Read Online Edgewood Series: Books 1 - 3 by Karen McQuestion - Free Book Online
Authors: Karen McQuestion
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boy.” He took off his glasses and polished them with the front of his shirt.
“Okay, enough with the sarcasm,” Mallory said. The waitress came to top up the coffee and Mallory waved her away. “Just the check please.”
“How is this possible?” I set the jelly packet down. Part of me couldn’t even fathom what I’d seen. It was a trick, it had to be. Magicians and illusionists had been pulling off stunts more mind-blowing than this for centuries. If someone could saw a girl in half or make an elephant disappear, making a small object move couldn’t be that difficult.
Mallory leaned toward me and said softly, “After being exposed to the energy fragments each of us discovered we’d picked up an ability, and all of us have something different.” She put a reassuring hand on my arm. “I know it can be kind of freaky if you aren’t expecting it.”
“So what’s your superpower?” I asked.
“Me? I guess you’d call it mind control.”
“Mind control? Like ‘these aren’t the droids you’re looking for’?” I said, quoting Obi-Wan from Star Wars .
“Something like that. I’m still figuring it out. We’re all still figuring it out.” Mallory looked at the others and they nodded. “None of us knew the lights had affected us until odd stuff started happening. I didn’t know I could do mind control. At first it just seemed like everyone was agreeing with me about everything, and I was so confused. Now I can actually feel it coursing through my body and I can kind of control it.”
“Why would you want to control it?” I asked. How awesome would it be to have everyone agree with you all the time?
Mallory shook her head. “When I first realized I could do it, I did it all the time. I mean, it was really cool to get my way with everything, but it took a weird turn. Now I’m careful. When I exert control over people, it seems to pull energy from them. It makes them tired, and they get headaches and muscle and joint pain. It made my mother so sick, she was in bed for two days.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed what I was hearing, but if she was acting, her performance was perfect. I didn’t want to believe that this pretty girl was lying to me, but it all seemed too incredible. “Can you show me how it works?”
“I will, I promise,” she said. “But not tonight.”
“And your power?” I said, looking at Nadia. “What did you get?’
“I can read people. I can see their thoughts, tell if they’re lying, see what they’ve done in the past. When I look in their eyes, I know them. I can see the essence of their soul.” Nadia looked down at her hands as she spoke, so all I saw was the top of her hoodie.
“Interesting,” I said. And it was interesting. Interesting that two out of three of the powers were things no one else could actually see, while Jameson’s was basically a parlor trick. I wasn’t a genius, but I wasn’t a fool either. And I wasn’t about to be the butt of a practical joke. Mrs. Becker didn’t raise a fool (unless you counted my sister, Carly, but that was a different story).
“And you brought back a dead person,” Nadia said. “So it’s pretty easy to figure out what your superpower is.”
“Oh, no,” I said. “That wasn’t me. I mean, I was there, but I didn’t bring her back from the dead.”
“Did she have a pulse?” Jameson asked.
“Not that I could find. But,” and here I held a hand up for emphasis, “that doesn’t mean she was dead. Her pulse was probably too faint for me to detect. I was pretty rattled. A trained professional probably could have found a pulse.”
“So you’re saying she wasn’t completely dead, just a little bit dead.”
“No, I—” The way Jameson twisted my words was starting to get me mad. “She wasn’t dead at all, so I couldn’t have brought her back to life.”
“But you did bring her back to life,” Nadia said.
“Whatever.” I didn’t want to argue about it, but I knew I was right. I’m a
“Okay, enough with the sarcasm,” Mallory said. The waitress came to top up the coffee and Mallory waved her away. “Just the check please.”
“How is this possible?” I set the jelly packet down. Part of me couldn’t even fathom what I’d seen. It was a trick, it had to be. Magicians and illusionists had been pulling off stunts more mind-blowing than this for centuries. If someone could saw a girl in half or make an elephant disappear, making a small object move couldn’t be that difficult.
Mallory leaned toward me and said softly, “After being exposed to the energy fragments each of us discovered we’d picked up an ability, and all of us have something different.” She put a reassuring hand on my arm. “I know it can be kind of freaky if you aren’t expecting it.”
“So what’s your superpower?” I asked.
“Me? I guess you’d call it mind control.”
“Mind control? Like ‘these aren’t the droids you’re looking for’?” I said, quoting Obi-Wan from Star Wars .
“Something like that. I’m still figuring it out. We’re all still figuring it out.” Mallory looked at the others and they nodded. “None of us knew the lights had affected us until odd stuff started happening. I didn’t know I could do mind control. At first it just seemed like everyone was agreeing with me about everything, and I was so confused. Now I can actually feel it coursing through my body and I can kind of control it.”
“Why would you want to control it?” I asked. How awesome would it be to have everyone agree with you all the time?
Mallory shook her head. “When I first realized I could do it, I did it all the time. I mean, it was really cool to get my way with everything, but it took a weird turn. Now I’m careful. When I exert control over people, it seems to pull energy from them. It makes them tired, and they get headaches and muscle and joint pain. It made my mother so sick, she was in bed for two days.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed what I was hearing, but if she was acting, her performance was perfect. I didn’t want to believe that this pretty girl was lying to me, but it all seemed too incredible. “Can you show me how it works?”
“I will, I promise,” she said. “But not tonight.”
“And your power?” I said, looking at Nadia. “What did you get?’
“I can read people. I can see their thoughts, tell if they’re lying, see what they’ve done in the past. When I look in their eyes, I know them. I can see the essence of their soul.” Nadia looked down at her hands as she spoke, so all I saw was the top of her hoodie.
“Interesting,” I said. And it was interesting. Interesting that two out of three of the powers were things no one else could actually see, while Jameson’s was basically a parlor trick. I wasn’t a genius, but I wasn’t a fool either. And I wasn’t about to be the butt of a practical joke. Mrs. Becker didn’t raise a fool (unless you counted my sister, Carly, but that was a different story).
“And you brought back a dead person,” Nadia said. “So it’s pretty easy to figure out what your superpower is.”
“Oh, no,” I said. “That wasn’t me. I mean, I was there, but I didn’t bring her back from the dead.”
“Did she have a pulse?” Jameson asked.
“Not that I could find. But,” and here I held a hand up for emphasis, “that doesn’t mean she was dead. Her pulse was probably too faint for me to detect. I was pretty rattled. A trained professional probably could have found a pulse.”
“So you’re saying she wasn’t completely dead, just a little bit dead.”
“No, I—” The way Jameson twisted my words was starting to get me mad. “She wasn’t dead at all, so I couldn’t have brought her back to life.”
“But you did bring her back to life,” Nadia said.
“Whatever.” I didn’t want to argue about it, but I knew I was right. I’m a
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