Grounded

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Squares of light filter down from above. I blink, allowing my sleepy vision to adjust and memories of the night before to come back to me like a forgotten nightmare.

"Good morning," the boy murmurs. His voice is deep and smooth with a hint of trouble to it. A voice with secrets.

I push myself up from the concrete. The grate above us casts enough light for me to see him clearly. Surrounded by orange traffic cones and road signs, hazel eyes peer at me from under too-long black hair. The ashen tone and blue lips are gone. His skin is naturally olive, although still pale. His cheeks are gaunt, and the sores on his arms are crusted over in the early stages of healing. They look a bit like the sore on my hand.

Despite his wrecked appearance, I am comforted by his presence and my mind wanders to the night before, when I was stretched out on top of him in the van's storage crate. His breath against my ear. The weight of his hand on my shoulder. I cast the image aside, annoyed at my misaligned reflection.

"Who are you?" I hug my knees to my chest. "Why were they keeping you in that place?"

"I should ask you the same thing," he says. His eyes bore into mine, like he's trying to read something off the back of my skull. "I'll go first. I'm Korwin, and obviously I'm an electrokinetic, just like you."

"Electrokinetic?"

"Well, you said you weren't a scamper. Were you lying? Are you using some new technology?"

"No. I'm not a scamper. I'm not... from here. I don't even know what electrokinetic means." Uncomfortable under his intense stare, I squirm and shift my gaze toward the floor.

"Huh. I doubt that very much, but I'll play." He frowns. "An electrokinetic is a person who can do what we did last night. I prefer the slang term 'Spark.' A Spark can create, absorb, store, and transmit electricity... in his or her cells. No device required." He wiggles his fingers in the air.

"People here are born like this?" I look down at my hands, remembering how the electricity flowed in and out of me. "Did I catch it?"

He tilts his head, his eyes squinting in my direction. "No, sweetheart. We're made like this. Sparks are made, not born."

"Made? I wasn't made!"

"You said your name was...?"

"Lydia."

"Lydia, where exactly are you from?"

I don't answer.

"I don't blame you for being tight-lipped. It's amazing you've stayed hidden this long. But you don't have to be on guard with me. I'm a Spark, and so are you. Scampers don't get electro-scurvy."

I blink at the sore on my hand and then slowly shake my head. "I know this is confusing for you, Korwin, but I'm not what you think I am. My power was a gift from God so that I could save you and myself. Now that the purpose is served, I'm sure it will go away."

One side of Korwin's mouth peels back from his teeth, and he looks at me like I'm insane. "I think after all we've been through together, we should be honest with each other."

"I agree."

"The doctor who chased after you at CGEF, that was Dr. Konrad, yes?"

"Yes."

"And what do you know about Dr. Konrad?"

"Nothing. I met him yesterday. He thought I had scamping equipment inside my body."

Korwin runs a hand through his mop of hair. "Twenty years ago, Dr. Konrad led a secret government-funded study in biotechnology at Crater City University. The Alpha Eight, four men and four women, were injected with a retrovirus designed to make them electrokinetic. Konrad's sponsor, Senator Pierce, thought the technology would boost his political career. But the study ended in disaster."