Nikki Tesla and the Traitors of the Lost Spark

by Jess Keating

  The virus would be lost, and all hopes of an antidote gone with it.

  I knew what I had to do.

  And if you’ve read any of these official records before, you know that I’m no stranger to doing some truly stupid stuff. I’ve gotten into all kinds of trouble before. I’ve nearly died dozens of times in my life. But this time? It felt different.

  Maybe it’s because all those other times, mortal peril was only a side effect of whatever I was doing rather than the end goal. This was the first time that I was actively running toward my own demise. That made it infinitely scarier.

  I couldn’t give myself time to think about it. We were already all infected. We were already all toast. But there was still something I could do. A microscopic chance to save my friends.

  Shifting on my feet, I found some traction with the tip of my sneaker on the shiny floor. The gun still lay by Victoria’s foot.

  I debated catching Leo’s attention. I needed a diversion—someone to cause enough of a stir that I could grab the gun one last time. But a quick look at his drawn face told me that I wouldn’t find any help there—what I was hoping to do was too much to ask of him.

  He could never help me do such a horrible thing.

  Nobody on the team could.

  I needed someone who understood—who saw that despite my plan being ridiculously dangerous, it was the only logical solution.

  I caught Arthur’s eye and pitched my chin forward slightly in the direction of Victoria’s gun.

  He blinked in question. What are you going to do?

  Calmly reaching my right hand to my left forearm, I gave it the slightest tap, like I was brushing away a mosquito. Arthur’s eyes widened in understanding and looked to Leo, then to Mary.

  He was reading my mind, exactly as Mary would. Saying that Leo and Mary would both act as soon as they realized what I intended to do. For the next thirty seconds, they weren’t my friends or allies. They were my biggest obstacles.

  To be their friend, I had to become their enemy, just this once.

  Arthur began to lean to his right, closer to Leo. He was going to have to be quick if he had any chance of stopping him. That left me to deal with Mary. I could only hope that her fears and confusion about Victoria were enough to distract her.

  Mouthing the numbers to Arthur, I started at three. Two … one!

  Skidding my way back to Victoria, I caught her by surprise this time and swiped the gun from beneath her feet in one quick movement. Agent Donnelly, who had not been expecting me to take another run at the weapon, lifted his gun to aim again at Victoria to protect me. Grace, Charlie, and Mo lunged for Victoria in a desperate attempt to shield her for Mary’s sake while Arthur lowered his shoulder to stop Leo from barreling into me.

  That left Mary and Bert.

  I gripped the gun in my right hand. Does your life really flash before your eyes when you’re about to die? I couldn’t be sure. I saw waves and mountains, laboratories, and the faces of my parents. Then each of my friends, smiling at me.

  They were worth it.

  Lifting the gun to place the barrel against my left forearm, I took one last look at Mary, who was now beside herself with terror.

  “Nikki, NO!” Her scream rang through the air, and she shoved past the others to reach me. A loud thud echoed through the room as Leo shoved Arthur away from him, and together both he and Mary surged forward, their arms outstretched to stop me—to grab the gun from my hands before I could do anything stupid.

  I moved as fast as my feet would take me away from them, but to my surprise, it was Bert who sped forward, joining Arthur in shielding me with his long arms, while Leo, Mary, and the others desperately tried to claw their way past them.

  Bert and Arthur—finally united in something—were buying me time.

  It was long enough to curl my forefinger over the gold trigger and give the others one final look of apology.

  “I have to, Mary,” I said. “This is the only way. If this doesn’t work, don’t blame yourselves.”

  I gave Bert and Arthur a grateful nod.

  Then I squeezed the trigger.

  What happened next can only be described as absolute madness.

  Technically, the virus was already in my body, right? Just like it was already in everyone who was currently in the Louvre. But I was to learn that there was a very big difference between the effects of an airborne virus in your system and one that you inject directly into your bloodstream.

  Martha wasn’t kidding about superstrength either.

  Flexing my hands, I let the gun clatter on the floor. The buzz of blood through my body took on an electric sensation, almost like I could feel every cell. I suddenly saw the small cracks and features in the Louvre ceiling, including trails of dust and long-forgotten spiderwebs in the corners.

  I’d thought the Louvre, with its gorgeous hallway and marble floors, was clean, but there were particles of dust in the air floating before me like bubbles in the ocean water.

  To my surprise, the serum wasn’t making me feel sick; it made me feel great.

  Pivoting on my heel, I knew I needed to make use of this strength while I had it. I leaped over Mary—yes, you read that right, over Mary—and landed directly in front of Victoria.

  “Get back!” she cried. Her boots clicked on the floor as she tried to stumble away from me. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done, stupid girl?! You’ll be first to die!”

  I sneered at her, quite enjoying the terrified look on her face. For once, she wasn’t in control.

  I was.

  “If I’m alive long enough for doctors to use my blood and the concentrated serum to develop an antidote, I don’t care!”

  Well, if she’d been ticked off at me before, you can imagine how mad that made her. My big plan dawning on her, she bared her teeth and lunged at me. If she could kill me, she could stop any hopes of anyone getting an antidote out of my blood.

  Too bad for her that she was no match for me now that I had some help from the serum.

  Blocking her punch with my left hand, I dodged out of the way and easily grabbed her arms, locking them together in my grip.

  “Holy guacamole, Tesla!” Bert exclaimed.

  Agent Donnelly watched, stunned, as I lifted Victoria off the ground with one hand and dropped her unceremoniously next to him. “Here,” I said. “Whatever happens, this woman is not to be harmed. Arrest her, charge her, but do not hurt her. And I’m going to need a doctor right now.” I instructed.

  Arthur came to my aid. “It’s true, Agent Donnelly. You’ve seen it now with your own eyes. We need you to call the World Health Organization now. Get the best doctors in the world, and there’s a chance that Nikki really can save everyone who gets exposed. Hurry—with such a concentrated dose, she could have only hours or minutes.”

  To my everlasting relief, Agent Donnelly didn’t argue. He didn’t tell us to stop lying, or threaten us with handcuffs. Instead, he pulled out his handcuffs and arrested Victoria, then pulled a phone from his pocket, dialing quickly.

  Apparently, seeing a kid leap twelve feet in the air was enough to convince even the most stubborn of agents that something was going on.

  “Yes,” he said into his phone. “This is Donnelly. Get me someone from the World Health Organization.”

  “I told you that we were on the same side,” I muttered to Agent Donnelly, plunking down beside him. The earlier bout of strength I’d felt was slowly waning, probably from the effects of the serum itself and the huge amounts of adrenaline that had coursed through my body in the last ten minutes. Suddenly, I was exhausted.

  “So you did,” he said wryly, holding his hand over the phone to speak to me. “I suppose a thank-you is in order.”

  I waved him off. “No need to thank me,” I said. “Just release Martha so we can all go home.”

  He laughed. “You’re not getting a thank-you from me,” he teased. “You should be thanking me for allowing you to carry out your mission without interferen
ce.” He winked.

  “Yeah,” I said. “You only tried to shoot me a couple of times and handcuffed me twice.”

  “Nobody’s perfect,” he said. “I’ll make sure that Martha is released. You’ll all be able to go home to Genius Academy. Hey.” He paused. “Hang in there, Nikki.”

  A cold hand touched my forehead, but I couldn’t make out who it was.

  “Thanks,” I mumbled. It was getting harder by the second to speak, and my vision began to flicker. I worked my jaw, trying to find the source of the strange pain in my head. The sound of my heart grew loud in my ears. Why was the world growing darker? A dizzy, spiraling whir began to twist through my chest, and I registered a gentle tugging on my arm. Someone … holding my hand? The faintest touch of fur tickled my cheek.

  “Pickles …” I mumbled. My mouth was cotton. A small ray of happiness warmed me to learn she’d survived the past fifteen minutes stowed away in Charlie’s backpack. Charlie would take care of her until I was better.

  “No, this can’t be happening …”

  Was that Mary? Her voice was choppy and thin. Like she was speaking from a tin can. I tried to answer her, but air wouldn’t find its way to my lungs.

  “It’s too strong …”

  “We’re losing her!”

  “Oh God—this can’t be happening!”

  The words didn’t make sense to my muddled brain. Who were we losing?

  One last flicker of clarity rang through me, a bubble rising to the surface of the fog in my mind, long enough for me to glimpse it before it exploded.

  Me.

  They’re losing me.

  I wanted to go back to the lovely marble room with Mary and the others. I wanted to pull myself back to them so I could tell them what they meant to me. To thank them for always being there for me, through everything.

  My team.

  My family.

  But the darkness was too strong. The pull of inky black was comforting and terrifying. If I’d been stronger, maybe I would have lasted longer. If I’d been smarter, maybe I would have realized what was going on.

  But it was too late, and like usual, the others had figured it out before me.

  I was dying.

  One Month Later

  Surprise!

  I’m baaaaaaaacccckkkk! Things got a little intense there for a minute, didn’t they!? I know I owe you all an explanation, but first, let’s celebrate the fact that Victoria didn’t succeed in ending humanity. I’m alive! You’re alive! Hooray!

  After I injected myself, Agent Donnelly took over. For some reason, he trusted me, despite the fact that he initially thought I was some good-for-nothing kid at a fancy boarding school. He still maintains that I’m some punk kid, but now he at least accepts that even the government needs to listen to us punk kids sometimes.

  The bad news? I totally died.

  I don’t recommend it.

  I mean it. My heart stopped. Things were looking capital-B-A-D BAD, for several days there. (Did you think Mary was faking it in her note? I told you all along—I would include everything in these notes as proof of what happened, didn’t I?) Anyway, after I injected the Spark serum into my arm, it looked like I was toast. My heart stopped beating for forty-seven seconds. But thankfully, someone was looking out for me, and emergency services showed up in time to revive me. It took about four days for the world’s greatest medical minds to devise a workable antidote using the concentrated virus in my blood, which was then manufactured and sent to every corner of the earth in record time.

  It was an “unprecedented” medical event, and Agent Donnelly told me that researchers everywhere were going to want to interview and examine me. Fortunately, when Martha was finally released from MI6 custody, she quickly put a stop to that nonsense. All information about me, the serum, and what happened at the Louvre was deemed “classified,” so it didn’t even make the nightly news.

  As for Mary, she’s recovering okay after learning the truth about Victoria’s past. Despite the awful things her aunt did, it was hard to stay mad at her. Victoria had lost someone she loved, and that kind of grief is never easy to deal with. Instead of a jail sentence, she was placed in a hospital in a quiet town not too far away from the Academy. She’s getting professional help to deal with her grief, and she and Mary have even been writing to each other. It makes me happy to think that, over time, the two of them might be family again.

  And Arthur? Well, it looks like we’ll be able to visit that castle of his again, as he’s officially the newest member of Genius Academy! And get this: It wasn’t Mary who convinced him. It was Bert. Don’t get me wrong, he still thinks Arthur is a total pain in the butt, but even he couldn’t deny our team could use those powers of deduction when the fate of the world is at stake. Which brings us to today, in a small garden in Paris, with the smell of spring flowers in the air and a winding aisle of green grass ahead of me.

  I once heard a phrase: The more things change, the more they stay the same. I think that must be true, because even though my shoulder still hurts from the injection that saved my life and the lives of everyone exposed to the Spark serum last month, I once again found myself in shoes that pinched my toes, staring at my watch, waiting for the music to start.

  I adjusted the orchid above my ear, hoping it wasn’t lopsided. Pickles nuzzled against my neck, ready for her big moment. She felt heavier than usual—probably because Charlie had spoiled her rotten with treats during the few weeks I was in the hospital.

  “Do I look okay?” I lifted my hands in question and mouthed to my friends.

  They each gave me a thumbs-up from where they were sitting a few yards away, waiting for the ceremony to begin. Mary, Arthur, Grace, Charlie, Mo, Bert, and Leo—each dressed to impress for my parents’ wedding. Did you think I’d miss it? Well, you weren’t alone there. The minute Martha contacted them, they’d flown all the way to Paris to meet me in the hospital. They’d both given me the tightest hug in history and told me they loved me more than anything else in the universe.

  But two milliseconds after the hug? They totally grounded me. Even with Martha there to explain the whole thing! Fortunately, I know some geniuses at the Academy who can help me sneak out if I need to.

  What would I do without them?

  I won’t lie. Having that amazing superstrength, even for such a short time, was pretty incredible. The feeling of being able to leap over buildings, chase bad guys, and save the world without even breaking a sweat? I’ll miss it.

  But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in this bizarre world of Genius Academy, it’s that brute strength is the least we have to offer.

  We have to outwit the enemy, you know? The only things that matter are working together to surprise them, using our brains and guts to stay one step ahead of them, and doing the things nobody else can do—even if it means risking our lives.

  That’s what friends do for one another. They show up and put their minds together for the greater good, no matter how impossible the odds are. And the world is better for it.

  Especially because it’s got a few geniuses on its side, right?

  All the characters and events in this book are fictional, yet they are based on some real-life people who have had incredible adventures in human history. You may already be familiar with Nikola Tesla (for whom Nikki is named!), as well as the other students at Genius Academy and their real-life historical counterparts. In this adventure, we learn more about both Mary Shelley and Arthur Conan Doyle, both of whom were incredibly talented authors and visionaries.

  My reimagined Mary Shelley is kind, empathetic, and infinitely clever, particularly at reading human nature. The real Mary Shelley was equally brilliant. When she was twenty-one years old, she published a book called Frankenstein—a name that likely sounds familiar to you, even more than two hundred years later! Shelley’s Frankenstein was the first novel of its kind, and she is now rightfully known as the “mother of science fiction.” Were it not for Mary Shelley, all your favorite science-fi
ction stories might not exist today! She said she was inspired to create Frankenstein after having a morbid dream about a young doctor who wanted to create life by animating the dead. Clever readers might notice that the names Victoria, Robert Walton, and William are all reminiscent of characters found in Frankenstein or in Mary Shelley’s personal life.

  This story also introduces us to a new genius by the name of Arthur Conan Doyle. If you’re familiar with the character of Sherlock Holmes, you have Doyle to thank for it. Doyle was born in 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His mother was an excellent storyteller and would spend hours telling tales that sparked Doyle’s imagination. Doyle went on to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where he soon met a professor named Joseph Bell. He was enchanted by Bell’s keen deductive and observational powers, then created Sherlock Holmes from his inspiration. Doyle published sixty stories about the famed detective.

  In real life, Mary Shelley and Arthur Conan Doyle weren’t alive at the same time (Shelley passed away nine years before Doyle was born), but I have a feeling that if history had provided the opportunity, the two of them would have loved each other’s company. Equally matched in brilliance, imagination, and observational prowess, I believe both Mary Shelley and Arthur Conan Doyle would have been capable of impossible things together—including saving the world!

  To learn more about the geniuses in this book, visit your local library or bookstore.

  Ready to begin the adventure again? Turn the page for a sneak peek at Elements of Genius #1: Nikki Tesla and the Ferret-Proof Death Ray!

  Okay, I can’t really explain a lot right now because as you can see, there’s a death ray pointed at my eye.

  Yeah, a death ray. As in, utter destruction and annihilation—poof, you’re dust!—all at the handy pull of a trigger on a weapon no bigger than a water gun. But this thing doesn’t shoot water. Do me a favor and don’t sneeze or anything, all right? I do not need to be vaporized right now.