Rise of the Elgen (2 page)

My girlfriend, the way-out-of-my-league cheerleader with perfect brown eyes, Taylor Ridley, is also electric. I can shock people (I call it “pulsing”), but she can shock people’s brains and make them forget what they were doing (she calls it “rebooting”). She can also read minds, but she has to touch you to do it.

One month ago the Elgen, led by a scary dude named Dr. Hatch, found us. They kidnapped Taylor and tried to get me, too, but ended up with my mother instead. A few days later I went to California with my best friend, Ostin Liss (he and I live in the same apartment building, and he’s one of the few people who knows about my powers), and a couple of kids from my school, Jack and Wade, to save Taylor and my mother.

Things didn’t go so well. In the first place, Taylor was there but my mother wasn’t. Then we got caught. Jack and Wade were forced to be GPs, which is short for human guinea pigs, the name the Elgen give their prisoners they experiment on. Ostin and I were locked up too, though I was put in Cell 25, the place they put people to break their minds.

I managed to escape and rescue my friends. I was also able to rescue four of the other electric kids: Zeus, Ian, McKenna, and Abigail. They have some pretty cool powers too. Zeus can shoot lightning bolts, which is why he’s named after the Greek god. (But he can’t touch water without shocking himself, so he doesn’t bathe much—actually, never—so he kind of smells.)

Ian’s blind but he can see way better than any of us. He sees the same way sharks and electric eels do, through electrolocation—which means he can see things that are miles away, even through walls.

McKenna can create light and heat from any part of her body.

Abigail can take away pain by electrically stimulating nerve endings.

We also rescued Grace. She was one of the electric kids who were loyal to Hatch (who calls us Glows). I don’t know much about her other than that she can download things from computers and she downloaded all the information from the Elgen’s mainframe before we escaped. We’re hoping she has information on where the Elgen have taken my mother.

There are ten of us now (including our nonelectric friends Ostin, Jack, and Wade). We call ourselves the Electroclan.

There’s one more thing I would put in my autobiography, something that scares me but would make my story more interesting. I don’t know for sure, but I may be dying. Hatch told me that four of the electric children have already died of cancer caused by their electricity—and I have more electricity than any of them. I don’t know if it’s true because Hatch is a liar. I guess time will tell. In the meanwhile we’re headed back to my home in Meridian, Idaho, to figure out where my mother is and plan our next move.

Like I said, I think my story would make a pretty good movie so far. Maybe it will be one day. But not yet, because it’s not even close to being over. And I have a feeling that things are about to get a whole lot wilder.

“I
am so freaking dead,” Ostin said, rubbing the palms of his hands on his head so hard I thought he’d leave bald patches. “My dad’s going to tear off my arms and beat me to death with them.”

I looked at Taylor, and she rolled her eyes. Ostin had been talking for hours about how excited he was to be home again, and it was only as we exited the highway into Meridian that it occurred to him that his parents would be angry that he’d run off without telling them.

“Relax,” I said. “They’ll be so happy to see you they’ll forget they’re mad. Besides, you’ve never even been grounded before.”

“I’ve never run away from home before either.”

“I’ll go with you,” Zeus said from the front seat. “I’ll be your wingman. If it gets ugly, I’ll take them down.”

Ostin’s eyes widened. “You can’t shock my parents.”

Zeus held his hands a few inches apart and arced electricity between them. “Sure I can. It’s easy.”

“I mean it’s
not okay
to shock them.”

Zeus blinked. “Why not?”

“They’re
my parents
,” Ostin said.

Zeus still looked confused. “Then Taylor can just reboot them until they forget who you are.”

“I’m not going to do that,” Taylor said.

“I don’t want them to forget who I am,” Ostin said.

Zeus shook his head. “Make up your mind. You want to get in trouble or not?”

“I don’t want to get in trouble
and
I don’t want to hurt them.”

“Sometimes you can’t eat your cake and have it too,” Zeus said.

“Technically,” Taylor said, “you can
never
eat your cake and have it too.”

“I wish I had some cake,” Ostin said, leaning his head against the back of the seat in front of him.

*   *   *

A few minutes later we passed the 7-Eleven where we’d started our journey, then turned into my apartment building’s parking lot. Jack put his Camaro in neutral and turned off the engine. “We’re here,” he said, even though it was kind of obvious.

“Where’s Wade?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Jack said. “Last time I saw him was about a half hour ago.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “He was supposed to stay with us.”

We’d left Pasadena with Jack’s car and one of the vans from the Elgen Academy, which Wade had driven with Ian, Abigail, Grace, and McKenna. Jack drove his Camaro with Taylor, Ostin, Zeus, and me.

Zeus sat up front with Jack and helped drive while the three of us crowded in the back, which, since I was next to Taylor, wasn’t the worst ride of my life. Around Barstow I fell asleep against her. When I woke up she whispered to me, “That was the strangest dream.”

“You had a strange dream?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “You did.”

It’s a weird thing sitting next to someone who can read your mind. At least she never has to wonder how I feel about her.

Our plan was to drive back to Idaho and hide at my apartment while we figured out how to rescue my mother from Hatch and the Elgen. But first we needed to find out where she was. The Elgen are global, which means my mother could be anywhere in the world.
Anywhere
.

As I said, before we left Pasadena, Grace downloaded the Elgen computers. We were hoping that somewhere in all that information was my mother’s whereabouts. All we needed now was a computer powerful enough to hold everything Grace had saved.

Fortunately, the Elgen didn’t know where we were. At least I didn’t think they did. I couldn’t be certain about that either. The only thing I knew for sure was that I was going to rescue my mother—or die trying.

“I
’m so dead,” Ostin said again.

“We got it, Ostin,” Taylor said. “Enough already.”

“If they don’t kill him, I might,” Zeus said.

I looked at Ostin. “I’ll come with you. They won’t kill you if I’m there. Besides, they’ll be impressed with how fit you look.” Not surprisingly, Ostin had lost a few pounds in the Elgen prison.

“Yeah,” Taylor said. “You’re looking good.”

Ostin’s frown vanished. “Really? You think so?”

“The Elgen diet.” Jack laughed. “Guaranteed to scare the fat away.”

“Yeah,” Zeus said. “Maybe you should go back and take the rest off.”

Ostin frowned again.

Zeus and Jack opened their doors and got out, followed by the rest of us.

Taylor stood next to me in the parking lot. “Where do you think Wade went?”

I glanced back at the road. “I don’t know. But it worries me.”

Jack shook his head. “I’m going to pound him when he gets here. He knew he wasn’t supposed to leave us.”

“Maybe something happened,” Taylor said.

“Yeah, maybe the Elgen captured them,” Ostin said. “Or the van had a self-destruct mechanism.”

Taylor frowned. “Or maybe they just got a flat. And besides, they have Ian with them.”

With Ian aboard they were less likely to run into a trap than we were. His ability to see through solid objects had saved us more than once.

“I’m sure there’s an explanation,” I said, trying to sound calm.
Wait to worry
, I told myself.
Wait to worry
. I felt my face twitch. I could pretend to be calm, but stress always makes my Tourette’s act up.

*   *   *

It was nearly fifteen minutes before Wade pulled the white Elgen van into the parking lot. He drove up next to Jack’s Camaro and rolled down his window. “Hey,” he said. “We’re here.”

Jack walked up to him and smacked him on the head.

“Ow!” Wade said. “Why’d you do that?”

“Where’d you go?” Jack asked. “You weren’t supposed to leave us.”

“The girls made me stop for doughnuts!”

“You wanted one too,” one of the girls said from the back.

“I hope you got some for us,” Ostin said.

“Sorry, man,” Wade said. “We ate them all.”

“They were
way
good,” Abigail said.

“Thanks for sharing,” Ostin said.

Everyone climbed out of the van.

“So this is Idaho,” Abigail said, stretching her arms above her head. “Isn’t this where they make potatoes?”

“
Grow
potatoes,” Ostin said. “You don’t
make
potatoes.”

“You make french-fried potatoes,” she replied.

Ostin shook his head.

Just then Ian said, “We’re being watched.”

I looked around but didn’t see anyone. “Who’s watching us?”

“There’s a guy in the apartment building across the street with a telescope pointed right at us. I don’t think he’s seen us yet. He’s sitting at the table eating a sandwich. But he’s almost finished.”

“What do we do?” Jack asked me.

“Is he alone?” I asked Ian.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s find out what he’s doing here. Ostin, take my key and get everyone in my apartment. Taylor, Zeus, Jack, and Ian, come with me.”

While Ostin, Wade, Abigail, Grace, and McKenna went to my apartment, the rest of us ran across the street. Inside the building I asked Ian, “Which apartment is he in?”

“He’s on the third floor. I don’t know which apartment, I’ll have to look.”

We quickly climbed the stairs. As we walked down the hallway, Ian commented on what he saw behind the walls, talking as if the residents could hear him. “Excuse me . . . Excuse me . . . Use a grenade jump . . . Don’t eat that . . . Really, dude? Use a tissue. Oh, that’s just nasty.”

At apartment 314 Ian said, “There he is, he’s back at his telescope. He just noticed the van. He’s taking out his phone. Now he’s dialing someone.”

“Taylor, can you reboot him?” I asked.

“I’ll try. Ian, where is he?”

Ian pointed left of the door. “Straight through there.”

Taylor put her head up against the wall and concentrated.

“It worked,” Ian said. “He put the phone down.”

“What’s he doing now?”

“He looks like he’s thinking.”

I tried the doorknob. “It’s locked.”

Ian examined the door. “Dead bolted and chained.”

Zeus said, “Ring the doorbell and when he opens we’ll shock him.”

“There’s a peephole,” Taylor said. “He won’t open the door with all of us standing here.”

“He’s dialing again,” Ian said.

Taylor focused again.

“Got him,” Ian said.

“You’re right,” I said to Taylor. “But if it’s just you standing here, he’ll open. Everyone against the wall.”

Taylor looked at me. “What am I supposed to say when he answers?”

“You’ll think of something. Just get him to open the door.” I looked back. “Everyone ready?”

Jack nodded. “Bring it on.”

I rang the doorbell.

A few seconds later, Ian said, “He’s coming. He’s got a gun.”

Taylor looked at me fearfully.

“Is he holding it?” I asked.

“No,” Ian said. “It’s in his holster.”

The peephole darkened. Then a gruff voice asked, “Who is it?”

We all looked at Taylor.

“Uh, good afternoon. I’m selling Girl Scout Cookies.”

“Girl Scout Cookies?” I mouthed. Taylor shrugged.

“Not interested,” the man said.

“He’s leaving,” Ian said.

Just then the door across the hall from us opened. An old man wearing a brown terry cloth robe scowled at us. “What are you kids up to?”