Read Online Worldweavers: Cybermage by Alma Alexander - Free Book Online
Authors: Alma Alexander
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doing now?”
“I haven’t a clue, but he looks like he’s in pain ,” said Magpie, who had opened her eyes.
She had barely finished speaking when Tesla looked up, straight at the five of them .
“He can see us,” Thea gasped.
But that was all there was time for. The picture underneath them went two-dimensional again, with Tesla doubled over in what seemed to be agony. He had fallen onto his knees, and his hands were over his ears as though he had been assaulted by a sudden cacophony of noise.
“Oh, God, was that our fault?” Thea said, appalled, as they found themselves standing ankle-deep inwhite mist one more time.
“He did see us,” Terry said. “We might have triggered something…or…”
“Did he see us back in New York?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t remember if he even looked up or not. Here we go again…” Magpie said.
They swooped one more time, and this time there was no city at all—just an open field with a barnlike object in the midst of it, a strange tower with a bulbous top protruding from the middle of it like an antenna. The field was surrounded by mountains, and the house or barn on the field was surrounded by a wire fence. The five of them skimmed over the fence, so low that they could read a sign tacked onto it: ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE .
“Oh, lovely,” said Ben.
“Shut up,” said Terry, his eyes suddenly alight. “I know what this is. It’s Tesla’s laboratory in Colorado. This is where he did some of his most amazing work. Are we going to be able to see inside that…”
The building’s roof gaped open underneath the tower antenna. For a moment it looked as thoughthey might swoop right underneath the tower and through the gap, but just as they banked toward the side, the onion-shaped bulbous covering on top of the tower suddenly woke with a crackle. A bolt of bright blue-white lightning whipped around the outside of the bulb with a sizzling sound and then snapped together into a column of fire as thick as Thea’s wrist, shooting off sparks and reaching straight from the top of the antenna into the sky.
The friends veered away abruptly, as though this lightning had been accidental and unplanned for, and circled the building slowly until they came to a half-open barnlike door on the side. They slipped in through the opening and hovered just inside the door, gaping with their mouths open at what was going on inside.
Tesla, bareheaded, his hair in wild disarray, stood with one hand stuck straight into a pillar of fire that must have been the root of the lightning bolt they had seen outside.
As they watched, a bird circled in through the gap in the roof, just barely sidling between the lightning bolt and the edge of the roof beam, and dropped into the room where Tesla’s apparatus stood. Despitemaking the effort to avoid the fire as it entered, it then flew straight into the pillar of flame.
And disappeared.
They all saw Tesla recoil; they saw his eyes widen as he stared into the fiery circle before him; they saw his other hand rise, apparently reaching for a switch.
Then they saw him freeze as the bird reappeared in the fire. No, two birds.
“What’s going on?” Ben whispered.
Both birds hung suspended in the fiery circle for a moment, and then they both vanished.
Tesla appeared to be saying something—his mouth was moving, but Thea and the others could not make out what he was saying over the snap and crackle of the pillar of flame.
The two birds reappeared.
No, three .
And then vanished again.
Tesla’s hand was inching upward, toward the switch, as though he was fighting a great resistance, but before he had a chance to reach it, the birds were back.
Four of them.
With a superhuman effort, Tesla touched the switch. The pillar of fire instantly died.
Where it had been, a bird lay on its back on the ground, its feet in the air. Quite dead.
They saw Tesla fall to his knees and take the bird into his cupped palms with infinite
“I haven’t a clue, but he looks like he’s in pain ,” said Magpie, who had opened her eyes.
She had barely finished speaking when Tesla looked up, straight at the five of them .
“He can see us,” Thea gasped.
But that was all there was time for. The picture underneath them went two-dimensional again, with Tesla doubled over in what seemed to be agony. He had fallen onto his knees, and his hands were over his ears as though he had been assaulted by a sudden cacophony of noise.
“Oh, God, was that our fault?” Thea said, appalled, as they found themselves standing ankle-deep inwhite mist one more time.
“He did see us,” Terry said. “We might have triggered something…or…”
“Did he see us back in New York?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t remember if he even looked up or not. Here we go again…” Magpie said.
They swooped one more time, and this time there was no city at all—just an open field with a barnlike object in the midst of it, a strange tower with a bulbous top protruding from the middle of it like an antenna. The field was surrounded by mountains, and the house or barn on the field was surrounded by a wire fence. The five of them skimmed over the fence, so low that they could read a sign tacked onto it: ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE .
“Oh, lovely,” said Ben.
“Shut up,” said Terry, his eyes suddenly alight. “I know what this is. It’s Tesla’s laboratory in Colorado. This is where he did some of his most amazing work. Are we going to be able to see inside that…”
The building’s roof gaped open underneath the tower antenna. For a moment it looked as thoughthey might swoop right underneath the tower and through the gap, but just as they banked toward the side, the onion-shaped bulbous covering on top of the tower suddenly woke with a crackle. A bolt of bright blue-white lightning whipped around the outside of the bulb with a sizzling sound and then snapped together into a column of fire as thick as Thea’s wrist, shooting off sparks and reaching straight from the top of the antenna into the sky.
The friends veered away abruptly, as though this lightning had been accidental and unplanned for, and circled the building slowly until they came to a half-open barnlike door on the side. They slipped in through the opening and hovered just inside the door, gaping with their mouths open at what was going on inside.
Tesla, bareheaded, his hair in wild disarray, stood with one hand stuck straight into a pillar of fire that must have been the root of the lightning bolt they had seen outside.
As they watched, a bird circled in through the gap in the roof, just barely sidling between the lightning bolt and the edge of the roof beam, and dropped into the room where Tesla’s apparatus stood. Despitemaking the effort to avoid the fire as it entered, it then flew straight into the pillar of flame.
And disappeared.
They all saw Tesla recoil; they saw his eyes widen as he stared into the fiery circle before him; they saw his other hand rise, apparently reaching for a switch.
Then they saw him freeze as the bird reappeared in the fire. No, two birds.
“What’s going on?” Ben whispered.
Both birds hung suspended in the fiery circle for a moment, and then they both vanished.
Tesla appeared to be saying something—his mouth was moving, but Thea and the others could not make out what he was saying over the snap and crackle of the pillar of flame.
The two birds reappeared.
No, three .
And then vanished again.
Tesla’s hand was inching upward, toward the switch, as though he was fighting a great resistance, but before he had a chance to reach it, the birds were back.
Four of them.
With a superhuman effort, Tesla touched the switch. The pillar of fire instantly died.
Where it had been, a bird lay on its back on the ground, its feet in the air. Quite dead.
They saw Tesla fall to his knees and take the bird into his cupped palms with infinite
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