Edgewood Series: Books 1 - 3

by Karen McQuestion

  He stood up and pointed with the knife. “I should just leave her here like this?”

  Yes. Just go. Leave the building as fast as you can and from now on choose to do the right thing. Make Nonny proud.

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  Russ

  Nadia had said, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. I need to know you’re safe so just leave the building and get as far away as possible. I love you but I have to go! And: Leave right now. Promise me! But I hadn’t promised and I knew I couldn’t just run out of the room and leave everyone else behind.

  I hesitated, feeling pulled in three directions. Part of me (most of me) wanted to find Nadia. Another part felt like I should go back and protect Layla. But the third part, reaching Mr. Specter and disengaging his machine, had the biggest pull and it was, I knew, the reason I was here.

  The band played on, but I knew when the song was over, the president was going to thank everyone for coming and say good-night. According to Nadia, that was when the weapon would be activated. I needed to get to the back of the room and pushing through the crowd took too much time. I had to change my strategy.

  “Back off,” I yelled. “I need some space.” I moved in a circle with my arms outstretched, letting off sparks as I turned. The people around me responded the way I thought they would.

  “Ouch!”

  “Ow!”

  “What was that?”

  “Stop it!”

  Those who got shocked instinctively moved away from the pain. After I’d done a full revolution, a circle had cleared around me. Just what I was aiming for. Palms down, I let out an enormous blast, giving the impression of lightning coming off of both hands. The impact pushed me upward and forward. Once I was over the crowd, I realized I was going to fall short of my goal. If the room were empty I could have done another blast and given myself more liftoff, but there were too many people beneath me and someone was bound to be in the way. Killing innocent bystanders was never an option. I grabbed at the draped fabric that decorated the ceiling thinking I’d swing down like in the movies, but it wasn’t securely attached and when I fell, it came down with me. The only thing it did was slow my fall, but not by much. Below, spectators screamed as I landed in a crouch and scrambled to keep my balance.

  A path had cleared between me and my destination. The patient, Mrs. Whitehouse as a man with a gray beard, stood next to the gurney while the doctor, Mr. Specter, regarded me with amusement. On either side of them stood several young men, including the guy posing as the older man’s son. Mr. Specter looked ridiculous in his fake hairpiece, mustache, and glasses. He looked straight at me and over the sound of the music yelled, “You’re late, Mr. Becker.” The same words he’d use when I used to arrive to his sophomore science class after the bell had rung.

  No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the imposter son walked angrily toward me with palms extended. Zaps of electricity shot out of him and pelted me in the chest. It took my breath away. The guy outweighed me by a lot and his rage was intimidating, but his methods were all wrong. I was Russ Becker. At home that meant I was a second child in a middle class family in a small town in Wisconsin. But in a situation like this, it meant I had the upper hand. I’d been called a second gen, but that wasn’t technically correct. I wasn’t the second generation to experience the lux spiral, but I had been exposed to particles from the lux spiral once as a baby and again when I was fifteen. Every cell in my body had been infused with something special since I was a few months old. And shooting electricity at me was like handing me weapons.

  “Woo hoo, how do you like that?” the guy crowed. Between the familiar look and the distinctive voice, I knew who I was dealing with. When the Associates had abducted Frank, they’d made me go through a series of tests before they would release him, and this guy was part of one of those tests. At the time I’d dubbed him Snake Boy because he had a python tattooed on the side of his neck. I’d defeated him and his friend, Wavy Hair, the day of the test, and I could do it again.

  “I like it fine, thanks.” I sent his electricity right back at him, which took him off guard. He fell to the floor writhing from the impact. The air crackled from the current and onlookers scrambled for the exits.

  Now I was the one walking with a vengeance, ready for the next attacker, an Associate dressed as a Secret Service agent. I realized as he got closer that I’d met him before too. Tonight his hair was slicked down, and he’d cleaned up pretty well in the suit and white shirt, but I would have known Wavy Hair anywhere. One of my worst memories was of him and his buddy knocking me down and repeatedly zapping me with electricity whenever I tried to get up. “Remember me?” I shouted, sparks flying off my hands.

  “Meb-be I do.” Wavy Hair laughed. “I remember how easy it were to pin you down. Me and my buddy almost had you crying like a little girl.”

  He threw a lightning bolt toward me and I instinctively ducked. Straightening up, I returned the favor, shooting electricity back at him. He wheeled around, deflecting my shot with one of his own. This was proving to be harder than I thought. From the floor, Snake Boy, screamed something unintelligible. It sounded like he was cheering his friend on.

  I recoiled, ready to go again, when something above me whooshed through the air skimming the top of my head. Before I could even react, I saw that it was a thick rope with a tassel heading straight for Wavy Hair. In a matter of seconds, the rope wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his side and whipping around him with such force that he fell to the floor.

  In the front of the room the band wound down awkwardly as they finally realized something was wrong. One final squawk of a trumpet and the music had silenced. A man yelled, “Everyone take cover!” Panic ensued—men in their tuxedos shielded their dates, everyone scrambling to get out of the room or at least away from me. I glanced up to see that one of the curtains was no longer being held back by its tasseled rope. Jameson cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled from the stage, “You’re welcome.”

  Looking back I saw Mr. Specter flip the top off the gurney and pull out what looked like the nozzle from a gas pump. An enormous roar filled the air as he aimed the nozzle toward the front of the room. A stream of glittering bits moved slowly and deliberately through the air. Was it electricity or a liquid or something else completely? Like glittering confetti, the individual pieces revolved around each other within the deadly particle beam. I’d never seen anything like it. The beam was heading toward the stage where Secret Service agents were escorting the president and her family off the stage.

  A collage of words went through my mind all at once.

  Nadia telling me I needed to leave and adding, You’re the only one I’m worried about. Be safe. I love you.

  Mr. Bernstein introducing me as Russ Becker, the miracle maker from Wisconsin.

  Carly saying, I’m proud of you, Russ. You’re doing the right thing even though you know it might not end well.

  And President Bernstein: I know I can rely on you.

  I knew what I had to do.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  Nadia

  When Nonny’s grown-up boy left the supply closet, I listened to his footsteps as he walked down the hall. When he broke into a run, I knew he was going to follow the instructions to leave the building as quickly as possible. I didn’t think he’d come back, which meant my body was safe enough for now.

  Take me to Russ.

  I’d hoped to find him in front of the building, or in a cab driving fast and far away, but instead I went to the ballroom where it was complete pandemonium. My heart sank. The elegant soiree was now a disaster scene. Frightened guests yelled and carried on as they pushed to get out. Secret Service agents tried to slow down the stampede to the doors. Russ stood in a clearing as if he were in a bubble. A few feet from him a man was lying on the floor with a thick rope wrapped around his midsection. His feet kicked weakly like a bug who’d been sprayed with insecticide. Behind Russ, another guy was curled in a fetal position on the floor, smoke
rising off of him. On the stage in front, the first family was exiting out a door in the back shielded on all sides by protective agents.

  And Mr. Specter, still in his Dr. Mitchard disguise, had activated his death ray beam and aimed it at the front of the room. The beam didn’t shoot out quickly like in science fiction movies. Instead it moved languidly, sparkling and rotating as it went. It was a beautiful but determined beam, created to search for life then snuff it out. There was no way to get away from it once you were in its path. In a minute, everyone in the front of the room would be obliterated.

  Run, Russ! Go. Now!

  Russ made no sign of having heard me. Instead, he ejected himself in the air the same way he’d propelled himself onto my roof the night he’d given me the ring. He pushed off the floor using electrical currents from both hands and rose right in the path of the beam. When he met it, he blocked it with his own body. With his arms outstretched, it held him suspended in midair.

  Oh, Russ, no…

  The death ray’s beam reflecting off his body created a light so brilliant I could barely make out the expression on his face. I don’t know how long he hung there as a human barricade keeping the beam from going any farther. Even as painful as it was to watch, I couldn’t keep my eyes away. Seeing someone you love suffering is the cruelest thing there is. I would have traded places with him like it was nothing, had him safe in another room, while I absorbed all of the Associates’ evil, even if it ended my life. But I didn’t have that choice.

  Everyone in the room was fleeing away from this spectacle, except for three people running toward it. Mallory, Jameson, and David Hofstetter. David took the lead, holding his arm out to indicate the others should stay back. When they got closer, Mallory gestured to the Associate Jameson had hogtied and cried out, “That one is getting loose.” Sure enough, he’d managed to unravel the curtain tieback and was struggling to his feet. David pointed and let loose an electrical charge, small compared to what Russ could do, but enough to subdue the man.

  Mr. Specter wrestled with the nozzle trying to direct it away from Russ, but the energy was drawn to Russ now like a flame to fuel. Russ twitched from side to side and I flinched. I’d once been burned with battery acid and thought that was the worst pain a person could ever experience, but this had to be ten times worse. How much more could he take?

  David walked right up to Mr. Specter and blasted a lightning bolt at his feet to make a point. “Turn it off right now,” he shouted, “or I swear I’ll fry you alive.”

  Mr. Specter didn’t even turn his head to look; he was still struggling with the nozzle.

  I made myself known in front of him—faster than I’d ever materialized before. There was no way he couldn’t see me. Judging from David, Mallory, and Jameson’s expressions, each of them could see me too. I screamed in my head. You have to shut it down. You’re killing him.

  Mr. Specter yelled, “I can’t turn it off. It won’t let me.” I wasn’t sure if he was responding to me or David, but I heard the desperation in his voice and knew he told the truth. The machine was out of control. There was no stopping it now or ever. I willed my astral projected self to rise up closer to Russ. Even with the bright light I could make out the grimace on his face. It was the look of someone in agony. I didn’t want to say good-bye.

  I’m here with you, Russ. I love you. I didn’t think he heard me so I tried again, keeping in mind that this might be the last opportunity I’d have to tell him how I felt. I want to thank you. You’ve changed me in every way. Your love has made me stronger.

  I felt a flicker of something in return. An unspoken message, the way lovers smile at each other across a room.

  At that moment, the glare intensified, getting brighter and brighter.

  And then, the tide turned.

  The room reverberated with a high pitched thrumming sound. The glow coming off of Russ’s body spiked, until it was like looking at the sun. And then, a deafening blast filled the room as the ray bounced off Russ and reversed straight toward Mr. Specter and the death ray machine. The impact caused an explosion that shattered the chandeliers. Thick black vapor poured from the spot where Mr. Specter had stood only a moment ago.

  Only seconds before the hall had been filled with the sounds of voices crying out, and people running to get to the exits. Now it was as still as death itself.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  Russ

  Spasms of pain wracked my body as the beam held me trapped high above the floor. Worse yet was the psychological torture. The death ray was more than just energy; it was a collection of every negative emotion ever felt by anyone anywhere. I experienced the pain of prisoners of war, the agony of abused children, the loss of a thousand loved ones’ deaths. All of the world’s collective sorrows. Mired in it, it was hard to imagine why anyone would want to live at all. Life was all so dire and pointless. Nothing good could ever come from being a human being. We were born, we suffered, and then we died.

  The word excruciating was invented to describe the physical and emotional pain I felt when suspended by the death ray. Nothing made sense anymore. What was the point of all this again? I didn’t have a clue.

  It seemed to go on and on. I could have been up there for minutes or hours. I wondered why I thought it was a good idea to leap up and stop the beam. It started as a selfless gesture. I wanted to keep the death ray from harming anyone else, but as I felt it filling every cell in my body, I knew this wasn’t a real solution. There would be a saturation point and when that happened, I wouldn’t be able to hold it back anymore. Then all of my suffering would be for nothing. It felt like a million burning fishhooks were poking and twisting every inch of my body. I writhed in pain and prayed for it to end. If it was a death ray, why wasn’t I dead already?

  When I felt Nadia’s presence, it was a comfort. I was glad she would go on living long after I was gone. So much of her life had been terrible; she deserved better things to come. But even hearing her say she loved me didn’t lessen the anguish. The torment was endless and infinite. I blinked back tears. If I gave in to it, that was the end. I wanted it to be over, but I didn’t want my life to end this way.

  To offset the pain, I concentrated on Nadia. Her voice rang in my head, the words crystal clear. Your love has made me stronger. Nadia had survived so much in her life—the excruciating pain of getting burned by battery acid, the horror of having a scarred face, the isolation of her home life. Whatever happened, she just handled it. I wasn’t sure my love had made her stronger. She’d been strong to begin with. If anything, it seemed to me that she’d made me a better person. Or maybe we just brought out the best in each other.

  Without even thinking about it, I drew up my strength, and made my body into a shield. A shield that deflected the death ray, sending it back to the machine and its creator.

  The explosion was ear-splitting and so violent it made the building shake, but there was no ball of fire, like when a bomb goes off. The chandeliers burst and I heard the clatter of glass slivers as they fell to the floor. The death ray machine exploded and became a dark cloud that covered everything and then dissipated, leaving only wreckage. Without the beam to hold me up I dropped fast. My stomach lurched the same way it did riding a roller coaster. I knew if I landed the wrong way, that would be it for me. I’d braced for a crash landing knowing I would hit hard, so it was a shock to feel myself being caught and lowered gently to the floor. I bent my knees and tried to catch my breath. I was shaky, but alive.

  The emergency lights came on almost instantaneously and through the eye-sting of smoke, I saw confusion. A billow of dust blanketed the room. Everyone who’d been standing behind the machine had been struck down. The fabric draping the ceiling was sooty and tattered, and tables and chairs had been knocked over or propelled across the room. Once the dust cleared I saw that the few remaining guests clustered close to the exits, looked shell shocked. Off to one side, a woman whined like a dog in distress.

  Behind where the death ray had been,
bodies littered the floor. A Secret Service agent lay completely still on the floor behind where the machine had been, his leg bent at an awkward angle. Behind him, Mr. Specter was sprawled on the floor face down with a blanket of soot covering his white jacket and blood pooling around his head. Judging from the amount of blood loss, he had to be dead. He’d started all this, and I’d only been defending everyone else here, but there was still a part of me that wanted to walk away guilt-free. Playing games where opponents died didn’t really affect me. In real life, though, it’s a horror that can’t be described. I knew I would never get these images out of my head. They would haunt me for the rest of my days.

  Jameson rushed up to me. “We need to stop them,” he said, his voice high-pitched and frantic.

  “Stop who?” I looked down to see that Mallory was now kneeling next to David Hofstetter, pressing a cloth napkin to the front of his bloody shirt. “Are you okay?” I asked, and David grunted something positive in response.

  “I’ve got him,” Mallory said, concentrating on putting pressure on the wound. “You guys just do what you need to do.”

  Jameson snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Focus, Russ. We need to catch Mrs. Whitehouse and that other guy. The fake son.”

  “Where’s Nadia?” I asked, wheeling around.

  Jameson grabbed my arm. “You can find Nadia later. We need to go now.” Conflicted, I followed him. I wanted an inventory of all the people I cared about—Nadia, Carly, Layla and her parents, Dr. Anton and Rosie. I wanted to know where they were and that they were safe and unharmed. But we were running now, past the stunned guests, who were helping each other to their feet and attending to minor wounds. We left the ballroom, and Jameson glanced back at me. “I’m not sure which way they went, but it’s a safe bet they left the building. The two of them ran out while you were up in the air doing your dramatic, save-the-world scene.”