Edgewood Series: Books 1 - 3

by Karen McQuestion

  “How old was I?”

  David shrugged. “Just a baby. Teeny. It was early September. When were you born?”

  “Today,” Russ said, realization crossing his face. “Today is my birthday. I’m sixteen today.”

  “Happy birthday,” I said, and he gave my shoulders a squeeze.

  “So you were about three months then,” David said with a beleaguered sigh. “Carly and I spent our time together in the train station. I’m sad to say there was some making out and weed involved. We were young and stupid and in love. You slept right through it all and we dozed off too. And then, I woke up. It was the vibrations from the spiral lux hitting the ground. I tried to wake Carly, but she was pretty out of it. And then you started crying, so I picked you up and took you outside with me.”

  “So Russ saw the light particles as a baby?” I asked.

  “He didn’t just see them, he was directly exposed to them. I walked into the middle of the spiral with the baby in my arms. The light was mesmerizing. I couldn’t believe that the pieces were glowing but not hot. Later, I found a piece in the fold of your blanket and another one grasped in your little hand. Carly wasn’t too happy with me after she heard about it. She said you could have put it in your mouth and choked on it.”

  It all made sense now. Russ wasn’t a second gen because he was the second generation to have powers; he was a second gen because he’d come into contact with the particles twice, sixteen years apart.

  “And then you discovered you had powers…” Russ prompted.

  David said, “Five of us discovered we had powers. I’d been exposed to the fall lux, the others had experienced it the year before during the spring lux. Having supernatural powers at that age—” He shook his head and smiled at the memory. “As you know, it’s all fun at first. But then things soured and we couldn’t agree on how to handle it. There was fighting among us. And then one by one, the Associates recruited the others. I held out as long as I could, but I knew it was only a matter of time.”

  “So the Associates faked your death and got you to join them too,” Russ said.

  “No!” David lifted his hands off the keyboard and looked up, eyes blazing. “I never would have worked for the Associates. Ever! Is that what you think?”

  “Isn’t this an Associate research facility?” Russ asked.

  David stood up. “I am a senior member of the scientific research division of the Praetorian Guard. This is a PG facility.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  Russ

  Clearly I’d offended the guy, but honestly, I didn’t know what side he was on. And actually I still didn’t know what to believe. He could have told me anything. I squeezed Nadia’s shoulders and said, “So you’re telling me that you’re with the Praetorian Guard?”

  “Of course,” he said adamantly. “I’d never have anything to do with the Associates; they’re power-mongering murderers. The bastards electrocuted my grandfather. You think I’d work for them?”

  Nadia stepped forward and ran her hands the length of his body. “He’s telling the truth.”

  This was getting more curious the whole time. “So why don’t the members of the Praetorian Guard in Edgewood know where you are?” I asked.

  “Only one of the five is smart enough and loyal enough to be trusted with any information at all. Three of them are lovable numskulls playing spy games and one of them is working undercover for the Associates.”

  “Mr. Specter,” I said.

  “That’s right,” David said, nodding affirmatively. “Sam Specter. Science teacher and traitor. He was my teacher sophomore year. Terrible teacher. Made up the curriculum as he went along. He’s a loose cannon, thinks he’s playing both sides against each other, but everyone is on to him. Sad old guy’s got nothing going for him, but he has delusions that he’s James Bond. And now he’s managed to get hold of the plans for a device we’ve been developing that alters brain waves and memory. God only knows all the havoc that will cause if he ever gets it to work.”

  “I think he already has,” Nadia said. “He has this goggle-thing he calls a Deleo. He used it on our friend Mallory to brainwash her. He tried to do it to Russ too, but it didn’t work because he resisted.”

  “Great,” he said, sighing. “We can discuss that later. I’ll need to know as much as you can recall about the device.” He turned back to the computer and worked on the keyboard for a moment. Lines of text ran across the screen. “Just so you know, what Mr. Specter calls a Deleo was not intended to mess with people’s brains. It was designed to restore memories to people with dementia and calm people who suffer from anxiety and trauma, particularly those with post-traumatic stress disorder and people suffering from debilitating phobias.” He tapped on a few keys, and the screen cleared, then filled with lines of text again. He continued, “After my faked death, I joined the Guard. They educated me in my chosen field and I’ve been doing research at various locations ever since. I’ve been here for about five years, but our location has been compromised, so we’re evacuating today. This is all top secret, you understand.”

  “We understand,” I said. “Believe me, we’re good at keeping secrets.”

  David said, “So how is Carly doing? Does she ever talk about me?”

  “I never heard her mention you until after I saw the light particles—I mean the lux spiral,” I said, correcting myself. A disappointed look washed over David’s face. Clearly he hoped Carly was still pining for him.

  “What kind of research are you working on?” Nadia asked.

  “The details are classified, but I can tell you that I’m working on a way for cells in the human body to utilize energy in the same way they do after they’re exposed to the lux spiral. If it works, we’ll see advances in healing and medicine, improvements in how we power cities and vehicles, and new forms of communication not reliant on devices that can break or be shut down. It’s very exciting to be part of all this. It’ll be a whole new age.”

  “Yeah, it’s exciting, but to never see your family or friends again?” Nadia said. “That must have sucked.”

  “It wasn’t easy, but it was for their own protection. The Associates have been known to kidnap or kill family members of the Praetorian Guard.”

  “So you never saw your family again.” Nadia’s mouth turned down in sympathy.

  “Not quite,” he said. “I’ve been to Edgewood half a dozen times or so. Incognito. Just to see my old house and a few familiar faces.”

  “And no one knew who you were?” I said.

  David blinked, his mouth set in a firm line. For a second I thought he wasn’t going to answer, but then he said. “I couldn’t help myself. I told my grandfather the truth. And he kept my secret until the end when his brain started to go. He got so confused he thought I’d been kidnapped or God knows what. I gave him the medallion as a keepsake, hoping if he had something to hold onto it would help him remember. I’m assuming he gave it to you?”

  I nodded.

  Nadia asked, “What about the first two locations on the map, the cat park and the convent? Why did you have that on the map?”

  “What are you talking about?” David asked, puzzled.

  I pulled the paper out of my pocket, unfolded it, and presented it to him. “This map of Peru. With the latitude and longitude listings for the cat park, the convent, and the ruins? Your grandfather gave it to me, and said it would help find you.”

  David stared at the paper. “I don’t know what this is. I’ve never seen it before.”

  “You didn’t give this to your grandfather?” Nadia asked.

  He shook his head. “The numbers look like my grandfather’s handwriting.” He looked up at us. “I told him I was in Peru and he wanted to know about it, but I couldn’t disclose where I was working or what I was doing. So I told him about the cat park. And the convent and the ruins. Just making conversation,” he said. “Grandpa must have thought those places were the key to finding me.”

  The mention of a key made me
remember something. “When we first got here, I put the medallion in the slot, and when I typed in my name it let me in. How did it know to let me in?”

  He nodded. “All the names of the kids known to have been exposed to the lux spiral are in our database. If someone high up in the Guard entrusts them with a medallion, it guarantees they’ll be able to find sanctuary in any of the Guard facilities.”

  “Did you want your grandfather to give me the medallion?”

  “No, that wasn’t my intent.” It almost looked like he was blinking back tears. “He was so confused…”

  “You invented the Deleo to help your grandfather,” Nadia said. A statement, not a question. Her head tilted in sympathy.

  “Yes, but I was too late.”

  A loud squeal came over the loudspeaker above the door. “Sixty minutes and counting. In sixty minutes, the facility will be sealed.”

  “Every ten minutes we’re going to hear a message like this,” David said. “It’s crunch time. Anything we can’t finish packing up will be left behind. Luckily all of my data has been transferred already. The rest of this,” he waved around the room, “is personal. Not essential, but I still want it.” He shut down the computer. “So why don’t you tell me your story?” He raised his eyebrows. “The abbreviated version, since we’re pressed for time.”

  I couldn’t get past what he’d told us about going back to Edgewood. “So you walked around Edgewood and no one said, ‘Hey, you look a lot like that David Hofstetter guy who died awhile back?’ No one? Not one person?”

  He shook his head. “Nope. This was years after my so-called death, of course. My parents didn’t live there anymore, most of my friends had moved away. And I looked different. Glasses, a beard, a baseball cap. I was taller. My voice got deeper. And everyone thought I was dead. If anyone asked, I was prepared to say I was David Hofstetter’s cousin. But no one asked. I did get a few odd looks though.”

  “Did you ever see Carly?” I asked.

  He smiled and this time it wasn’t a smirk. “She’s the reason I kept going back.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  Nadia

  The minute David Hofstetter said Carly was the reason he kept coming back to Edgewood I felt it. I was standing right next to the man and I sensed crazy love pulses coming right off him. The pulses felt weirdly fresh and new, especially odd because the guy was in his thirties and he and Carly hadn’t been together since they were teenagers. I was just about to ask him if he’d ever gotten married when a loud alarm sounded and a red light over the doorway flashed on and off. David Hofstetter’s expression told us something serious had happened.

  “What is that?” Russ asked over the noise of the alarm.

  “Security breach,” David said. “We’re supposed to hold our positions. The place is in lockdown.”

  The alarm continued in a steady pattern, three blasts and then three counts of silence. During the silent moments, a woman’s voice came over the loudspeaker. “We are at Level Five. Carry out Level Five protocol.”

  “What’s that?” I asked. Normally my voice was small, but my fear managed to amp up the volume.

  “Just what I said, we need to stay right here,” David Hofstetter said, gathering up a box and setting it on the counter closest to the door. He turned back to reassure us. “We’re perfectly safe. It may even be a drill.”

  “So this has happened before?” Russ asked. The alarm grated on my already raw nerves. Enough already. We got it.

  Before David could answer the floor beneath our feet shook. The glass-fronted cabinets rattled, and the desk and chair vibrated and shimmied across the floor. I clutched at Russ, who put his arm around me. “What’s going on?” I yelled.

  David said, “Earthquake.” He held up a hand. “Peru is known for earthquakes. Don’t worry; we get tremors all the time. They usually only last—”

  The lights and alarm went off and suddenly we were in a world of moving darkness. A fun house of terror for someone like me who hates closed-in places and isn’t crazy about the dark either. A second later, Russ’s handful of light illuminated the whole shaking room. My terror was exacerbated by the thought that we were underground and could be buried under tons of rock and stone. Bile rose up in my throat and my heart raced. My parents will never know what happened to me, I thought.

  Seeing the panic on David’s face made it worse. A few seconds ago he’d been the one assuring us that this was routine, but his expression now said otherwise. “We need to go,” he said, grabbing the box he’d just put on the counter.

  “I thought we were in lockdown. Level Five,” I said.

  “Now!” David opened the door and gestured for us to go through.

  The floor pitched like a boat at sea. I took Russ’s free hand and we went into the hallway, David leading the way, talking as he went. “The emergency generator will have the power on in another minute, but we don’t have time to wait.”

  “Where are we going?” Russ asked. Other people were in the hallway now too; further down I heard worried voices and saw the flicker of flashlights.

  “We have an earthquake-proof room built right in the facility,” David said.

  “This way.” A man’s voice yelled in the darkness. I felt him brush past me, his beam of light swaying as he ran.

  “What if it’s not an earthquake?” I yelled. The place was rumbling now. Ceiling tiles dropped all around us. Hanging pictures banged against the wall, shattering the glass. Dust swirled around us, making me cough.

  We were rounding a turn from one corridor to the next, when we experienced a boom. The impact tore me away from Russ; the noise was deafening. It was the cracking of a sheet of ice the size of a football field; it had the impact of a bomb exploding and the terror of the earth collapsing. Russ’s light went out and the flashlight beams ahead of us dimmed behind the flying debris. My ears ached and rang. I had the sense that the hallway ahead of us didn’t exist anymore, that it had become clogged with rubble and dust.

  I staggered to stay upright, clutching at the wall. I pulled my t-shirt over my mouth like they tell you to do to screen out smoke in fires, but it didn’t help. I coughed and choked and couldn’t get a good lungful of air. I leaned against the vibrating wall and found myself sliding down to what used to be the floor. Please, I prayed, I don’t want to die. I thought about all the things I hadn’t done yet, and everything I still wanted to do. It would be so unfair to have my life be over now.

  And then Russ’ light came on, a baseball sized globe of sparks levitating off his palm. My eyes adjusted to the light. I saw his outstretched hand and took it. “Come on,” he said, pulling me to my feet. “This way.” And we were off in the opposite direction, David Hofstetter, still clutching his box, behind us.

  I wanted to ask where we were going, but I could barely breathe, much less get the words out. The space we were passing through didn’t look like a hallway anymore. We stepped over mounds of rubble, parts of the structure that had shaken loose, some chunks large enough to kill a person if they’d been standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. Russ’s light showed the dust motes swirling in the air, as thick as a swarm of mosquitoes on a humid summer day.

  My head felt clogged, but at least my hearing seemed to be returning. “Where are you going?” David yelled from behind us.

  “The loading dock,” Russ shot back.

  “No,” David shouted. “I have a better idea.” He guided us from behind with his hand on Russ’s back.

  We pushed forward, fueled by fear and adrenaline. When we were close enough to see the loading dock entrance, David stopped in front of a side door, one of those we’d tried and found locked on our way in. He said something to Russ, who pulled out his wallet and gave him the medallion. David slid the medallion into a slot next to the door, and the knob turned and we were through.

  The other side of the door led to another corridor, but it was a considerable improvement. The hallway still rumbled, but the shaking wasn’t as severe, and there
were no signs of damage. It was quieter too. For the first time since we left David’s lab, I actually felt like we might make it out alive. “Where are we going?” Russ asked, looking ahead. The hallway, absent other doors and artwork on the walls, stretched endlessly before us.

  “This leads to the village,” David said. “We have a confidentiality agreement with the people there. They know about our location and help us in various ways. Moving supplies, that kind of thing.”

  “You trust them to keep your secret?” Russ said.

  “People keep their word here,” David said, walking ahead of us. Without any obstacles we were able to quicken our pace. “And there are significant financial incentives for them to keep hushed too. One of the buildings on the edge of the village belongs to us and this hallway ends there.”

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  Russ

  The corridor ended with a concrete stairwell leading up to yet another locked doorway. David borrowed my medallion again and trotted up the stairs to run it through the slot. “You don’t have one of your own?” I asked.

  David grinned and held the medallion in the air between two fingers. “I actually had two of my own, if you must know. This one, which I gave to my grandfather and another one, which is sitting in a desk drawer back at the lab.” He must have been reading my mind because he said, “If I knew we were going to be attacked, I would have kept it in my wallet.”

  “I didn’t think it was an earthquake,” Nadia said, her voice low.

  He opened the door and stuck his head in to look around, reaching for a light switch just inside the doorway. When the lights went on, and David was satisfied it was safe, he gestured for us to come forward. We stepped into what looked like a large barn containing one thing—a large helicopter. The structure was metal, and too small for the helicopter. The underside of the roof nearly touched the blades. I whistled and said, “Wow, this is amazing.”