Read Online Tesla's Attic (9781423155126) by Neal Shusterman - Free Book Online

Mitch sheepishly said, “My dad would be able to figure out what to do.”
    Vince laughed at that. “Your dad? Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t give a penny for your father’s thoughts.”
    Mitch seemed to fold at Vince’s words.
    â€œAll I’m saying,” said Nick, “is that we aren’t meant to use these things.”
    And Mitch said, “What if we are?”
    They both turned to him. Mitch clutched the Shut Up ’n Listen a little bit tighter. “I don’t know about you—but I feel like this thing was mine even before I ever saw it.”
    â€œMe, too,” said Vince.
    Nick pursed his lips, a bit irritated. “Why does everyone feel that but me?”
    Mitch shrugged. “Maybe because you gave all the stuff away.”
    The two of them held their objects in white-knuckled grips that suggested Nick would get them back only when he pried them from their cold, dead fingers. Nick thought back to the garage sale. All those faces he didn’t know, all those people desperately grabbing things and hauling them away. How many people had been drawn to his garage, and filled with a feeding frenzy? All that stuff, that “junk,” was scattered now throughout the neighborhood.
    â€œWhat if all the stuff from the attic has bizarre properties?” Nick said. “And what if some of it is dangerous?”
    â€œWell,” Vince replied, “part of ‘all sales are final’ means it’s not your problem anymore, right?”
    While Vince had no trouble playing the “somebody else’s problem” card, Nick just couldn’t do it. Especially considering that strange, pearlescent-white SUV, and the man in the gleaming vanilla suit and his cohorts. They must have known about the things from his attic. That’s why they were there, and why they took the dregs of the sale—but the items they really wanted had been sold before they arrived. Nick instinctively knew that they should not be allowed to get their hands on those items. So maybe dispersing them through the town was the best way to hide them.…But if he didn’t track the other objects down, he felt pretty certain the vanilla dude would.
    â€œI’ll tell you what,” Nick said, realizing Vince and Mitch were the least of his troubles. “I’ll let you keep them—temporarily—on one condition. You tell absolutely no one.”
    Vince quickly agreed. “Secrecy is a key element of my existence. But Mitch here is the emergency broadcast system.”
    Nick looked to Mitch, who was going a little bit red, probably because he knew Vince spoke the truth. “How about it, Mitch?” Nick asked. “Can you promise to keep it secret, and make the promise stick?”
    Mitch’s pained look became intense. His hands folded into fists as he steeled himself for the ordeal, then he said, “Make me swear. Make me swear on a Bible like they do in court. That’s the only thing that will shut me up.”
    Nick wanted to roll his eyes, but he realized that Mitch was being completely sincere.
    â€œVince,” Nick said, “do you have a Bible around here?”
    Vince gave him a twisted grin. “Are you kidding? My mother has a whole collection. You want the one with Thomas Kinkade illustrations? Or the Smurf Bible?”
    â€œHow about one that looks intimidating.”
    Vince nodded. “I know just the one.”
    They went upstairs, and from a shelf filled with framed inspirational quotes and fake houseplants with unnaturally bright leaves, Vince pulled out a family Bible that must have gone back several generations. It had a worn, black leather cover with a Gothic, inlaid silver cross. The thing was about as intimidating as the Spanish Inquisition.
    â€œWow,” said Mitch, a little shaken, “I wasn’t expecting that.”
    Vince hefted the book. “I call it the Damnation Bible. On the various occasions