9

That night at the hotel, the students and teachers were gathering in the hotel lobby, sharing their own stories of survival. The local TV news played in the background, as scenes of destruction from the canal and the mysterious figure slogging it out with the water creature took center stage.

“It’s aliens,” Ned announced, staring at his laptop screen. “It has to be!” Betty looked over his shoulder, then went back to reading her cell phone.

Flash walked past them reading from his own cell phone: “BuzzFeed says there’s a sailor named Morris Bench who was exposed to an experimental underwater generator and got hydro powers.”

“Yeah,” MJ agreed sarcastically, from her spot sitting on the stairs. “You should definitely believe everything you read on the Internet.”

“Spider-Man could take him,” Flash stated with finality. Nothing could deter his admiration for his hero.

“What do you think it is?” Mr. Harrington asked his co-chaperone, watching the news report.

“You know, being a man of science?” Mr. Dell contemplated what they’d seen. “Witches.”

Peter paced next to the hotel’s obsolete pay phone. “No—No, no, no, no! We wanna stay. We wanna stay,” he insisted, speaking into his cell phone.

“It’s a good thing that I packed your suit, huh? I can’t believe you forgot it,” May chided him.

“Yeah,” Peter replied. He didn’t have the heart to tell May that he never even had a chance to put on the suit. The suit he hadn’t even wanted to take with him, thank you very much.

“So, who was that guy that you were with? Was that Mister Strange?”

“Doctor Strange, May,” Peter sighed. “Doctor Strange. And, um, no, I don’t know who that was. It was a new guy. I was trying to help him, but—”

“Hey, Happy, no. That’s my lunch. Don’t eat that one.” That comment was clearly not directed at Peter.

Peter felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. “Happy’s there?” he asked, trying not to sound concerned. Though exactly what he was concerned about, he couldn’t quite say.

“Yeah, it’s Happy,” May confirmed, much to Peter’s chagrin. “He’s here. He came by to volunteer. And, uh, he’s hanging around the office. And he wants to say hi.” Why didn’t Peter buy that explanation?

There was a moment of silence as Peter could hear the sound of someone’s muffled voice saying, “I don’t want to—”

And then Happy got on the phone, sounding overly cheerful. “Hi, Peter!”

“Hey, Happy.” Peter did not sound overly cheerful in return.

“I’m sorry. I’m workin’ real hard here, I gotta do a—a leaflet drop,” Happy explained, unconvincingly.

Peter thought Happy didn’t sound busy at all. “What are you doing at—”

“Well, I’m glad you’re having a good time. Don’t worry, I’m really taking care of your aunt,” he said, clearly ready to end the conversation.

Before Peter could even respond, May was back on the line. “So, uh, how’s the plan going?”

Peter looked over his shoulder, and saw Brad. “Some setbacks, for sure,” he admitted, suddenly reminded of his situation with MJ.

SOME SETBACKS.

THAT was an understatement.

With the exception of actually finding a black dahlia necklace, the whole trip had been one enormous setback so far.

“Don’t overthink it.” May tried to sound encouraging. “Just trust your instincts, and you’ll be fine.”

“I know,” Peter said, though he wasn’t sure he believed it. “Love you. Bye.”

“Who is that guy?” Betty wondered, watching the TV report on their mysterious benefactor.

“He’s like Iron Man and Thor rolled into one,” Brad said, admiringly.

“He’s all right,” Flash allowed. “He’s no Spider-Man.” Nothing would make him think less of his idol.

“What is it with you and Spider-Man?” MJ asked.

“What?” Flash responded defensively. “He’s just awesome, okay? He protects the neighborhood, and you know, he’s inspiring. He inspires me to be a better man.”

Peter walked down the hallway and stood next to MJ on the stairs.

“’Sup, dickwad?” Flash said, nodding at Peter. “Thought you drowned.” Then Flash winked at him, and Peter wasn’t sure if he wanted to thank Flash for all the great things he said about Spider-Man, or punch his lights out for calling him “dickwad.” Either way, it sounded like Flash being a “better man” just meant he thought he was better than everyone else.

“Sounds like his name’s Mysterio,” Brad told them, watching the news report.

“‘L’uomo del misterio’ is Italian for ‘man of mystery,’” MJ translated. “They don’t actually know who he is.”

“Mysterio,” Ned repeated approvingly.

Then, at the same moment, he and Betty said, “Cool name.” They looked at one another, and again at the same time, said, “Babe!” They couldn’t believe how in synch they were together. A perfect match.

“So how much of that did you actually see?” Peter asked MJ, pointing at the TV screen.

“Not much,” MJ answered. “I was running.”

“Right, me too,” Peter replied, arms folded. “I was also running...away.”

Peter suddenly felt awkward, and he noticed that MJ was just staring at him, nodding.

Did she not believe him? Why would she not believe him?

“So, Paris tomorrow,” Peter said, trying to change the subject, “Go to the Eiffel Tower. Should be great.”

“Yeah,” MJ responded flatly. “I read it was secretly built as a mind-control antenna to create an army of the insane.” At least that was one of the more interesting scenarios as far as she was concerned.

“Oh.” Peter was suddenly positive that choosing the Eiffel Tower as the place to give MJ the necklace and declare his feelings for her was a fantastically terrible idea.

“Which is why it’s my favorite destination on the whole trip,” MJ added, and Peter noticed a smile on her face as she looked at him.

Peter laughed.

Maybe it wasn’t such a fantastically terrible idea after all.