Chapter One

Jack

So maybe I should start off telling you a little about myself. My name's Jack—well, Jacklynn, but I hate that name. I'm nineteen years old, with a rather unfortunate—meaning virtually non-existent—romantic history. I'm a pretty average girl, really, if you think about it. I have had a boyfriend before, and I lost my virginity to him just before he dumped me on my ass. I guess he'd gotten what he wanted out of me by then; I haven't trusted guys since. Of course, I don't really trust anyone, not anymore. I can't, if I want to stay alive. It wasn't always like this—living on the run, robbing banks for enough money to survive, never in one place for more than a few days. I used to live a perfectly normal life, but that all changed five years ago.

And oh, yeah; I'm a Jumper. I have been my whole life, but it wasn't an issue until they found me. I was lucky enough to survive and escape—my parents and little brother weren't. Don't pay any attention to their high ideals or them saying they're working for God or whatever. They're monsters, plain and simple, and if it weren't for them, I wouldn't have been forced into this kind of life. But I was, and I can't change that; all I can do is run, and keep running, and hope that I can manage to stay one Jump ahead of 'em. I have to live like this, because if I stop running for a second, and they catch up to me, I'm dead.

I guess I'm the next step in the evolutionary ladder. First there were people, and prejudice and hate. Then the Jumpers appeared, centuries ago, and the Paladins started hunting them. When electricity was discovered, it was found to be the most—and only—effective weapon against Jumpers, keeping them from Jumping long enough to kill them. But I was born with an immunity to electricity—or maybe I wasn't born with it. Maybe it was the fact that I survived getting struck by lightning when I was five years old, if I didn't have the immunity already. Whatever it is, my body isn't affected by your average thousand volts. It tickles, actually. The problem is, I'm not without a major weakness—oh, no, that would be way too easy. Because my body stores electricity indefinitely, water shorts me out big time. It's only a matter of time before the Paladin's figure that out, and when they do, I'm even more fucked.

I used to think I was the only one, too. And then I met him…