Grounded

Chapter 33

Chapter 33

In comparison, the first time I was juiced on the elevator in CGEF was like sipping energy from a cup through a small straw. At the mansion, getting juiced by Korwin's bath was like chugging from a jug. Kissing Korwin could be compared to gulping from a garden hose. But this... Touching the transformer is like being force-fed from a fire hydrant. The power pours into me without limits. It's like I've eaten a bad meal and I need to get sick, only I can't because someone is fisting more down my throat.

"Breathe!" Korwin yells. He kicks my leg.

I inhale. It doesn't help. "I can't take anymore!"

Our power revolves around the transformer and lights up the night. We are the eye of the hurricane. It's so intense, my hair blows back and my skin sizzles in the mounting energy storm.

Doors across from us open, but none of the officers dare approach our glowing blue forms. They try to shoot at us, but the bullets are absorbed by the aura of power.

"Pulse it back, Lydia. Send it back where it came from."

I tighten my belly and push. Nothing happens. I can see the strain on Korwin's face. It's like trying to deadlift a semitruck. I push harder.

"You can do it. Pulse!" Korwin yells.

I try again. Somehow, I find the strength to empty the power I've stored back into the transformer. The metal groans ominously.

"Again," he says.

I can tell he's started to juice. I don't want to open myself up to it again, but the pulse can only last so long. Once I'm empty, I'll have to pull my hands away or open myself up to the flow. My eyes start to tear. The tide shifts, and the power plows back into me.

Head shaking, I look at Korwin. "I can't do this anymore."

"You can. Don't give up."

All I can see is his silhouette through the blur of my tears. I want to help but I have to let go. I lift my left hand from the metal, but Korwin won't let me give up. He snatches my hand from the air and smashes it back against the cable. The physical contact ignites the dance that lives between us, and he pulses out the side of our conjoined palms. It helps. The transformer vibrates, creating an eerie shimmer.

Shattering glass fills the night. The lights illuminating the yard extinguish, the blown bulbs raining down all around us.

My skin is on fire. Tiny red dots break out across my arms. Am I bruising from the pressure of the push? I might pass out. I might die. I am too fatigued to scream or pray.

And then a miracle happens. It starts to rain.

I've never appreciated how magical water can be. The gift from the heavens washes over me, cooling my skin. Steam rises off of us, curling across the dirt at our feet, cloaking us from the officers.

"Juice, Lydia," Korwin orders. "Juice again and send any extra power into the water. Send it into the ground!"

I do as he says. I'm almost empty, and juicing rejuvenates my failing body. The flow isn't overpowering like it once was. We've weakened it. Excited, I smile at Korwin.

"It's working!" he says.

When I can't hold any more, I bleed the excess into the water. It shoots down into the ground, following the moisture that slicks off me. The lights inside the building flicker.

"One more time, Lydia. Pulse on the count of three. One. Two. Three!"

I catapult the ribbon out of me and into the transformer. And that's all it takes. The metal explodes in a shower of sparks. The transformer becomes a house-sized hand grenade. The force twists my body, snapping my neck and prying my fingers from the cable. Korwin's arms are around me. He shields me with his body, turning in the air so that his back takes the brunt of the fall. I land on top of him— chest to chest, face to face—in the flickering light.

For a moment, we search each other's eyes. His lips are so close I can feel his breath.

"That hurt," he says. "Let's get out of here."

I want to answer him but there's something wrong. I try to move but I can't. My body twitches uncontrollably. Sweat breaks out across my skin and I heave over his shoulder.

Carefully, he sits up with me in his arms. He brushes back the hair from my forehead. "The surge scrambled you."

I want to know how long I'll be like this, but I can't get my lips to work long enough to ask.

He stands, lifting me into his arms. Although my body won't work, my mind is exceptionally clear. Around us is mass chaos. None of the people here can function without power. Their communication system is down and the doors won't open. I remember the night we escaped from CGEF. Korwin said this was a security measure. Locking everyone inside was supposed to ensure any scampers were locked in too. There's no concern for the workers, only the energy. People are screaming, banging against the glass like wayward birds. Thinking back to my life without electricity, I have to wonder. How could the Englishers let themselves get this bad? How could they become so dependent on something so scarce?

Korwin carries me to the nearest door and pulses it open. He climbs the stairwell to the main floor. The staff, the same people who had tried to kill us moments ago, watch us with panicked eyes, backs pressed against the wall.

"We can't help them, Lydia," he whispers. "They'll turn against us. They'll call for help."

He's right. I know he is right. As we leave through the door Korwin pulses open, slamming the heavy metal on the advancing crowd and soldering it shut, what remains of the crystal housing containing the compassion and innocence of my youth cracks open. Those virtues still circulate through my blood, but they are overpowered by my new sense of reality. The world is a bigger place than I've realized. Pain hurts more. Evil is more pervasive. People can't be trusted. This isn't Hemlock Hollow, and to exist in this world, I have to change. A vivid image of David kicking me in the ribs overtakes me. "What's it going to be, Lydia? Are you going to fight or fail?"

    Korwin loads me into one of the cars from the parking lot and switches it to off-grid mode. We accelerate toward CGEF. I come alive in the seat next to him, my neurons unscrambling one by one. I can move a finger, then my arm, then my torso. Soon I sit up and reach for his hand. It's time to save Korwin's father. It's time to finish this.