Okay…. Here is the next chapter….

A spark of excitement went up and down my spine at those words. "You will?" He was actually going to tell me?

"Good work, Mikayla!" Dr. Amélie exclaimed into my earpiece.

"Yes, excellent," I heard Dr. Felton chime in.

Brady nodded, not looking at me, his eyes fixed on the ground.
"So…" I prompted.

He started to tell, still not looking at me. "It all started about four months ago. Well, I don't know how long I've been down here-"

"Nine days, give or take a few," I told him.

He nodded slowly. "Four months ago. That's when things didn't start to feel right." He flickered his gaze up to my face and then quickly down again. "I lived on an island called Kinkow. Most people have never heard of it, it's small, in the middle of the ocean, far away from everything else. I come from the Royal Family."

"The Royal Family?" I repeated stupidly.

"Yes, the Royal Family," he said. "My dad's the king and my mom is the queen. My brothers and I are princes. At least, we use to be," he finished, his voice full of pain.

I reached out a trembling hand and placed it on his shoulder. "I'm… so sorry."

"Kinkow's not a normal island. I'm not exactly sure how it works but it's different… we have trolls and mermaids and giant spiders and loads of other creatures-"

"Mermaids!" I heard Dr. Felton exclaim. "Is he serious? If we could get our hands on a mermaid…" I could practically hear her hyperventilating.

"Kinkow has magic," Brady said. "And a few months ago something changed. We could all feel it, my mom especially. Something was wrong."

I knelt there, listening.

"But we didn't know what it was. My brothers and my cousin and I searched the Great Book, trying to find out, but we found nothing. And then, about three weeks ago, he showed up."

"Who?" I asked, unable to contain myself.

"I still don't know. I never saw his face. He was tall, and he wore a black cloak and a hood covering his head completely. But he had powers, dark, horrible powers. He just waved his hand and he could control the birds, especially the ravens, and the weather, and the water, anything."

"What did he want?" I asked.

"Destruction. He created a storm so powerful that all of Kinkow was destroyed. My memory is pretty foggy… Most of it I can't make out… But I remember… I remember running through the jungle, I remember rain… and lightning. I remember people screaming…"
"How did you survive?"

"I was running and suddenly out of nowhere a bolt of lightning struck down and hit me. But it didn't kill me. Instead it… it supercharged me."

"Supercharged…" I repeated. "So that's why everyone you touch dies! You electrocute them!"

He continued as if I hadn't said anything. "My memory is even foggier after that. I don't remember anything else until I was wandering the streets of Los Angeles."

"I see…" I said slowly. I did see.

"It's all my fault," he whispered. "It's my fault that they're dead."

"No it's not!" I exclaimed immediately. "You didn't kill them! That hooded man did, not you. You can't blame yourself." I knew that better than anyone.

"But I survived. I shouldn't have, I should have died instead of them." A tear ran down his cheek. "They should still be alive, all of them."

I couldn't think of anything to say to comfort him. I waited for a few minutes, then asked the question that was still burning to be answered. "Why do you trust me? Why don't you electrocute me when you do everyone else? Why am I so… special?"

"I don't know what it is, but there's just something about you," he said. "I can just feel it. I know I can trust you." But he still didn't look at me.

"Tests!" Dr. Felton trilled in my ear. "Tell him we must run tests!"

"No," I told her. "You're not running tests on him!"
Brady's eyebrows creased. "What?"

"Tests, Mikayla!" Dr. Felton cried. "We have to run tests! Such a fascinating specimen! Struck by lightning! My girl, this is a revolutionary-"

"I don't care, you're not going to do it!" I told her. Something had gone off in my brain, some kind of instinct had been triggered, and that instinct was telling me to protect Brady. I wasn't going to let them get anywhere near him.

"Miss Makoola, I am your employer and head of this operation. If I say we're going to run tests, then we are going to run tests! You have no say in the matter."

"He is a human being! You can't just run tests on him like some lab rat-"

"Get her out of there!" I heard Dr. Felton command the guards. "Get her away from the boy. Now!"

Immediately the doors swung open and the two guards came in, each of them grabbing one of my arms.

"No!" I screamed. "Let go of me! Brady!"

But he had gone back to being motionless.

I tried to fight them, but they were too strong for me. They heaved me up the stairs and back to Room 456001, where my dad and Dr. Amélie were waiting for me. They dropped me onto a chair and left, slamming the door behind them.

"Mikayla, what was that?" My dad demanded, looking shocked. "You disobeyed a direct order from Dr. Felton. She is your boss, you can't do that. What got into you?"

"Daddy, they can't run tests on him, they just can't!" I cried. "He's a human being, they can't treat him like that!" I raised my eyes to the screen facing me.

"Baby girl, you don't even know him. He's a complete stranger to you. Why do you care so much what happens to him?"

"He trusts me, daddy. Me, only me. We have this connection… I can't explain it, but I can't let him down. I can't let them do this to him. I just can't."

"They're going to run tests on him whether you cooperate or not, and if you resist, they'll fire you, which means they'll kill you, and if you're dead, you can't help him," Dr. Amélie said matter of factly, leaning against the table. "So what do you suggest we do?"

I looked from her to my dad to the screen showing Brady. "I say we break him out."

Sorry, I know how horrible that was… but I have the WORST writers' bock I've ever had… Again, so sorry! Please review!