Chapter 1: GREAT EGGSPECTATIONS

 

  Gwen Stacy stared at the egg on her desk. Every student in Mr. Anzelone’s science class had one. But what did her teacher want them to do with it? Gwen raised her hand.

  “Thanks for the present, Mr. A,” she said. “But next time how about a gift card?”

   

  Mr. Anzelone laughed. “Sorry, Gwen. This is your homework. Over the weekend each of you will take special care of your egg. You can talk to it, take it on walks—”

  “Watch a movie with it?” joked Gwen’s classmate Amir.

  “Whatever you want,” Mr. Anzelone replied. “But remember, eggs are fragile. They can easily break. Your assignment is to bring the egg back on Monday in one piece. Show me how responsible you can be by caring for something so delicate.”

   

  The bell rang. “Your eggs are depending on you!” Mr. Anzelone said. “Class dismissed.”

  Gwen packed up her backpack. She spoke to her egg. “Don’t worry about a thing, little eggy,” she said, “because you hit the babysitting jackpot. I’m probably the most responsible kid in this class.”

   

  Gwen looked over at Amir, who was juggling his egg. “Scratch that,” she said. “I am definitely the most responsible kid in this class. But it’s not just because I know not to toss you in the air.” Gwen gently placed the egg in the folds of her white, black, and pink suit that she kept stored in one of the zippered pockets of her backpack. She leaned in and whispered, “It’s because I’m a super hero.”

   

  The egg was speechless.

  “It’s true,” Gwen continued in a hushed voice. “I’m your friendly neighborhood Ghost-Spider. I fight bad guys without breaking a sweat. So taking care of you will be a piece of cake.”

  Gwen looked at her watch. “Speaking of cake, there’s a bakery near my drum lesson. That’s where we’re going now. If we hurry, we’ll have time to get a piece.” Gwen flung her backpack over her shoulder…

   

  And the egg flew out!

  Gwen’s hand shot out in a flash. She caught the little egg moments before it hit the floor.

  “Oops,” she said. She placed her egg back inside her backpack. “Guess I’d better zip this up, huh?” She gave a nervous giggle. “I mean, there’s nothing to worry about, right? Super hero reflexes save the day!”

  The egg did not reply.

  With her backpack closed and firmly situated on one shoulder, Gwen set off for her drum lesson at the Stark Center. Gwen regularly attended drum lessons at the Stark Center several days a week after school. But today the idea of cake was still on her mind, so she took a shortcut to head toward the bakery first.

   

   

  Turning down a side street, she walked past an abandoned warehouse. Gwen heard a strange commotion coming from inside.

  “I thought ‘abandoned’ meant no one was supposed to be in it,” she mumbled to herself. “Looks like something Ghost-Spider should go check out.”

  Gwen ducked into an alleyway and unzipped her backpack. “Listen, egg,” she whispered as she changed into her super hero suit. “You stay here and I’ll be back in a minute.”

   

 

   

 

But as Ghost-Spider crept into the warehouse, she realized this job might take a little more than a minute. Standing before her was THE VULTURE!