by K. K. Perez
A frown briefly gripped Claudia’s face; Lucy realized her mistake too late.
“Oh, Clauds. I didn’t mean long distance never works. I’m sure you and Jess will be fine. It’s only, well, Cole and I already had problems…” Lucy trailed off.
What were the seasick feelings she had picked up from him on Saturday? she wondered. She already knew about the test-selling scam. Maybe Cole’s own feelings for Lucy had been more conflicted than even he realized.
“Don’t sweat it, Minnie,” Claudia assured her. “I know what you meant.” She rolled onto her back. “Jess and I haven’t talked about it yet. Things are still so new, you know? Although my parents would be thrilled if I had a reason to visit Eaton more often next year.” She hooked Lucy’s pinky with her own. “I just want to make sure you’re okay. I’m always up for a good ol’ tar and feathering in the town square if Cole’s done you wrong.”
Lucy snort-laughed. “Same goes for Jess. But no, the breakup was my idea.”
“If you’re okay, I’m okay.”
Lucy covered Claudia’s hand with her own, a lifetime of memories flooding through her. Claudia was the sister she’d always wanted. When she was younger, Lucy had been jealous of Claudia’s rambunctious household since there were no siblings or cousins to keep her company. Both of Lucy’s parents were only children and her grandparents had all died long before she was born. But Claudia was enough.
Her pulse jackhammered knowing she would soon be so far away.
Claudia yelped as electricity crackled between them. Lucy snatched her hand back, scouring Claudia’s skin for any burn marks.
“Sorry, I’m so sorry,” she stammered.
“Hey, hey. I’m fine.” Claudia patted Lucy’s arm. “Just static. Nobody died.”
Lucy grit her teeth together. The first thing she would demand Ravi teach her tomorrow was how to show affection without supercharging the people she loved. He might have come to Eaton to train her, but that didn’t mean he was calling all the shots.
She looked her friend up and down, fighting back tears. There was so much Lucy wanted to tell her. But Ravi’s warning echoed in her mind, and she didn’t want Claudia on his employers’ radar.
Instinctively, Lucy felt for the tourmaline in her pocket. As she flipped it between her fingers, relief spread through her chest, a sensation she now recognized as her electrical field coupling with the stone’s. Her breathing returned to normal.
“What’s that?” Claudia jerked her chin at the stone.
Lucy handed it over. “Tourmaline.”
Rubbing her hands together, Claudia said, “Preeeeecious.” Her Gollum impersonation was eerily spot-on, and Lucy laughed. Her bestie raised the stone up to the light, its edges shimmering in the woodland shadows.
“It’s something new I’m trying,” Lucy offered, “to keep my seizure symptoms at bay.”
Claudia cocked an eyebrow.
“It’s supposed to relax me if I’m starting to feel stressed … or something.”
“Mercury must be in retrograde or the end times are coming if empirical method–only Lucy Phelps is trying out alternative healing.”
Coming from anyone else, Lucy would have been offended. Since it was Claudia, she snorted. Her friend was right. Lucy was beginning to believe in a lot of things she wouldn’t have a month ago.
“Where’d you get it?” Claudia asked.
“Ravi gave it to me.” Gulp. Why had she let that slip out?
“Ravi?” She traced the diamond ridges of the tourmaline. “The new teaching assistant?”
Lucy’s flush was all the confirmation her best friend needed. She wanted to protest that he wasn’t really a teaching assistant, she wasn’t really breaking any rules, and he’d given her the stone for a very scientific reason. Mind-blowing kiss notwithstanding, there was nothing going on between them.
“Riiiiight,” Claudia said. “He’s cute, I suppose. If you swing that way.”
“Mrs. Brandon asked him to supervise my independent study. That’s all,” Lucy replied defensively. “He read up about my condition. He suggested I try it.”
Claudia splayed on her front, propping herself up on her elbows, and her expression turned serious.
“If you talked to him about your medical stuff, you must really trust him.”
The insight gave Lucy pause. Claudia knew better than anyone how much she hated drawing attention to her condition. How much Lucy hated pity. And yet, Lucy had felt comfortable enough to confide in him that day in Central Park.
“Maybe I do,” Lucy admitted. But it still burned her that Ravi had allowed her to ramble on about her epilepsy that day when he knew it was a lie. Why couldn’t he have just come clean with her then?
Claudia watched Lucy, eyes intent. “Is Ravi the reason for the demise of Cole?”
“You make it sound like the Desolation of Smaug.”
“Aha! I knew you’d appreciate Tolkien eventually.”
“Pshaw. Give me the USS Enterprise over the Shire any day.”
“I like my Shire,” her friend retorted. “But seriously. I get it. I’ve succumbed to the allure of a college girl myself.” Lucy jabbed her playfully in response. “Would it get you more psyched for prom to learn Ravi has signed up for chaperone duty?” Claudia said.
Lucy’s heart did skip a beat. Stupid heart. Ravi had probably been instructed to attend the prom to keep an eye on her.
“I’ll be there to man the battle stations, Clauds. But that’s it.”
“Nuh-uh. No way. I’m not letting you skulk in the background, Luce.” She narrowed her eyes. Damn, Claudia knew her too well. “You can be my date.”
“Isn’t Jess your date?”
The corner of Claudia’s mouth hooked up in a crafty grin.
“We’ll make it a threesome. Eaton High won’t know what hit it.”
Laughter wracked Lucy’s body and she thanked the nonexistent gods above once more that Claudia’s family had moved in next door.
“I mean it,” Claudia protested.
“I know you do.”
“Jess found this costume shop on Etsy that makes replica flapper costumes, tassels and all. Who doesn’t love tassels? There’s still time to order another one.”
“That’s really sweet, but—”
“I’m not taking no for an answer.”
Lucy sighed. Resistance was futile. “If you’re sure Jess won’t mind a third wheel.”
Claudia waved dismissively. “And you know what?” she said, pinching the tourmaline between her fingers. “I could make this into a pendant. It would look totally ’20s.”
Gratitude suffused Lucy and the breath rushed from her.
“You’re the best, Clauds,” she said, hoarse. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Claudia beamed a cherubic smile.
“Then it’s a good thing you’ll never have to find out.”
TIME FOR A MONTAGE
Lucy had found it less than shocking when she received a text from Ravi naming the time and place for their first training session—without ever having given him her number.
Anticipation flitted through her as she pedaled Marie Curie to the rendezvous point. Which had next to nothing to do with seeing him again.
Lucy had always dreamed about having mastery over her body, of making it follow her commands rather than the other way around. And despite her reservations about the alchemists’ agenda, this elusive possibility seemed to be just what Ravi was offering. She didn’t know what he wanted from her, but what Lucy wanted from Ravi was knowledge.
That was it. She’d just extricated herself from one romantic complication and she didn’t need another.
Lucy’s hair rose from her shoulders, her anxiety mounting, as she arrived at the old boathouse by Lake Windermere. She understood why he’d chosen the spot. This side of the lake was rarely traversed since the Eaton Recreation Club had been built on the opposite bank. Only the odd hiker or two. There were unlikely to be any witnesses to
whatever Ravi had planned.
He was focused on the horizon where Sunfish cut through the middle of the lake. From the minute tensing of his posture, Lucy could tell that he was aware of her presence for a few moments before he swiveled toward her with a welcoming smile.
“I’m glad you came,” he said.
“I didn’t think I had a choice.”
Lucy wasn’t sure why she’d expected him to morph from a tweed-wearing, Doctor Who–loving, bespectacled (if hot) mathematician into GI Joe (or whatever the British equivalent was) overnight. Well, he hadn’t. The only difference in Ravi’s appearance was the lack of blazer, and without said blazer she couldn’t help but notice his well-sculpted biceps. He didn’t get those researching tessellation. Her gaze skirted the eight-pointed star and she felt her expression soften at everything it represented.
When she stopped less than a couple feet from him, Ravi asked, “Ready?” but not like it was really a question.
The little girl who could make lightning flashed through her mind.
“More than ready for my training montage,” she assured him.
“Then let’s get started.”
Lucy’s montage, however, had apparently been shot in slow-mo.
No orders to run laps, do push-ups or pull-ups of any kind. A tad disappointing. Rather, Ravi motioned for Lucy to follow him up a mossy trail that led to a better vantage point over the lake below. The phrase And she was never seen again sped through her mind, but Lucy decided to trust her powers.
They were basically augmented intuition, right?
An early summer breeze kissed the surface of the water and sunlight burnished the ripples. Ravi lowered himself onto a flat rock near the edge of the ridge.
Peering at the long drop down to the water, Lucy said, “I can already tell you that if you push me, I’m not going to fly.”
His lips arced in amusement but his shoulders remained tight. Since he’d been unmasked, Ravi’s demeanor had changed, become more guarded, as if prepared for an assault on all fronts.
“Today we’re going to start with defense,” he said evenly.
“Because it’s the best offense?”
“No. In time, you’ll have a much better offense. But before you can do anything else, you need to be able to block out other people’s frequencies. Otherwise they might become overwhelming.”
The way Ravi’s voice became quieter on that last word chilled Lucy’s heart.
“How do I do that?” she asked.
“It will take discipline.”
Lucy snorted. What a surprise.
“You can come closer,” he said. “I won’t bite.”
So far she’d avoided touching him at all. If she did, Lucy was worried that her resolve to see him as a platonic Yoda might falter. Why couldn’t he be old, bald, or the slightest bit green? Steeling herself, she took a seat on the opposite end of the rock.
“Yesterday,” he began, less poised, “when I, er, convinced you to believe me. What precisely did you experience?”
“A lady never kisses and tells.”
“I’m not trying to embarrass you. This is an objective question.”
Okay, Lucy could do this. She wasn’t twelve. She was a scientist.
Lucy proceeded to rattle off her list of observations in a clipped, emotionless tone: “Ticklish. A kind of floaty feeling. But also a sense of calm.” Ravi nodded at each statement, his eyes trained on hers. “It wasn’t the first time you made me—that I experienced those phenomena when I made contact with your skin,” she added, as indifferently as possible.
Ravi sucked in a short breath. “Why are you surprised?” Lucy asked.
“I should have done a better job at shielding myself.”
“Shielding yourself?”
“Have you noticed that you may be picking up readings—good or bad—from some people more than others?”
“Stop answering a question with a question,” she snapped, but then she thought about it. As soon as Lucy had seen Cole after her visit to Tesla’s lab, the seasickness had started. The next person to provoke a reaction was Ravi. And Claudia. Nothing from her mother. Huh.
After another few seconds, Lucy admitted, “Yes. My best friend and my boy—ex-boyfriend.” She spied a tendon tic in Ravi’s jaw at that piece of information, but she ignored it.
“That follows,” he said. “People who are more emotionally involved with you will be easier to read.” Lucy wondered what that said about her mom. “Also, some people just repress their true thoughts and feelings as a matter of course.” Well, that explained her mom.
“So why did I feel those tingles the first time I bumped into you in the hallway? We’d never even met.”
Ravi rubbed the knuckles of his left hand across his tattoo.
“I suppose I was a little apprehensive about meeting you. About pulling off the whole charade.” He paused. “As I said, I should have shielded myself better.”
“But you were lying right to my face. Shouldn’t my powers have picked up on that? Seems like a design flaw to me.”
Ravi leaned forward, grabbing her gaze. “Lucy, I’m sorry about the deception. Professor T thought you might respond better to being approached by someone closer to your own age. But I see now I handled it wrong.”
Thinking about being discussed like the invasion of Poland, Lucy huffed.
“You never did tell me how you hunted me down.”
He bristled. “We weren’t hunting you.” Lucy put a hand on her hip as if to say, Well? “We intercepted the phone call you made to Claudia O’Rourke. From there it was a process of elimination.”
Static electricity immediately filled the inches between them.
“I don’t want Claudia mixed up in this,” Lucy said.
“We’re the good guys. We would never hurt you. Or your friend. Please, believe me.” His eyes grew troubled. “I swear, I just want to help.”
“What about the threat you promised me was real?”
Ravi toed the pebbles at his feet. “We have no reason to believe that they know where you are. Or that it would serve their purposes to hurt your friends or family.”
“It’s just me they want.”
Lucy let her gaze bore into him until he confirmed, “Yes.”
Her shoulders deflated as she let out a sigh of relief. “Okay. I can handle that.” She laughed shakily. Not that Lucy wasn’t scared for herself, she was, but she’d rather have the target on her own back than on anyone she cared about.
“They’re alchemists too,” Lucy surmised. To which Ravi answered grimly, “They started out that way.”
“All right.” She straightened her spine. “Let’s see if I’ve got it so far. Some people’s frequencies are easier to tune into than others if they’re wear-their-heart-on-their-sleeves types or if we’re emotionally involved. I can tune into those frequencies through touch, and the sensation gets stronger through more … intimate contact.”
“Precisely.”
“What about the static electricity that occurs around certain people?”
“That’s the result of your own heightened emotional state. The tourmaline should help control it.”
Lucy scooted back on the rock and dragged her knees to her chest.
“Why did all this start after I visited the Tesla Suite?” She tried to keep her voice from trembling. This was what she’d wanted to know for weeks.
Ravi twisted his torso so that he was looking at Lucy straight-on.
“It didn’t.”
“Of course it did!”
“The seizures—and seizure-like phenomena—you’ve been experiencing are side effects of your underlying condition.”
“Which is what?” she wanted to know.
He rocked closer. “My parents nicknamed it the lightning gene; they were studying its mutation.”
Fear skittered down Lucy’s spine. “I’m a mutant?” There was no way Ravi could know about her dream, was there?
“You’re not a mutant, Lucy.�
�� He attempted a reassuring smile. “You have a mutated gene. Nothing more.”
Nothing more?
Throat hoarse, she forced out the words, “Tesla had the lightning gene too, didn’t he?”
“We believe so.”
“That’s why you needed someone like me to unlock the lab,” she realized, her chest constricting. “The plasma lamp—when I touched it, I had a cut on my hand.” Breathe, Lucy. “It recognized the genetic mutation in my blood.”
“Yes,” he confirmed. “We’re working from that assumption.”
It was also incredibly sophisticated technology for 1943. Not that anything could truly astonish Lucy when it came to Tesla anymore.
“This lightning gene is what’s been causing my brain to misfire, making doctors misdiagnose me with epilepsy?” she said. Ravi nodded. “Then why haven’t I had a seizure for two years? The meds seemed to be keeping everything under control until I stumbled upon the lab. How is that possible? I hadn’t been tuning into anyone’s frequency either.”
Ravi smiled sympathetically. “I don’t have all the answers. A lot of my parents’ research was lost in the fire.” He waved a hand in the air. “If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say that your seizures were linked to normal changes—like puberty. You could simply be more stable than when you were younger. It could also be that the medication you’ve been taking targeted some of the same neural pathways. The interaction with the plasma lamp may have triggered your dormant abilities.”
His shrug was elegant but his gaze was laser-focused. “I promise we’ll figure it out together, Lucinda.”
Lucinda. She really wished she didn’t love it when he called her that.
Could Tesla’s Egg have been the trigger? The way it had reacted to her presence, levitating, spinning, almost like an excited puppy—it would make the most sense. Somehow it had undone the stability established by her meds. And she’d already determined it amplified her powers. Fabulous.
She was about to tell Ravi about the egg, but she stopped herself. Not yet. She needed to know more about the alchemists first.
“In the meantime, it would probably be safest to stop taking the medication,” Ravi said. “We don’t know how it will interact with your nervous system now that your abilities have been triggered.”