Edgewood Series: Books 1 - 3

by Karen McQuestion

  I stared back in disbelief. First Barry, and now Elena. Clearly I wasn’t invisible to everyone.

  Professor Neverman said, “Who is it you are speaking to, dear?” He craned his neck to look in my direction, but I didn’t think he saw me.

  “It ees nothing,” Elena said. “Just thinking of something I see on TV.” Behind him she did a quick wave for my benefit, letting me know I shouldn’t waste anymore time there. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

  I nodded to show her I understood and then turned my thoughts elsewhere. Take me to Mallory.

  And I was there. In the bus, traveling down a long dark road with the rest of them. Kevin Adams drove, while Mr. Specter played navigator. He held a GPS similar to the one I’d stolen earlier. Odd. He must have brought a backup GPS.

  The others sat a few rows back; all of them quiet as if they’d been lulled into a trip coma. Jameson had his arm around Mallory, whose head rested on his shoulder. It didn’t have the look of romance, though. Just fatigue and friendship. Mrs. Whitehouse looked more alert than the two of them, but her mouth was set in a grim line like she wasn’t fond of this particular turn of events.

  I crept forward trying to see what was on the screen of Mr. Specter’s GPS, but even close up it wasn’t helpful. Just a map with a line and the same information on the bottom as we had—distance to destination and the time of arrival. “Are you sure this is the right direction?” Kevin asked. “There’s nothing out here. Wouldn’t they be more likely to head for the city if they were looking for an adventure? My gut tells me they wouldn’t go this way. It’s scary.”

  “We’re tracking them using the most sophisticated technology on the planet,” Mr. Specter said, irritated. “And you’re telling me how your gut feels.”

  “You’re assuming they took the GPS,” Kevin said. “What if someone else took it and we’re following the wrong person?”

  “Who else would take it?”

  “I dunno. Maybe someone who works at the convent? Like that housekeeper. What was her name?”

  “Elena would have no reason to take it. On the other hand, two kids on the run in a foreign country definitely would.”

  Kevin said, “Okay, have it your way. I just don’t understand why they’d do this. Russ and Nadia are great kids. Why on earth would they steal a car and just take off like that?”

  “We don’t need to understand their motivation, we just need to find them,” Mr. Specter said. “According to this they’ve stopped,” he said, tapping the device. “I bet you dollars to donuts we find them sleeping by the side of the road.”

  Kevin raised his eyebrows. “Or maybe not sleeping, if you know what I mean.”

  “Yes, I know what you mean.” Mr. Specter did not sound amused. “Just pay attention to the road.”

  I willed myself back to Russ, and when I returned and opened my eyes I blinked trying to adjust to the dark. “Russ?”

  “Yes?” He was only inches away.

  “We have to leave right away. They’re tracking us.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  Russ

  When Nadia came back and told me what she’d heard, it didn’t take us long to figure out what had happened. We wrote down all the information we’d need to get from our current location to the ruins, and then threw the GPS out the window before hitting the road. Nadia was pretty shaken up from everything she’d seen, so I drove while she filled me in on the details.

  Both of us were intrigued by the idea of Elena and Professor Neverman as lovers.

  “You should have seen them together,” she said. “It was so sweet.”

  “He’s dying of cancer,” I said. “It’s nice to know that he’s not going to be alone at the end.”

  “Well now you just made the whole thing seem depressing.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No, you’re right.” She sighed. “It’s always better to have someone you love with you when things get tough.”

  The stars were brilliant and the sky was bigger than I’d ever seen it. We were out in the middle of nowhere, with no sign of civilization at all. “I feel,” I said, “like we’re the last people on the planet.”

  Nadia said, “I was just thinking that!”

  I knew that for me, being the last two on the planet would not have been the worst thing in the world.

  The road narrowed in parts and sometimes curved randomly, so I had to pay attention. Nadia kept track of our distance to let me know when to turn. We made a good team.

  When we were fifteen minutes away, both of us were jittery with anticipation. “This could be nothing,” I said, warning her not to get her hopes up. “Just like the cat park and the convent.”

  “Or it could be something,” Nadia said. “You want me to astral project to the ruins and see if I notice anything?”

  “Don’t you dare leave,” I snuck a glance in her direction. “We’re doing this together from now on, okay?”

  By the dashboard light, I saw her face light up in a grin. “Okay, together it is.”

  When the odometer said we’d arrived, the sun was just beginning to climb over the horizon, and the place had the glow of early morning. Back home I’d be smelling coffee brewing and hearing my parents make small talk while they read the newspaper and ate their breakfast. If I weren’t sleeping in, I’d be pouring cereal into a bowl and planning my day. Over the summer, most of my days consisted of hanging out with my friends Justin and Mick, mowing the lawn, or taking a turn watching Frank while Carly was at work. Thinking about my old life was like remembering a movie I’d seen a long time ago. I’d come so far and learned so much since we’d left Edgewood, I might as well be a completely different person. I pulled off the road and we climbed out of the car. From this distance, the ruins, if we were indeed in the right place, looked like an enormous rock pile.

  Nadia pulled her hood up over her head. “Is this it, do you think?”

  “It has to be.” We walked in the direction of the mound, and as we got closer saw that it was made up of bricks standing upright like books in a bookcase with mortar in between. And then we circled around the thing and found additional structures varying in size, all of them built the same way, connected by walls and tiers of stone staircases. The ruins of a village thousands of years old.

  Nadia stopped to take it in. “This is so cool.”

  “Come on.” I took her hand. We walked around looking at the individual structures, getting a feel for the layout. When Nadia stopped to examine a wall, I held out a hand to provide some light. The dancing ball of energy sparkling over my outstretched palm impressed Nadia.

  Her face lit with admiration. “I’m still amazed at how you do that.”

  “Yeah, well you just traveled to another continent and back in like ten minutes, so you’re pretty incredible yourself.”

  “Okay, we’re both outstanding,” she said in agreement.

  She ran her fingers over the face of the brick and then turned to ask, “Do you know why the bricks are arranged like this?”

  “I have absolutely no idea.”

  “I know why,” she said, delighted with herself. “The Incans built it that way so the buildings would withstand earthquakes. Placing the bricks upright gives the walls wiggle room and they’re less likely to collapse.”

  “Once again, Nadia, you’re brilliant.” I squeezed her hand in approval.

  “Not brilliant. I read about it at home when I was reading up on all things Peruvian. They were pretty clever, those Incans.”

  “Considering they had no bulldozers or cranes, this is really something.”

  The pathways through the ruins were packed down from the footfalls of countless people over the centuries. No plants grew on the site, if they ever did. It was all bricks and hard earth. As we made our way around the perimeter, Nadia stopped to point to something off in the distance. “Look,” she said, “It’s a village.”

  We both stared. Beyond, on slightly higher ground, was what looked like a place where p
eople currently lived. The space around the houses was grassy green and chimney smoke plumed upward from the rooftops. “We can stop there later to get something to eat,” I said.

  “And maybe find out how we can make a phone call home.”

  “Teléfono Los Estados Unidos,” I said with a flourish. I was proud of having picked up a little Spanish, but when Nadia burst out laughing, I guessed that maybe my pronunciation left a lot to be desired. “What? You don’t like the way I say it?”

  “No, it’s perfect,” she said, taking hold of my arms and standing on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek. “You can do all the talking.”

  I pulled her toward me, and leaned over to kiss her. The difference in our heights made it a challenge, but I was up for a challenge, so it wasn’t a problem. The thought crossed my mind that since we weren’t finding much here in the ruins, we really should get back on the road, but having Nadia pressed up against me made me lose my ambition. We kissed and kissed and kissed, everything in space and time spinning around us. We were the focal point of the universe and I was sure no other couple in the history of mankind had ever connected the way we had. The only thing that mattered at that moment was the feeling I got from being so close, her lips against mine, and her soft hands around my neck.

  Until I felt something else. Far beneath our feet I became aware of a familiar sensation. A pulsing, throbbing surge. I tried to ignore it, but the distraction was too great. I pulled away, wanting to be sure. I looked down, listening with all my senses.

  “What is it?” Nadia asked.

  “Electricity,” I said, pointing downward. “And a lot of it.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  Nadia

  I could have stood in the middle of the ancient ruins with Russ forever, giving up food and drink and contact with the outside world. I would have kissed him until the end of our lives, or the end of time for that matter. Others who came after us would talk about the two skeleton lovers found interlocked in the southern region of Peru. The archeologists of the future who discovered our remains would leave us in an embrace, an enduring sign of young love, linked together for all eternity.

  At least that was my mindset until Russ pulled away from me, distracted by something else.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  His head was cocked to one side, listening, but there was nothing to hear. “Electricity,” he said, his finger aimed at the ground. “And a lot of it.”

  I looked around, confused; there was no sign of anything electrical. The twenty-first century hadn’t intruded here at all. “Maybe they put electrical lines underground so they can set the ruins up as a tourist attraction?” I suggested. “Like maybe for lights and a cash register and what not?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I’m talking about a lot of electricity.” His forehead furrowed as he thought. “Like a power plant. Or a city. A massive amount of electricity.”

  Now I knew how color blind people felt, because he was talking about it like it was obvious, while I sensed nothing at all. And then the noise of a large engine warned us of an approaching vehicle. Our heads snapped up at the same time, taking in the sight of a Humvee going over rocky terrain and heading straight for us. The combination of the ancient ruins and this modern-day U.S. military vehicle was visually at odds. “That’s funny,” I said. “I wouldn’t expect to see a Humvee here…”

  Bright lights aimed right at us, and a voice bellowed out over a loudspeaker. “Russ Becker! Freeze. You are in our sights! Do not move!”

  It wasn’t Mr. Specter’s voice, or Kevin Adams’ either. I had to yell to be heard above the noise. “How do they know your name?”

  Russ yelled, “Run!” He grabbed my hand and we took off, zig-zagging through the ruins, up staircases and through doorways and back out again. Behind us the voice coming from the Humvee repeated the words as if it were a recording. Russ made his way deliberately, pausing only once, his head rising like a hunting dog’s and I realized what he was doing: searching for the source of the underground electricity. I wasn’t sure what that would accomplish, but I let him lead the way, all the while praying that we wouldn’t get shot.

  “Halt! Russ Becker we need to talk to you.” The man over the loudspeaker sounded even more serious now. I felt my heart pounding in my chest. I couldn’t see any way out of this.

  “This way!” Russ yelled, pulling me through a doorway of what had been a house thousands of years ago. This one was taller than some of the others and set into a hill. Now that we were inside I saw that it extended farther than it looked from the outside. Most of the buildings were without roofs, but this one had a slab of rock over part of it. There was no exit, but Russ kept going to the far wall.

  “We’ll be trapped in here,” I called out from behind him, but he didn’t seem to be listening.

  He pressed his palms against the brick wall at the opposite end, and closed his eyes. Outside I heard the Humvee, still telling us to halt. Any moment men would pile out and they’d find us and that would be the end. I had a sick, sick feeling.

  “It’s coming from the other side,” Russ said, referring to the electricity. “Stand back.” He waved me away, and then took a few steps back himself before putting out his palms and hitting the wall with lightning bolts. I’d seen him do this before, but still it was awe-inspiring to see a crackling burst of electricity come out of his hands. The blast was so intense that it left my ears ringing and I saw spots before my eyes. The bricks crumbled to the ground, and dust filled the air. I coughed, and so did Russ. My inclination was to run back out the way we came, but he found my hand and pulled me in the opposite direction, right through the hole he’d created and into the tunnel beyond.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  Russ

  Going into the tunnel the air was fresh and clean, a welcome thing after the dust from the exploded bricks. Our coughing subsided once we were able to breathe in the good air.

  I didn’t feel too bad about destroying the bricks because I could tell it wasn’t the original wall. Whoever had built it had come close, but the bricks didn’t match perfectly. It was a ruse, a cover-up for something, and we were about to find out what that something was.

  The tunnel sloped downward, but notches had been carved in the ground so we were able to keep from slipping. I held my hand out and generated a ball of sparks to light the way. As we walked, the sound of the Humvee receded in the distance. I was so busy moving forward that I didn’t notice the look on Nadia’s face until she started slowing down. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “I don’t like this,” she said. “I don’t like it at all.” Her voice shook with fear. “Once when I was younger, my family toured a cave when we were on vacation and I totally freaked out and had to leave. I have this claustrophobia thing. I’m really sorry, Russ. I just can’t do it.” Her hand fluttered up by her heart. “Even in regular buildings when there aren’t windows, I sometimes get panicky if the room is too small. Right now, I totally feel like I’m going to have a heart attack.”

  I leaned down so I could look her in the eye. “We’re not in a cave. This is a manmade tunnel that leads to somewhere. Somewhere big. Somewhere with lights and equipment. Think of this as a hallway. We just need to get through it. You can do this, Nadia. I know you can.”

  “I understand what you’re saying,” she said. “I’m not stupid. I know it doesn’t make sense, but I can’t help it. It’s an irrational fear, but I can’t control it.” She looked back the way we came like she wanted to take off in that direction.

  I directed the light upward. “Look, there are air vents. I’m willing to bet this place is more structurally sound than most buildings above ground.”

  “I know you’re trying to help,” she said, her face aimed at the ground. “But it’s not working.”

  “Do you want to go back?” I asked gently, twisting around to look. As far as I could see, we only had two choices, and since one of them involved a guy threatening to shoot I was pretty clear on which w
ay we should go.

  “No.” She twisted her hands together and looked like she was going to cry. “I know we can’t go back. I just don’t think I can keep going.” Her words were strangulated. “You know what? Why don’t you go ahead, Russ? I don’t want to hold you back. I’ll wait here.”

  I lost the light and took hold of her shoulders. “I’m not leaving you, Nadia.”

  It was silent for a moment and then her voice rang out clear and strong. “I feel a little better now!” she said, clearly relieved. “Being in the dark helps, I think.”

  “Close your eyes,” I said. “I’m going to carry you.”

  “You can’t carry me. I’m too heavy.”

  She barely had the words out of her mouth when I’d scooped her up into my arms, cradling her in front of me with her head against my chest. “Keep your eyes closed,” I said. “Take a little nap. I’ll wake you up when we get there.” When I heard Nadia giggle, I knew she’d be okay.

  “You won’t be able to hold me like this for very long,” she said. “And now you don’t have a hand free to make light.”

  “I can hold you like this for a very long time. And I’m not going to drop you, so don’t worry about that.”

  “But you don’t have any light,” she repeated.

  “I don’t need the light. I only did that so you could see.” I was following the pull of the electricity. I didn’t need a visual to know the way. The electricity was my path, my guide.

  With Nadia snuggled up against me, I continued forward, knowing that I was getting closer with every step. We could be heading into a trap, or worse, but I had a good feeling about this. It was better than getting shot at anyway. I walked ahead at a steady clip, leaving the sound of the Humvee behind. Soon someone would be following us in the tunnel, which made getting to our final destination urgent. Really, we should be running, but I couldn’t go that fast and carry Nadia at the same time. And I wouldn’t have left her behind for anything. It was the third and final location on Gordon Hofstetter’s map, and if my hunch was right, I would finally find out what happened to his grandson David. Nadia’s head rested against the key Carly had given me or I would have reached for it for reassurance. I thought of it as my good luck charm. So far it had kept me safe.