Possession < Spider-Man • Book 1 >

- 7 -

chapter seven:

Caelum managed to convince his mother to let him go back home. Two weeks passed with nothing happening except Caelum slowly losing his mind. He reasoned, with her being a doctor, she’d be able to take care of him, and if nothing happened now, when would something happen? Caelum refused to live the rest of his life in a hospital bed, not after all the work he had done.

His mother was stubborn, bringing up every excuse to keep him there. Caelum appreciated it, he knew he wanted her there because she cared for him, but he couldn’t stay another minute in a bed.

Eventually, she gave in, however it just so happened to be the same week as Thanksgiving, so it didn’t do much for Caelum’s sake. He returned to school that monday only for them to have snow on tuesday, so the school closed.

Caelum spent the holidays tucked in his room. He hardly went out, if only eat and remind his family he was still alive. Usually, his family went upstate to visit relatives and spend thanksgiving with his father’s sister, but his mother refused to go anywhere, not with Caelum’s condition still being under close examination. Caelum insisted on them going, he didn’t want his parents to be held back on his behalf. Eventually, his father took the twins upstate and his mother stayed home with him. It appeased both parties, and Caelum didn’t mind.

He had a few projects to finish and a lot of classwork to do. He was absolutely swamped, so his mother still had to go to work, but she made Caelum promise that if something happened, she’d call emergency services, and then her. He, of course, did before resuming his work. He had assumed it would be a quiet break, he deserved at least that for all that he’s been through lately.

Then, there was a knock at his window. Caelum resisted the urge to throw something at it too. He didn’t have time to talk to Peter and it was too cold to sit outside. He had work to do and Peter needed to get a life!

“Cael? I can see you in there!” Peter’s voice called, “It’s cold! C’mon!”

“Go away!” Caelum snapped, able to be loud since his mother and the rest of his family were away.

“I think it’s about to snow again!”

“Not my problem, Parker!”

“Cael!”

Caelum let out a long, annoyed groan. He was so sick of this. He didn’t want to play Peter’s game, but he found himself opening the window anyway, letting the boy slip inside easily.

Caelum hadn’t seen Peter for at least a week, maybe two, but as he now stared at him, his brow furrowed. Peter had gotten. . . muscular. He could see it under his clothes. It stretched around the biceps and upper abdomen.

This Peter was different, was evolved, but only in slight ways that you had to be sharp to notice. He walked a bit smoother, and had grown a few inches ― he used to be at least 5’5” but now they were nearly eye-to-eye. This was weird ― this was wrong. This was too much for Caelum. The scrawny Peter was fine, was resistable. But this. . . this made his stomach twist and certain parts of his body come alive when he neither wanted nor needed them to.

“Cael? Are you okay?” God, even his prepubescent voice had dropped an octave or two.

Caelum turned away, the back of his neck tingling. He didn’t want to possess Peter ― but he vaguely wondered how that may feel. He stepped around him, in their small space, and closed the window that let in a cold chill. “What do you want this time?” He forced himself to grumble. A few snowflakes, Caelum noticed, were still on his shirt, melting quickly. He also saw a few in his hair and stuck persistently to his eyebrow.