turned to face Eva, cocking her body to one side again.
Eva gestured to the window. “It is quite a view when we take off.”
The spider-demon walked to the edge of the table near the window. She gave a sidelong glance at Juliana before resting her abdomen against the table.
The blond raised an eyebrow in Eva’s direction.
Eva shrugged. “I thought she might want to see. Don’t worry, she’s clean. We took a shower this morning.”
Juliana smiled. Probably the most emotion she Eva had seen so far, discounting the vested interest in Arachne. Eva’s face flushed red, but she couldn’t just say that Arachne took a shower on her own.
As the plane rose in the air, Eva smiled as Arachne actually perked up. She leaned forward, pressing two legs against the glass. Juliana found it very amusing if her smile was anything to go by.
After takeoff, Arachne crawled under Eva’s shirt and latched around her chest; After Jordan’s suspicion, Eva didn’t really want to interact with any flight attendants or students. Juliana did give a quirk of her eyebrow as Arachne slipped out of sight, but she didn’t comment on it.
They passed the time with small talk, mostly about Juliana’s parents. Several stories about her run ins with various creatures. Her mother’s job, mage-knights, were apparently some sort of elite bounty hunters that went after dangerous magical criminals.
That made Eva more than a little nervous.
She felt a bit bad about deflecting most personal questions. There was just so much that she wasn’t sure if it was safe to mention. She mostly stuck with her school life, work at the vet’s office, and a partially made up home life.
Their next stop had them picking up around ten students. They split off, some in the back cabin and some sat in seats near Eva and Juliana. None made an effort to introduce themselves and Eva wasn’t going to get up and wander with Arachne under her shirt, even as hidden as she knew the spider would be.
The moment they were in the air again, lunch was served. Eva was a bit disappointed in the food. While the sandwiches and fruit were good, great even, they were just a bit disappointed compared to the drink from earlier.
Only two students boarded on their last pickup.
Eva kept Arachne under her shirt the rest of the flight. She would occasionally peek down and check on her, but the spider seemed more than content to just nestle between her breasts. Eva had been petting the spider for a time, over her shirt, until she realized how odd that must have looked to others. She definitely caught Juliana’s odd look every once in a while.