We reached the British Columbia science lab, taken by bus from school. It was a massive facility with many different faculties and museum-like features.
Annie was all over the place, and highly requested too. As she was not only pretty but also smart, everyone wanted her to guide them. I wanted to share her enthusiasm but this lab was mostly focused on science, biology and chemistry, we weren't allowed to walk in the engineering faculty which was the one I was interested in.
I looked to the right and Jean shared my same expression, she too was more interested in psychology but we stuck along with Annie because she seemed so happy. We were too many so we divided into two groups to explore the facility in rounds, it was upperclassmen touring us in.
We walked by an experimental lab where they had different species of insects and arachnids.
"Asian Gigant Hornet, they're so big!" Annie rushed with the rest of the boys, explaining and giving information that even the upperclassmen weren't wary of.
"That's good and all but be careful, these insects are very dangerous" I frowned, she just said that a gigantic wasp the size of a hand can even kill people. They have them here for experimentative purposes and those impregnable see-through boxes look safe enough but still...
"You don't need to worry about anything, I know which are harmless and which are not~" Annie giggled and hooked her arm with me, earning me the ire of the class.
We entered a particularly different aisle, too big to be categorized with the rest. Jean stood on the door, looking up at the poster 'Spider Division'.
She didn't want to go in, I had to drag her in.
"I can wait outside!"
"What are you so afraid of? those spiders are caged–"
"No!".
Still, I dragged her in, enjoying her fright. It wasn't always Jean who looked so vulnerable, she was a strong-willed girl.
"There is nothing to be afraid of, Jean... most spiders are harmless to humans, they're extremely intelligent community-oriented species and only devour prey which is roughly their size; humans are out of the question" Annie explained, Jean gulped audibly and settled down a bit.
I pinched her waist and she yelped.
"Stop your nonsense, Ray!"
"Yes yes~"
We walked through the aisles, there were dozens of specimens.
"There is a spider in particular I'm quite looking forward to seeing" Annie said.
"Which one?" I asked.
"The one with the strongest silk in the world, Caerostris Darwini. Better known as Darwin's Black Spider. It was named as such in the name of Charles Darwin and it is quite rare in Southern Africa, it is said their webs are stronger than steel wire and they can shoot them even as far as thirty metres" Annie looked around, searching for the aforementioned spider.
"There is also something more interesting about them, do you know Jean?" Annie hugged Jean, who yelped again at the sudden touch.
"H-Hmn?"
"That spider I'm talking about, they have a particular reproductive culture in the animal world, once they mate with their partner, they eat him~"
"Eh?" I felt goosebumps.
"Hoh?~" Jean felt them too.
"As you heard, once they have finished their little mating ritual and the female has harvested the male's seed, she eats him alive".
"..." Jean glared at me for some reason, that glare was a bit unsettling.
"It is theorised the Black Spider of Darwin loves to the death, she doesn't want her mate to reproduce with any other female, so she eats him~ what do you think?".
"I think she's clever..." Jean hooked her right arm against her chest and glared at me ominously, so did Annie but with a more giggly mood around her, she knew what she was doing.
"I think that poor male spider should be allowed to spread his genes a bit more. Eating your partner like that? it must be against spider rights" I complained, yet another case of animal injustice.
"I like it though" Annie giggled.
'Of course you like it, you damn vixen'.
"But don't you think that is the maximum expression of love, Ray?" Annie whispered, "I think the female spider did well, in fact, I should do that as well"
"You both try something like that and I'm eating you instead, consider yourselves advised".
"Sure champ, we will see how that threat unfolds~" Jean giggled, "Let's go, Annie, I actually want to see this spider now, I'm sure it is cute!"
The troublemaker smiled with a countenance that turned a bit purple, "Y-Yeah, I guess you could call it cute? depends on perspective".
...
We walked around the isles, looking for that psychotic spider but couldn't find it. Finaly we found the carcass where the spider she was looking for was supposed to be, the label said 'Darwin's Black Spider'.
But the box was empty, the three of us and some other kids looked around it, thinking maybe the spider was camouflaging itself.
"This spider doesn't have chameleon-like capabilities, so... how odd? there is nothing here, maybe don't have this specimen for display right now" Annie said, looking disappointed and downcast.
So much so that I wanted to call a teacher and ask them to bring the goddamn spider so that my girl could see it. But then, I felt it.
I felt a sting in my hand, something pierced my skin that was quite tough. I lifted up my hand, and there it was... the biggest and most horrible spider I have seen my either my goddamn lives.
*BANG!*
Jean's body hit the floor, she passed out on the spot the moment she saw this monstrosity.
I yelled, swung my hand to flush the spider away but Annie was more concerned over the spider than Jean, "Don't! these are harmless!"
She picked the spider in her hands as I hurried up to check up on Jean whose eyes were half-lipped, she wasn't completely out cold but clearly, the visual impact was grave.
"Harmless my ass, it stung me! Be careful with that thing, Annie!"
The students all paid attention to the spider in Annie's hands and they seemed to be enthralled by something.
"W-What's going on...?"
As I held Annie, I turned my head to see what was going on. The spider in Annie's hands, Darwin's black spider, was convulsing.
It moved and twisted until its body changed in colour from a dark grey with white lines and hairs, to a pitch-black spider so black that one couldn't even see its features.
"Someone call a teacher!" A student said while Annie's eyes were shining.
"Ray! Look at it! Something is happening to it– AAHHH!!"
And then it happened, it bit Annie's hand, and my girlfriend released a throaty shriek. I could imagine; If that spider could pierce my hardened skin, I didn't even want to know what it did to her.
The spider fell on the ground after Annie collapsed, I erased it on the spot, leaving a hollow mark on the ground, the commission and screaming started when the spider fell on the ground, nobody wanted to be near it, they didn't even notice I used my powers.
"Jean, get yourself together!"
I picked Annie up, her body was shivering like she had the strongest cold, and the place where the spider bit left two pitch-black teeth marks.
This is not good.