Most children in the mansion spent their free time playing, watching TV, or even going to classes. Evelyn, however, was on a mission, and that included reading as many books as she could carry without getting caught. Today she had a stack of criminology textbooks she managed to gather when no one was looking. The stack was heavier than she imagined, however, and even with the echoes, she was having a difficulty getting more than a few steps out the door.

After helping Jude with his rescue mission, she was more focused than ever to be a worthwhile part of his team. Not that anyone invited her yet, mind you, but she always had big ambitions. If she could come up with a decent argument she was sure she would earn a spot among the mercenaries. Elke would be upset initially that she took on adult responsibilities, but there was an itch she could not scratch when it came to pursuing bigger things. She had a tiny body but her brain wanted more. Today, it just needed to read what was in these books.

[Footsteps, approaching. Left. Topnbook, sliding, balance adjustment necessary. Oh for the love of... she did an awkward shimmy but to no avail. True Crime took a dip off the top of her stack and went sailing toward the floor.

Hopefully the floor...

The mansion was now home as well as school for William. The world had moved on around fifteen years and had left him behind. Everything was different. Technology, the world, his friends and family, everything. That left him with nothing but the mansion.

At the very least he did have his own clothes. No more evidence room leftovers. Khakis and a polo, his normal school affair had been easy enough to scrounge up.

William had not only been assigned a room, he had also been assigned classes. Those classes included required reading. Conveniently, the mansion had a library where he could find all his required texts. Texts which could distract William from the most startling thing that had happened since he had awoken in New York City.

He could create electricity.

As it was, William had little to no control of when and how his power worked. The promise was that he could be taught control. Something William was certainly keen on. So much so that he would uncharacteristically daydream about it. Which led him to almost stumble into a child as he walked.

Noticing the girl with just enough time to stop, William noticed a book fall from the top of her stack. He came to the defense of the book and, holding the lone book he carried in his left hand, just managed to catch the falling book in his right.

”Careful there.” William said before turning the book over to look at it’s title. True Crime. William looked from the book to the child and cocked his head. She had quite the stack and the content was likely all of a similar level. ”Found yourself some light reading?”

Evelyn finally balanced her stack of books and her silver eyes looked up at the boy next to her. He seemed like a teenager, but these days, she found it hard to really assume anything. Heck, her own ID still said she was 31, and she was not going to change that anytime soon. It was her only defense against child labor laws and keeping her out of the restricted sections of libraries. No one could fight her if she said she just looked seven with all the strange mutants around. Although, some tried... she really wished she would grow faster.

"Nothing about any of these books is light," Evelyn commented, but she didn't sound annoyed. It almost sounded like she would have smiled, had she still kept a sense of humor. Maybe she should work on that too. Her people skills were notably lacking. "Can you...Just set it on top?" Her mouth was tangled on the word 'thank you' like it was a piece of lemon in her mouth she was afraid to bite.

She felt the stack sliding again and muttered what sounded like Poisonous bunch-backed toad. She had picked up a handful of Shakespeare insults the other day, and that one seemed fitting for the moment.

The girl said that nothing about the books light.

”Sure there is. You would just have to be the District Attorney.” For them, all of those books would be but simplifications most likely.

Instead of a thank you William received a request to place the book back on top of the stack it had just fallen from. William raised an eyebrow at that, shrugged, and went to place the book back on top. He stopped short when he noticed the stack about to lose some more of itself.

William shifted True Crime to his other hand with his own book and reached out to grab the lowest book sliding off the stack. ”Why don’t you let me help you with these.” He lifted the books he had grabbed off the stack. Then quickly brought them to his chest as his wrist did not like him holding them all up in such an awkward way.

Normally William would not be as willing to help a child. He was a teenager and therefore generally above such things, but the kid was over eagerly trying to study rather advanced material. William respected that. Regardless of age, the pursuit of knowledge was commendable.

Evelyn felt her stack lighten, and now she could actually see over the top. She looked up at the boy holding several books, and finally caved in. ”Thanks. I need to invest in an e-reader one day, that would make this much easier.” she sighed, starting toward a nearby den area. She hoped there wouldn’t be a ton of kids running around today to distract the echoes.

”I suppose you’re correct. Once I make my way through these I’ll have to get someone to take me to the public library for further research. But it’s best to start with foundation pieces and work up.” she commented. She let the echoes direct her into a room and slid the stack onto the table.

”I don’t think I looked into this line of study my last adulthood, so I felt it could be a good change. I focused on art history if I understand correctly? Frankly, I have been quite confused by my actions back then.”

Now that her hands were free she was able to really look at the teen. ”You’re new. They have you taking classes already?” she had a matter of fact way of talking. She never forgot faces, so she had easily taken interest when someone different appeared. Anything different in this building caught her eye. It broke the constant wave of repetition she was stuck in. Some days, she really hated her powers.

Invest in an e-reader? William knew Sony made one, but he had never met anyone who had one or even talked about getting one. Perhaps after fifteen years they had caught on. Good for Sony. ”A lot less unwieldy, that’s for sure.”

William followed the girl toward another area that turned out to be a den. As she spoke he deposited her books onto the table they had stopped at. She was talking about needing to go to the public library after she was done with the present texts. William considered himself pretty bright and studious, a cut above other students… But this child was making him feel like a dullard and a slouch.

The kid then surprised William further by referring to her last adulthood. His eyebrows had shot straight up. From what he had been able to gather he had been an adult at some point and had lost fifteen years. This child had seemingly had the same experience. Albeit she was left a fairly younger than he was.

”Do you remember being an adult?” William asked. If she could remember events from her past adulthood, maybe there was a way he could as well.

Skipping the question of if William was new, the kid stated it as a fact and asked about him already taking classes. The tone indicating less that she was curious if he was and more that she was surprised he was. Such matter of factness from a child was strange.

”Yes, I’m new.” William confirmed, ”And they have already assigned me to classes. I am glad though, I am not sure what I would do otherwise. I’m William, by the way.” William added the introduction at the end as he realized he had never introduced himself and he did not know the child’s name. He held out his hand.

[Confusion, lack of recognition, contemplating. Electronic reader. Possibly unfamiliar with new technology.] Was he raised somewhere rural? He didn’t talk that way. Evelyn knew the Atlantians here were a little less familiar with some things but he lacked that sort of obvious mutation. The other possibility came clear when he spoke next.

Did she remember? [Hopeful.] Oh, he was like her then. Although he seemed to have jumped to an older body, missing years but not so many as her. Yet still enough an e-reader became news. ”No one remembers, unfortunately. You and I aren’t the first. I woke up in my apartment so I was able to put things together. Public records helped too. But my mutation prevents me from forgetting and even I started from scratch. It’s probably better though. I have too much in my head as it is.”

He had that look she was accustomed to, almost like she was a talking animal. She missed Jude and Elke. She wanted to be around people who didn’t mind her emotional disconnection. She wanted to grow up faster.

William offered a name and hand. Evelyn took it before thinking about the information overload that would mean. [Distraction, confusion.] Whoops! He would have heard that too. ”Sorry! I’m Evelyn. I kinda have voices, in my head. I call them echoes.” she explained.

They were not the only people to have the same experience. She was luckier than William was. Waking up in an apartment instead of in an apartment garage. All William knew of himself mostly came from the police while trying to identify him.

The other thing that interested William was the girl talking about her mutation. A mutation that prevents her from forgetting. Though it didn’t help in that particular instance. Before waking up in New York, William had only met a couple mutants. Hell, before waking up in New York he didn’t know that he was a mutant.

”I woke up slumped against a car that I am fairly confident is mine.” William said. ”Didn’t even know I was a mutant until later that day.”

The girl shook his hand…

[Distraction, confusion.]

William straightened up at the sudden voice. He looked around, but no one was there talking to them. He took his hand back and the girl introduced herself as Evelyn. And apologized for the voices in her head. Which William surmised as what he heard.

”That… That is wild.” William was intrigued by the ‘echoes’. Voices in Evelyn’s head that allowed her to not forget things. ”Do they always talk to you? Are they always right or can they be wrong?...” William cut himself off. He didn’t know how polite it was to barrage someone with questions about their mutation. As someone who recently learned they were a mutant he found the whole idea of having an ability fascinating.

Evelyn tried to imagine waking up next to a car and not knowing where she was. While she was mature for a seven year old, that idea still scared her a little. She was relieved she had time to process this at her own pace. She almost felt bad for him, but still struggled with those types of feelings.

”I knew I was a mutant but the skin contact thing is new,” she gestured toward his hand as a commentary to what happened. ”It’s like, letting someone tune into the same radio station. But with voices. Oh, and the playbacks. Those are basically any of my memories. If I focus, I can relive memories. It’s complicated. Like I said, there is a lot happening in my head.” she had to keep a detached view of it or she felt a little anxiety herself. It was like she was put in charge of a very powerful car and expected to drive it without damaging anything. She really could use a leg up or two.

Hisbinterest now was genuine, which put her in a good mood. Her face lit up more and her eyes had a softer blue color now. ”They’re always there. I learn to ignore them when they aren’t useful. It’s like having music playing in a room all the time and you only focus when your favorite song comes on. They get a little wordy. Sometimes they count things for no reason. For instance, there were 47 books on criminology in that section of the library. I didn’t ask to know that, but now I do.” some day, her powers would probably drive her crazy. She was resigned to this fact.

”They are wrong all the time. The echoes are just observations. They take note of what’s around me and focus on context to deduce meaning. Like, based on someone’s body language I can tell they are uncomfortable, but I may assume it’s because of something I said, or maybe they have a rock in their shoe. Maybe they just had a headache. I can look for other clues like if they seem to be favoring a leg, or have tension in their face, but nothing is a concrete truth. Just like any detective or psychology major I have to make the most logical conclusions with what I’ve been given.”

This was her world: fact, analysis. Deconstruct, rebuild. She took apart things around her and tried to make sense of it. It was a very mechanical action for someone so young.

That was interesting to Ion. Evelyn knew she was a mutant but an aspect of her power was new. Perhaps if the cause of him being here in the future was his future self becoming young than perhaps her future self had developed the power? William set the thought aside. There was not enough information to support any theories at the moment.

As for reliving memories, that seemed wonderous to William. Perfect recall of events. Not to mention that if the echoes as Evelyn called them were the reason she was studying at such a high level, they could be an incredible boon in careers where observation and recall were paramount. Such as the field that interested him. Law.

As Evelyn answered his questions, William took a seat at the table. No sense having a conversation standing up when seats were so readily available.

Even if Evelyn’s echoes could be wrong, the way it operated was amazing. It was exactly what someone would need to become a real life Sherlock Holmes. A running commentary of observations that they could use to reach deductive conclusions.

”I am envious. That is the kind of ability I wish I had.” William said, his tone conveying his genuine wish to have a power like it. ”I do some kind of electric thing. I am not sure how though.” William held out his hands and tried to will them to do something. Arc electricity or give off the coronal discharge like before. Nothing. He tried again, closing his eyes to concentrate. Again nothing happened.

William shrugged. ”I’ve only been able to make it work a few times.” He slumped into his seat. He was upset with the fact his power wouldn’t turn on when he wanted. It was his and it did its own thing. The lack of control was incredibly frustrating. William didn’t notice the faint purpleish glow emanating from anywhere resembling a corner on his person. Shoulders, ears, elbows, folds on his clothes...

He was envious? That was a first. Evelyn was used to people telling her that the echoes were annoying, or the playbacks sucked, but never that they were envious. As he sat down, she looked at him more, noting the struggle with his powers.

"What have you learned about it so far? Other than it just being an electric thing. Most powers have some underlying science to it, and part of learning to control them is just working through that."

She crossed her legs so she was facing him on the couch, letting the echoes study his appearance for the moment. She talked while she let the echoes work. "For instance, my powers. When I sleep, I relive memories. I just get dropped into whatever day in my life my brain feels like and follow it through. But I've been reading about computers more, and some of how my brain works reminds me of those. Like, when you want more space on a computer, you can run a defragmentor, and the computer tries to rearrange information to make more room. At night, my brain has to make room for all the incoming memories and knowledge, so it sets me in a corner with one thought to hold onto, and works out the rest."

She watched his body language, the effort involved to do something. The echoes were poised, like a cat ready to pounce. [Concentration, effort. Light glow. Electricity based. Discharge. Electrical discharge. Corona discharge.]

She felt like her brain was opening and slamming different books she had read to find the right page. Her brow furrowed and she put a palm up and pressed the ridge on her nose as she focused. "You're...glowing. Maybe the issue is you're own expectations on how the power functions? Maybe it isn't that you just snap and electrocute things, but your body has it's own way of forming electricity? I don't think I read all the way through that book the other day. If we go back to the library, maybe I can find it." She shut her eyes, trying to think of a good analogy.

"Okay, say there is a sink. and your ability is to put water in the sink. Sometimes you have soooo much of it, you can splash, it spills over, water everywhere. But if you haven't filled up the sink with water, it's going to be like you can't do anything? The sink is dry?" This conversation felt heavy, but when she opened her eyes again, she was in a very good mood. She loved conversations like this. Trying to crunch through a problem, sifting through facts, make sense of things. This was fun to her.

”I have not learned much more than I have this power. I have shot things and people with electricity but I have had little to no success doing it intentionally.” The first time being in a police station. What a fun time that was.

Evelyn described how her power seemed to work in a context that was understandable. She then tried to make sense of WIlliam’s power. William not having been a massive science nerd did not know much about how electricity worked. Sure he knew the basics; negative flowed to positive, direct versus alternating current, and that it took the path of least resistance. Beyond that he did not have the faintest clue.

William tended to think of himself as fairly intelligent. Standardized testing and class rankings supported this belief. Next to Evelyn he was beginning to feel like a dullard. As a child she was a fount of knowledge. Which only served to make William even more envious of her power. An incomplete reading of a text and Evelyn was able to come up with a decent way to try and think about how William’s power might work.

”Let me try that.” Ion closed his eyes and attempted to follow Evelyn’s advice. He envisioned a sink with water running. The water was his power, the sink himself. He envisioned the sink filling to the brim. The corona discharge grew faintly in size and brightness. He imagined turning the faucet on more. The discharge grew more. ”I think it is working! I can feel the electricity flowing.”

Holding his hand above the table, William imagined splashing the water out of the sink. Electricity arced between his hand and the table. He imagined opening the faucet up all the way.

WIlliam’s eyes shot open as he felt his body give way to the power that was building inside of him. It was completely unable to contain the charge that had built within him. The corona discharge was gone. In its place arcs of electricity fired off from his body. Many fired off toward the ground, others arced to nearby objects that could behave as a conduit to the ground such as the table.

”Whoa!” William exclaimed and imagined shutting off the water. The arcing didn’t stop. ”It isn’t stopping!” He could feel that he was not generating any more electricity. The flow out of him did not cease.

Although… I was slowing.

The arcing reduced in frequency and the corona returned. Noticing this, William was visibly relieved. He was not prepared to become a walking tesla coil. ”Okay. It’s stopping… I guess once I generate it, it has to go somewhere?”

Evelyn watched with fascination as he went to experiment with his powers. This was so much more interesting than her books and she felt her echoes filing all the notes away for later. It was as much about helping him now as satisfying her own curiosity. The discharge of energy was beginning to increase. Her echoes flickered warnings, as if sensing the many ways this whole situation could go wrong. He couldn't be discharging that much electricity, right? If she got a little static in her hair or even got zapped, she was sure it would be fine. She didn't want to leave yet.

The electric arcs were colorful, and she had the strongest desire to paint them. Thanks to her mind, she could pull this scene up later and try to put it onto paper. It was powerful and mesmerizing at once. "That is probably one of the coolest things I've seen here," she remarked in awe.

Then things took a downhill slide. The arcs went wild, firing toward the floor and furniture, seeking some way to ground themselves. Evelyn rocked up onto her shoes, brain temporarily bombarding her with unneeded advice. Keep path of resistance away from heart, let electricity return to the ground, was there enough insulation in her shoes to protect her? The couch wouldn't be a good conduit anyway so she should be safe but she needed to be a little more cautious next time. He seemed anxious, and Evelyn held up her hands, trying to indicate some type of comfort to him. "It's fine, don't panic! I think it should stop." Then slowly, it did. She felt like her scalp was a little tingly in the wake of all the discharge.

"Okay, so I'm guessing you can create the electricity, but obviously, your body isn't so great at storing it," She straightened up a few of the books that were scattered during the chaos. The echoes were already crunching facts. "I'm thinking, well the echoes...Here, just give me your hand." It was easier to let the voices do the talking this time, than to try to talk over them. She waited until he gave in so he could understand what they were thinking.

[Energy gathering, slow discharge. Greater buildup equates to arches, total emptying of electricity. Solution, electric storage and/or device for redirection, control.]

She stopped them there, drumming her hand on the table next as she considered it.

"This school is full of all those x's and their crazy gear. Someone has to have the brains to store electricity some how. I mean, generators store electricity right? If there is a small version, then you wouldn't have to build a charge all the time. Would that stop you from going all tesla coil on us? As colorful as that was, they do seem to frown when you get too dangerous around kids in this place." Evelyn did not consider herself a child, so she was ignoring the fact they had just experimented together.

Throughout the trial run of William’s power, Evelyn was providing a commentary of sorts. The most important comment being her urging him to not panic. And she was right in that it did stop. From there she immediately moved to dissect what his power was. Electrical generation but not storage. Which seemed odd to William.

Eventually, in an attempt to best convey information regarding William’s power to him, Evelyn took his hand.

[Energy gathering, slow discharge. Greater buildup equates to arches, total emptying of electricity. Solution, electric storage and/or device for redirection, control.]

Hearing the echoes was still wild to William. Hearing a commentary on what had just happened from a perspective that clearly had analyzed the situation. He could understand how if it was a constantly running commentary it could be annoying, but in moments like that it was incredible.

As Evelyn continued speaking, the corona continued to fade away. Slowly dimming until it was gone. His sink had emptied.

”I… I have no idea.” William was too new to the power to know if storing the electricity would prevent him from becoming a human tesla coil. ”It is certainly worth trying… Maybe… Maybe the arcing is because I’m generating electricity without releasing it?”

Getting carried away with testing out his power, William again filled his mind sink. The corona returned. This time as he further filled the sink he kept forcing electricity out through his hand. It shot into the table again and again before finally resolving into a continuous stream. ”It feels like it is getting easier to let it out.” He generated more and more electricity until the arcing started again. He kept forcing as much out through his hand as he could. The arcs slowly tapered off as he William was able to release enough charge to slowly offset the amount of charge he was generating.

William smiled. The stream of electricity he was releasing had an appearance of being almost of liquid lightning and gave of a purplish light as it cut through the air to the table. He found that he could control where the electricity contacted the table. He could move it left or right, up or down. The path seemed to be more the arc's own decision. William watched it his eyes reflecting the brilliant light.

Evelyn considered his theory. She really wished she had a chemistry book with her or even a phone. So many students could just google what they wanted while she had to rely on a library run to even things out. Then again, none of the other students had the echoes, so she had a leg up there.

"That makes a bit of sense. Eventually electricity wants to go somewhere, right? That's the whole point of power chords and circuits. To give it a path. You're not giving it a path, your just making it find it's own." She commented. It still sought out lines of least resistance, but it made a bit of a mess in the meantime.

William was focusing again, and Evelyn proactively moved the books off the table before anything happened to them. With the stack now sitting on the couch, she was free to watch. Slowly, the current went from arcs to a more solid stream, and it was colorful, pretty even. He was learning quickly, and she grinned with excitement. She hadn't smiled in a long time, and didn't realize anything could be this fun. Apparently, being near potentially dangerous powers was a thrill trip when you were seven.

"Does the electricity feel warm? I mean, that's one way to generate heat, right? You already create light, can you burn things? What else could it do? We should get more books! I mean, if you want to. What if we got thing to test the electricity on? Something has to be better than a table to use as a conductor! I just, this is really cool." There wasn't enough information in her head to answer all her questions. Why had she grabbed for criminology first! Science would have been sooo much more useful right now. Her eyes were wide as she tried to hash out all the incoming thoughts.