Stephen Strange materialized at the front foyer of the sanctum, and was met, immediately, by the cloak. The ancient artifact swept up to him, and wrapped around his neck and shoulders, clearly agitated, although he couldn't ask it why, of course.

"Where's Wong?"

That it could answer, and the relic moved off him and led him toward the great staircase and headed up them, with Strange following closely behind. They bypassed the second floor, entirely, and the sorcerer decided they were going toward the library, even before they arrived.

Concerned that something had happened to Wong and that he was going to find the other magician injured or worse, Strange hurried through the door – and then stopped short, confused. Wong was standing in the library and seemed to be fine. The confusing part was that he wasn't alone.

Peter Parker was standing there, as well.

He frowned.

"Did I miss something?" he asked the boy. "What are you-"

"This isn't Peter," Wong interrupted.

"Yes I am," the boy said.

"This isn't our Peter," Wong corrected.

"What?" The sorcerer supreme walked over, studying the boy and noticing differences, immediately. The boy he was looking at was the right age, and same height, but the Peter he had had dinner with was tanned from the African sun (and the remnants of the sunburn that he'd suffered during the gathering) and his hair was shorter. The boy in front of him was pale with more curls and was wearing a different shirt – and Strange realized – he wasn't wearing his communications watch. He understood what Wong was saying, quickly, and was instantly concerned. Of course. "Where are you from?"

"From Queens."

"Which reality?" Stephen clarified.

The boy – and it was Peter, he knew, even if not the one that he knew so well – seemed to understand what he meant and suddenly looked very afraid. His pale face went even paler, and his eyes widened.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I was here… and I was checking out some artifacts that Wong brought from London, and-"

"Tell him who gave them to me," Wong suggested.

"Jorgan."

Strange felt his own eyes widen, slightly.

"Jorgan?"

"Apparently he's still the guardian of the London sanctum," Wong told Peter – which explained how Wong had figured things out, so quickly.

"He isn't in this one?" Peter asked, surprised. "What happened?"

"We'll talk about that, later," Strange said. He gestured for the boy to sit down. "Tell me what you were doing," he said. "And what happened before you found yourself here."

"I was looking at an old relic," Peter told them, lowering himself into one of the chairs. "It was you and me, and Wong."

"A relic from the London sanctum?" Stephen asked.

"Right. I think so, anyway. You guys wanted to see if I could help you figure out the alignment and maybe see what it does."

"And what kind of alignment did it have?" Wong asked, also sitting down and watching the cloak as it settled on Strange's shoulder, rather than Peter's as he had been sure it was going to. "Evil?"

"No. It felt okay. You told me not to touch it, so I didn't, but when you stood up and picked it up, something screamed – not the relic – and you got startled. I thought you were going to drop it, so I reached out to steady you.'

"And touched the relic…" Strange finished.

"Yeah. You remember?"

"No. it wasn't here, Peter." He frowned at Wong. "Someone must be looking for him, by now."

"Yes. We would – if it had happened to our Peter."

"Tony must be freaking out."

Peter frowned.

"Who?"

Strange frowned, too.

"Tony."

"Stark," Wong added.

"You know Tony Stark?" Peter asked, looking interested, despite the crazy topic.

"That question implies that you don't know him in your own reality…" Stephen said.

"Tony Stark?" Peter repeated. He looked uncertain, as if unsure why the two men would be asking him something so off the wall at a time like this. "Yes. I can say with some certainty that I don't hang around with Ironman…"

"Huh."

"Where do you live?" Wong asked.

"With May."

"May?" Wong started to say something, but Strange held up his hand, and the question changed. "How did we meet?"

"I met you when Doctor Strange took me on as an apprentice."

"You're my apprentice?"

Peter nodded.

"I'm not, here?" He frowned. "But you guys know me, right?"

"Of course we do."

"In what capacity?"

"Stephen saved your life," Wong told the boy. "You and Ned got into a rooftop garden and you ran afoul of some raw nutmeg and it almost killed you."

"And Ned?"

"No," Strange said. "Just you. It made Ned and some of your schoolmate a little sick, but you took the brunt of it – because of your spider connection."

Might as well make sure that was still a thing in the boy's reality.

"Oh."

"How did you and Stephen meet where you're from?" Wong asked, curiously.

"He found me while I was on patrol one night," Peter replied. He looked at Strange. "You wanted to see if I was a threat."

"To what?"

"You didn't say."

"And then what?"

"You decided I wasn't, I guess," Peter said. He shrugged. "We had some conversations about what I can do – and how I can feel magic. Then you offered me an internship, sort of. More like an apprenticeship."

"Does May know?" Wong asked.

"Yeah. Of course." Peter frowned. "Does she know, here?"

Wong and Strange exchanged a look, and both were uncertain and troubled.

"Do we tell him?" Wong asked.

"Tell me what?"

"I think we have to," Strange replied. "Whatever happened is going to take some time to resolve, and we can't leave him in the dark for that length of time. Can we?"

"No."

"Tell me what?" Peter asked, obviously worried, now.

OOOOOOOOO

"Well?"

Strange sighed and closed the book he'd been browsing through, and looked at the statuette on the table in front of them.

"We need to contact Jorgan and see what he knows about the artifact."

"We need to tell May."

"I know. I'm hoping we locate him, first."

Neither man thought the boy was dead. It wasn't wishful thinking; there hadn't been any indication of the violence that came with the extinguishing of a life with magic. Strange had immediately cast a spell to locate Peter, and it hadn't managed to do anything, which told them that the boy wasn't on the planet.

That meant that he was somewhere else.

And that meant alternate realities.

Unfortunately, neither man knew a spell that could locate a specific person in another reality. Which was why they were both in the library. Wong was looking for a way to figure out what had happened, while Stephen was trying to find a way to locate his missing apprentice.

"If he's in another reality then he could be in great danger," Wong said.

"Not something that we need to tell May…"

"We do," Wong disagreed. "But hopefully we find him, first."

"Yes."

"I'm going to London."

Strange nodded.

"Let me know when you find anything."

"Of course."

The other sorcerer vanished and Stephen Strange turned his attention back to the books and scrolls in front of him.

OOOOOOO

"Why do you still look edgy…?"

Peter shrugged, unable to sit still – even though he was playing chess with Tony, and that required plenty of concentration. Tony had been a decent chess player before Peter met him, but now he was so much better. Constantly playing a skilled player like Peter had sharpened his abilities. He moved his king's knight to protect his queen.

"I don't know."

"Do you hurt?" Pepper asked.

She was sitting with them, doing some work on a project for a merger. Peter had offered to let her play Tony so she wouldn't feel left out. She'd declined and had pulled out her tablet, but she hadn't left the lounge, preferring to hang out with her guys.

"No. And I don't feel like I need to go out, either," he assured her. "I just feel like something is happening."

"Something terrible?" Tony asked, looking at the boy instead of the board.

"No. I mean… I don't think so. My stomach doesn't hurt. It just feels a little off."

"Maybe you're coming down with something?"

Peter shook his head.

"I feel okay."

"Well, make sure you let someone know if that changes."

"I will."