Lily doesn’t correct me. She’s probably being nice because she feels sorry for me, and I decide that maybe I don’t mind that so much. Because what is the point of contracting a life-changing skin condition if your sister isn’t at least going to be a little nicer to you?

Later that morning, Fina texts me and asks if I want to hang out.

I reply and tell her I do as long as it’s not at my house.

Because I swear, every time I look up, somebody is staring at me, like if they look hard enough, they can actually see my spots getting bigger. It’s starting to make me paranoid.

Fina tells me to come to her house, and Dad drives me into town, which is crowded since it’s Saturday. Fina lives practically across the street from the main Hampstead College gates, in a little lavender house with a neat square of grass in front.

I barely have time to knock before the door flies open.

“Fina?” I say dubiously.

She stands in front of me, wearing some kind of crazy helmet with bars across the face and holding a baseball bat.

“Emma!” she says. “Come in!”

“Um, okay.”

I take an uncertain step into the house as a woman appears from the kitchen. She has bright brown eyes, a smile with dimples, and chestnut hair with purple tips. I try to imagine what it would be like to have a mom cool enough to dye her tips purple. Awesome, most likely.

“Hello there,” the woman says, holding out a hand. “I’m Ana Ramirez. You must be Emma.”

“Hi,” I say. “Nice to meet you.”

“Fina’s told us wonderful things about you,” she says.

“Mo-om,” Fina warns, “don’t be awkward.”

Just then, someone else comes down the stairs, a man in a baseball helmet holding a vacuum cleaner. He’s walking funny, kind of like a crab, and he keeps looking around like he’s waiting for something to jump out and attack him.

“Are you guys playing some kind of game?” I ask.

“Kind of,” Fina replies.

“It’s not a game,” insists the man, who must be her father. “It’s life and death.”

“Don’t worry,” Fina says. “It’s only death if you’re a spider.”

“Hi, Emma,” says the man, taking off his helmet. “I’m Luis Ramirez. Fina’s dad and deputy spider catcher.”

“You’re hunting spiders?”

“Yes! We have an infestation of them. And they’re huge!” Fina creates a circle a little bigger than a quarter with her thumb and pointer finger.

“They’re more like animals than spiders,” Ms. Ramirez says, shivering.

“And this here house ain’t big enough for the both of us,” Mr. Ramirez drawls in a funny voice. “It’s us or them.”

Ms. Ramirez rolls her eyes. “And I’m the awkward one. Right.”