MAGIC TRICKS [PETER PARKER]

TWENTY-THREE

THE AIR WAS STILL AND SURPRISINGLY HOT.

Maybe it was the feeling of the new vibranium suit against my skin or the adrenaline pumping through my veins underneath it. My fingers tingled with nerves; it felt like the end of something. I just didn't know what.

The address smeared onto my locker was to an empty construction site on the outskirts of Queens. I knew it was probably a trap, but from all that I'd learned from hero-ing with Peter, everything ended in a fight.

And that's exactly what I was looking for.

It was eerily quiet, and it occurred to me I didn't know what to do next. Perhaps I had just expected it to be this easy- go in, fight the bad guy, save my friends. Things were never that easy.

Footsteps slapping against the gravel caught my attention and I spun around, hands ready to release all the pent of energy I harbored. A figure limped my way, his curly, messy hair unusually straight. "Peter?"

Without hesitation, I ran the rest of the distance to him and flung myself around his neck, entrapping the boy in my arms. Relief erased any sense of danger from my body. "Oh my God, Peter— I-I'm so sorry, this is all my fault—" I grappled at his body, touching his face and shoulders, making sure he was real. He rubbed my back soothingly, squeezing his arms around me, his grip unusually rough. "Shh, Nadia it's okay."

"Peter," I said breathlessly. Feeling welled up in my heart, but I stayed silent, staring at his eyes. They were different; I remembered the way they harbored a constant gleam, magnified in the moonlight. But these eyes, these eyes were dull and orange tinted. These eyes, these eyes were not Peter's eyes.

"The Vamp..." I muttered, ignoring the feeling for now, holding him at arms length, "It's Gus, Peter. He's the Vamp, it's been him the whole time. Where's Gus? Is everyone okay?"

Peter didn't seem to comprehend. "It's okay, Nadia. He's gone; I tried to catch him but, he escaped. Ned and Gwen are fine, the blood on the locker was mine, but I'm healed already. It's okay, Nad-"

He tried to pull me back in, but I recoiled. "I didn't say anything about the blood on the locker..." His expression faltered. "I-it doesn't matter. Everything's okay now, let's just go home-"

"You... You're not Peter."

The air was still silent, calm. But a storm was brewing, buzzing underneath.

Peter's body and face slowly transformed, quite literally, morphing to form another's, growing taller, broader, older. Augustus.

"You know... I might've underestimated you," he mused, a slow smile forming on his lips, "Or maybe I underestimated my acting skills."

"Where are my friends?" I growled, clenching my fists. His eyes flared red before the face and body morphed again, this time shorter, smaller, blonde.