MAEGYA | xii. "EYE OF THE TIGER." MYSTERY INCORPORATED
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"LET ME OUT of here!"
Thea jolted away from Octy's cell. The invisible barrier rippled with pale blue energy as he pounded his fists against it. Her eyes drifted to the overgrown iguana in the chamber adjacent to Octy's. If there ever was an apt example of a laboratory experiment gone wrong...
"Can you please explain to me what is going on?" Peter begged Strange, his face coated in a thin sheen of sweat.
Strange, who was equally tired and visibly battered, narrowed his eyes. "That little spell that you botched where you wanted everyone to forget that Peter Parker, Thea Valaryen, and Rebeca Ortega are Spider-Man, Illyris, and Azura, it started pulling in everyone who knows Peter Parker, Thea Valaryen, and Rebeca Ortega are Spider-Man, Illyris, and Azura—from every universe—into this one."
"That was a mouthful," Bex commented, shifting away from the lizard thing when it growled at her.
"From 'every universe'?" Peter repeated, his voice thin. His face was crossed between wonder, disbelief, and fear.
Thea looked the same though her regal flair limited her jaw from dropping. Now it made sense (sorta). All of the dialogue in the bridge fight was baffling. First, Octy had spoken to Peter like he knew him, completely ignoring Thea. Then, upon seeing Peter's face, Octy backtracked and said he wasn't Peter Parker. Not to mention, his outrage when the name "Thea" was mentioned.
Even. Though. She. Was. Thea.
But maybe she wasn't Thea in his universe. With the way he spat out her name and the despair that wormed into his reddened face, Other Thea wasn't a popular name to be spoken where he came from. But that didn't explain who sent the Shadowcreeper after her.
"So, someone who knew Thea Valaryen in another universe also sent a Shadowcreeper after me?" she asked Strange who suddenly frowned.
"Huh, disliked on Earth and in another universe. Well done," he remarked, earning a bitter, poisonous laugh from Thea. His face grew grim, losing the bit of sarcastic charm that always made Thea want to strangle him. "If you saw a Shadowcreeper, then my worst suspicions are true."
"Care to share?" Thea asked, swallowing tightly.
"When you stabilized the spell before it went haywire, someone might have tried to siphon your magic," Strange answered. He stared at her with chilling intent. "Now, I'll ask you something and if you're lying, I'll know: Did you, at any point before I cast the spell, mess with the fabric of reality?"
"I..." Thea felt her breath hitch, her eyes unable to tear from Strange's icy ones. "Would like to use my lifeline."
"Teddy!" Peter exclaimed indignantly, his brows pinched.
