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

breathe.
    And with tears in his eyes, Heisenberg said, “Now I’ve passed the test. I’ve never been so happy.”
    Then he put Nick down and ran off to get some tissues.

C aitlin had avoided Nick the entire day. She had her reasons, which had little to do with Nick and everything to do with the object she’d bought at the garage sale.
    The day before, Sunday, she had planned to spend the morning creating her work of art. She donned her smashing clothes and laid a tarp in the garage, with the poor, defenseless recorder in the center. She approached it, hefting the sledgehammer, wondering how many swings it would take to disfigure it just right.
    But she had never used a reel-to-reel recorder before, and she had to admit it intrigued her. Was it possible the thing still worked?
    She looked for a power cord and found it had none. But when she pressed PLAY , the spools rolled and tape fed across the playback head. Apparently the tape was blank.
    She pressed STOP , plugged in the microphone, and hit RECORD .
    â€œTesting, testing. This is Caitlin Westfield. Testing, testing.”
    Then she rewound it, watching the tape counter reverse to 000, and played it back.
    â€œTesting, testing,” said her voice through the woven speaker grille. “This is Caitlin Westfield, and this is a waste of time.”
    She almost didn’t catch it, because to be honest she wasn’t really listening closely, and she really had been thinking what a waste of time this was.
    â€œThat’s weird,” she said, and immediately decided that she had misheard. She played it again. When she heard the same thing a second time, she concluded it must have been what she had originally said, because what other explanation was there, really?
    Just to prove it to herself, she hit RECORD again.
    â€œTesting, testing. I’m testing this stupid machine again so I can smash it and be done with it.”
    And her own voice on playback said, “Testing, testing. I’m test ing this stupid machine again so I don’t freak out.”
    Now Caitlin was freaking out.
    If it was some sort of trick, there was no explanation for it. Her heart began to beat way too fast to be healthy. She hit RECORD again, and as the reels turned, she looked at the machine from every possible angle, to see if there was anything unusual about it whatsoever.
    That’s when her cell phone rang.
    She pulled it out of her pocket and looked. It was Theo. Her boyfriend had a penchant for calling at the most inopportune times. She put the phone on speaker and set it down so she had both hands free to study the device.
    â€œHey, Caitlin, it’s me.”
    â€œHey.”
    â€œWha’cha doing?”
    â€œArt project.”
    â€œOh. Because a bunch of us are going to the mall. Maybe we can see that new horror movie.”
    â€œI’d really like to, but I’m kind of busy,” Caitlin told him. “Come over later?”
    â€œYeah, sure, we can hang out.”
    â€œBye, Theo.”
    â€œBye.”
    It was only after she hung up that she realized the machine was still recording.
    She pressed STOP , looked at it for at least a full minute, refusing to believe she was thinking what she was thinking—and knew, if her thinking was correct, this was major.
    Then she rewound the tape to 000 and pressed PLAY .
    â€œHey, Caitlin, it’s me.”
    â€œHey.”
    â€œWhatever you’re doing isn’t important, but I’ve got to ask, so tell me anyway.”
    â€œArt project—like you care about anything that matters to me.”
    â€œOh. Because I don’t want to be the only guy at the mall without a girl. We’ll make out at the movies.”
    â€œThat sounds awful. I’ve already checked out of this conversa tion, but you can come over later, because I might actually be that bored.”
    â€œYeah, sure, maybe then we can make out.”
    â€œBye, Theo.”
    â€œHmm, I wonder