Radioactive by Vanessa Acton

Author:Vanessa Acton [Acton, Vanessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Action, Action & Adventure, action/adventure, Adolescence, Adventure, Courage, Curse, Cursed Places, Curses, Danger, Darby Creek, Family and Relationships, Fear, Fiction-Young Adult, Friends, Friendship, High Interest, High School, High-low, Mysteries, Mystery, Occult, Paranormal, Radiation, Radioactive, Scary, Secret, Secrets, Spooky Story, Supernatural, Survival, Suspense, Teen, Teenagers, Teens, The Atlas of Cursed Places, Thiller, Thrillers, Thrillers & Suspense, Vanessa Acton, Young Adults
ISBN: 9781512419504
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Published: 2016-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Nola is covering for her mom at the front desk. Which makes it easy for her to search the guest database. While she types and tries not to look shifty, Zack leans on the counter, staring at her earrings.

The B&B’s front door opens. Lamar charges in, backpack slung over his shoulder. “Hey, guys. First I’m stealing some coffee. Then we’re talking. Be right back.”

Nola barely glances at her boyfriend as he breezes by. Her eyes are locked on the computer screen. “Here we go. Jeannie and Brad Dyson. Checked in two days ago for a weeklong stay. Room 3. Now explain how any of that is helpful.”

Zack shrugs. “It’s not, I guess. What room was Jeff Aberthol in?”

“Room 1,” she says promptly. “I just cleaned it. So what?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just wondered if there was any kind of connection between them.”

“We don’t even know if Mrs. Dyson is actually missing,” Nola reminds him. “She might just be taking a longer walk than her husband expected.”

“Sure,” says Zack. “But is that what you think?”

She looks back at the computer screen. Her fingers tap lightly on random keys, not actually pressing down. “I don’t know what to think. Something feels really wrong, but I can’t figure out why.”

“So you do feel that.”

“Yeah.”

Then he’s not imagining it. It really does seem as if the island has been standing on one foot for a long time and is suddenly losing its balance.

Lamar is back, coffee cup in hand. He leans across the desk to give Nola a peck on the cheek. “Okay, school starts in twenty-eight minutes, so let’s make this a lightning round. You first, Nola. You find out anything from your parents last night?”

She shakes her head. “Nothing that Grandpa didn’t already tell us. I mean, they admitted they knew about it. But they couldn’t explain why they’d never mentioned it to me. Or why we never learned about it in school or anything.”

“I learned a little online,” Zack says. “The test was called Project Pandora.” He gives a quick summary of his findings. “And did you know a nuclear blast can turn solid rock into glass? Freaking glass. And that glass is radiation-proof. It stops all the radioactive material from reaching the surface. Isn’t that insane?”

“How’s this for insane?” says Lamar. “I got Mom and Li to crack last night. Li was pretty shaken up. She actually wasn’t sick, just spooked. Because back when she first opened the book store, fifteen years ago or whatever, some local geezer sold her a book.” So far, so ordinary. Lamar’s folks buy people’s used books and resell them. That’s how their business works. But Lamar’s obviously not talking about a normal transaction.

Lamar sets his coffee cup on the desk and lowers his voice. “This book was called The Atlas of Cursed Places. Basically a normal atlas, with a bunch of maps, and background info on those areas. Except instead of your typical population statistics and whatnot, the information was about curses.

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