My dads not Father of the Year material, Daniel said. But he isnt evil. If our parents did know, then its like Rafe said about his momthey agreed to this experiment because they honestly thought it was a good thing. Right or wrong, they didnt mean to hurt us. Im not as sure about the St. Clouds, but I still believe we can trust our parents.
So lets go back to Salmon Creek, I said. Check it out. See if its safe to return. Agreed?
They all nodded.
There was, however, one question still to be resolved. Should we try to find Nicole?
Daniel and Hayley voted no. I wanted to look for her. Corey wavered, and I could have swayed him, but Sam locked it up by voting to keep going. I think that surprised the othersvoting against finding her cousin. It didnt shock me, though. It fit pretty well with the image I had of Samantha Russo.
So I was outvoted, and we pushed on, hoping to find the road Id seen from the ridge.
I wasnt angry with Daniel for opposing me. I saw his point, too. We had no idea where to look for Nicole. She wasnt at the cabin. We didnt have the energy to go back over the mountain, to see if shed still be there. I really doubted she was. Leaving her behind was just a really, really tough decision to make, and I admired him for having the courage to make it.
SXTEEN
CAN WE WALK ON ahead? Daniel whispered after wed set out.
I nodded and told the others we were going to scout a little and to just keep us in sight.
He moved to the side to let Kenjii take the lead. So what did you read in that cabin?
I told him what Id deciphered from the handful of memos Id found. And deciphered was the right word. While they werent written in secret code, they were intended to be read by people who already knew what was going on. There was no overt mention of benandanti or skin-walkers or supernatural powers of any kind. That meant I had to combine what I already knew with lots of guesswork.
The St. Clouds were a real corporationId seen its subsidiary names on products and heard their corporation mentioned in the news. The same seemed to be true for the company that was after usthe Nasts. Piecing that together with the cryptic messages wed found on Mina Lees answering machine, I deduced that these were two rival corporations: the Nasts and the St. Clouds.
It seemed that these companies were both staffed by supernaturals. A progress memo had said things like Working on getting the Enwrights flown up. Their unique skills could be helpful in this search and A scent tracker would be a huge benefit. Would love to hire a ww on contract but company policy forbids. Meeting with Josef Nast today to discuss.
Call me crazy, but I was going to bet theEnwrights unique skills werent an astounding ability to read wilderness signs. As for a supernatural scent tracker, I suspected ww meant werewolfSam had said such things really existed.
When Daniel and I had hacked onto his mothers old computer, wed found references to an experiment in Buffalo that had gone wrong. Wed thought it was another drug-testing venture. From another memo Id read in the cabin, I now suspected something very different.
Project Genesis, Daniel said. There was a Delaney on that list, too. And an Enwright, I think. Was it another branch of our experiment?
No, ours was referred to as Project Phoenix. Meaning theyre resurrecting extinct supernatural types, like Rafe said. It looked like the Nasts were concentrating on our group. The memo said they were leaving cleanup on Project Genesis to the St. Clouds, and theyd get involved later if it looked profitable.
Cleanup? Daniel swore. Not liking the sound of that.
Apparently the St. Clouds lost control of some assets and were searching for them.
In other words, the subjects took off.
I nodded. I think so. The only other thing I got from the memo was the name of the guy in charge of the Edison Group. Dr. Davidoff.
Davidoff? He swore again. Dr. Davidoff was the guy the St. Clouds sent for our annual checkup.
Hes dead, I said. Like a bunch of other members of this Edison Group. Killed in an incident last spring.
So I guess we know why he skipped the summer teleconference.
I nodded. We walked in silence for a few minutes, then fell back in with the group.
Wed been walking for about thirty minutes when Daniel asked me to do another treetop check. Id been avoiding itreally couldnt afford to stumble into another pit of grief and regret right nowbut that birds-eye view of the region was invaluable. Also, while I could gauge our direction by the sun and the foliage the others felt better if I climbed to check.
So I found a tree and scaled it. Yes, I thought about Rafe, but after that cabin visit there was so much else swirling around my head that I could push it aside.
Kenjii took up position at the bottom. A few minutes later, she stood and gave a chuff, meaning someone was coming. I peered down to see Sam approaching Kenjii warily, looking around for me. I considered ignoring her, but when Kenjii glanced up, Sam spotted me.
I climbed down to the lowest branch. She waited for me to jump to the ground. I didnt, just said, Whats up?
I wanted to talk to you.
So lets go back to Salmon Creek, I said. Check it out. See if its safe to return. Agreed?
They all nodded.
There was, however, one question still to be resolved. Should we try to find Nicole?
Daniel and Hayley voted no. I wanted to look for her. Corey wavered, and I could have swayed him, but Sam locked it up by voting to keep going. I think that surprised the othersvoting against finding her cousin. It didnt shock me, though. It fit pretty well with the image I had of Samantha Russo.
So I was outvoted, and we pushed on, hoping to find the road Id seen from the ridge.
I wasnt angry with Daniel for opposing me. I saw his point, too. We had no idea where to look for Nicole. She wasnt at the cabin. We didnt have the energy to go back over the mountain, to see if shed still be there. I really doubted she was. Leaving her behind was just a really, really tough decision to make, and I admired him for having the courage to make it.
SXTEEN
CAN WE WALK ON ahead? Daniel whispered after wed set out.
I nodded and told the others we were going to scout a little and to just keep us in sight.
He moved to the side to let Kenjii take the lead. So what did you read in that cabin?
I told him what Id deciphered from the handful of memos Id found. And deciphered was the right word. While they werent written in secret code, they were intended to be read by people who already knew what was going on. There was no overt mention of benandanti or skin-walkers or supernatural powers of any kind. That meant I had to combine what I already knew with lots of guesswork.
The St. Clouds were a real corporationId seen its subsidiary names on products and heard their corporation mentioned in the news. The same seemed to be true for the company that was after usthe Nasts. Piecing that together with the cryptic messages wed found on Mina Lees answering machine, I deduced that these were two rival corporations: the Nasts and the St. Clouds.
It seemed that these companies were both staffed by supernaturals. A progress memo had said things like Working on getting the Enwrights flown up. Their unique skills could be helpful in this search and A scent tracker would be a huge benefit. Would love to hire a ww on contract but company policy forbids. Meeting with Josef Nast today to discuss.
Call me crazy, but I was going to bet theEnwrights unique skills werent an astounding ability to read wilderness signs. As for a supernatural scent tracker, I suspected ww meant werewolfSam had said such things really existed.
When Daniel and I had hacked onto his mothers old computer, wed found references to an experiment in Buffalo that had gone wrong. Wed thought it was another drug-testing venture. From another memo Id read in the cabin, I now suspected something very different.
Project Genesis, Daniel said. There was a Delaney on that list, too. And an Enwright, I think. Was it another branch of our experiment?
No, ours was referred to as Project Phoenix. Meaning theyre resurrecting extinct supernatural types, like Rafe said. It looked like the Nasts were concentrating on our group. The memo said they were leaving cleanup on Project Genesis to the St. Clouds, and theyd get involved later if it looked profitable.
Cleanup? Daniel swore. Not liking the sound of that.
Apparently the St. Clouds lost control of some assets and were searching for them.
In other words, the subjects took off.
I nodded. I think so. The only other thing I got from the memo was the name of the guy in charge of the Edison Group. Dr. Davidoff.
Davidoff? He swore again. Dr. Davidoff was the guy the St. Clouds sent for our annual checkup.
Hes dead, I said. Like a bunch of other members of this Edison Group. Killed in an incident last spring.
So I guess we know why he skipped the summer teleconference.
I nodded. We walked in silence for a few minutes, then fell back in with the group.
Wed been walking for about thirty minutes when Daniel asked me to do another treetop check. Id been avoiding itreally couldnt afford to stumble into another pit of grief and regret right nowbut that birds-eye view of the region was invaluable. Also, while I could gauge our direction by the sun and the foliage the others felt better if I climbed to check.
So I found a tree and scaled it. Yes, I thought about Rafe, but after that cabin visit there was so much else swirling around my head that I could push it aside.
Kenjii took up position at the bottom. A few minutes later, she stood and gave a chuff, meaning someone was coming. I peered down to see Sam approaching Kenjii warily, looking around for me. I considered ignoring her, but when Kenjii glanced up, Sam spotted me.
I climbed down to the lowest branch. She waited for me to jump to the ground. I didnt, just said, Whats up?
I wanted to talk to you.
