Edgewood Series: Books 1 - 3

by Karen McQuestion

  The car screeched to a halt about twenty feet away from us. I felt a stab of panic in my chest until the door popped open and I saw that it was Elena behind the wheel, and she was alone. She got out, and motioned for us to get away from the gate.

  She glanced back nervously at the house, before trotting toward us, the car keys dangling from her fingertips. “Must go fast.” Another surprise—she held the keys out to me. “You drive?” Out in the daylight, she looked younger, less hunched over and more determined. “You know how?”

  I hesitated, confused. “Yes, I drive.” Which was true, sort of. I had my learner’s permit and I’d been out practice driving a few times with my dad, but that had been a few months ago. I thought I could do it, though. It’s not like I’d forgotten any of it, and at least here they drove on the same side of the road as we did back home.

  She took a remote control out of her pocket, aimed it at the gate, and pressed a button. The door swung towards us. “Go,” she urged, forcing the keys into my hand. She pointed to the road. “Hurry. Drive fast.” She turned to walk back up the driveway.

  I looked down at the keys, processing what had just happened. She was letting us take the car, just us, by ourselves. Relief and joy washed over me. We had to move, and quickly. I ran around to the passenger side. “Russ, get in,” I said, suddenly recharged by the thought that we could really get out of here after all. Russ seemed more with it than he did a few minutes ago. He climbed into the SUV and shut the door on his own.

  Once I got the seat adjusted, I started the car, and we breezed through the front gate. I realized then that I didn’t know which direction to go in, so I made a decision and turned opposite of the way we’d arrived. “You know where we’re going, Russ?” I said.

  “Where?’

  “Far, far away.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Russ

  The fog in my head was lifting. I knew who I was, and I knew I was in a car, being driven by Nadia. The fact that it was Nadia at the wheel should have surprised me, but I didn’t have room for surprise because I was busy processing everything around me, which was turning out to be a full time job. Being me was a struggle. I could move and think and react, but actually initiating anything took gargantuan effort. I wanted to communicate, but between thinking of what to say and forcing my lips and tongue to say it there was an impenetrable wall. I couldn’t manage it. I wondered if this is how it felt to be a stroke victim. Everything was muddled and I was so tired. I closed my eyes just to rest for a moment and before long I felt the pull of sleep. Maybe a few minutes of dozing would help…

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  Nadia

  It took about fifteen minutes for the adrenaline to wear down and a feeling of dread to kick in. What had I done? I was barreling down a country road in Peru in a stolen vehicle, with no idea where I was going. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Russ’s head was drooping and his eyes had closed. His breathing was rhythmical like he’d already fallen asleep. Must be nice. Here I was gripped with panic while he was so relaxed he could nap.

  Self-doubt and fear washed over me. I wasn’t made for this. At home I didn’t have enough self-confidence to look a cashier in the eye, and now I thought I could make a run for it and find help in a country where I didn’t speak the language? With Russ out of it, I was essentially alone.

  But I couldn’t turn back.

  The road went from dirt to gravel, which I took as a good sign. The grass on either side seemed greener, and the landscape was hilly. There were no signs of people, which was fine with me. I kept looking in the rear view mirror, checking to see if we were being followed, but nothing. Maybe no one had noticed the missing SUV, or if they had, went the other direction. Either way, we were fine for now.

  I had a theory about Elena, and why she’d helped us. A really good guess. As the housekeeper, she listened to everything that went on in the convent and knew more than she let on. When I’d touched her hand to take the keys, I’d picked up on empathy and concern. I felt she was a mother, with grown children of her own, and that creating an escape is what she’d have wanted for her kids if they were in danger. That mother instinct was stronger than I’d realized.

  I wondered if I’d ever see my own parents again. At the thought, despair settled in the pit of my stomach. To keep my mind off it, I gripped the wheel and concentrated on driving.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Russ

  When I woke up, I felt almost myself again. I’d been a downed swimmer fighting my way to the surface, and now I’d succeeded in popping up for a lungful of air. I saw the windshield, the dashboard, and Nadia, in that order, and pieced together what had happened. Nadia’s hood was up with only the tip of her nose visible. Ahead of us was more road, and on either side, softly rolling hills. I sat up, rubbed my eyes and said, “Where are we?”

  The SUV veered wildly, tires screeching. We got so close to the edge of the road we almost wound up in a ditch. She pulled over to the side and threw the car into park. “Don’t do that!” Her hand went to her heart. “You scared me.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I wasn’t trying to scare you.”

  “I was concentrating on driving and I thought you were sleeping.”

  “I was sleeping, but I woke up.” I reached over and tugged on her hood. “You really don’t need this, you know. I like it better when I can see you.”

  Her eyes searched my face hopefully. “Russ? You sound okay. Are you okay?” The last few words came out slowly, like she was afraid of the answer.

  “Now I am. For a while there, I felt like a zombie.” I yawned, covering my mouth with the back of my hand. “I was really out of it.”

  “I mean, how much do you remember?”

  I shrugged. “I remember thinking that making a run for it was a really good idea.”

  “What else do you remember?”

  “Everything, I guess.”

  “Hmm.” Her mouth showed doubt. “So what happened with Mr. Specter when he strapped that thing over your eyes?”

  “The Deleo?”

  “Yeah.”

  I gestured to the road ahead. “Aren’t we supposed to be getting away as fast as we can? We can talk while you drive.”

  “In a minute.” Nadia held up a finger. “I just want to know what it is you’re thinking first.”

  “I’m not really thinking anything. I’m looking at you.”

  “No, I mean, what is it you believe you remember?”

  A realization hit me. “You think I’ve been brainwashed!”

  “Have you?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I’m still me. Everything’s the same.”

  “That’s exactly what someone who was brainwashed would say.” She tapped her fingers on the wheel. “Tell me what happened back there, what you can remember.”

  I thought back. “Mr. Specter asked a few questions like how to spell my name, how long I’d lived in my house, that kind of thing. Then we talked about my birthday being tomorrow and he said we’d have cake and candles, blah blah, blah…”

  “Your birthday’s tomorrow?”

  “Yes, it is. I’ll be sixteen. Tomorrow.”

  “I thought you were already sixteen.” She couldn’t hide the shock from her voice.

  “Nope, I’m young for my grade, as they say. My mother struggled with that. The preschool teacher advised her to keep me back, but she didn’t.”

  “So you’ve been fifteen this whole time?”

  I thought she knew that already, but from the look on her face this was a complete surprise. “Yes, fifteen the whole time. Which means,” I raised my eyebrows, “you’re involved with a younger man.” I felt my face widen in a grin. “How scandalous.”

  For a second she was motionless, caught off guard, and then when the full meaning of what I’d said sunk in, she lunged toward me, her arms clasped tightly around my neck, tears coming down her face. I heard and felt her sobbing, the heaving of her chest against mine, and breathless
gasps accompanied by attempts to talk, which weren’t working out so well. The words were a jumble. “I. Was. Didn’t. Think. So afraid.”

  “It’s okay.” I made circular motions on her back. “Don’t cry. It’s okay.” Most of her had crossed the center console of the car and was up against me now. I held onto her for a long time, stroking her hair and making the kinds of shushing noises you make when someone’s upset. “Don’t worry. Everything’s good.”

  Her head rested on my shoulder. Finally, her sobs subsided. “I thought I’d lost you,” she said. “I thought he was going to wipe out your memory of us, and it would all be gone.”

  “He tried,” I said. “I’ll give him that, he really tried.”

  “But it didn’t work?” She raised her head to look questioningly at me. “Why didn’t it work? It worked on Mallory.”

  “Mallory didn’t have any idea what was coming.” Poor Mallory. “I was prepared because you warned me.”

  “Oh no,” she said. “I didn’t warn you. I mean, I tried to warn you but—”

  “I was sleeping,” I finished her sentence. “On some level, what you said came through but I could only remember part of it. It bothered me all through breakfast. I kept trying to figure out what you’d said. At first, I didn’t realize you’d astral projected to me while I was sleeping. I kept thinking it was a dream or something else.” I shook my head at the memory. “But when Mr. Specter got out the Deleo and it was on my head, I finally figured it all out. I tried to take it off, but once it’s on it sort of locks onto your head and sucks all the will out of you, like the world’s most powerful vacuum cleaner. I lost the ability to do anything. I couldn’t have zapped him, even if I’d wanted to. I was numb.”

  “So what did you do? I mean, how did you keep from getting your memories messed with?”

  “I just listened to you.” I reached down and wiped the tears from her cheeks. For such a little thing, she had a lot of emotion. “You saved me.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Nadia

  I listened as Russ told how my words had sunk into his sleeping brain. “As soon as he called it a Deleo, everything you said came back to me,” he said. “I stood up and tried to take it off, but it was impossible. And then it sucked all my energy. I could feel it fiddling around with my brain.” He shuddered at the thought.

  “So what did you do?” I asked.

  “I could hear your voice in my head and I saw what Mr. Specter had done with the Deleo to Professor Neverman because you showed me the whole thing. So when he asked me to open my eyes and asked what I saw, I knew not to open my eyes. When he said to stare, I shut them as tight as I could. I answered all his questions the same way the professor did, and when he started trying to implant memories I fought it. First, I tried thinking of other things, nursery rhymes and the multiplication tables, and it helped, but I could tell I was losing ground.” He stopped to stare off in the distance like he was remembering. “I was able to pull away from him mentally, but I could tell I needed to get away emotionally for it to work so I tried to think of the most intense experience I’d ever had. The strongest rush of feeling I’ve ever felt in my entire life.” He looked deep into my eyes, and put his hand against my cheek. “And that was last night when I came into your room and you kissed me.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  Russ

  With the Deleo pressed against my eyes, and my body immobile in the chair, Mr. Specter thought I was powerless against his suggestions. He wanted me to forget about my friends, to follow his commands without question, to do what the Associates told me to do. I could feel myself getting dragged into his mind control. His ideas were starting to sound more reasonable as time went on, and I was fighting it, but I knew I needed something powerful if I was going to survive with my mind intact. And so I stopped listening to him, and in my mind replayed my evening with Nadia, over and over again. How cute she looked in her pajamas when I showed up unexpected. I pictured her opening the door; I could still see the pleased-beyond-belief expression on her face.

  I thought about the smell of her hair, clean and fresh. I remembered sitting on the bed and how she put her finger to her lips and said we had to be quiet. When she knelt on the bed next to me, her weight created a little valley between us on the mattress, making me sink toward her. And then when she leaned in to kiss me, I thought my heart would explode. I swear that I could replay that moment every day for the rest of my life. I’d want to experience everything. Her breath on my face and her lips against mine and me thinking that I never wanted it to end. When it was over I longed for more, but only if I could do it with her. Those feelings were stronger than anything that device could do to me.

  I still heard Mr. Specter’s voice in the background. He said, “You aren’t in love with anyone. You have no romantic feelings for anyone at this time, Russ, and won’t unless you are instructed to do so, understand?”

  And I’d said the word, “yes,” to placate him, but mentally I was gone, lost in last night’s reality, which was better than any dream.

  Mr. Specter said, “You will use your powers to destroy the enemy when instructed by me.”

  “Yes,” I said, but I didn’t let the words intrude on my memory of Nadia, her arms wrapped around me, the two of us kissing.

  Nadia interrupted my story. “I can’t believe that worked.”

  “It did work.” I lifted her chin so that our eyes met. “Because I was thinking of this.” I leaned in and kissed her; and she kissed me back. It was like drinking water after a long drought; we were thirsty for each other.

  She put her hands on either side of my face and pulled apart to whisper breathlessly. “I feel like I could do this forever.”

  “Me too,” I said, “but…” I turned to look at the road behind us. “Maybe we should start running for our lives?”

  “Oh, shoot,” she sat up and put her hand over her mouth. “I kind of forgot for a minute.”

  “They’re not going to forget, trust me. Especially when they notice we stole their car.”

  She scrambled over the console and put her seatbelt back on, pulled onto the roadway and floored it. I watched as the needle showing our speed jumped up to the top of the dial. She was making up for lost time, I guessed.

  While she drove, I did inventory and found two cans of Coke in the console between the seats, and crammed in the glove compartment, a pair of mirrored aviator sunglasses, the owner’s manual (in Spanish), a pack of gum, and some receipts. I handed the sunglasses to Nadia and she put them on and smiled my way, looking like an adorable bug. “Okay,” I said, ticking off our assets on my fingers. “I have my passport and wallet,” I said.

  “Me too!” she said. Mr. Specter’s speech on the plane about keeping your passport with you at all times had obviously made an impression on both of us.

  I nodded and peered into my wallet. “I’ve got money and we have a full tank of gas. If we had a GPS, it would be perfect. Then we’d know where we are.”

  “Oh man.” Nadia smacked her forehead, before reaching into her pocket. “I totally forgot. I’ve got a GPS.” She pulled it out of her pocket and the cord trailed behind like the long tail of a rat. “It’s Mr. Specter’s. I got it from the bus.”

  “Oh Nadia, you are brilliant!” If we weren’t barreling down the highway at this moment I would have kissed her. “You know what this means, don’t you?” I plugged the GPS into the electrical portal on the dashboard. “Mr. Specter entered all three destinations in ahead of time. In theory this thing is already programmed to go to our third location, the place designated by David Hofstetter.”

  “But how do we know if it’s the actual third location?” She asked. “I mean, the other two places didn’t seem to have anything to do with David. If Mr. Specter can’t be trusted, then maybe he just picked three locations at random. A cat park—what was that all about? And it was kind of a weird coincidence that his friend Professor Neverman lived in location two.”

  “I know,” I s
aid, “but I was the one that got the coordinates from Gordy Hofstetter in the first place and I checked them on my own, independent of Mr. Specter, and came up with the same three areas. The last one is the site of an Incan ruin, just as he said. I looked it up at home.” The GPS came to life, searching for satellites and finally locking onto one. I clicked on the locations that were programmed in, and found the one that correlated with the ruins.

  “I heard Mr. Specter tell Professor Neverman that David Hofstetter is dead,” Nadia said. “This might be a waste of time.”

  “Maybe,” I said. “But there’s a reason it was marked on the paper. Even if we don’t find him, we might find out something.”

  “And if we’re heading there, isn’t there a good chance they’ll be heading that way too?” Nadia asked, worry in her voice. “What if they catch us?”

  “They won’t,” I said, “not if we hurry.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  Nadia

  We’d been driving in the wrong direction. The ruins were twelve hours south of us. We turned the car around. Russ set the GPS on detour mode so we wouldn’t pass the monastery again, and then there was nothing to do but drive.

  After about two hours, we stopped to switch places. Russ had never driven before, except for go karts and games, but we were mostly on long stretches of country highway, no other cars in sight, so it wasn’t that tricky. “It’s all in the attitude,” he said, veering around a turn.

  “Watch the attitude or you’ll put us in a ditch,” I said, teasing. Despite the worry of being found by Mr. Specter, or that we’d run into more Associates, or get arrested for car theft, this road trip was the most fun I’d ever had in my entire life. I liked being next to him, watching him as he drove, and having the opportunity to talk endlessly with no one else around. The hours went quickly. If I could have frozen time and locked us into that day, I would have. Russ, I decided, had a really nice profile. When the driving got more challenging, like when we were stopped by a herd of goats crossing the road, his forehead scrunched up in concern, like he was doing something really difficult and didn’t want to screw it up. Every now and then he’d turn to me and say, “Are you doing okay?” like I was this fragile hot house orchid that needed to be constantly monitored or I’d wilt.