Edgewood Series: Books 1 - 3 (39 page)

The woman spoke the truth. Except for sneaking out on my own at night and astral projecting, I hadn’t left the house alone in years.

“I told Mr. Specter how your family did things, but we thought that maybe your parents might make an exception since I’ll be there,” Mallory said. “I will be with Nadia every minute, I promise. I wouldn’t let her out of my sight.”

“All of the students participating are quality kids,” Mr. Specter said. “And they will be well supervised, believe me. For the four teenagers in our group there will be three adults on hand to oversee their activities, which I think you’ll agree is a nice ratio.”

“The ratio isn’t really the issue,” Mom said. I knew that tone of voice. She’d made up her mind and there would be no convincing her otherwise.

“You know Jameson already,” Mallory said, sweetly. “He’s one of the other kids chosen. And the fourth one is Russ Becker. I know Russ from school and he’s a very nice boy. I can vouch for both of them.”

She came over to where my mother sat and perched on the edge of her chair, then began rubbing her arm, something even I wouldn’t do when my mother was in this antagonistic state. I knew where Mallory was going with this. She was trying to use mind control on my mother to convince her to let me go.

My mother looked up at Mallory and her forehead creased. Not a good sign, usually, but Mallory didn’t let it deter her. “This is a great opportunity for Nadia,” she said, her hand holding onto her elbow. I watched in fascination as Mallory tried to work her magic on my strong-willed mother. So far Mom didn’t pull away, but she didn’t look like she was softening either.

“Whether or not it’s a great opportunity is beside the point,” Mom said. “It’s about making sure things happen the way they’re supposed to. Teenagers—they never listen. They think they know it all and they have poor judgment.”

“I guess I don’t understand what your objection is,” Mallory said. “It’s free, will be well chaperoned, and can potentially enhance Nadia’s future. You want that for her.”

“Mallory, I know you want to include Nadia in all your activities, but you have to understand that this time it isn’t possible.”

“Why not?”

“Because. She’s not like you. Look at her.” Everyone in the room turned in my direction and I squirmed at being scrutinized. I could tell Mr. Specter and Mallory were uncomfortable staring, but they couldn’t help themselves. “Just take a good look,” my mother said, pointing. “She can’t even pull her hood down in our living room. What makes you think she’ll be able to compete in public? I’ve been protecting her for years. I’m not throwing her to the wolves now.”

I stood up and pushed my hood down so it fell to my shoulders. “I want to go. I don’t care if people stare at my face. I’m ready to do this.” I thrust my chin out defiantly.

“This isn’t a conversation I want to have right now,” my mother said, a line I’d heard often in my life. It was a signal she was done talking.

Mallory frowned, and kept trying, her hand now on my mom’s shoulder. “You would like it if Nadia won thousands of dollars in scholarship money. And think about how it would look on her college application if she competed well in a nationwide competition.” Mallory’s voice was soothing, almost hypnotic.

My mother relaxed a bit but didn’t say anything. Her mouth softened and the disapproving furrow in her forehead melted away. Could it be working? I stood nearby, afraid to sit down again because I might break the spell.

Mallory gave my mom’s shoulder a squeeze. I knew from previous knowledge that she had to be touching the person to influence their thinking. “You’d hate to have Nadia miss out on this opportunity. You feel that she’s ready to face the world. You have no doubt that she can take on this challenge and make you proud.”

“Well, I don’t know…” Mom sounded confused, and I got a pang of guilt. As much as I wanted to go on the trip, it seemed wrong to turn people into robots just to get what you wanted.

“Why don’t we leave some information about the competition?” Mr. Specter suggested. He opened the briefcase sitting at his feet and pulled out a folder. I could see it had a label on it with my name.

Mallory nodded in agreement. “We’ll leave the information for you to read. When you read it over, you’ll be even more convinced that this is a good idea for your daughter. You’d hate to see her miss out on the chance to win scholarship money.”

My mother opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, we heard the loud thumping of her cat, Barry, as he came down the stairs. He was so heavy it sounded like someone had rolled a bowling ball off the top landing. When he reached the bottom, he yowled once before tearing into the room and leaping toward my mother, a comet of fur flying through the air like he’d been catapulted. Having a twenty-six pound cat jump into her lap brought Mom back to her senses and out of the Mallory-induced trance. I could tell by the look on her face she was back to her usual self. The self that was unyielding and determined to keep me away from the rest of the world. She cleared her throat. “Thank you, Mr. Specter and Mallory, for coming to visit. We appreciate the offer, but Nadia will not be attending, so feel free to use her slot for someone else.”

Mr. Specter held out the folder, the one with my name on it. “Maybe once you read over the information? I’ll leave this here for your perusal and check back with you in a few days.”

“That won’t be necessary.” My mother focused her attention on Barry, who was knocking his head against her hand, his reminder that she needed to rub behind his ears. “Just take it all with you.” She flicked a hand toward the door. “Nadia will be home with me this summer.”

I exchanged a look with Mallory. Her look said
I am so, so sorry
, and mine said,
that’s okay, don’t worry about it
. It wasn’t okay, of course. It really, truly sucked.

Mr. Specter left the folder behind anyway, and after they’d gone and the car had pulled away from the curb, I sat down and leafed through the sheets inside. They’d done a good job creating the necessary paperwork for a fake student trip to an academic decathlon. Everything was here: information about the hotel and the event, dress code, rules of conduct, contact information, emergency medical forms. All color-coded, like a real student trip would be. My mother, still fussing over Barry, said, “There’s no point in getting your hopes up, Nadia. You’re not going.” She leaned over to touch her nose to the cat’s, like some woman in a cat food commercial.

“Why not?”

She sighed. “Do we have to keep doing this, Nadia? I said no and that’s final.”

I felt the anger rise in my throat like bile. “You’re being unfair. This trip is free, it’s chaperoned, and it’ll look good on college applications. Give me one good reason why I can’t do this.”

“I don’t have to give you
any
reason.” She looked straight at me, her face taut with anger. “I’m your mother. I sometimes make unpopular decisions for your own welfare. That’s what good parents do. I don’t expect appreciation, but I do expect some respect, so keep your attitude to yourself, young lady. And stop trying to get your friends to intercede on your behalf. I can tell you right now I am immune to that kind of thing.”

I was about to say something back about how hard it was to respect someone who couldn’t actually be bothered to verbalize a reason, but the last sentence made me stop. Immune to that kind of thing? Did she know what Mallory was trying to do with all the shoulder rubbing and suggestions? It was kind of weird that the mind control didn’t work on her. “Immune to what kind of thing?” I asked cautiously.

“Peer pressure,” she snapped back, her voice unexpectedly loud. “Just because your friends are doing it, doesn’t mean you need to do it. Here’s the thing, Nadia. The two of us are in it for the long haul, whether you like it or not. Your friends will probably not be your friends ten years from now, but I’ll still be your mother, so you might want to give me some consideration for once.”

“I do give you consideration,” I said, blinking back tears. “All I ask is that you give me some consideration too.”

“I don’t expect you to understand anything at this point in your life,” she said. “Because you lack the maturity to handle adult matters. Did you know that the pre-frontal cortex of the brain doesn’t fully develop until the age of twenty-five? That’s the part of the brain that acts as your executive center, which helps make good decisions and manage your impulses.” Her tone was smug. “And that is why teenagers aren’t in charge of the world.”

“Sure, whatever,” I said.

“Very mature, Nadia,” she said sarcastically. “I do believe you’re illustrating my point perfectly.”

“I have to study.” I got up and left the room, taking the folder with me. I knew she would throw it out and I didn’t want that to happen. Mallory had told me that the permission form had been specially treated with two different types of ink that could be remotely activated. Once one of my parents gave permission, the form would fill out with the corresponding handwriting. The theory was that once my mom or dad saw the filled-out page, they’d be even more convinced that it had been their decision all along. Since Mallory’s suggestions didn’t take hold, the form was now worthless. Still, I wanted to keep it. Proof that I’d once had a shot at going.

Halfway up the stairs I heard my mother call out, “I’m glad we had this talk.” Typical. She always had to have the last word.

Russ

Okay, I could admit it. I missed Nadia. I really did. During the day things happened and I’d think,
wait until I tell Nadia about this
…and then the day ended, and I’d settle into bed and wait for her to astral project to me. I’d be on edge anticipating the warmth of her energy surging into my room and for her to be there, just the two of us, her presence all around me, part of me and yet completely separate. I waited and waited for this to happen but it never did. It was the weirdest thing. I mean, I was with other people all day long and I had friends. And my parents too, not that they’re in the same category. I had no shortage of people to share with, and yet it’s wasn’t the same. None of them understood me like Nadia.

She said she didn’t astral project to me anymore because of her mom, but I thought there was more to it than that. Something was off between us. Maybe it was my fault because I talked about the trip too much, making her feel bad about not going. I couldn’t help it though. I mean, it’s Peru. South America. A third world country. Which was pretty exciting considering I’d never been out of the Midwest.

Not only that, but we might find out what happened to my sister Carly’s high school boyfriend, David Hofstetter. He supposedly died in a car accident when he was sixteen, but now Mr. Specter and I thought he might still be out there somewhere based on what David’s grandfather, Gordy Hofstetter, told me before he died. He said his grandson was locked up, a prisoner. And then he handed me a wad of paper wrapped around a medallion. The paper had a map of Peru, and coordinates indicating three different locations using latitude and longitude. The medallion was silver, as large as a belt buckle, and octagonal in shape. In the center was a clear gemstone. Around the stone, etched into the metal was a spiral pattern. I’d shown the paper to Mr. Specter, but had never told anyone about the medallion.
Carry it with you always
, Gordy had said on the night he died. And I did.

So now we were heading out to Peru, to visit the three locations on the map. It was going to be a top secret trip, like a spy mission. Our lives depended on keeping it confidential. We were getting fake passports and who knows what other kinds of spy gadgets. Mr. Specter said he’d fill us in on the plane trip over and I guess we’d find out the details then. I did know we’d be flying by private jet, although we had to leave on a commercial flight initially, so our parents don’t get suspicious. It was all very James Bond, without the martinis and hot women.

I couldn’t wait to go.

Sometimes in my room, to pass the time and get ready for the trip, I practiced passing electricity back and forth between my hands, like I was juggling little lightning bolts. I was getting better at controlling it. Everywhere I went, I was aware of electricity. I sensed it pulsing through cords and powering appliances. I felt it behind walls and underground. Other people don’t realize this, but the electricity that comes to our homes and schools doesn’t stop at the outlet plate. I sensed power radiating out of the plug openings, especially in older buildings. Now that I knew about it, it seemed odd that I never noticed it before. I felt like a blind person who’d been given sight.

My other talent, healing people, had been put on hold. Sometimes I heard about someone who had a terrible injury or disease, and I wondered if I could cure them. I’d done it before, but it took some major concentration and I had to really want to help the person. I wasn’t entirely sure I could do it again though. To me, it felt like doing a winning shot from the free throw line at a basketball game. It’s possible, but could I keep doing it over and over again? Maybe on this trip I would find out.

Nadia

The day of the trip came, and I’d never felt so depressed in my life. Everyone was going to Peru but me.

I still had the trip folder, so I knew what time the flight left. I also knew a van was coming to pick up each person and they were all traveling together to the airport. I wanted to stop thinking about it, to tell myself it didn’t matter, but I was too smart to be fooled. It did matter and I was miserable knowing my friends were leaving without me. I was like the person left on the Titanic watching the last lifeboat being lowered.

To torture myself further, I told my mother I had a headache and was going to lie down and take a nap. I expected her to object—she generally frowned on naps—but my dad was home sick from work that day, so she said to go ahead, that I didn’t look well, and she hoped I wasn’t coming down with whatever he had. She was going to be heading out to the grocery store and doing a few other errands so I was safe for a while. I closed the door to keep the cat out, lowered the blinds, and climbed into bed. I was distracted for a moment by the sounds of the neighbor kids playing outside, enjoying their summer vacation, but before long I was in the zone.
Take me to Russ
, I thought and in a moment I was there, watching as he double checked the contents of his suitcase alongside his mom. I was off to one side in his room and he glanced in my direction, but I didn’t make my presence known and he didn’t register any acknowledgement.