Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines and such belong to Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25, by Richard Paul Evans. Glee characters, of course, belong to Fox. I don't own anything but my extremely overactive imagination that popped out a particularly insistent plot bunny. Author's Rant at the bottom!

Mommy doesn't notice when Kurt trips and slides to his knees in the backyard gravel. Not when he screams in pain and grabs his knee.

"Mommy?"

Mommy doesn't look up.

"Mommy!" Kurt's hand and khaki shorts are speckled in blood and it makes him cry even harder. "MOMMY! MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY—"

Mommy doesn't turn around. She has headphones on and bobs her head of dark brown curls while chopping up veggies in the kitchen, but Kurt is more important than that. He's angry that Mommy ignores him and focuses on her head through the open kitchen window, channeling his hurt and pain straight into her mind.

"MOMMY."

Mommy jumps maybe a foot into the air and shrieks. Something clatters to the floor. However, Mommy doesn't come outside and comfort Kurt. She disappears from the window, and Kurt eventually picks himself up and hobbles into the house.

Mommy comes from the bathroom, her finger wrapped in bloody paper towels. Kurt begins to cry anew when he sees her, reaching out for her.

She recoils. Just a small flinch, but Kurt sees. He bursts into tears, unable to hold himself back. "Mommy, I hurt myself," he sobs, holding his knee. And then Mommy gets Kurt a Band-Aid and tells him big boys don't cry while cleaning his knee and putting the bandage on with a kiss.

She sends him back out into the yard so she can keep making dinner. She smiles for him, a huge show smile. But Kurt remembers the crazed fear in her eyes even when she disappears back into the house.

I did that, he thinks. I hurt Mommy again.

Kurt has always known what people are feeling. If they're happy or sad or mad or scared, Kurt just knows. His first memory (Mommy leaning over him, a huge smile on her face) was accompanied by a huge sense of happiness that Kurt knew was Mommy's.

It's only been the past couple months since Kurt became able to affect what people feel. It's only if they're scared, though. It's the emotion Kurt can grab easiest. It happened first with Mommy; she'd been talking on the phone with her manager again and Kurt tried to get her attention. She brushed him off and Kurt had a minor fit. Just a brief flare of emotion; a bit of jealousy because she didn't drop everything to pay attention to him. The next thing he knew, Mommy was crouched on the other side of the room, terrified of the phone now lying on the floor.

The next week, Azimio, a boy at daycare who was twice Kurt's size, made fun of him for liking pink—within minutes, Azimio was crying hysterically, unable to breathe as he curled up on the floor.

It's not normal, Kurt knows that much. The teacher can tell when some kids are sad and try to cheer them up. Azimio can make other kids scared of him. But only Kurt knows immediately that Sugar is really sad and is only pretending to be happy. And only Kurt can make Azimio scared, like make him scared without even doing anything like punching him or saying mean words.

And people are starting to notice. It's been two months since the teacher called Mommy, and Mommy has gray hair now. She tells him that everything's okay, that he's not a freak. But as much as Kurt wants to believe her, he can feel the fear in her mind, the ever-present neural connections ready.

All he has to do was shock it.

"Give that to me!" Sugar demands.

Kurt shakes his head and clutches the doll tighter. "No. Go away."

"I want it! Give it to me!" Sugar's three friends surround him on all sides. Kurt shrinks back.

"No, I found her first," Kurt says. The doll's dress is white, so white, with pretty lace around the rim. It's just the thing Kurt would want to wear at his wedding, staring lovingly across the room at his—

His thoughts are interrupted when Sugar's friends converge, nails scratching at him. They scream and claw at him mercilessly. "Give it to her give it to her give it to her!"

"No! Go away! It's mine!" Kurt curls around the doll. He tries to tuck his head in, but Sugar grabs his hair and yanks it so she can scream in his face.

"I WANT IT."

Kurt looks her squarely in the eye, reaching into her mind at the same time and pulling at the fear tucked there. "GO AWAY."

He pulls her fear from its hiding spot and feels it blossom underneath his guidance, crackling synapses coming to life and firing rapidly. Sugar suddenly stumbles back, screaming at the top of her lungs. Sugar's three friends stand paralyzed at just the sight of their leader on her knees, tears streaming down her chubby face. Immediately, the other children gather round, followed by the teacher.

"What's going on? Kurt!"

Kurt's concentration snaps as the teacher's heavy hand lands on his shoulder. His hold over Sugar's mind breaks. The electrical signals die away but Sugar continues screaming, clutching to the teacher's coat like it can save her life.

As the teacher leads Sugar back into the building, she shoots Kurt a look of pure hate through her tears. Kurt keeps on a brave face, cradling the doll in his arms as the other children give him uneasy or disgusted looks.

He doesn't cry.

Mommy cries.

She cries alone in her room, but Kurt still hears her. Small little sobs. She thinks that Kurt won't hear if she cries into her pillow, but Kurt knows it's because of him. Because she can't find a job; because nobody will hire her for a theater production; because they're running out of money; and most of all, because of him. Kurt scares her. The daycare teacher won't let Kurt go anymore because Kurt won't stop bullying the other children. Sugar's daddy is really angry at Kurt and threatens to sue. Or at least get Kurt sent far away to get fixed.

A strange man called Will picks Kurt up from his last day in daycare. On the phone, Mommy says that it's okay to go with him, because Mommy got a role in a place called Broadway and she'll be very, very busy, but that Will will take care of him and Mommy will come visit every once in a while, but that Elgen Academy will help him get better. When it comes time to say bye-bye, though, Mommy sounds very sad. "I love you, Kurt. You hear? I love you so much."

"I love you too, Mommy," Kurt says automatically, but he means it.

"Goodbye." Maybe it's because he can't see her and can't reach into her mind, but Kurt thinks she sounds very, very sad.

Kurt's room is pink. The poster bed is pink with soft pink drapings like a fairy's nest; stuffed animals line the room and there's a little vanity mirror with real makeup. He has tea with real cookies and lemonade, gets to swing as long as he wants, has cake for lunch, and plays with some kittens. At the end of the day, he talks with Mommy through the TV, and in the morning, he doesn't have to go to daycare and hide from Sugar or Azimio or the teacher. The entire morning, he gets to watch TV until somebody takes him to a big white room and connects him to some cold wires and has him sit still for forever while an ugly old nurse checks some things on a machine.

At first, Kurt is just nervous; he wants to get back to watching TV. Then he gets a little scared; the ugly old nurse doesn't say anything, and, when Kurt looks into her mind, she isn't feeling much either. They're all alone in this big white room with the machines. Kurt is getting jittery and maybe feeling like he wants to go home, or back to the warm pink room. Or he just wants Mommy to hold his hand.

The man from yesterday enters the room just then. Will. He smiles warmly at Kurt. "Hello, Kurt. Sorry to make you wait, but I think we're just finishing up. Right, Nurse Beiste?"

"Sure thing, Dr. Schuester," the nurse replies. "Just one more thing…" And she pulls out a needle.

Kurt immediately flinches, and Will notices. "Now, are you sure that's necessary?" he asks, standing between Kurt and the nurse. Kurt feels immediate gratitude.

The nurse nods grimly. "I'm sorry," she says, stepping closer to Kurt. "Don't worry kid, it'll only feel like a bee sting."

"Bee stings hurt," Kurt whimpers, pressing closer to Will.

"You get used to 'em," the nurse scoffs, bringing the needle ever closer. Kurt squeezes his eyes shut.

Will deflects the nurse's arm. "That's enough," he growls, and the nurse hesitates, then puts the needle down and bows out of the room. "I'm sorry, Kurt. That wasn't supposed to happen. Are you okay?"

Kurt shakes his head.

Will slings an arm around Kurt's shoulders. "You know what I think can make it better?"

Kurt shakes his arm, eyes still squeezed shut.

"How 'bout an ice cream cone?"

An hour later, Will leads him to a small room with windows looking into another larger room. They sit down on chairs, with Kurt sitting in a higher chair so that he can look Will straight in the face. Kurt squirms a little, taking occasional peeks at the far-away floor.

"What was your favorite flavor?" Will asks kindly, sitting back in his chair.

Kurt considers briefly. "Mint chocolate chip. But it needs more chocolate."

"I'll make sure they put more chocolate in it," Will promises. "Now, about your power…"

Kurt's insides twist, and he finds sudden interest in his brand-new sneakers. They're very comfortable and soft and make flashing red lights every time he takes a step.

Will gestures out the window at the other room. "Remember the nurse from earlier? I want you to use your power on her."

Kurt looks through the window. Sure enough, the ugly old nurse from before is standing in the room, feeling at the walls. Resentment courses through Kurt at the sight of her. He looks at Will for confirmation.

"Go ahead, Kurt," Will assures him.

Kurt looks back at the nurse and focuses on her head through the glass. However, she's too far away; or the glass window is in the way; or both. He turns to Will. "I can't feel her," he says, knocking on the window.

Will nods and slides open a part of the wall next to the window, then rolls Kurt's chair over to the opening. Kurt focuses on her head until she comes within range—he reaches into her mind and senses the presence of that certain area that responds to fear. When he'd first accidentally done it to his mommy, he'd blindly reached forward and yanked up whatever he could grab. Now, after a few repeats, Kurt knows where to look: a fine network of firing neurons, small arcs of electricity that he simply adds to. He stimulates them, pouring in a little more electricity, and the fear center of the nurse's brain goes wild—all synapses firing at once, a tiny thunderstorm raging out of control, and the nurse is screaming, pawing at the floor and at her tear-streaked face, her limbs flailing uncontrollably—

Will pulls Kurt away from the portion of the wall and slides it shut. Kurt instinctively flinches against looming harsh words… but Will is smiling, a firm hand on Kurt's shoulder.

"Well done," Will grins. "That was a very good job. I think this calls for another ice cream cone."

Kurt nods eagerly.

Will's Observations:

Kurt:
- empathetic and understanding; very much a people person.
- eager to please, very trusting, and takes instruction easily.
- much room for development, both in personality and superpower. Has described his power as "reaching into people's heads and shocking a certain part." Possible electrotherapy applications?
- responds well to classical piano and Broadway.
- wants more kittens, more chocolate in mint choco chip ice cream, colored pencils, hats, and a pair of heels (no doubt what this kid's sexual orientation is. No problem.)

Presence of possible electrical child detected. Incident report: large magnetic disturbance in shopping mall. No injuries, but strange behavior by child reported by concerned mother. Investigate immediately.

Author's Rant

I really shouldn't be doing this. I've got three other stories waiting to be written... but I saw the book at my university's bookstore, picked it up, and read it in four hours. It's a good read: Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25, about a kid with electrical powers finding that there's a company called Elgen that has collected 11 other kids with variants on electrical abilities and plans on using them for domination purposes. Go look it up to find out if it's worth any reading to you; but for me, I skipped class, skipped lunch, and afterwards, I sat down and began brainstorming for this story.

Because truthfully, although there was lots of good action, I was disappointed by the lack of character development. Nobody really made any improvement or deteriorated throughout the storyline. At the end, I wanted some justification or redemption; no dice. Bad guys were still as evil as ever and the good guys were still good, and nobody had really moved from their cookie cutter molds.

So I wrote this story with that in mind: I want to flesh out all the characters a bit more. Other than the main character and his girlfriend, both of whom narrate different sections of the book, there are still 15 other electrical children that the book doesn't talk about. We don't get to see anything from their perspective, and we certain don't get to delve into any of their histories or personal motivations or reasons for fighting.

And the reason why I've transposed Glee characters onto this story? Because I love Glee that much and I want to write about them. My other Glee story deals more with The Glee Project contestants, and hardly ever with the core Glee members. I'm trying to integrate them a little more, but it's almost too far gone for that. So this is my make-up story, compensating for my lack in another story. Plus, when I was brainstorming for this, the Michael Vey and the Glee universes really fit together. I could see this Glee character playing as this Michael Vey character because they went through this and this, etc.

Warning: some things from both the Michael Vey and the Glee universe have been changed for this story. For instance, the Michael Vey universe's Tara is represented by Kurt in this story. Obviously Tara is a girl and Kurt's a guy, but really, I've made it work quite well. And Kurt's dad Burt doesn't make an appearance in this story; however, Kurt's mom (who, in the Glee universe, is deceased) plays a very integral part. I'll explain changes as they come up in these Author's Rants.

Well, that is quite the rant! I'm really excited for this story to take off! Please leave reviews!

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