Nova lay in her bed staring up at the blank ceiling, unable to sleep. She glanced over at her LED light alarm clock.

4:12 am

She sighs as she rolls back over, staring up at the ceiling.

The whole house was quiet. Well... not quite. She could hear the slight faint breathing of May and Ben's rumbling snores in the other room, down the hallway. It almost felt like she was in the same room with them. A slight chuckle escaped from her, as it reminded her of the time when she was very little. It was the first few months she arrived, and there was a horrible thunderstorm. The roaring thunder and the flash of lighting casting deforming shadows on the walls of monstrous creatures. Her young, wild imagination made the shadows come to life like they were goblins coming after her. Oh, what a scene she made as she dashed into May and Ben's room, crying. It had even woken up young Peter in the process. He groggy would explain the creation of lighting and thunder by the pressure in the air or something like that. Eventually, Ben would invite the two to lay beside him and his wife until the storm has passed. Oh how fast the two little ones crawled into bed with the adults and felt safe in their arms throughout the night as they slept.

The thought made Nova feel warm to have such a loving family. Now that she is older, she felt like a failure to the family that took her in. All she did was cause trouble by losing her temper and can't even catch up to Peter's intelligence in school. All she is good at is playing video games or her little side hobby sketching in her notebook, besides taking notes in class. May would always scold her about it. But Ben was patient with her. One time, he took Nova out to the Metropolitan Museum of Arts. The largest and most beautiful museum that she had ever stepped in, with the clear marble flooring, tall pillars, magnificent statues, and gorgeous paintings from history. If Peter was there, he would be the tour guide of history with his intelligent mind, but Nova was better off having a one-on-one interaction with Ben for once. Mostly it would be her and May but both their interests did not collide well. May would want to go clothes shopping to find some pretty outfits to wear together from the women's section from the 80s. Instead, Nova prefers something dark and edgy from the men's department. Or the time May wants to treat them out to get their nails done together, but Nova would rather spend her evening at a library or bookstore instead. Also, she feels that painting nails was pointless because Nova has a bad habit of biting her nails anyway. So it would be a waste of money.

Nova rolled over to her side once more. Her eyes finally got heavy as she was about to drift off to sleep.

Thump

Nova jerked back awake. Lifting her head as she looked around her room. She could hear a slight shuffling coming from Peter's room.

What is he doing? She thought as she got out of bed and headed into his room. Finding his door cracked open. She pushed the door open and walked in. "Peter?" She whispered out his name, not seeing him in his bed or any were. Suddenly, there was a sound as if air was leaking.

"Nova," whispered Peter's voice, "Look up,"

Nova glanced up and saw him grinning ear to ear as he hung upside down from the ceiling. Nova gave out a shrill scream, but Peter quickly jumped down and covered her mouth.

"Shhh," he hushed her, "You're going to wake up Aunt May and Uncle Ben."

Everything was silent except for the rumbling sound of Uncle Ben's snoring in the other room. Once everything settled, Peter removed his hand from Nova's mouth.

"What were you doing?" she asked, speaking in whispers at her wide grinning cousin whom she has rarely seen for a long while.

"Crawling on walls and ceilings," he said proudly, looking down at his hands. "Nova, you should try it,"

Nova blanked, "What?"

"Climb up the wall over there," he pointed.

"You're crazy," Nova glared at him, thinking he had lost his mind.

"Come on, just doing it,"

Nova sighed, "Fine," she went up to one of the corners of the wall and place her hand on it. She then placed her bare toes and reached her other free hand up to try to pull herself off the floor. "I don't know what you're trying to do-Whoa?!"

Nova lifted herself up from the floor, now sticking to the wall.

"That's it, I knew you have the same abilities!" Peter dashed into his closet and pulled out a notebook.

Nova jumps back from the wall. Tearing away some of the drywall paint off it. Similar to what happened downstairs. "Seems like we both have the spider abilities to stick to surfaces and abilities," he scribbled down in his notes. Nova glanced over his shoulder. Seeing what looks like jumbling words. "Also, we both have super strength and your ability to camouflage to your surroundings like most female spiders," then he paused and looked at her, "Don't think it'll be safe for you to try to get a boyfriend anytime soon. Just for their safety,"

Nova rolled her eyes, "Oh please," she sourly glared at him. "You know I don't even have that sexual appetite like most girls."

"Good," he shut his notebook, not getting her joke. "I would like to do some testing or somewhere Aunt May and Uncle Ben are not around," he said, placing the notebook under his mattress.

"Why can't we tell them?" Asked Nova. Peter quickly turned around to face her.

"One, Aunt May would freak out and you know she is mutant-phobic," Peter pointed out.

"But we are her kids," Nova retorted.

"Yeah, but," he gave her a serious look, "There might be a chance they would disown us. Do you want that?"

Nova felt the heavy weight on her chest once more and lowly mumbled "No,"

"Then we gotta keep it a secret. Even from MJ and Harry. No one should know," he glanced over at his alarm clock, "We should head to bed. Besides, we can talk more about this later on, once I get more information," he looked back at Nova, "Now remember, don't tell anyone,"

Nova nodded as she quietly walked out of his room and carefully shut the door behind her. She glanced down the dark hallway. Still hearing the light breathing and snores coming from her adopted parents' room. The fear of losing something so dear to her and finding herself all alone once more.

The once forgotten memories of her past, that she secretly kept to herself for years were now seeping out. Heavy tears swell up her eyes as she slowly made it back into her room.