Of Sorcerors and Spiderwebs: A Peter Parker Series

Chapter Five: Investigation

Your friends look troubled. MJ leans forward. "What do you mean, 'something bad'? What did you see?" You can't seem to do anything to stop the panic from pounding through your veins. You shake your head frantically. "I don't know-I don't know. I looked everywhere, and it seemed like it was coming from the basement, and I went down, and then I saw-"

Peter cups your face in his hands, finally allowing you to calm down. "Breathe, Y/N. It's alright. Start from the beginning." You hold on to him for a heartbeat or two, then speak once more. "I felt like something bad was coming from the basement, so I went down there. When I went through the door, it's like I was seeing something that no human was ever meant to see."

"The room was broken, almost destroyed. Everything was being slowly drawn towards this, this thing in the center of the room. The ceiling was black with smoke and the floor was broken in channels leading to the middle of the room. There, the ground had completely fallen away except for one place in the very center. It was like there was this pit with a single space remaining intact in the middle, which was drenched in blood. It was dripping off of the sides into this empty space beneath the school. There were runes drawn on the ground around the pit, too. Peter, I think they were drawn in blood."

Your breathing is slowly returning back to normal, and you are able to stand on your own once more. Your friends look horrified. "You saw all that in the basement?" MJ asks, and you nod. Next to you, Ned furrows his brows. "You're sure that's what was there?" You nod fervently. "Positive." Ned glances from you to his phone screen. "That's weird, because according to the security cameras, there's nothing there."

He holds up his phone, which is displaying the live footage from all of the rooms around the school. Sure enough, the basement is empty and looks perfectly normal. You step closer, unable to understand what you're seeing. "That's impossible. I'm sure it's there." Peter puts an arm around you supportively. "We believe you, Y/N. Maybe it was something that could only be seen if you're astral projecting?"

You nod slowly. "That could be it. Tell you what- we do have to get to class. How about after school ends, you all come with me to the Sanctum and we can see if any of the books there have something on weird chasms and blood runes appearing out of nowhere?" MJ nods. "Sounds good. I've always wanted to go there- I have a thing about visiting places no one else is supposed to go to. Will that Dr. Strange guy be okay with us visiting?"

You smile. "I'll send him a note. Also, Ned, I do have to ask you- how did you get access to the security cameras? I feel like that's not easily given out to most students." Ned just grins. "I felt it might come in handy. Besides, all the teachers keep talking about making sure you have the right tools to solve a problem, right? This is just my select tool." Peter sighs. "Yeah, but I think they were talking about internships or calculators, not security feeds that you had to hack into the school's mainframe to set up." You can't help but laugh at that, and head to class with your friends.

After school, you meet up with your friends and head over to Bleecker Street, where the New York Sanctum awaits. When you push open the door and head inside, your friends stand in the main entry, gawking at all of the artifacts and relics housed in the Sanctum.

Ned is the first to speak. "This place is so cool! You really live here?" You laugh. "Yeah, I guess I'm pretty lucky." After everyone's gotten their fill of the artifacts, you guide them to the library. When you first file in, Stephen is standing at the shelves, book in hand, but he turns when everyone enters.

"You must be the friends I've been warned about." He says with a raised eyebrow, and you do your best to stifle a laugh. "Yeah, they already know that Peter's Spider-Man and that I'm a sorcerer, so they'll be fine here." Stephen doesn't reply to that, but strides out. You can't help but notice that he gives Peter a sidelong look as he goes.