The Immortalists Read Online Free PDF Page B

years ago.
    The house revealed itself as Richard crested a small hill—ten times the size of the one he lived in and plopped in the middle of a piece of land larger than the farm he’d grown up on. The stone façade and dramatic roofline made it look a bit like a failed castle—a romantic illusion reinforced by the beautiful dark-haired woman waving at him from beneath the portico.
    “Hello,” she said, placing a soft hand into his as he climbed out of the car. “I’m Alexandra Covas, Dr. Mason’s assistant.”
    She looked to be about Carly’s age, with impenetrable eyes and an exotic accent that gave her an appealing air of mystery. Not really his type, but it did offer one possibility as to why Mason was almost never seen outside the walls of this compound.
    Richard followed her to the library, where she left him standing alone beneath towering bookshelves. He stood motionless in the silence for almost a minute, but the butterflies in his stomach started to attack again, and he decided to try to distract them with a self-guided tour.
    Original pencil drawings of various plants and animals hung on the walls—reminders of an elegant time of discovery before modern devices like cameras. He walked deliberately, occasionally pausing to examine a particularly impressive insect collection or well-preserved skull, finally stopping at a first edition of On the Origin of Species on display under glass. Standing there in August Mason’s study looking at a book that could have been personally thumbed by Charles Darwin wasn’t doing much for his sense of calm. Hell, he wasn’t even sure what he was doing here. Calling Mason had been a ridiculous Hail Mary. He’d never actually thought the man would agree to a meeting.
    “Dr. Draman, I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.”
    Richard spun and found himself faced with yet another surprise. Mason was no longer the puffy, bespectacled man he’d been when he was working, nor was he the wild-eyed recluse so many had hypothesized.
    For certain, he looked every one of his sixty-five years, but those years had settled in kindly. He’d lost at least forty pounds from when he’d disappeared, leaving a solid physique and shoulders that would be considered broad in the less-than-athletic world of academia. His skin was deeply lined around the mouth and eyes, but tan and healthy beneath a head of longish gray hair.
    “Dr. Mason?”
    His acknowledgment was limited to a polite smile.
    “It’s incredible to meet you, sir,” Richard said, pumping the man’s hand with embarrassing energy. He’d actually had a picture of Mason on the wall of his dorm room at school. As he recalled, it had held a place of honor just to the right of his highly collectible poster of Raquel Welch in a fur bikini and just above his seldom-used beer bong.
    “I really appreciate you agreeing to see me, sir. I know you don’t make it a habit. I’m truly honored to be here.”
    Mason seemed vaguely amused by his guest’s breathless delivery.
    “I’m sorry,” Richard continued. “I’m babbling. I suppose you get that a lot.”
    “Not so much anymore.” Mason pointed to a pair of chairs, and they sat.
    “Last I heard, you were working in cancer, Richard. I seem to remember that there were a lot of people talking about you. The wonder boy from…Oklahoma, was it?”
    “I’m from a little town you never heard of in Kansas, actually.”
    “And how does someone from a little town I’ve never heard of rise to such eminence in as complicated a field as biology, Richard?”
    Richard was embarrassed to feel a little surge of adrenaline at the compliment and the fact that August Mason would show any interest in him at all.
    “Well, my high school didn’t really have classes that challenged me, and I was lucky enough to get an opportunity to study at an out-of-state private school.”
    Technically correct but hardly the full story. In truth, he’d felt completely isolated as a child, disconnected from