Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things Novels #1) - Gwenda Bond Page 0,50

graveyard of machines in the quiet dark.

She shook her head. You’re losing your grip. Get it together. Then again, maybe it was just the remnants of the day’s drugs. And the fact that she’d witnessed something impossible.

Shadows draped the front of the warehouse, the lone security light no match for the evening. Alice must have known the way by heart, because she didn’t hesitate a step. Terry watched as she approached the building in front of them, and then moments later a broad door swung open and lights blazed inside.

“After you,” Ken said.

Terry and Gloria entered first—the door was wide enough for both—and Terry let out a low whistle. Inside were more of the behemoth machines, towering high, seeming even bigger with a roof over them. The cavernous workshop smelled of oil and grit and sweat.

Alice fixed these. She worked on these. She truly was some kind of genius.

“Alice, this is…This is really something,” Terry said.

Alice had her arms folded nervously in on each other. “I know it’s not college, but…”

“This is incredible,” Gloria said.

Alice rolled her eyes. “Flattery is unnecessary.”

Gloria shook her head. “There’s a science to this, too. A lot of it.”

Alice nodded, at last releasing her hold on her arms. She must’ve been worried they’d poke fun at her. Their tough, fragile Alice. Affection for every single one of these strangers who’d become her friends surged through Terry. There was no one on earth like any of them.

Terry, get yourself together.

“Remind me: I’ve got a radio I need to you to fix,” Ken said and winked at Alice.

Alice held up her thumb and forefinger and rubbed them together. “Sure…for ten bucks of filthy lucre, you got it.”

The mood lightened a touch.

“I’m afraid I don’t have many chairs to offer you.” Alice swept a gaze around the workshop, where Terry saw exactly none. “My uncle says they just encourage people to stick around and pry in your business.” She gestured to the concrete and sat, propped against the wheel of a bulldozer-like machine.

The rest of them eased off their feet. Terry chose crisscross applesauce, propping herself up with a hand to the cool floor at her side. Gloria stepped up and took the padded seat of a medium-sized tractor. Ken crossed his feet at the ankles alongside Terry.

“Well,” Terry said, when no one spoke, “we’re here for a reason. Brenner knows something. He…threatened me. He made it sound like he had something to do with Andrew…”

“He couldn’t have, though,” Alice said. “It was a random lottery.”

Ken rubbed his lip. “The papers are already saying it wasn’t as random as it should’ve been.”

“Like I said before,” Gloria said, “they’re people with resources.”

A surge of emotion washed through Terry, overwhelming. “So it’s my fault?” she asked in horror.

Gloria jumped in immediately. “No, no one is saying that. It’s definitely not your fault.”

Cold comfort. “I have something else to tell you guys, but, Alice, do you want to go first?”

Alice’s head bobbed. “I saw something that may be worse than the monsters.”

“What?” Ken, with interest.

“Brenner was with this little girl…” Alice recounted to them a story about Brenner and a young girl in a gown with a weird helmet on, a tattoo on her forearm that read 011. And then Alice had seen her using powers, throwing a man with just a gesture. “It looked like an experiment. I can’t be sure, but it seemed so real.”

The 011 reminded Terry of the numbers on the files she had found in Brenner’s office. Did that mean Kali had a number, too?

“Kali came to see me today. She has powers. There’s no other way to describe it.” Terry briefly outlined their encounter and the abilities she’d demonstrated. To Alice, she said, “I believe what you saw.”

“Hmm,” Gloria said and tugged on her lip. “What did your girl look like, Alice?”

“Short brown hair—really short, like one of my brothers, or like it had been shaved and only just started to grow back. My aunt had cancer once…Maybe…She was too thin, but she looked healthy.” Alice shut her eyes and then reopened them. “Maybe around twelve or thirteen? Pale skin. Big, piercing eyes.”

Terry frowned. She’d just assumed that Alice had seen a vision of Kali.

“And your Kali?” Gloria asked.

“No,” Terry said. “That’s not her. Can’t be. She’s younger.” She rolled onto her knees and held up her hand to roughly indicate Kali’s height. “Five, I’d say. Dark skin. Black hair to her shoulders. I guess this confirms that there’s more than one child