“That's the point. Oh look, you just disappeared,” Quinn exclaimed. “Dude! Now we’re both invisible!”
“You’re kidding,” Blake said. He looked down at his hand. He was partially transparent, but the flashlight he held in his hand was floating in mid-air.
Quinn brought his flashlight close to Blake’s hand. “Cool, huh?”
“I’m not fully invisible,” Blake said.
“You are to me,” Quinn confirmed. “I’m like, semi-see-through to myself, though.”
“You’re totally invisible to me.”
“Wicked. I assume this must be how we can see ourselves when we’re invisible to others or something. Weird how our clothes turned invisible, but the flashlights didn’t. What are you feeling?”
“Maybe objects have to be concealed, in your pocket. I can't see your wallet, phone, or keys. I also can't see your backpack. Otherwise, I'm feeling…I’m surprised as hell there are other people here.”
“Yeah, and our flashlights will be floating in midair if they see us.”
“We have time,” Blake said. “The elevator is still running.”
“I was surprised, startled, maybe scared…less scared than surprised. Maybe being surprised has something to do with becoming invisible.”
“This is fucking fantastic. I’m so going into the girl’s locker room when we get back to school.”
“Ew, dude. Gross.” Quinn said. “Have a little respect.”
“I’m kidding.”
“No, you’re not.”
“You're right.” Blake said, smiling. I wonder if Quinn knows I’m smiling?
“Come on, let’s hide for a bit. If we leave, we’ll learn nothing.”
“Fine, but we’re invisible, why do we need to hide?”
“Because I'm not sure we can control this power yet. Do you want to take that chance?
“Good point. Where do we hide? All those lights turned on in the control room. There’s no way they’ll not see us in there.”
“Down there,” Quinn said, briefly shining his flashlight at the hatch that led to the battery room. “We can hide behind some of the batteries. There’s plenty of room down there. Trust me.”
After double-checking the hatch had no locking mechanism, the boys climbed down the ladder and hid behind two of the battery units. Above them, two men’s voices echoed through the chamber, but they couldn’t make out any of the words.
“My super hearing isn't working very well for some reason,” Quinn whispered. “Try to focus on listening better or something.”
“Okay,” Blake whispered back.
He focused on the muffled words and tried to block out the faint buzz of the energy moving through the chamber floor above them.
“This isn’t working,” Blake whispered.
“Shut up, you only tried for like two seconds.”
Blake exhaled in frustration and focused again. Why isn't this working?
The door screeched open and the voices became clear as the men entered the chamber. One of the men regaled the other about his latest sexual conquest.
“Gross,” Quinn whispered.
“I’ll check down here,” the man with sexual bravado announced to his partner.
Shit.
Blake closed his eyes and tried to remember what being surprised felt like. The dull tapping of boots on the metal ladder signaled the man was descending into the battery room.
A moment later, Blake saw a flashlight beam swinging around the room.
“Nothing, all clear.” the man said loudly, startling Blake. If I wasn’t invisible, I am now.
The man climbed back up to the main chamber.
“Okay, lets go,” a gruff voice in the chamber said. Blake heard him opening and closing the door that led to the tunnel the boys originally came through.
“Sucks, though, the batteries are still drained. Ever since that freak storm a couple weeks back.”
“Yeah,” the gruff man said, disinterested.
“Is it true all the orgone they’d been building up just disappeared? It’s gonna take almost a year to stockpile all the energy they lost.”
“Yup, it completely dissipated. Maybe if they had someone who knew how to use this stuff we could all go home a lot sooner than watching them play rinky-dink-mad-scientist with this stuff. Besides, this place gives me the creeps.”
“Meh, whatever. I think it’s kind of cool, being able to manipulate the weather and all.”
“That’s just because you’re smart enough to be more than a security guard to Victor; you’re his computer nerd.”
Oooh, these guys work for Victor and his mystery agency.
“Job security, my friend.”
“Whatever,” the gruff man said.
“At least, with the stuff upstairs. The old crap in the control room down here, I have no idea how that even works because…”
The control room door slammed shut and the men’s voices became muffled once more.
Blake shined his flashlight to where Quinn was standing, but he saw nothing. “You there?”
“Yeah, I think have this invisibility thing down. Watch.” A moment later, Quinn appeared. He waved at Blake, shielding his eyes from the bright light, and then disappeared.
Can I do that?
Blake shined the flashlight at—no, through—his hand.
Become visible!
Nothing.
“I’m still invisible. I can’t control it yet. Shit.”
“You will, don’t worry. Let’s get out of here.”
“Right.”
Blake led the way up the ladder and poked his head up before crawling all the way out. “It’s clear, he whispered.”
On the other side of the control room door, the machinery for the mysterious elevator at the end of the hall switched on.
“Wanna go back?” Blake asked, hoping Quinn would say no.
“I think I’ve seen enough. Let’s get back to the car. I want to drive over to this museum and check things out on the surface. Besides, you heard the things those guys said…orgone energy, a freak storm, weather manipulation, and Victor. This is all tied together somehow. Oh, by the way, I can see you now,” Quinn said as Blake pushed open the tunnel door.
Blake looked at his hand. Become invisible! Boo! You’re surprised!
Nothing.
Dammit.
“All right, let’s get out of here…I’ve had it with this place, too,” Blake said, lying. Although he wanted to go back and explore, he agreed they needed to see what mysteries the museum grounds held. He led the way out and Quinn followed him back in silence to the woods, where the bright, late-morning sunlight shone through fading canopy of leaves.
❖
“There it is,” Blake said, pointing across the steering wheel at the simple sign that welcomed guests to the museum.
“Sweet,” Quinn said. “Now we need an inconspicuous place to park.”
“Why not just pull in to the parking lot?”
Quinn chuckled. “Because the SUV has New Hampshire license plates and two teenage boys walking in the front door of this rather unusual museum will surely raise someone's suspicions. Besides, I don't want to see Victor Kraze today, do you?”
“Nope,” Blake answered, shaking his head. He saw a road coming up on the right. “Turn right over there on Angel Point Road. If you park on the side of the road, we can walk back. Chances are anyone who works here is coming from the main road behind us and not wherever this goes.”
“You're probably right,” Quinn said, turning the car onto the dirt road.
Blake pulled out his cell phone; it still had no signal. “Dammit. I wanted to look up orgone energy, but I can’t.” He grabbed Quinn’s phone from the center console. “Yours neither. Well, okay then, I guess we’re going in blind.”
“Don’t worry,” Quinn said, pulling over. “We’ll search for it when we get home.”
After they had parked, the boys walked back down the quiet road toward Orgonon, the name
of the home-turned-museum of Wilhelm Reich.
“So, we’re not gonna walk in the front door, right?” Blake asked.
“Oh, hell no. We're gonna do what we do best around here…sneak through the woods.” Quinn looked around and then winked at Blake. A second later he faded from view.
“Not fair. I can't turn invisible yet. Besides, I thought we agreed not to use our powers up here?”
“That was in the cave. This is outside. Besides, you'd totally be invisible with me right now if you could.”
“True.”
“Look out!” Quinn yelled, his invisible hands grabbing Blake’s shoulders.
“What?” He yelled, startled. He looked around and ducked slightly.
“There, remember this feeling. You just disappeared.”
I'm feeling startled…surprised…shocked.
“We could walk to the front door now,” Blake quipped.
“I don't know how long you can stay invisible. Better not chance it.” Quinn slid his hand down Blake’s arm and grabbed his wrist. Then, the boys left the road and cut into the woods, making their way toward the museum. Around them, bugs and chipmunks carried on with their lives, oblivious to the invisible teens traipsing through their woodland home.
Still invisible. This is freaking fantastic!
Several minutes later, they arrived at the edge of the woods and the start of a wide-open field between them and the museum. The field kept going, but they couldn’t see beyond some trees that jutted out from the build the white museum building.
“Crap,” Quinn said. There’s no way we can sneak up on the place from this direction.
Blake looked at his semi-transparent arm. He could feel Quinn’s hand on his arm but he couldn’t see it. “I’m still invisible. I think we could run across the field and get to those woods behind the house. Or—” he pointed to a copse of trees a hundred yards away that provided better cover, “—we could go over there and cut across the narrowest part of the field.”
That was dumb, it’s not like Quinn can see me pointing.
“Let’s cut across here. We can always escape that way if we have to.”
“Okay,” Blake said, feeling the exhilaration of the moment surge in his veins. He double-checked his hand; it was still semi-transparent to him. “Let’s go.”
Quinn started, and Blake followed, staying connected to his friend. The boys ran across the field, their hearts pounding with anticipation and nervousness as they approached the tree line on the other side.
“Okay, now what?” Quinn asked.
“Try to stay invisible. Let’s go behind the house and see if we can find whatever’s on top of the underground chamber.” They pressed deeper into the woods, the white museum behind them and to their left.
Fifteen minutes later, after passing several no trespassing signs, Blake saw a glint of sunlight reflect on something metallic. “Over there,” Blake said, pointing.
Stop pointing, he can’t see you.
“Where?”
“Follow my lead,” Blake said, leading Quinn toward the shiny object. They came to the edge of the tree line, stopped, and stared. In a wide-open area in front of them, to the right, three rows of ten or more gray, bowl-shaped objects resembling satellite dishes extended far into the distance. To the left, a cluster of about fifty strange cannon-type devices pointed to the sky.
“Anti-aircraft guns?” Quinn asked.
“Out here?”
“Maybe they’re left over from the war?”
“What war? This is Maine, not Europe.”
“Good point.”
Blake chuckled. Each cannon array contained ten long, narrow gray tubes arranged in two rows of five. Each array rested in black, metal articulated frames cemented into the ground. Using what appeared to be hand cranks, the frames allowed the cannons to be swiveled and aimed. At the moment, all of the cannons pointed due west at a forty-five-degree upward angle.
“I know we keep joking about watching too much T.V., but seriously, this is surreal. What in the hell are those things?” Blake asked. “Man, we’re gonna have to scour the Internet about this place when we get home. I think we…”
“Shhh,” Quinn uttered, squeezing Blake’s arm. “Ten o’clock,” he whispered.
A moment later, Blake’s enhanced vision focused on two armed men in gray tactical garb exiting a metal door set in a flat-topped, hexagonal concrete bunker they hadn’t noticed yet. The metal door closed behind them and locked. The keypad on the door handle was the most advanced looking piece of technology they had seen. The guards turned away and walked toward the far end of the open area.
A number of strange looking antennas mounted in steel and concrete pointed straight up. A particularly tall antenna at the center rose high into the sky, anchored by cables at three points along its length and the top that disappeared into the forest grounds.
“That’s got to be where the underground chamber is,” Quinn whispered. “Look at all that shit coming out of the ground.”
“Those have to be the guards we heard in the chamber, unless there are more. I’d be willing to bet there are more than two guards here.”
“Me too,” Quinn agreed. “Except for the lack of fencing, this place seems pretty top secret to me.”
“Wanna go check it out?” Blake asked.
“Eh,” Quinn uttered. “Maybe we should just take some pictures with our phones.”
“Dammit, why didn’t we take pictures of the underground stuff?”
“Shit,” Quinn exclaimed. “Well, let’s take some now. Then, I think I’m ready to go.”
“Already?”
“Yeah. I can try to sneak around if you stay put, but if one of us becomes visible…”
He checked his arm again; it was still semi-transparent. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll stay here just in case.”
“Okay, be right back. I’ll get as close as I can.”
Blake felt Quinn let go of his hand. The sound of footsteps churning across the leafy and mossy and woods reached his ears and then faded. He pulled out his phone, checked it was on silent, and snapped some photos. When he had finished, he put his phone back into his pocket and looked around, trying to use his enhanced vision. Other than the equipment in front of him, the natural woods surrounding everything seemed fine…until his eyes found a black wire suspended high in the trees above him.
He followed it with his eyes in one direction; it disappeared into the woods as it wrapped around the open area. He followed it in the other direction until he saw a security camera. Aw crap. If there’s one, there’s more.
He checked his arm again; it was solid, indicating he was no longer invisible.
“I can see you,” Quinn whispered.
“Where are you?” Blake whispered back, using his super hearing to listen to Quinn.
“Next to the bunker.”
Blake looked over but didn’t see his friend. “At least you’re still invisible.”
“You can do it, I have faith in you.”
“Okay, fine but whatever you do, stay invisible. There’s a security camera above me pointing at you.”
“Oooh, okay. I’m almost done. Then we can go.”
Blake looked at his arm and focused. A moment later, it became semi-transparent. Yes! Another power I can control.
A minute or two later, Blake heard Quinn trudging toward him. “Okay, let’s go, I’m finished.” Quinn said.
“Race you back to the SUV?” Blake asked.
“Invisible racing? You’re on. Just don’t trip over me!” Then the boys ran back to the SUV. Blake felt victorious because he remained invisible for the duration of the race.
❖
When the boys arrived back in Portsmouth, Quinn parked his father’s SUV in the garage at five o’clock and Blake followed him into the house.
On the kitchen counter, Quinn found a note scrawled in Daddio’s handwriting:
Hi Q! Forgot to remind you we’re at Dad’s office-charity event thing tonight, probably won
’t be back until 10:00. Made you some empanadas for dinner, they’re in the fridge.
Love you,
Daddio
PS—if you’re going to play hooky from school with Blake, let us know, okay? I don’t like getting automated calls from the school noting your absence. Don’t let it happen again or there will be consequences.
Quinn swallowed nervously and chuckled, relieved he received a pass.
“This your first time cutting school?” Blake asked.
“Of course,” Quinn responded. “I’m gonna make them a promise not to do that again.”
The boys headed upstairs to Quinn’s bedroom. They sat next to each other at his desk and researched orgone energy and the Orgonon home-turned-museum on his laptop, reading whatever they could find on the obscure science. Unfortunately, the Internet only provided limited information that seemed to fall off shortly after Dr. Reich’s death. Whatever was going on in the underground facility in Rangeley had either been eliminated or hidden from the general public and the Internet.
“I give up,” Quinn said, pushing his laptop away. “Unless something changes, we’re not going to know what happened to us. We’re going to keep getting powers and the only person who can help us is Mr. St. Germain. Otherwise, we’d have to reach out to Victor Kraze and as long as we’re not dying, I see no reason to speak with that man.”
Blake nodded, and his stomach growled. But he’d have the answers we need…if you won’t talk with him, maybe I should figure out how to connect with him…maybe a simple phone call would suffice…
Quinn poked Blake’s noisy stomach. “Let’s eat. I’m starving, too. Want to eat those empanadas?”
“Yes, definitely.”
1-17 | With Us or Against Us
Blake
BLAKE FINISHED WIPING DOWN THE counter and rinsed his rag in the sink. A lull in customers afforded him an opportunity to clean up, knowing the after-work commuter demand for coffee was right around the corner. The front door to the coffee shop opened behind him and he glanced quickly toward the door.
“Be right with you,” he said.
“Take your time,” a familiar voice said.
Blake’s eyes popped open in surprise. He froze as his mind put together the voice that spoke with the face he glanced at a moment ago.
The Guardians Omnibus Page 17