Chapter Twenty-One

The clock read 1:43 when I climbed back into my window and pulled off my mask. I was shivering from the cold and the tension. I just wanted to fall facedown on my bed and never move again.

What an idiot I was. I could remember a time, barely four months ago, when I had thought that this job consisted of swinging around in a costume and tossing muggers into police vans. I had been so stupid. I had never stopped to think that something might go wrong.

I sat down on the edge of my bed, drained, when it hit me. I had left the lights on in my room when I left with Harry. But now my room was dark.

Click.

"Owww," I groaned, covering my eyes against the lights.

"Where have you been?"

Mom was standing in the doorway, her hand on the light switch. She hadn't even changed out of her work clothes. Her face was carefully expressionless.

I stood there, in plain sight, costume on and a crumpled mask in my hand. Avoiding her eyes, I went over to my closet and pulled my robe on over my costume.

It was freezing in there, anyway.

"Where have you been, Mayday?" Mom asked. Her voice rose slightly.

"Mom, I was...out."

"Out," Mom repeated. "You were out. In your costume."

What could I say to that? "Yes, I was."

Mom's eyes were glistening. "Are you trying to kill yourself, Mayday?" Still that steady, level voice.

The wind hammered against the window.

"Mom, I had to go out. It's..."

"You don't have your powers. You have no idea how happy I was when I heard that. You don't know what it's like to see your own daughter head off at night the way you do! You don't know what it's like to sit in fear that she'll never come home again! And here you are, wandering around out there! Alone! Defenseless!"

"I wasn't alone, Mom!" I shouted, them clamped my mouth shut when I realized what I had just said.

"What do you mean, you weren't alone?"

I wanted to kick myself. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Now I had just dragged Harry into this. I had just blown Harry's secret! How was I supposed to get out of this?

I could lie. I could say...what could I say? There was no other explanation for this. I would have to face this, stop being a coward, and own up.

And I was not going to lie to my mother again.

I opened my mouth, and said, "I was with Harry."

Mom's eyes went wide. Wait, was she thinking...?

"No, Mom, that's not what I meant! I mean, he helped me get to the city, that's all."

"How? Harry can't drive." Mom's voice was heavier than before. Heavy with anger, and sadness. She thought I was lying again.

I sighed. "No, Mom. On his glider."

"On his gl-" Mom took a step backwards, gripping the doorframe so hard her knuckles turned white. In a hoarse whisper, she said, "Harry's...glider?"

"Yes, Mom. His glider," I said wearily, bracing myself against the coming hurricane.

"Harry Osborn is…is Hobgoblin?"

I nodded.

Mom leaned back against the doorframe, her face in her hand. "Oh, my God. How...how could he..."

There was a silence. Then, I said. "He isn't anymore. He's-"

"Isn't anymore!" Mom exploded. "Harry Osborn! How could he 'not be anymore'? How could you..."

Mom stared at me in disbelief, as if it were impossible to understand how I could have been so dense.

"It was an accident," I said hurriedly. "It's not like you think. There was this chemical, and it gave him some kind of split personality. But he's cured now. I went and asked Doc for the antidote. So he's better. Yeah." I stopped, painfully aware that I was babbling.

Mom stared at me, uncomprehending. I rushed on, "So since I've lost my powers he said that he was going to meet Black Widow. I mean, he was only going to pretend to be Hobgoblin..."

Mom was shaking her head slowly, eyes wide, staring at me as if I was completely crazy. "How could you do something like this...this...all of this! And Harry...damn it, Mayday! How could you be so naive? How could you trust him? Don't you know what that boy is?"

"I know what he is!" I yelled back. "He's Harry! He's a human being!"

Mom straightened up, eyes blazing. "And how do you know that?" She said, "You just told me some crazy story about him being cured, whatever that means. But I know one thing. That...that kid..." Mom spat the last word venemously. "Is the son of the Green Goblin. You've seen him yourself! You've fought him yourself! He's a monster!"

"He is not!" I shouted. "He's not Hobgoblin anymore, Mom! He's Harry Osborn! Harry! The same guy you've known since the second grade!"

"I thought I did! I thought that my daughter's best friend was one of the nicest kids I'd met! Until he demolished Times Square!"

What could I say to make her understand? Mom was so angry at me that she wasn't listening to anything I said! "That was not Harry! That was Hobgoblin!"

"I don't care who he says he is now! How could you trust him? How could you trust him with your life? Why would you do this?"

Mom was furious. "What are you trying to do, Mayday? Do you want to get killed, too? What do think it'll do to your brother when you don't come home? What about your grandmother? What about me? Why don't you see that you're destroying your family? Why are you doing this?"

"Because Dad is alive!" I shrieked.

"What's going on?"

Benny stood at the door in his Batman pajamas, sleepy-eyed and touseled. He stared first at Mom, then at me, bemused. Neither of us answered.

"Why're you yelling?" Benny asked again, now wide awake.

Mom and I stared at each other. "We're just having an argument, Benny. Come on, I'll tuck you in."

I didn't sleep that night. I changed out of my costume and lay in the dark until my alarm rang at six. It had started to snow again. Wet, soggy slush littered the streets and sidewalks.

I don't think Mom slept either, but she never came back up to ask me for an explanation. I didn't feel like giving one. I was just so tired, more exhausted than I had ever felt before.

The alarm clock went off.

School. Final exams.

"Ohhhh, crud," I groaned, burying my face in my pillow. This whole situation just seemed so ridiculous that I wanted to burst out laughing. Mom no longer trusted me, Doc was in danger, Black Widow was planning something so horrible it was inconceivable, and I had just blurted out the one thing that would sadden Mom even more.

And what was I complaining about? My chemistry final!

I got ready for school in some sort of sleepless daze. For the first time in months, I didn't wear my costume underneath. What waw the point. If something happened, I could no more save lives than I could stop an avalanche.

Breakfast was silent that morning. We all ate mechanically. Benny kept glancing uneasily between Mom and me, but he didn't say anything.

After he had left on the bus, and I was shouldering my backpack, Mom said, "I don't want you to have anything to do with Osborn again."

"His name is Harry," I said coldly.

Mom chose not to answer that. "He's not visiting here ever again. I don't want you talking to him. I don't want you anywhere near him."

I closed the door behind me and stepped out into the cold.

I got to school almost thirty minutes early. Our schedule had been changed for finals week, and I had no idea where to start looking for Harry. Instead, I went inside and headed listlessly up to my empty chemistry class. I dropped my bag, sat down, and put my head down.

"Mayday? Are you all right?"

I looked up. Ms. Garcia was frowning at me worriedly at me from the door.

"Yeah...I mean, yes, I'm fine. Sorry."

"No, don't worry about it. So...ready for your final?" Ms. Garcia set her copies on her desk and sat down.

"Not really," I said truthfully, with a sinking feeling.

"Oh."

I unzipped my backpack and pulled out my notes. I was staring at a paragraph on Avigadro's number when Ms. Garcia said, "Mayday, are you really all right?"

"Yes, thank you. Why?"

"Well, you seem so tired lately. Is something bothering you?"

Other than Black Widow planning to kidnap Doc? "I haven't been getting along well with anyone lately," I said. Then, like a dam bursting, I blurted out, "It seems like everything I do I find some way to screw up. It's just...it's just..."

"Nothing is going right? And it just seems to be snowballing out of control?"

I blinked. How had she known?

"Believe me, I know the feeling," Ms. Garcia said, a little sadly. The ghost of a smile flickered over her face. "I can only offer one piece of advice, Mayday. 'This too shall pass'. If this is a bad time in your life, just remember that nothing lasts forever. Things'll always improve, even if they get worse before they get better."

I felt oddly comforted.

I was trudging down the hall during passing period, feeling like my brain was a cold lump of spaghetti. I had slogged through the chemistry final almost blindly, and I didn't even want to think about what kind of grade I had made.

"Mayday! Mayday!"

Suddenly Harry popped out of the crowd next to me, gasping for air and clutching his side. "I ran...had to..."

"What happened? Harry? Sit down!"

I steered Harry over to a bench. He collapsed, wheezing. I sat down next to him. "Harry, what happened? Where were you? You missed your final!"

Harry waved it away weakly. "I can...make it up. I was...at Quest...to warn...Doc. I ran...all the way...back."

I pulled out my water bottle and handed it to him. "You ran all the way from Quest? That's almost to the seaport!"

"Yeah...so...I had to tell Doc. See...I flew to Quest last night. He said he was working on the permanent antidote," Harry said.

"What do you mean, 'permanent' antidote?"

Harry swallowed more water. "The first one was temporary."

"How temporary?"

Harry paused. "About a week and a half."

"A week and a half! I gave it to you ten days ago!"

"It means," Harry said slowly, like a condemned prisoner, "that I've got about a day left before Hobgoblin comes back."

I sat still, horrified.

"And, I was walking to school today, and I saw all of these police cars. So, I followed. And they went to Quest. I heard them talking...'bout Black Widow."

Harry finally set the empty bottle of water down and sat up straight. "She was there this morning. Half of the building's underground is destroyed. And Doc Hiller is gone."

I said, "Then whatever Black Widow's plan is...it's already started."