Possession < Spider-Man • Book 1 >

- 35 -

“I. . . I. . .―” She stammered, irritatingly unable to find her voice. Caelum frowned, narrowing his eyes, immediately annoyed.

“Parker — let's go,” he said quickly, turning to leave. Peter noticed and checked one last time to make sure she was okay before moving to catch up with him. Caelum was quiet, quickly striding towards the doors and out of the building.

Peter, who was beside him, grabbed his hand before they could continue walking. “Hey?” Peter said and Caelum rose an eyebrow.

“Yes?”

Peter didn't say anything for a minute, just studying his slightly bitter expression, then he laughed. “You were jealous.”

His face immediately fell and he went on the defensive. “Pardon me?”

“The girl ― you got upset when I helped her,” Peter let out a laugh and began to walk.

“I–I was not jealous!” He sputtered, trying to keep up. “I just didn't want to waste time talking to some girl, that's all.”

“Mm-hmm. . .” Peter replied, continuing to walk. About five minutes passed when Peter spoke again. “Your eyes scrunched up.”

“Excuse me?”

“When you're upset. You get wrinkles at the end of them.”

“Maybe I was just born that way because I was not jealous, Parker.”

Peter rose an eyebrow, “So you wouldn't mind if I kissed that girl?”

“I–I. . . what!?” Caelum barely kept the anger from his tone.

Peter shrugged nonchalantly. “The girl, you wouldn't care if I kissed her, if you weren't jealous.”

Caelum practically glared holes in the person walking in front of them, but then he sighed and gave Peter a nice, charming smile. “If you wished to kiss her, Parker, then why should I care?” Peter blinked, not expecting this reaction. “Although,” Caelum continued. “Doing so without her consent or fair warning could be considered sexual harassment or assault. Also, she was a complete stranger so it definitely would not look good on your end. But, by all means, kiss her, if you want to.”

Caelum continued to walk, dropping the charming act and crossing his arms, anger increasing in every step. “Wait, Cael!” Peter had lagged behind, and Caelum didn't stop for him. “Cael!” Peter grabbed his arm, and Caelum immediately tried to pull away.

“You pulled yourself away ― don’t ever do that again!”

Caelum stayed where he was, eyes wide in shock as he stared at his arm being held by Peter. Peter noticed immediately and let go. Caelum moved it to his chest, cradling the limb as if it had been burned.

“Cael, I. . . I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you,” Peter was obviously shocked, but Caelum was far past the girl in the library now.

The mind controller. He was still following his orders. When would that wear off ― was it going to wear off? If someone grabbed him, he wouldn't be able to fight back. If someone tried to kill him, he wouldn't be able to do anything.