CHAPTER TEN

SPARKS FLY

At the same time that Kelly was having her little freak-out; Adam was still asleep, with only one thought running through his head. Emily. That was one of the pros of going to public school. The girls. He rolled over and opened his eyes. Where his hand had been resting was a burn mark. He shrugged and got dressed. It was Saturday and his parents were in the office, working on lesson plans. He poured himself a bowl of cereal.

He circled his spoon around the edges of the bowl. Bored as he was, he wondered if how long he could keep the spoon going with one finger. Then, he felt a bit of static shock. The spoon clattered against the bowl as he dunked his finger in the milk. That was a lot greater than a static shock. It was like his finger got electrified.

He picked up the spoon again. This time he held it with two fingers about a foot above the cereal. He then released one of his fingers and the spoon didn’t fall. It was crackling with static power. He then shook his finger but the spoon didn’t fall.

“Weird,” Adam said, and he vigorously shook the spoon. It went flying across the room, along with a bolt of electricity. Adam’s jaw dropped. His mom poked her head out of the study.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” She screamed. Adam struggled for words.

“Nothing!” He cried. His mom gave him a look and then retreated back into the room, shutting the door behind her. Adam walked over to the other side of the room. On the floor, around the spoon, was a burn mark.

“How did I do that?” He wondered aloud. He remembered the burn mark that was by his bed when he woke up that morning. He picked up the spoon and washed. Then he went into the basement to get on the computer. He needed some answers.

Meanwhile, Jackson was waking up. This was the first night that he had ended up in his own bed. Groaning, he rolled out of bed and threw on a shirt. He ran a brush through his knotty hair and washed his face. Then he slowly started down the stairs. He really could NOT wait until Ryan went back to his college and stopped bragging about his football and his grades. If he was such a big man on campus, why didn’t he have a girlfriend? Jackson smiled. He had had more girlfriends than his older brother.

Walking into the kitchen groggily, he pulled some cereal out of the cabinet. He was feeling good. This was the first night he hadn’t killed anyone. Maybe those shadow things were just temporary. He stepped back into some sticky liquid on the floor.

Looking down, he realized it was blood. Horrified, Jackson followed the trail around the counter and saw his brother laying face down on the carpet with the bones in his leg sticking through his skin and his throat slashed.

“Oh my god,” Jackson said, backing up. He tripped and fell. “MOM!”

Jackson could feel himself crying. “MOM!” His mother appeared at the bottom of the stairs. When she saw what had happened, she shouted out in disbelief. Jackson was sitting on the steps, crying hysterically. His mom pulled him away from the body and told him to call the police.

Adam was sitting at his computer looking up the properties of electricity. Suddenly, the screen froze up. Adam groaned and slapped the side of the computer. That didn’t really help. Frustrated, he hit the computer again. Then something odd happened.

A jolt went down his arm and into the computer. The monitor turned black and the screen shut down. Adam sat back and rolled his eyes. Then the computer turned back on, and it was unfrozen, to Adam’s surprise.

He looked at his arm and got an idea.

Adam was now outside in front of his mom’s car. He opened up the hood.

“ADAM!”

It was his mother. Adam winced.