Spider legs

"I wondered what had been keeping you," Ryker says to me. "I went to your room and was surprised that you hadn't returned yet."

"Right," I swallow heavily. We had made plans to meet up after class since he is supposed to be staying in my room tonight. It's just a sleepover between friends, I tell myself. A sleepover, that's all. "I got a bit sidetracked," I say.

"I see that," he smirks at me. "I'll make sure to handle that particular pest so he doesn't bother you again." I would thank him, but I don't think he wants to hear that at the moment, so I squeeze his hand meaningfully, conveying more to him that words could at the moment.

The connection between us sparks to life, surprising me with its abrupt ferocity. It has been building in strength, but it has been rather mild up until this abnormality. For a moment it brings me back to the moment when I met him. I was a complete mess, but the world that was spinning in front of me had felt right once again when I saw him and heard his voice.

I had relied on Javier during our relationship, but that pales in comparison to the support and trust developing in the friendship between Ryker and I.

"I spoke to the Headmistress to let her know that I will oversee your training tonight." He lets go of my hand and places an arm around my shoulder, leading me back to my room. "Let's get changed and head to the gym." He is already in workout clothes, wearing a black and white form fitting athletic shirt, a pair of shorts and sneakers. His dark brown, wavy hair is pushed back from his face and his eyes are bright and happy, which makes me glad to see after his unusual aloofness yesterday.

I had been shown where the gym was during my tour on my first day here, not interested at the time. Now, I am thinking that is exactly what I could use.

He answers the smile forming on my face with one of his own, his fingers tightening on my shoulder for a moment before letting me go. We walk comfortably side by side, after giving me a few minutes to change, we walk to the gym together to begin my training. The gym looks modern with bright lights gleaming off the silver and metal pieces of the equipment lining the walls of the large room. The walls are painted white and the floor is covered in a light grey color.

Ryker has me run for a mile on the treadmill to warm up, and I do so without complaint. He joins me on the treadmill next to me, but kicks up his machine at nearly twice the speed of mine. My eyes are glued to his large form - he is moving so fast that his legs are blurry and I'm going dizzy trying to watch with my head swinging back and forth like a pendulum. Still fixed to the sight of his speed and his gleaming muscles, my feet stumble on the treadmill and I almost catch myself on the arms of the machine.

But because the universe is against me, my hand slips from the arm and I land on the moving belt of the treadmill. Since it's still moving, I go flying off the back of the machine with my legs flailing and am airborne for a moment before crashing into someone. I hear a grunt of pain as arms wrap around me, and now we are both falling backwards and land in an awkward heap when we hit a solid surface.

Once I we come to a stop, I am upside down with my side draped over someone's lap and my legs positioned above me against the wall. I look up above me into Ryker's stunned face. The whole gym is quiet as we continue to stare at each other, but the silence is broken when we both start laughing at the same time. He still holds me as I wipe the tears from laughter off my face.

"How did you catch me so fast?" I wheeze out in between laughs.

"It was like a disaster in slow motion," he tells me with a mocking grin. "I had plenty of time to react." His joke doesn't offend me, so I laugh again, entertained by my own foolishness. I pat his chest affectionately and move to stand. I offer him a hand and help him up.

"What were you doing, anyway?" He asks me while patting his clothes off from any dust. My face reddens when I realize that I was so distracted by the sight of him that I crashed onto the treadmill. He might be a good friend, but that friendship doesn't make me blind.

"I saw legs...spider! Spider legs. I saw spider legs," I say lamely, trying to fumble over the slip of my tongue. He watches my blush deepen and gives a satisfied smirk before leaning in to speak into my ear.

"For some reason, I don't believe you," He inhales deeply near my neck. "You can get a closer look tonight if you want, love." He says in a strangled whisper, sounding like he is struggling with something.

He steps back suddenly, relieving me of any further embarrassment from his teasing. "We'll give the treadmills a break for now, wouldn't want you to break before we get started," he says with a wink. He gets back into trainer mode and has me do a few reps to work out my arms and legs. Before I can get too tired, he leads me to a room off to the side.

When he turns on the lights, I see that the room is a long rectangle shape and the floor is lined with black mats. In the middle is the academy's logo printed in silver. It's a large crescent moon, with the edges of the moon so close, they nearly touch and form a circle. Inside of the moon, however, is an outline of a mountain with trees at its base. Now that the logo is enlarged, I can see a solid silver wolf is standing on the top of the mountain howling at the sky above it. It's beautifully intricate.

My gaze leaves the floor and swings back to Ryker. "What's next?" I ask him.

"Next," he says while turning to face me with his hands clasped behind his back. "We fight."

I don't give him an answer right away, so he gives me a smile and adds ""Life's a bitch, Layla. You need to learn how to slap it."

I hum contemplatively, looking him up and down. "No."

He scoffs, "No?"

"No." I shrug my shoulders and turn to leave.

"I didn't take you as the type to give up," he says, stopping me in my tracks. I turn and look at him with narrowed eyes.

"You'll squash me like a bug," I tell him in defense, but he now has a blank expression on his face.

"So you're scared," he says disappointedly. I grind my teeth and narrow my eyes at him, starting to get annoyed with his taunts.

"No-" I start, but he turns around and gives me his back, pissing me the hell right off.

"My mistake, I thought you were ready," With his back still facing me, he takes his shirt off revealing hard muscles covered in writing and symbols that I don't understand that make up lines running down his back as though its supposed to be read vertically. There are about four columns that take up most of the middle of his back, and they are different lengths almost like the story is still unfolding and being filled in.

He shifts slightly, and the overhead light catches on his back highlighting light markings on his skin. The more I look, the more I see and I notice markings that are deeper and pinker in shade. They're scars. "I thought you were serious about becoming stronger. About becoming better. I didn't realize you were a fool," he says, turning towards me.

The sight isn't enough to distract me from his insults. Pins start to prick along my shoulders, the hairs on my neck raising like they are waving the flags of war.

"Ryker...I'm warning you." My threat isn't very heartfelt. I am interested in seeing where he's going with this.

"I thought you came to this academy to learn. You told me you wanted to be better, but when you have the chance to really try, you cower from the opportunity." He shakes his head in disappointment. "Perhaps we should get a Sage, have them remove your memories and take you home. You're a terrible werewolf as it is."

Done with his antics, I bare my teeth and launch myself at him.