What a Find.

A cool breeze disturbed the lace curtains in the drafty New-England home, as a weathered gray pickup truck lurched into the driveway, bed full of bins and totes. Father and son, hopping out of the cab began unloading parcels into the garage while a girl waited at the drafty window.

“What'd you get!?”

“Calm down Sarah, your brother and I just got back.”

“Yeah but what'd you geeeeeeet?”

“If you'd have come sis, you'd already know.”

“Studying, grounded, remember?”

“And who's fault was that? Running around with Joshua after curfew.”

“Nothing great, bunch of leather coats, mostly fake. A few bins of books, the usual storage auction takings.”

“Think any of it's worth anything?”

“We'll see sweetie. Got the whole unit for three-hundred, I'm sure we'll make something, just not what I'd hoped.”

“Next time. You've got a nose for it dad.”

“And you have a nose for books. ...And you're grounded. So have at them.”

“Oh joy.”

Sarah was grounded, for fact-seeking, nonetheless, with her friend Joshua Binks. Joshua was a year older, attending the same school, and a member of the Parkerville Historical Society; something Sarah appreciated. Her love of books was a well-known fact in Douglas household, as diving into secret tomes and texts was her current fascination. Having had her evening schedule freed up, she started digging through totes, hoping for some ancient lost knowledge or historical documents.

“Lets see here... A Shakespeare classic collection? Not bad. And what are you? Canterbury Tales? Water-damaged tales more like it. Hello dusty, who are you? Not a lot of black-books, a journal?”

On examination, the book was smaller than most with a black leather cover and N.T. written in the lower-right corner. Leafing through, the book was a journal, but had loose pages too. Odd occult-looking circles on vellum, strange diagrams and machine sketches; in short, exactly the kind of thing Sarah liked. She retreated to the comfort of her room to dive into mysteries unknown.

For hours, Sarah poured over the odd notebook. Combing through the pages she was torn between believing this was some sort of contemporary historical writing about Nikola Tesla, and some sort of odd assembly of magical research notes. After comparing sketches and drawings to images sourced online, all she could think of was that the book's former owner was in the process of writing two books of their own; one fiction and the other non-fiction Having exhausted the majority of the pages, Sarah began to look at the loose letters inserted into the tome.

Sixth June, 1885.

It is one year to the day of my arrival.

Having studied in Prague, Austria, and Budapest, I came to the Americas to challenge the master wizard himself.

Edison.

What I found was a pompous and arrogant man. Master or no, he failed to see the truth in equation. He denies the natural ebb and flow of the Ether and foolishly believes his design infallible. The truth could not be farther apart. No matter. I have already surpassed many of Edison's designs. Even now he denies me that which was promised. If he refuses to acknowledge the superiority of alternating currents, then history will watch him fade as ignominiously as direct current will.

I have separated from this pretender's coven.

This was very interesting, but it was currently fourteen minutes into Sunday, and time to set things down. Rubbing her eyes, she finally settled in. She'd have to show Joshua later, he'd surely be interested in something so odd. Shooting him a quick message on the HistSoc forum only took a moment, and then it was off to bed.

Sunday morning was always a favorite for Sarah. Normally, she'd be up earlier than her family and have a cup of slightly-bitter herbal tea—This Sunday however, she had awoken to the smell bacon frying, a sure sign Kevin was up. Rousing quickly, Sarah got dressed and migrated toward the large bowl of scrambled-egg goodness that awaited. Checking her messages while eating, Joshua had gotten back to her and really was interested in seeing the book. He would have to wait though, grounded as she was. Finishing her egg-only sandwiches, she decided to take a few pictures of the books and letters and upload them to the forums; see what the community thought of it; she'd catch up with Joshua at school tomorrow.

“Kevin! help me with this.”

“What is it? Find something neat in the haul?”

“Sorta, I want to take pictures of this but it doesn't lay flat. Hold the corners down for me?”

“Sure, you putting it up for sale? Worth anything?”

“Nah, just think Josh'll get a kick out of it.”

“It's 'Josh' now? You two dating yet?”

“NO. No. We aren't dating yet. Hold the corners.”

“Fine, fine. Didn't know you history geeks were into electronics. What is that? An old generator diagram?”

“It's like old-timey witchy magic! It's weirdly comprehensive.”

“I don't see what you mean by magic, but that's definitely an electrical diagram. Is this old? The symbols are a little off.”

“I dunno, I'm not really into computers.”

“Weird. Ask 'em if they think its worth anything.”

“Sure sure. There's letters too. Here.”

“The paper is pretty old. Lets see; Sixth June, 1885…. one year since my arrival. Having studied in…. came to the Americas to challenge the great inventor Edison; Oh, this is about Tesla? Let's see; What I found …. pompous and arrogant …. failed to see the truth …. denies the potential of alternating current …. believes direct current infallible. …. already surpassed many of Edison's designs. ….denies me that which was promised. ….refuses to acknowledge …. history will watch him fade as ignominiously as direct current will. I have separated from his employment to strike out on my own.”

“Well?”

“He sounds mad. Lemme know what they think, if this is genuine it could really be worth something. Anyways, I'm going out, track practice today.”

“yeah.... sure. See you.”

Having taken back the letter Sarah began rereading it, her brother's account sounded so different of what she remembered. Looking it over the words were there, plain as day; Wizard, Ether, Coven. How could he have missed those? Whatever. A few more letters, and some sort of contract to upload; the contract seemed dark. She read the final page;

WESTINGHOUSE E&M

In Accordance with Enacted Rites, I, George Westinghouse in the matter of the manifestation and distribution of Ether will be forthwith empowering and funding the Esteemed Sorcerer Nikola Tesla.

As Patron, a measure shall be paid at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents American per unit generated with all rights marketable assigned to the Patron and his foundation, to be distributed at the Patron's sole discretion.

George Westinghouse Nikola Tesla

After brushing aside the matter of the book, Sarah went about the day combing through bins of auction winnings, though the rest seemed far less interesting. When her father left for work, she decided to leave the garage and check the forum, but she couldn't log in. Checking her phone she saw several missed calls and messages;

-”Sarah, what is this book you've found?”

-”Sarah, you getting back online soon? There are lots of questions about this.”

-”Call me, it's important.”

-”The forum is offline. Call me PLEASE.”

Sarah stared at her phone for a moment, unsure what was going on, while she was staring at the stream of missed calls, it began to vibrate again; Joshua. She swallowed her anxiety and answered.

“Sarah!?”

“Josh, what's going on?”

“I don't know. That thing you posted? Within a few hours there were tons of replies, almost a thousand. The forum got almost a hundred new accounts, now its offline! People are looking for you!”

“W-What!?”

“Sarah! You had your contact information in your Bio! Is your dad around?”

“Ummm! No? Let me look outside.”

Sarah slid the lace curtains to the side, scanning the street. Her fathers truck was already absent from the driveway, but there were two white vans parked near the house and another cruising slowly. This was unnerving but what really creeped Sarah out was that both parked vans had two completely bald men wearing dark glasses inside.

“Josh!”

“Yeah?”

“Josh there are creepy men and vans all over the street!”

“Wait, what!?”

“Josh I'm a little scared here, what should I do?”

“Can you call your dad? Your brother?”

“Dad doesn't have a cell and Kev's is at PhoneFixers, are you home right now?”

“Yeah, do you want to meet somewhere?”

“Umm Umm....”

“Sarah, focus; Fowler Lanes?”

“Yeah, Bowling alley sounds good. I'll sneak out the back. Fifteen minutes?”

“I'll be there. Be safe!”

“Okay. You too.”

Sarah stopped to stifle a panic, but years of adventure movies had prepared her well. She pulled her hair into a bun and put on a denim jacket and baggy pants; she'd pass for a boy under light scrutiny. Tucking the journal into a bag she was out the garage window in just under two minutes. Dropping down in the back-yard she heard heavy knocking at the front door and ran.

She knew she had to get away from whoever those people were, so she took the back alley into the neighbors' hedge row. Peering out of the hedges she heard the sound of tires on gravel as a white van turned into the alley and slowly crept along it. Pulling back into the hedges she sat still as she could, her heart rate climbing as the van drove past less than three feet away. After the van rounded the corner, she took off as fast as she could through the neighbors' yards into the adjacent cul-de-sac, coming out along a driveway. She knew she had to play it cool now, not stand out. She walked now, casually, occasionally looking at her phone as carefree as she could manage. A few blocks later however, a van had pulled up and was slowly pacing her. She tried to pretend she didn't notice, but after turning once with the van following, she darted away and the van gave chase. Vaulting over fences was easy enough, but soon there were more vans. Ducking through a row of arborvitae, she ducked into a backyard and into a sailboat that was already tarped-over for the winter. She laid-low in the cabin for about twenty minutes, then texted Josh.

-”Josh, I'm trapped.”

-”Where are you!?”

-”McKutchenson's. Secret base.”

-”What, the-”

-”SHHH, they might be listening.”

-”What? Okay.”

-”Send the cops or something!”

-”okay, sit tight.”

The Sun was beginning to set now, Sarah had gotten comfortable in their old hiding spot, when there was a knock on the hull.

“Miss Douglas?”

She Waited, knocking again.

“Miss Douglas? It's the Parkerville PD. We have your friend with us.”

“Josh!?”

“Im here. Come on out hun.”

Climbing down, she ran to Josh and hugged him.

“Miss Douglas, we've heard a bit of a tale from your friend here, and your dad reported you missing an hour ago.”

“-And Sarah, there's this guy! Here see?”

As Joshua spoke, a bespectacled man exited a black Lexus at the end of the driveway with her father. As the group met up, the man extended a hand.

“Miss Douglas? Good evening, I am a lawyer representing the Historical Society's interests. I hear you may have a journal on you?”

“Y-Yes, I think it may be Tesla's.”

“You're right in thinking that.”

“Sarah! It matches one of his journals we've seen in old photos!”

“What does that mean?”

“Young lady, it means we are willing to pay you handsomely to see it in the right hands.”

“Dad?”

“They're offering twenty-thousand sweety.”

“Twenty....what!?”

“Indeed, would you come down to the Police Station with us? There seem to be a lot of spectators here.”

“Y-Yes! Of course! Lead the way!”

“Good job honey.”

“Am I still grounded?”

“For the next fifteen minutes.”

“Dad....”

“So, you and Joshua huh?”

“DAD.”