A giant golden firework went off above the building’s tall spire. That spire had almost crashed down to Earth. But it hadn’t.
“It’s beautiful,” said Celeste. “Isn’t it?”
Joe watched the glittering strands of light fall down from the sky before he answered. “It is.”
Acknowledgments
Thank you to everyone who helped Joe Tesla and Edison find their feet in this story. They received literary aid from Kathryn Wadsworth, David Deardorff, Karen Hollinger, Ben Haggard, Judy Heath, and Joshua Corin; psychological advice on agoraphobia from Peter Plantec; and marvelous tea to fuel my writing from my niece Lanessa and my sister Sari. Thanks to my wonderful cover designer, Kit Foster; copy editor, Joyce Lamb; and literary agents, Mary Alice Kier and Anna Cottle. I owe the most to my husband and son—you guys are the best writing family a person could ever have.
Plus a giant thank you to all my readers—you are what make Joe and Edison’s adventures possible.
About the Author
Thank you for reading The Tesla Legacy. I hope that you enjoyed the story!
I’m REBECCA CANTRELL, the award-winning and New York Times bestselling thriller author of this book. My novels include the Joe Tesla series, starting with The World Beneath; the Order of the Sanguines series, starting with The Blood Gospel; and the Hannah Vogel mystery series, starting with A Trace of Smoke.
If you’d like to find out more about my novels, visit my website at http://www.rebeccacantrell.com. I have them all listed there, in order, plus some extra content about researching them and the worlds in which they take place. To purchase them for your Kindle, please go to the next page.
If you’d like to receive advance notice of my upcoming books, please sign up for my newsletter at http://rebeccacantrell.com/newsletter-for-rebecca-cantrell. I put it out a few times a year, and I promise never to sell or trade your name.
Or, if you want to see what I’m up to day to day, you can find me on Facebook and Twitter. My husband, son, and I left Hawaii’s sunny shores a few years ago for the adventures of Berlin, Germany.
Author’s Notes
Joe Tesla’s underground world is full of secrets. Some I made up, but others are true. Before you start reading the rest of these notes, take a second to decide which is the most unrealistic claim I make in the fictional world beneath. Now, let’s go through these notes together to see if it’s fact or fiction.
First off, Nikola Tesla did indeed invent a device called the Oscillator or “Tesla’s Earthquake Machine.” On his seventy-ninth birthday, he told reporters that he had used this device to generate an earthquake near his laboratory. When asked what would be required to destroy the Empire State Building, he replied, “Five pounds of air pressure. If I attached the proper oscillating machine on a girder, that is all the force I would need, five pounds. Vibration will do anything. It would only be necessary to step up the vibrations of the machine to fit the natural vibration of the building and the building would come crashing down.” Here is the quote in the New York World-Telegram dated July 11, 1935. I’ve also come across the quote in Tesla biographies. MythBusters tried, and failed, to create an oscillator that would knock down a bridge.
On the other hand, destructive resonance may have knocked down the Tacoma Narrows Bridge near Seattle. The bridge was known as “Galloping Gertie” because it moved so much during windstorms. Although the bridge was built to withstand wind speeds of a hundred and twenty miles per hour, on a day with a wind speed of only forty-two miles an hour, the bridge collapsed. The video footage of the July 1, 1940 event is eerie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-zczJXSxnw
Tesla did have someone who helped him with his pigeons, including collecting wounded pigeons from the streets, but I don’t know his name, and none of my characters is in any way related to him. I’d love to learn more about him, though, so if you find anything out, please send me an email (mailto:[email protected]).
Spooky doesn’t exist, but there are other networks of hacktivists and activists spread around the world. The most famous is Anonymous, whose members wear Guy Fawkes masks when speaking for the group in the non-virtual world. The group was named by Time magazine one of the world’s “100 Most Influential People” in 2012 and has performed hacks against various government agencies, religious organizations, and corporations.
All of the locations in the book, besides Joe Tesla’s house, are real. The cemetery where his father is buried? Here are pictures. Grand Central Terminal does contain the information booth, the famous clock, the gorgeous constellations, the Biltmore Room, The Campbell Apartment and the Oyster Bar. If you visit any of Joe’s hangouts, do please send me a picture!
Also by Rebecca Cantrell
Joe Tesla series set in the tunnels under modern day New York City:
The World Beneath
The Tesla Legacy (this book)
Mystery/thrillers in the award-winning Hannah Vogel mystery series set in 1930s Berlin:
A Trace of Smoke
A Night of Long Knives
A Game of Lies
A City of Broken Glass
On the Train (short story)
The Man in the Attic (short story)
Gothic thrillers in the Order of the Sanguines series (written with James Rollins) set in ancient and modern day times and following the adventures of an order of vampire priests.
The Blood Gospel
Innocent Blood
City of Screams
Blood Brothers
Blood Infernal
Young adult novels in the iMonster series (written as Bekka Black).
iDrakula
iFrankenstein
Happy reading!
Table of Contents
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Table of Contents
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
/>
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
The Tesla Legacy Page 23