Hearing that Nichelle was on the other side of the wall sent chills through me.
“Michael, we’ve got to get out of here,” Taylor said.
“I need to finish. Hatch could still kill all the prisoners. Abigail, McKenna, get out of here.”
“We’re not leaving you,” they said simultaneously.
Sparks bounced off the floor as Bryan completed the second cut.
“He’s halfway through,” Taylor said.
“I’m not going out without a fight,” Ostin said. He ran from the console over to the flamethrower.
“Ostin, I need you back here,” I said. “I need you to unlock all the prison doors and turn off all the collars.”
He turned to me. “We’ve got to stop them.”
Taylor went to the flamethrower. “You go, I’ll do it.” She crouched down next to the machine as Ostin ran back to the console and started hitting switches.
I hit the central VOX button. “Attention, prisoners. This is Michael Vey. We are freeing you. We’re unlocking all the doors. Your collars will soon be deactivated. As soon as the light goes off, take them off as quickly as you can. We’re under attack, so we don’t have much time. Ian, Jack, and Zeus will help get you out of the building. Do exactly as they say.”
“How does this work?” Taylor said.
“Just pull the top trigger,” Ostin said. “But not now. It will set the floor on fire.”
“Michael!” Jack shouted over the intercom. “We’re coming up the stairwell to rescue you!”
“Just be careful.”
“Hey!” Ostin shouted. “Zeus is coming back up the elevator.”
I looked over. “What? Tell him to turn back.”
“I can’t. There’s no intercom in there.”
The cutting had started again and Bryan completed another line in the wall.
“He’s almost through!” Taylor yelled.
“Ostin, are you done?”
“Just about.”
“Ian, all the collars are just about off. I don’t know how long we can hold the floor, so use the elevators with caution.”
“Got it, Michael.”
The front elevator door opened and Zeus walked out.
“What are you doing here?” I shouted to him.
“I need to face Hatch,” Zeus said.
“Send him an e-mail. Nichelle’s with him. Take the girls and get out of here.”
“We’re not leaving,” McKenna said again.
Taylor looked back at me and shook her head. “I’m not leaving you alone.”
“McKenna, Taylor, these are Hatch’s personal guards. They’ll kill you. They’ll kill all of us. Just get out. Please.”
Just then Bryan completed the last cut and the thick plated metal fell forward, crashing onto the floor. A concussion grenade flew through the hole at us, exploding in the middle of the room. Taylor screamed, falling to the floor behind the flamethrower.
“Put down your weapons,” Hatch shouted, “or we’ll throw in real grenades!”
“They have those?” Ostin asked.
“I don’t want to find out,” I said. “Okay!” I yelled. “Taylor, back away from the flamethrower.”
A moment later a guard stuck his head through the hole in the door. He looked around, then stepped inside. He was wearing a different uniform than I’d seen before—a bright green, rubberized suit with a helmet and bulletproof vest. He pointed his gun at us, as if daring one of us to engage him. Then Hatch, wearing the copper helmet, stepped through the hole behind him, closely followed by Nichelle and two other guards. Hatch looked around the room and said to me, “Quite a mess you’ve made of things, Vey.”
“I did my best,” I said.
Zeus was standing in the middle of the hall, halfway between Hatch at the stairwell and me at the console. Hatch looked at Zeus and his face twisted in a scowl. “Well, Frank, you turned out to be quite a disappointment.”
“My name’s not Frank,” Zeus said.
“You’re right. It’s Leonard. Leonard Frank Smith. That’s all you are now. What a pity. I made you into a god and you chose to be Frank. I’d laugh if it wasn’t so pathetic.”
“You gave me a title so you could make me your slave. You lied to me. You lied to all of us.”
“Who told you that, Frank? The liar Vey?” He looked at me, then back to Zeus. “It’s not too late for you, Frank. Take out Taylor, Abigail, and McKenna right now and I’ll let you back into the family.”
The girls looked at him anxiously.
“Really?” Zeus said. “You’ll let me be your minion again? What a deal.”
“Nichelle,” Hatch said.
Suddenly the worst pain I’d felt yet pierced my skull. Nichelle had always claimed that Hatch made her hold back but now, for the first time, I believed her. Taylor, McKenna, Abigail, Zeus, and I all screamed out.
At the same time the pop and spray of gunfire echoed in the stairwell and a concussion grenade exploded behind Hatch and the guards. One of the guards emerged from the stairwell. “Dr. Hatch, the GPs are attacking from below. We can’t hold them long. There’s at least two dozen of them.”
“Help them,” Hatch said to his guards. They climbed back through the hole into the stairwell. Hatch turned back to us. “Poor, misguided Zeus. You picked the wrong curtain. I gave you power and privilege. I gave you identity. Michael Vey gave you this…”
“Michael gave me freedom. You’ve done nothing for me that wasn’t in your best interest. That’s all this is about—absolute obedience to you. That’s what you want from the whole world. But you’re nothing, Hatch.”
Hatch’s expression turned fierce. “Nichelle, show Frank what nothing truly is. Show no mercy.”
She smiled, then looked at Zeus, who immediately fell to his knees, grabbing his temples and screaming.
Then she turned it on all of us. “You insignificant little cretins,” Nichelle said. “I told you that I could squash you all like mosquitoes.”
Taylor, McKenna, Abigail, and Taylor simultaneously crouched over in pain. My knees buckled and I fell to the ground behind the console. As I writhed in agony, Ostin looked at me helplessly, then crawled past me under one of the consoles and pulled the cord out of the wall. He took the knife from his utility belt and cut the end of the cord and handed me the frayed end.
“Put this in your mouth,” Ostin whispered.
I looked at him but did nothing. I was in too much pain to speak, and everything seemed to be spinning around me. I was on the verge of passing out. Ostin put the cord in my hand.
“Just do it!” he said.
I lifted the end of the cord to my mouth as he plugged it back into the wall. Electricity sparked in my mouth and a surge of power hit my body. Immediately, the dizziness left me and I felt normal again. Actually, I felt better than normal. I felt stronger.
Ostin crawled closer to me and whispered. “Michael, listen to me. I think I know how to stop Nichelle. Overload the circuit.”
I pulled the cord from my mouth; the power was still flowing into my hand. “What?”
“Don’t hold back, give her everything at once. Like blowing a breaker at home.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Trust me.”
I looked at him for a moment, then I heard Taylor scream out in pain. “Stop, please, stop! Michael!”
“Get behind me, Ostin.” I forced myself to one knee, then to my feet.
Nichelle was now focusing her attention on Taylor, who was writhing in agony.
“Hey, Nichelle!” I shouted.
She turned and looked at me.
“You want my electricity? Take it!” I spread out my arms and surged with everything.
Nichelle suddenly started shaking and her expression changed from cruelty to fear. “What are you doing?”
“Keep it up!” Ostin shouted.
Hatch looked at me, then back at Nichelle. “Nichelle, stop him! That’s an order!”
I continued to surge.
“What are you doing?” Nichelle repeated, her voice now trembling. “Stop it! That hurts! Stop!”
“I don’t think so,” I said.
Taylor, Zeus, and the girls all stopped shaking. Nichelle had released them.
“Stop it!” Nichelle screamed again, then she began convulsing as if she were having a seizure.
“What’s going on?!” Hatch shouted. “Answer me!”
Nichelle fell to her knees, doubling over in agony. “Stop! Please, stop!”
Hatch turned to me, his jaw clenched, his face red with anger. Sweat beaded on his forehead. For a second we just stared at each other.
Then a guard shouted to Hatch from the stairwell. “Sir, they’re on us! You’ve got to get out now!”
Hatch pulled a revolver from beneath his jacket and pointed it at me. “You did this, Vey. Now pay.” He pulled the trigger.
As the gun erupted, lightning flashed across the room and hit the bullet just inches in front of me, blowing it into nothing. Then Zeus turned and hit the gun itself. Hatch screamed out in pain, throwing his gun in the air.
“My name is Zeus!”
There was another explosion in the stairwell. “Sir, we’ve got to go now!” the guard shouted, grabbing Hatch’s shoulder.
“Help me!” Nichelle cried.
Hatch was holding his arm and glanced down at her. “You’re no use to me anymore.”
“But I’m your friend.”
“You betrayed your own kind, Nichelle. No one likes a traitor. Even those they serve.”
Hatch looked at me once more, his face twisted in hatred, then he ducked back out into the stairwell and climbed up to the roof.
“Zero guards,” Ostin shouted as he stood up from behind the console.
Nichelle was on her knees, looking at me fearfully. I surged once more. She let out a yelp, then collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap. A faint wisp of smoke rose from her body.
I let go of the electric cord and fell to one knee, exhausted.
The battle continued to rage in the stairwell as Jack and the prisoners pushed past our floor to the roof.
Ostin looked at me, then Zeus, then back at me. “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said. “A bullet travels at a mile a second, lightning travels at a hundred and eighty-six thousand miles per second. That rocked.”
Ostin looked around. Smoke was still wafting through the room and we all seemed frozen in place, like survivors of a natural disaster. He walked over to Nichelle and pushed her with his foot.
“Is she dead?” Taylor asked.
Ostin knelt down and put his hand on her neck. “Unfortunately not.”
Just then Ian climbed through the stairwell into the room. “Michael, Hatch is gone. He escaped in the helicopter.”
“With all the kids?”
“That I could see.”
I sat down on the floor and raked my hand back through my hair. Then I looked over at Ostin. I’m sure it was the release of tension, but I suddenly started to laugh.
Taylor looked at me like I’d gone crazy. “What’s so funny?”
“Ostin,” I said, slowly shaking my head. “Ostin is. ‘Overload the circuit.’ Where in the world did you get that idea?”
Ostin said defensively, “Nichelle gave it to me. When she called you all mosquitoes.”
“What?” Taylor said.
“Have you ever had a mosquito on your arm, but rather than swat it, just squeezed the skin around where it’s sucking?”
“You had a strange, sick childhood,” Taylor said.
“No, really, it’s cool. The mosquito can’t disengage, so it just fills up with blood until it explodes. I figured that since your natural reaction to Nichelle was always to resist, that she had probably just been dragging your powers out of you a little at a time, like sucking out of a straw. I figured if you just gave it to her all at once, she wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
“Brilliant,” I said. “Brilliant.” I looked over at Zeus. He was standing quietly, leaning against the wall, his head bowed. “Hey, Zeus,” I said.
He slowly turned around. “Frank,” he said. “I’m just Frank.”
I shook my head. “No, dude, you’re definitely Zeus.”
He smiled.
“He’s right,” Taylor said. “You’re Zeus.” She walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. “You were awesome. You were more than awesome—you were a hero.”
“Thanks.” He touched his cheek. “You’re the first girl who’s ever kissed me.”
Taylor smiled. “You deserved it.”
Just then Jack and Wade climbed in through the hole in the door. Jack opened his arms to me. “Michael, my man,” he said, walking up to me. “Stand up, Vey, I’m going in for the bromance.”
I stood and Jack embraced me, almost knocking me over. Then he stepped back and announced, “First time I ever hugged a dude I didn’t have a choke hold on.”
Wade stood a few yards behind Jack, staring at me. “You saved my life, man.”
“And you returned the favor,” I said. “We’re even.”
“Not even close,” Wade said. “Not even close.”
“So now what?” Taylor asked.
I looked down at my watch. The crystal was broken and its silver band was now scratched, but it was still there. It had come through the battle, just like me. “There’s a phone back here,” I said. “You better call your parents. They’re worried sick about you. You too, Ostin.”
Ostin started to the phone but stopped. “But what about your mom?”
“I’m going to find her,” I said.
“We’re going to find her,” Jack said. “And bring her home.”
I looked at Jack and shook my head. “Thanks, but I’ve already gotten you guys in enough trouble. I can’t take that chance again.”
“Trouble?” Jack said. “You can’t buy this kind of excitement.”
“I’m in,” Wade said. “You risked your mom’s life for me, I’ll risk mine for hers. Besides, even that prison wasn’t as bad as living with my granny.” He looked at Jack. “The food was better.”
“The guards were nicer too,” Jack said.
I looked down and smiled. “Well, I could use a ride.”
“I’m in too,” Zeus said. “I helped capture her. I’ll help free her.” He looked at me. “What else am I going to do? Can’t stay here.”
“Count me in,” Ian said, stepping forward. “I can’t speak for the girls, but last I checked, my schedule was wide open.” He looked at Abigail and McKenna. “How about you guys?”
“I’m in,” McKenna said.
Abigail just looked down. She furtively wiped a tear from her cheek. “I’m sorry. I just want to go home.”
McKenna walked over and put her arm around her.
I looked at Abigail affectionately. “Go home, Abi. You’ve done enough. But I’ll forever be indebted to you.”
“As will I,” Taylor said.
“We all will,” Ian said. “We love you, Abi.”
Taylor walked over to the phone and picked up the receiver. She dialed three numbers, then stopped and looked back at me, smiling. Then she set down the phone and walked over and took my hand.
“You, Michael Vey, are a freaking rock star.”
My eyes started twitching. “Thanks.”
She grinned. “Oh, now you start blinking. You had bombs blowing up around you, bullets shot at you, and two dozen armed bad guys trying to kill you and you’re a steely-eyed ninja, and now, when I hold your hand, you’re nervous?”
I shrugged. “I can’t help it.”
She smiled. “I like that.” She leaned forward and kissed me on the lips. Then she wrapped her arms around me and we kissed again. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ostin giving me a thumbs-up. I could practically hear him. I knew what he was thinking without my powers. Told you so, dude.
The rest of the clan was smiling as well. When we parted, Taylor said, “Now let’s go get your mother.”
I leaned back. “Wait, Taylor. You can’t come.”
She put her hands on her hips. “If you think I’m going to let my boyfriend run off without me, you don’t know me.”
“But what about your parents?”
“I’ll call them.”
“What about cheerleading?”
She looked at me incredulously. “You’re joking, right? Save the world or shake pom-poms. How shallow do you think I am?”
I started to laugh. It was a pretty stupid thing to say.
Suddenly, McKenna shouted out, “Michael, watch out!”
I spun around. No one had seen her enter. A girl I had never seen before was standing just fifteen feet from me. Zeus surged, knocking her back against the wall. She slid to the ground holding her arm. She cowered, her eyes averted. “Please don’t hurt me.”
I stepped toward her. “Who are you?”
“She’s Grace,” Ian said. “She’s one of the seventeen.”
“You’re one of Hatch’s kids,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“I ran away from Hatch.”
“Careful,” Ostin said. “She could be a plant.”
“We’ll know soon enough. Taylor, see if it’s true.”
Taylor walked over and put her hands on the girl’s temples. Then she turned back to us. “It’s true. She hates Hatch.”
“I want to come with you,” she said.
“Come with me? Where do you think I’m going?”
“To find your mother. I know where she is.”
I looked over at Zeus. “What does she do?”
“No one was really sure,” Zeus said. “Something with computers.”
“I’m like a human flash drive,” Grace said. “I can download computers. I broke into the academy’s mainframe and downloaded all the information they had before they destroyed it all. You’re going to need it to finish what you started.”
I looked at her. “What do you mean, ‘what I’ve started’?”
Grace was still holding her arm as she stood. “This is just the beginning. The Elgen have built compounds all around the world. They’re already trying to create new electric children. If we don’t work together and stop them, they’ll hunt us all down individually and then they’ll take over.”
“It’s true,” Ian said. “None of us will be safe alone.” He turned to Abigail and frowned. “Even you, Abi.”
Abigail looked down. McKenna rubbed her back.
“Hatch never forgives and he never forgets,” Zeus said. “He’s like an elephant with anger management issues.”
In the center of the hallway Nichelle groaned.
“Whoa! That’s Nichelle,” Grace said, her voice tinged with fear.
“Sure is,” I said.
Taylor walked over to Nichelle’s side. “So what do we do with sunny delight?”
Nichelle’s eyes opened. For a moment she looked around the room, then the screeching and pain hit all of us. I immediately surged and Nichelle screamed out, “Okay, I’ll stop!”
“Ugh!” Taylor groaned, rubbing her forehead. “Girl, you are one bad apple. Rotten to the core.”
“I’d like to fry her like a corn dog,” Zeus said. “And be done with her.”
Nichelle looked up at me fearfully as I walked over to her. “No, I have something more fitting in mind. Something much worse.”
“Worse than lightning?” Taylor asked.
I nodded, looking in Nichelle’s face. “Look at her. She has nothing left. Her powers are now worthless, her so-called friends have abandoned her, and we’re not going to let her take a single thing from this place.” I crouched down and took the diamond collar off her neck. “We’ll let her go back to the real world and live the rest of her life as a nobody.”
As the reality of my words sunk in her expression turned. “No,” she said. “Don’t do this. Shock me, Vey!”
I shook my head as I stood. “No. You’re on your own.”
Taylor walked over and took my hand.
Nichelle turned to Zeus. “Zeus, think of all the times I punished you! Finish me!”
Zeus folded his arms. “I’m done taking orders from you, Nichelle.”
“It’s time for you to leave, Nichelle,” I said. “Jack, would you escort her out? Make sure she doesn’t take anything with her.”
“Gladly.” He walked over and lifted Nichelle by her arm. She struggled futilely against his grasp.
“Let go of me, you creep! I hate you. I hate you all!”
Jack just grinned. “Come on, Wade. Let’s show Little Miss Sunshine the real world.”
“Hurry back,” I said as they waited for the elevator. “We have plans to make.”
Jack smiled, raising his fist in the air in a power salute. “Go Electroclan.”
As the elevator door closed behind them, a large grin blanketed Ostin’s face. “Wow.”
“What?” I said.
“We’re buddies with Jack and Wade, we just freed an entire prison, and”—he glanced at Taylor—“Taylor Ridley’s your girlfriend…”
Taylor smiled.
“We’re definitely not in Idaho anymore.”
“That’s for sure,” I said.
He held out his hand. “Bones, dude.”
I held out my hand and this time it was without hesitation. “Bones.”
Taylor smiled and, for the first time, she held her hand out as well. “Bones.”
Ostin looked at Taylor and me, then around the room at each of our new friends. His smile grew wider. “You know what we have here, don’t you?”
“What?” I asked.
“It’s the rise of the Electroclan.”
