THE MOMENT
[Yeah. Be there soon. - Abby] She sent the Whisper to Eury and sighed. She stood from the bleachers and headed towards the exit. Abby chose to spend her lunch alone in the gym more and more lately. Not that she was ever truly alone, Skeeter and Lefty kept her company, but she enjoyed the solitude. Eury was arguably her best friend, but she'd been avoiding her more often too. She felt a hint of guilt when Eury asked her if she was on her way to class. As she reached the gym door, she heard a muffled ruckus from the nearby supply room. The sound was followed by a woman yelling.
"GOD DAMN IT KRIS WHERE THE HELL ARE WE NOW?!"
It wasn't unusual for students to teleport into anywhere on school grounds; but, it was strange for them to not know where they landed. They sounded new and Abby was curious enough to find out.
"Hello?" Abby opened the supply room and saw two people. An older, lean woman with salt and pepper hair; and, a young man that looked somewhat older than Abby's 14 years. They whirled around in surprise but seemed to relax when they saw their visitor was a young dark-haired girl.
"Hello, my lovely. I absolutely adore your visor," the woman grew an instant smile and took a step towards Abby. When she moved, Abby caught sight of a red spider tattoo on the woman's inner wrist; the number 33 was prominently drawn on its abdomen.
"Who are you?" Abby asked. Then, she turned to the young man. "What are you doing in my school?" The guy also had a very fresh, still wrapped tattoo on his wrist; a golden star with the number 35 on it. She understood the situation immediately, but wondered how much they knew. Abby focused on his eyes, but they remained light brown.
"Oh, a school?" the woman asked. She glared at her companion and lightly shook her head. "My name is Qira Quartermain; but, you can just call me Q," she gestured at the young man. "This is my friend Kristoffer."
"How'd you get in here?" Abby asked. Her own question surprised her. She knew the answer; but, as soon as she saw their tattoos she began to plan something in the back of her mind. "I've been in the gym for an hour and didn't see you walk in."
"An hour?" Qira asked. She glanced at the door but no one else seemed to be following the girl in. "Alone? You poor dear, why?" Abby glanced back at the door, then she pushed it closed.
"This is a horrible place," she said. Her voice fell to a whisper. "How did you get in here... and, can you get back out without anyone seeing? Can you get me out?" she asked. Qira smiled and wrapped her arm around Abby.
"Of course we can, can't we Kris?" she said.
"Yeah, sure," Kris nodded. He raised his hands to chest level and made frantic gestures at the empty air. Abby fought hard to stifle her laughter at the effort. A tall black portal opened, and Kris shrugged.
"Next stop... somewhere else," he said. Abby dashed through the portal first with a clear destination in mind. She didn't know if she could overwrite whatever destination Kris chose, but she was betting he was too new to know how to do that yet. She exited the portal to a dark, secluded, familiar clearing in the center of a forest. She turned around to see Qira and Kris emerge from the portal.
"Well, at least we're outside this time," Qira commented. She focused on Abby and smiled. "Now that the light's gone, can you even see through that thing?' she asked about Abby's pitch black visor. Abby nodded.
"You know, maybe it's a bit late to be telling you this..," Qira said. Abby sensed a change in her demeanor and guessed what was coming; she hoped she hadn't misjudged them. "But, Kris' ability actually lets him travel between universes. We've left your other universe behind and now you're on a completely new Earth...," Qira said. She took a step forward. "... with no one to help you." A red, bowling ball-sized spider appeared on Qira's shoulder and the woman reached up to pet it affectionately.
"If your parents taught you not to talk to strangers, you wouldn't be feeding my pet right now," Qira smiled. The spider jumped off her shoulder towards Abby; but, the she stood her ground. The large spider could have covered the distance, but it landed on the ground between Abby and Qira. It paused for a moment then scurried across the ground to jump on Kris. His screams died in an instant before Qira could register what happened. She looked at Abby and saw the girl was covered with a swarm of large black widow spiders; and, she was smiling.
"You're really rude," Abby said. "You're trying to kill me and you don't even know my name." Qira was inexperienced with the multiverse but she wasn't dumb. She recognized Abby as a threat and turned to run; but, she tripped over a dense web and stumbled to the ground. She turned around to face Abby while she crawled backwards on her hands.
[Abbs? Coming? - Eury] Abby felt the Whisper on her wrist as she strode towards Qira.
"What... what's your name?" Qira asked. She hoped the question was worth something. Qira felt tickles on her hands and tried to ignore them, but after a few more shuffles backward, she could no longer move. Webbing was tangled around her legs and kept her in place as Abby approached. She looked down at the woman.
[Still eating. - Abby] she replied to Eury then smiled at Qira.
"Abby Araña," she said. Then, she added added an unexpected nickname. Something she'd never used before. Abby didn't know where in her subconscious the idea came from; but, she decided she liked it very much. "But, you can just call me Spider."