Curse of Arachnaman (25 page)

It was a totally miserable time. No one else was at home with me, the rain got heavier and heavier till it drowned out all sound and light, and I told myself to wait for a reasonable length of time before it was okay for me to call Peter and see if he was safe. Now that they'd nabbed Arachnaman, I was sure that he'd be out all night. In the end, I decided that it would be best to wait for him to call instead.

Sitting in the kitchen, alone and nervous, was just plain hell.

I was quiet when everyone came home, all excited and horrified about the big spider monster appearance. Once Dad saw that we were safe, with all body parts accounted for, he dove right into a non-stop monologue about Arachnaman. Liz got into it, too, as did Mom. They were crammed in the kitchen, helping Mom prepare dinner, so I decided to sneak out and creep back to my room and hover over my phone in case Peter called.

Nope, no messages left. Yeah, it was way too early, but I didn't care. It was still raining pretty hard outside, the books I checked out from the library continued to look boring as hell, the computer threatened to give me a non-stop migraine, so I just plopped down on my bed, listening to the rain, and waited.

Okay, I fell asleep. The rain tended to work on me like that.

I also woke up because Liz was kicking my bed. I'd like to say that the rain tended to work on her like that, too, but she always kicked my bed to get me up. It goes to show that older siblings, whether or not they were on a PMS rampage, were all descended from Mr. Hyde.

"Dinner time, Briar Rose,” she said, standing by my bed with her hands on her hips.

"Look, if you're going to spend the rest of your life kicking my bed, how about rotating your attacks on the legs?” I snarled groggily. I refused to sit up on her account, so I just glared at her from where I lay. I must've looked pretty intimidating. “That leg you keep victimizing is on its way to collapsing on me. How about kicking the others next time, fer chrissakes?"

"I really don't want to waste any more time trying to get you to wake up, hot pants. Come on before Mom goes on a rampage."

"You're just cranky because it's your turn to wash the dishes."

I sighed and dragged myself out of bed, Liz marching behind me in case I decided to turn tail and run back to my room. You know, the way ordinary teenagers usually avoided their families. The kind of thing that adults tended to forget.

When we reached the top of the stairs, I caught sight of my special communicator watch because of the way it reflected the light. I stared at it for a few seconds, my heart dropping.

Peter hurt. Not too serious. Althea will contact you with more info. Wade.

[Back to Table of Contents]

Peter didn't get hurt from the attack. It happened immediately after, when they were flying Arachnaman away from his machine. Apparently someone decided to watch the action up close by climbing onto the topmost part of an old fire escape at a nearby tenement. It looked like the fire escape had given way under her, and she'd fallen, just as the heroes were flying in her direction. Althea said that Peter caught her, but somehow his body had twisted itself when he got the girl (most likely because she was falling head first), and he didn't have much time to turn himself over and land the way cats landed on their feet. He basically hit the roof of a parked truck and used his body to cushion the impact for the girl, who suffered a few not-too-serious injuries but was mostly in shock.

I read Althea's message on my computer, my hands tearing clumps of hair off my head while my stomach knotted itself.

"So what's the damage?” I asked.

Back pain,
she said.
But here's the kicker—he's almost fully healed now. Is that crazy or what?

"What do you mean?"

Genetics, dude. His healing has sped up. Maybe it's like this when he's in superhero mode, but it's something that never even crossed my mind till now.

I sank in my chair, heaving a sigh of relief. “It makes sense,” I replied. “Maybe the injury wasn't too bad to begin with. I just...I just hope that he'll never be messed up so bad that his system won't be able to heal itself quickly...or at all."

No kidding. I hope no one gets hurt bad, period. In Peter's case, I hope he doesn't get hurt again.

"I have to see him. I have to."

Aww, how sweet. Sorry, Eric, can't do. He's at the police station with Trent and Wade, interrogating the suspect. Okay, I'm with them, too, but I'm supposed to be taking a quick break and getting myself some coffee and a doughnut. I just had to touch base with you. I need to head back in a bit.

My eyes widened. “He's still alive?” I spluttered. “Are you serious? Arachnaman? You should've just offed the bastard!"

Hey, hey, hey, hombre. Calm down. No vigilante crap allowed here.

"But he—"

Eric. Calm down. We all know what he did. But we can't do him in like that. Things just don't work the way you want them to, you know? Besides, wouldn't that make us just as bad as him?

I sighed, raking my hands through my hair. “Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I'm just really upset over everything. Hearing about Peter getting hurt didn't help."

I know. Don't worry. We've got everything under control.

"Okay. Hey, what about the girl? The one Peter rescued? Is she with you guys?"

No. She was taken to the hospital, but she's out now. Peter sustained more damage, but you know how that went.

I nodded. “Thanks, Althea. I guess I'll have to sit around and wait for an update from you.” I paused when a thought crossed my mind. “Hey, can you use the communicator watch thing when you get back to me instead? I'm getting off the computer and won't be available."

No prob. TTYL.

Damn. I wished that they still had the girl. It was pretty easy to put two and two together, at least from where I was sitting. I'd bet that she was Peter's stalker. I wouldn't be surprised if she happened to be the same girl who was hanging next to me in the arcade when it was attacked. I remembered the way she looked at Peter. If there were such a thing as absolute, total love at first sight, that definitely was it.

It was just too bad that I didn't have a way of knowing for sure unless she happened to place herself in danger's way on purpose just to be rescued by Peter. Oh, did I mention that part of my hunch? Yeah, I suspected that she went to watch the fight and actually placed herself in a dangerous position just so she could be saved by her idol.

If I were right, I seriously didn't know what to say to her if ever we'd cross paths again. That was some pretty messed up thinking, and to endanger Peter's safety because of a totally skewed perception of her “romance” with a superhero wasn't getting any sympathy points from me. God, that pissed me off. Come to think of it, I'd been pretty high-strung lately. Was I going through some form of gay boy PMS and stuff? Because it sucked.

It was almost eight o'clock when Althea “logged out.” I was also feeling pretty restless and under the effects of residual annoyance, excitement, and horror. Eventually I forced myself to go downstairs and relax with everyone else. I kind of eased up pretty quickly. Even though I didn't want to be with anyone at first, I found that just hanging with Dad while he watched TV—Mom was on the phone, and Liz was in her room—helped a lot. I guess it was plain familiarity that made things better. Besides, Dad being a huge cheese ball movie buff, it was always an experience watching his entertainment choices. He was lucky that we lived in Vintage City, where reruns and old movies of every quality enjoyed their second, third, or even fourth lives.

"Dad, is that another one of those hokey horror movies from the ‘60s or something?” I asked once I'd gotten comfortable on the couch, sitting with my legs crossed under me and hugging a big, plump throw pillow against my chest. Even the smell of old fabric with a bit of dust made me feel better.

Dad scratched his head while aiming the controls at the TV to adjust its volume. “This one's a real gem from the late ‘50s, actually. Haven't you seen this one?"

I shook my head. “Nope. Unless it freaked me out so much when I was a little kid and made me pass out."

"Oh, gosh, I wouldn't go that far."

"It's
that
hokey, huh? What's it called?"

"
Attack of the Giant Leeches.
"

I grinned. “I like it already."

Dad shifted and sat back, sighing contentedly. “I thought you would. Just wait till you see the leeches."

"Eric, wake up."

I said something. Most likely cussed out whoever was trying to mess up my sleep.

"I'm going to ignore what you just said to me, mister,” Mom said, her voice getting clearer by the second. “Come on, get up. You need to sleep in your bed, not down here."

"Wh...huh?” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes as I struggled to get up from the couch. “Whrum I?” God, I hated waking up when my brain wasn't ready for consciousness. I finally sat up and realized that I still held on to the throw pillow. Blinking the fog from my eyes, I groped around for my glasses and found them on my lap. “Sorry, Mom."

Mom just ruffled my hair and sat down next to me. “The late news is on. Honey, turn up the volume, please."

"They probably have that crazy spider guy in the headlines,” Liz said. She'd taken her place on the floor, while my parents and I shared the couch.

"I slept through your movie, Dad,” I said, running a hand through my hair. I glanced at him and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. Did the leeches die?"

"I don't like giving out spoilers, son. You'll have to watch it all over again to find out,” Dad replied. He actually sounded kind of smug about that.

"Shhh! Here it is!” Liz said. We all fell silent as the news began.

After the initial introductions, yadda, yadda, Bambi Bailey finally came on. Her segment was recorded after the battle, obviously, because it was still light, though the rain kept everything pretty gray. She reported under an umbrella, and behind her was a mess of police activity. I wouldn't be exaggerating to say that it was the busiest I'd seen of a crime area that had been captured on camera. Cop cars packed the street behind her. There was at least one fire truck nearby, and amid the gray wetness were the disco-ish flashes of red and yellow lights from all emergency and police vehicles.

Ms. Bailey pretty much summed up what I'd seen that afternoon, though at times I wanted to butt in and tell her how much worse things really were. My parents were around, though, and I didn't want them to know that I stood on the roof in the rain, risking my health and my safety by watching Arachnaman get taken down by the heroes.

Sergeant Bone was interviewed, as were a couple of other officers and some regular Joe Blows who witnessed the fight from their apartments.

"While it's true that Arachnaman is now in police custody, Vintage City's still not free of his plan to take down what he considers to be undesirable elements,” Ms. Bailey said, a slight crease forming between her brows. She paused, and the camera switched over to another scene, this time the police station, where Arachnaman was being held.

I stared at the TV, wide-eyed. The camera focused on Arachnaman, himself. He was in costume, just like every other supervillain. His bodysuit was in a really bright red shade that shimmered a little in the light. His face gave me the creeps. He didn't wear a mask, but that part of his costume was just this oval nothingness. It was black, but it didn't shimmer or give off any indication as to its material, no matter how the light hit it. It looked as though it absorbed all light. There were no eyes, nose, or mouth anywhere. It was like staring at a void in the middle of his head. When he raised his hands, I saw that they were in chains, and they were also covered in black gloves of probably the same material as the mask, and the fingers were shaped like spider legs.

"You might all think that you've got the better of me,” he said, his voice sounding pretty young and also robotic. I felt my skin prickle. He couldn't be older than any of my friends. All that destruction done by a teenager? I couldn't wrap my mind around it. “But you haven't. You never will."

He chuckled when he paused, shifting on his chair to make himself more comfortable. I heard the clanking of chains when he did. It was so surreal. “Don't bet on it. For now, I'm here, but you can't hide from me. I'm around you still. I
am
you, you know. I'm that tiny part of you that you don't want to acknowledge because you just can't face up to that small but important fact about yourself.” He laughed this time. “Now...as far as what that small but important fact is, I'll leave it to you to figure out. Vintage City people aren't stupid."

The camera shifted back to Ms. Bailey, who prattled on about the fight between Arachnaman and the heroes. I glanced at Mom and Dad, both of whom looked puzzled and nervous.

"He's psychotic,” I offered, which earned me some vague shaking of their heads, but they still didn't seem to really hear me. With that, I got up and said goodnight to everyone. I hoped to check up on Peter the next day.

[Back to Table of Contents]

I couldn't talk to Peter long. He was fine, he said, and had to tell me about a gazillion times not to mess around with that girl if we ever crossed paths again. Somehow I felt that we would, but I supposed I should show a lot more restraint than she had.

"She might be having some major problems at home,” Peter said. “If anything, I feel kind of sorry for her."

I sighed. “Yeah, I guess you're right. I promise I'll be more understanding if we ever see each other. But if she tries to pull something like that again just to get your attention and then hurts you in the process? Hell, no, I—"

"Eric?” Peter cut in. “Do it for me, please?"

Damn! I had to take a few breaths before I could speak again. “Okay, okay. Just remember, though, if the tables were turned, and I was hurt by someone stalking me, I'm sure you wouldn't think twice about raising all kinds of hell. And you've got the superpowers to do it, too."