her scent -+- miguel ohara -+- ~~~~Complete

Memory Chapter: Something in the Air

Age 15 — Dawnview Mental Facility, Year One After the Bite

The halls of Dawnview always smelled like antiseptic and bad coffee.
And fear. Mostly fear.

Calisto kept her head down as she walked, fingers brushing the seams of her oversized hoodie. The walls around her buzzed with fluorescent lighting and murmured voices. The doctors said she was "improving," but that just meant she got better at lying.

She wasn't getting better. Just better at pretending.

And not everyone bought the act.

Three girls—older, crueler—had started watching her lately. Whispering. Laughing. One of them called her "Spider Freak" the week before. Now, Calisto could hear their footsteps echoing down the corridor behind her. Fast. Sharp. Close.

She turned the corner. A dead end.

Perfect.

They appeared like shadows behind her, cutting off the path back. The tallest one leaned against the wall, smug. The other two flanked her, arms crossed.

"You think you're better than us just 'cause the doctors like you now?"

Calisto didn't answer.

"She's mute today, huh?" another sneered.

One girl stepped closer—too close—and shoved her shoulder.

A switch flipped.

Calisto's chest rose, her breath sharp. Her heart began to thunder. Not in fear this time, but something else. A prickling heat bloomed under her skin, like static before lightning. It happened when she was stressed... but never like this.

Then, she saw it.
Felt it.

The air around her shimmered. Not visibly—but it changed. Thickened. The scent hit her nose first—warm and sweet, like vanilla and clove, maybe something spicy she couldn't place. It moved like a fog. Like smoke curling around their ankles.

The girls blinked.

"Do you... smell that?" the tall one asked, nose scrunching.

"What is that?" the second murmured. "Like—caramel? Cinnamon? Ugh, it's giving me a headache."

The third girl staggered a little, touching the wall.

Calisto didn't move. She just watched, stunned, as all three of them grew glassy-eyed and uncertain. One rubbed her temple, mumbling something about nausea. Another turned away completely, walking back the way she came.

They were disoriented.

And she hadn't even touched them.

The moment passed, the scent fading into nothing as quickly as it came. Her heartbeat slowed.

She was alone again.

Breathing hard, she leaned against the cold wall, fingers trembling. Not from fear—but realization.

That was me.

She pressed her hand to her chest. The scent, the reaction, the way it overwhelmed them—it wasn't an accident.

It was hers.

A trick her body used when cornered. A scent that shifted and fogged the senses. And now that she knew how it worked...
She could control it.

She didn't understand how it happened. But then again, when she thought about the spider that had bitten her, it started to make sense.

It wasn't just any spider.
The bite had been different. It wasn't natural. The spider that chose her was chemically enhanced, an experiment gone wrong—or maybe gone right, depending on how you looked at it. Her body was altered, not just in strength, speed, or reflexes, but chemically too. The spider's venom had injected more than just the typical powers of the web-slinging, wall-crawling creatures. It had altered her senses, her skin chemistry, even the way she interacted with the world around her.

When she was younger, she'd always loved spiders. Admired them for their quiet strength, for the way they spun intricate webs and survived in the shadows. The other kids at school teased her for it, calling her "Spiderfreak"—but it never bothered her. She was just fascinated by them. It wasn't until the bite, until the changes started to show, that she realized why. It wasn't just a coincidence; it was part of her.

Her connection to spiders wasn't just a fascination.
It was part of who she was now.

And now, it seemed, her body had adapted to this new world. To the poison, to the venom. It was all mixed in with the chemical enhancements. Maybe that's why her body had learned to defend itself this way.

The scent—her scent—wasn't just random. It was a part of her new chemistry. A chemical weapon, if she needed it. She could make it work for her, to confuse, to misdirect, to protect herself from those who threatened her.

The girls were gone now. She'd scared them off without even realizing what was happening. Without fully understanding it herself.

She couldn't help but wonder: What else could she do with this?

She pressed her hand to her chest, still feeling the faint pulse of her new abilities. She had more control over her body than she realized. Her bond with the spider, with the venom, had given her this gift—this power.

And it was hers to command.