Read Online Glimpse (The Tesla Effect Book 1) by Julie Drew - Free Book Online
Authors: Julie Drew
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me longer for tests, discovered the arrhythmia, blah blah blah. Turns out my dad knew about it, but I guess the pediatrician when I was a baby said it was no big deal. End of story.”
“Huh,” Finn said, apparently deep in thought.
“I told you it wasn’t much of a story,” she said quickly, confused by his nearness, the ease with which he touched her, the intense response she felt when he did.
“No, actually it is,” he assured her. “But I suspect there’s more. What was it like in the hospital? I’ve never had reason to go.” He knocked on the wooden seat of the bench for good measure.
Tesla shrugged. “I was bored, mostly. I watched Gilmore Girls reruns and slept a lot. My head hurt. The concussion made me…I don’t know,” she said, hesitant. “It was just weird.”
“How do you mean?” Finn leaned in toward her.
“At some point in the middle of the night after I was admitted, I did something really stupid.”
“I doubt that—you seem like a reasonably intelligent person.”
“Gee, thanks,” she said. “I guess it wasn’t my fault—I did have a concussion—but it makes me feel stupid now. Or maybe I was a little bit crazy that night. The world seemed…I don’t know. Different.”
In fact, Tesla had awoken around three o’clock in the morning, when the whole world is asleep and it feels daring just to be awake. No longer disoriented, she felt strong, clear-headed, even.
“The doctors had at that point found some problem with the electrical activity in my heart,” Tesla continued. “They said I’d have to stay for a few days while they ran more tests and figured out what it all meant. They told me to rest, to let them get to the bottom of it.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Finn encouraged.
“Yeah, well. I’m not always good at following directions,” Tesla admitted. She missed the smile that pulled one side of Finn’s mouth up for just a moment.
“So what was the stupid thing you did?” he asked.
Tesla not only didn’t like to talk about it, she didn’t like to think about it—but did, far too often. The puzzle of it all nagged at her, hung around at the edges of her consciousness. That night in the hospital she had felt that her perceptions were sharper, more accurate. She sensed, rather than heard, the few people who padded along on rubber-soled shoes as they carried out their silent, night-shift duties. She felt the weight of the entire building around her, the floors above, and below. The mechanics of it all thrummed along, the ductwork and the ventilation, the generators and the electricity that powered the lights and machines, while the sensors hooked up to all the sick people monitored their vital signs, the beep and hum and whir of them like so many sleeping children.
“You have to understand, my head wasn’t right,” she said quickly. “I was hooked up to this machine, a heart monitor, and the wires seemed like tentacles attached at my neck, my chest, my temple, my thigh. It was alive and we were, you know, plugged in to each other. Symbiotic . The monitor was small and portable, the size of one of those old clock radios, and bolted to a wheeled pole like the ones they hang I.V. bags on. It was powered by an ion battery so I could get up and move around. I woke up in the middle of the night, and I felt great. I had this sudden urge to get out of my room, to find the heart of the giant, pulsing hospital, and my monitor was on wheels, so why not, I thought?”
Finn was silent, and Tesla tried to explain what even she found inexplicable. “It all seemed so perfectly natural, like that’s what I was supposed to do. I felt this energy in and around me from everywhere at once. I can’t explain it.”
I can explain it, she thought, though she would never say it out loud. That energy—it called to me. I had to answer .
CHAPTER 6
Tesla paused, distracted when Finn waved a hand to shoo a mosquito that buzzed around
“Huh,” Finn said, apparently deep in thought.
“I told you it wasn’t much of a story,” she said quickly, confused by his nearness, the ease with which he touched her, the intense response she felt when he did.
“No, actually it is,” he assured her. “But I suspect there’s more. What was it like in the hospital? I’ve never had reason to go.” He knocked on the wooden seat of the bench for good measure.
Tesla shrugged. “I was bored, mostly. I watched Gilmore Girls reruns and slept a lot. My head hurt. The concussion made me…I don’t know,” she said, hesitant. “It was just weird.”
“How do you mean?” Finn leaned in toward her.
“At some point in the middle of the night after I was admitted, I did something really stupid.”
“I doubt that—you seem like a reasonably intelligent person.”
“Gee, thanks,” she said. “I guess it wasn’t my fault—I did have a concussion—but it makes me feel stupid now. Or maybe I was a little bit crazy that night. The world seemed…I don’t know. Different.”
In fact, Tesla had awoken around three o’clock in the morning, when the whole world is asleep and it feels daring just to be awake. No longer disoriented, she felt strong, clear-headed, even.
“The doctors had at that point found some problem with the electrical activity in my heart,” Tesla continued. “They said I’d have to stay for a few days while they ran more tests and figured out what it all meant. They told me to rest, to let them get to the bottom of it.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Finn encouraged.
“Yeah, well. I’m not always good at following directions,” Tesla admitted. She missed the smile that pulled one side of Finn’s mouth up for just a moment.
“So what was the stupid thing you did?” he asked.
Tesla not only didn’t like to talk about it, she didn’t like to think about it—but did, far too often. The puzzle of it all nagged at her, hung around at the edges of her consciousness. That night in the hospital she had felt that her perceptions were sharper, more accurate. She sensed, rather than heard, the few people who padded along on rubber-soled shoes as they carried out their silent, night-shift duties. She felt the weight of the entire building around her, the floors above, and below. The mechanics of it all thrummed along, the ductwork and the ventilation, the generators and the electricity that powered the lights and machines, while the sensors hooked up to all the sick people monitored their vital signs, the beep and hum and whir of them like so many sleeping children.
“You have to understand, my head wasn’t right,” she said quickly. “I was hooked up to this machine, a heart monitor, and the wires seemed like tentacles attached at my neck, my chest, my temple, my thigh. It was alive and we were, you know, plugged in to each other. Symbiotic . The monitor was small and portable, the size of one of those old clock radios, and bolted to a wheeled pole like the ones they hang I.V. bags on. It was powered by an ion battery so I could get up and move around. I woke up in the middle of the night, and I felt great. I had this sudden urge to get out of my room, to find the heart of the giant, pulsing hospital, and my monitor was on wheels, so why not, I thought?”
Finn was silent, and Tesla tried to explain what even she found inexplicable. “It all seemed so perfectly natural, like that’s what I was supposed to do. I felt this energy in and around me from everywhere at once. I can’t explain it.”
I can explain it, she thought, though she would never say it out loud. That energy—it called to me. I had to answer .
CHAPTER 6
Tesla paused, distracted when Finn waved a hand to shoo a mosquito that buzzed around
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