When Lightning Ignites [COMPLETED]

Chapter 19: Pent Up

Julie's stomach rumbled again as she lay on the couch flipping through the TV channels later that day. She had gone to the bathroom earlier and made a finger spark inside her clasped hands held up to her face. She didn't trust that some pervert wasn't watching her in the bathroom. Now she wished she had eaten more fruit. Or lunch. Or dinner.

She had spent the whole day here now, and the most exciting thing was when she met all the other captives this morning. She had refused to go back out for any other meals, and no one commented when she didn't eat anything they brought to the room throughout the day. The snacks in the room were crackers and junk that she refused to eat. The day she started eating that stuff was the day she gave up getting out of here and back to her family, dancing, and even Seelie Island.

Kara sat in the blue chair, sometimes randomly commenting on the show or where they were and then spacing out. Julie ignored her now. She wasn't trying to be cruel, but if she had to explain one more time what was going on, she was going to rip all her hair out.

She glanced over at the glass door for the hundredth time then got up and went to check it out. It didn't open when she walked over to it. No shock there. There was no keypad or anything on either side she could see. So either someone was opening it for the guards, or they had something on them that got them out. She stared at one of the black semicircles on the wall, so frustrated she wanted to punch something.

Her skin crawled with the need to expend some of her pent up energy. Muriel hadn't gotten around to showing her how to diffuse it. She stuck her tongue out at the camera and went back to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her as she entered.

The door might open if the electricity shorted. Julie contemplated the power plug...should she?

If she shot some of this pent up stuff in there, it would make her feel better. She could even test the door. She looked around the room again, there was no black semicircle in here, but was it worth the risk? She twisted her long red hair into a knot at the base of her head as she stared in the mirror.

Oh what the hell—how could this get any worse?

Julie turned the light off, cupping one hand over her other, then concentrated on funneling as much energy as possible out of her index finger that she had shoved as much as possible into the socket.

She forced down a giggle. She was shoving her finger into an electrical socket. Her life was ridiculous. And she was losing her mind. Nothing about this should be funny.

A bolt shot out, and the smell of ozone hit the air. With her hand cupping the socket, she didn't see even the slightest flicker of light. She froze.

Oh, crap. What the hell did she do? Why did she give into that urge?

But she felt so much better—her skin felt back to normal, not like ants were trying to work themselves out of her. She stayed in the bathroom for a minute, listening at the door. She didn't hear any screaming or yelling coming from outside. After a minute she flushed the toilet and walked out like nothing had happened.

The TV was out, and the living room was pitch black. She could see the faint outline of the glass door where the light from outside had crept down the hallway.

It had worked.

Julie stumbled into a chair as she tried to dash across the living room. She landed on her knees but crawled over to the door. She pushed on the glass, trying to get it to slide to the side. It didn't move.

"Crap."

She slammed her hand on it, wincing as she bruised the bottom of her hand. The door had another switch. She could kick herself for not paying attention to where any plugs were in the living room.

Maybe it was for the best. She didn't know if the cameras were out or if it was only some of the lights. She had already risked enough in the bathroom. One step at a time. She sunk down the wall and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her forehead on her knees.

This sucked. And she thought she had no control on the island. This was way worse. If she ever got back there, she would appreciate it more.

She snorted. No, she wouldn't. She would still want to get off the island as fast as possible.

A few minutes later, the lights flicked back on, and the TV blared back with the reality show she had been half watching a few minutes before. She kept her head down on her knees, tired from expending the energy and worn out from this whole thing. She squeezed her legs tight with her arms, hugging herself. She couldn't handle any of this. She couldn't stay here. She just couldn't.

Julie jumped as the door slid open beside her, and she saw a pair of polished black boots. What now? The goons were back. She didn't want to deal with whatever they wanted right now.

She put her head up, ready to snap at whoever was there, but held back as she met the steely gaze of an older man, with grey hair in a short military cut, dressed in black like the others with the familiar emblem on his arm. He didn't look like one of the regular guys. He was much too old. Behind him, four regular thuggish–looking men in black stood at stiff attention.

He held out his hand to her. "Julie Marin?"

She pursed her lips and kept her hands to herself.

"I'm glad to meet you. I'm the head of security here. Do you mind if we talk for a while?" She didn't think it was a question.

He didn't offer his name. She put her head back on her knees. Maybe he would go away. A moment later a pair of rough hands pulled her to her feet. "Hey!"

One of the other men dragged her over to the table and pushed her into a seat.

"There." The older man smiled as he sat down across from her. "That's much better."

His eyes stayed steady on hers, and she returned his stare with a scowl. She didn't know what they knew. She gulped, trying to remain calm. His eyes traveled to her throat, watching her swallow. Julie wanted to do it again but held back afraid that it might give her away too much, her throat constricting into a tiny knot.

"So in all the years I've been here, that's the first time that the power has gone out." His eyebrow raised slightly. "You can imagine with all the research and the nature of our subjects that there are a lot of fail–safes in place to prevent any surges—from the outside."

He paused, as if waiting for her to say something. Julie kept her gaze on his. Was she blinking too much? Was she blinking too little? How was her breathing? She clasped her hands under the table to keep herself from shaking too much. Her acting on Seelie Island over the last few months was coming in handy.

"So you can imagine our surprise when a power surge happened shortly after two new subjects arrived—from the inside of the facility." He glanced at Kara, who Julie knew was staring straight ahead. "Especially one where I already have a report that she may have already known she wasn't human." He steepled his fingers. "Interesting."

Julie's gaze went down to the blunt ends of his fingertips. She gulped again before she could prevent it. God, she wished she was like Kara right now. Should she start acting spacy like Kara? Would they buy it?

It was worth a try. She made her gaze soften and stared with a slack mouth at the wall right behind the man.

The man leaned in slowly, staring into her eyes. Julie kept her gaze fixed forward. Fighting the urge to have her eyes meet his or even look at him. His warm breath brushed her face as he inched past her cheek. "Faker."

Her breath caught, but she kept her features calm. He pulled back, still staring at her. She stayed still, refusing to watch as he got up and walked back to the door.

He turned. "I will find out whatever secrets you know. There's only so long that our subjects can hide things here before everyone gets a bit too curious. I'll be back."

Julie clenched her fingers together under the table. What had she done? What was she going to do?

She took in deep breaths, trying to stay calm as she stared at the wall blankly for a long time after he left. Hopefully the cameras would believe her act.

♦