The electricity continued to flow in an ever increasing stream. William moved his hand further from the table. The current continued to where he wanted it to. With his arm further away he found that he could send it further away from his hand along the table but still control it.

William looked up at Evelyn when she asked him about it. ”The table is warm… Not so much the electricity itself. It is like it flows out of me with zero resistance. No resistance, no heat waste… It does feel like a lot of power now though.” William closed his hand, cutting off the current. He was worried that it might be dangerous. Its resemblance to lightning was too much. William knew electricity could be dangerous and he did not want to lose control and hurt Evelyn.

”Let’s do that. Find all the books and all the testing equipment!” William jumped to his feet, excited to measure his power. Only then did he realize, ”Where would we find an ammeter?” Other than finding the books he had no idea where to find anything useful in testing his power.

Still lit up like a purple burning candle, William stopped generating and held his hand over the table again. The current returned, pouring out power into the table. The corona faded quickly as the high voltage necessary for its existence was removed. William smiled. ”That worked.” he said to himself.

Evelyn continued watching, making mental notes as they continued. So there was zero resistance leaving, but the table still created a little heat so it probably met resistance on contact? Theoretically the air molecules should also have some sort of change. She had no way of measuring that either. The problem with mutations was some of them just completely bypassed “science”. They made their own rules and you had to figure out the restraints as you went. Some things sounded magical but still had a logical element to them.

For instance, powers like telepathy and mind reading. While those powers seemed strange in concept, there were lots of theories that it simply involved the mind being more adapted to hearing and registering brain waves. Her own ability to share memories and echoes involved touch, so there was a more theoretical conduit sending signals from her thoughts to another person. She liked reading studies, even if they relied heavily on abstract thinking.

Best of all, William was not opposed to experimenting more. When she theorized about the ‘sink’ idea, he went with it. In fact, he almost seemed as excited as she was. ”I mean, the logical possibility is the Danger Room, but you need adults to be let in there. The program can probably measure things accurately if you get a chance to be let in. But the chemistry lab had a lot of equipment too. I was in there the other night and I remember seeing an ammeter,. The school has a really well stocked science department.” At least she was technically with an adult when she was in the chemistry lab. That had prevented her from really getting in trouble.

”Do you have time to go now? We can get some books than maybe try measuring your powers more! There aren’t any classes there this hour.” no one needed to ask how she knew. She had plenty of time to work out the school schedules so she had the run of the empty rooms.

The danger room? That sounded both like an excellent place to rest out his power and an odd name for a room in a school. Maybe it was more a room to put dangerous things in and less a room that is dangerous? Needing an adult though removed that room as an option though. The chemistry lab was suggested as a back up. One that they could get into and would have equipment they could use.

”Let’s go! While I want to see the Danger Room, the chem lab will do.” William told himself he was betting a little too excited. He fired back at himself that he had a superpower and there was a way to test its limits. How could he not do it and what could be more exciting!

”Lead the way. I’ll carry these books.” William scooped up Evelyn’s books to carry for her, placing his lone book on top of the stack. There was no sense of her carrying them just to drop them again. Not spilling books everywhere is the soul of expediency. ”You can grab the science books.”

William collected the books and Evelyn didn’t fight him. She already succeeded in showing her thirst for reading was larger than her muscle strength. With a quick detour she moved to the library and easily retrieved the books they needed: Physical Properties of Electricity, Basic Electrical Theory, and a chemistry book with a decent section on ions. There was plenty between them to start with.

Back at the chemistry classroom, Evelyn set the books on a table and helped gather their materials. Anything useful for measuring electricity, amps, volts, etc was oiled onto one counter (with assistance, of course. Some of the older equipment was heavy). Last, she set out a notebook and pen so notes could be taken. While the echoes could store information for Evelyn, William would probably want records for himself, so she would assist.

”So, maybe we should start with baselines. Like, a workout. Do you have any natural output when you aren’t actively trying to generate electricity?” she suggested, climbing up onto a tall barstool and sitting on her knees so she could reach. She looked at him expectantly, inviting him to take a direction in this experiment. She was there to observe and record, like a good scientist.

The pair made a quick stop in the library to pick up a handful of books on electricity and then they were off to the chemistry classroom. William still barely knew his way around the mansion so he allowed Evelyn to take the lead.

One at the classroom the pair broke up and collected anything that could be used to help test William’s power. New, old, big, and small. They brought out it all. The devices could measure high and low voltage, amperage, etc. Most interestingly, William found a hefty multimeter that could handle a decent range of current and voltage.

Evelyn took out a notebook and pen. Which was good. William was likely to have his hands full so he wouldn’t be able to take notes if he wanted to. ”Good thought. Thanks.” He said to her as he put the last of the devices on the counter.

And Evelyn had a good suggestion of where to start. Get a baseline.

William nodded, ”That’s a good idea.” He turned on the incredibly expensive looking multimeter. It made a soft humming as it turned on and numbers came to life on the front face. It was reading no voltage and no current. ”Okay. It is zeroed out and set to D.C. Taking hold of the… leads? Whatever the sticks are called.” William narrated for Evelyn as he went. Taking hold of the two ends for the multimeter, William made sure he wasn’t generating any power. ”No change. Let me try… Letting something out. Nope, no change there either.”

Just to cover all bases he clicked the device to A.C. There was no change. William clicked it back to D.C. ”Nothing on A.C. I am going to try and generate power now.” William set his mind to fill him up with power. The voltage on the multimeter started climbing. Higher and higher. As he approached 50,000 volts the corona formed. ”50 thousand volts… Still going up… 100 thousand volts… 200… 300… 400… 500!” William’s eyes grew wide and his voice cracked as he said, ”One-million… And climbing!” At that point the corona brokedown and electricity began to arc off him. The voltage continued to climb until the machine stopped registering at ten-million volts. It was evident to WIlliam that he could go much, much higher. ”Uh… I think I hit this thing’s limit on voltage… ten-million volts! Try the current or find another higher limit voltmeter?”

Evelyn was a good lab assistant and watched carefully as William tested his powers. She started drawing detailed little charts as they went, noting the readouts and even their start and finish times. She wasn’t sure what he would do with all the information, honestly, but she never complained about too much data. Heck, half the time, all she had was data, and it wasn’t useful until the proper moment.

The multimeter capped out finally, and Evelyn filled in their findings. ”Since we already have it set up, we may as well test the current. At least you aren’t generating like some dark mater or something we can’t measure. We can fill in the gaps with existing science!” She pulled one of the science books over and flipped a few pages while she waited. She wanted to look up the corona discharge. One of the textbooks had to have more on that.

When he was ready, she took further notes on current, letting her pencil scrawl as fast as it could. The echoes corrected any errors, and she shut her eyes once or twice to make sure she noted things accurately.

Evelyn took notes. William looked over and saw that in addition to the notes she was drawing charts. He couldn’t read what she was writing from where he was, but he could tell she was writing down much more than just what he was saying. Maybe time stamps? It was like she was a regular scientist over there.

”Since we already have it set up, we may as well test the current. At least you aren’t generating like some dark mater or something we can’t measure. We can fill in the gaps with existing science!”

”That’s for sure. If I did we’d just have to assume I was magic… Until someone finally figured out what dark matter was. Well… In that case I could advance that field of study. Go find the researchers and just… Do dark matter stuff or whatever. No sense dreaming about what he could do if he happened to have dark matter powers. He had electric powers and those he could test.

”Okay. Testing what current I can produce.” William focused on running power through the multimeter. It went in and it naturally flowed back to him through the machine. The current started in milliamps. ”With no effort, 1 milliamps.” William focused on sending more current. ”5… 10... 20… 30… 40… 50 milliamps. I can push harder… 100 milliamps… 200… 300... “ William had started slowly increasing but had wanted to jump to his maximum. When he hit a hair over two-hundred the rate changed. ”I feel like I’m giving my all, letting it out as fast as I can now… but… the numbers keep rising. 450 milliamps. It’s almost like, maybe how much I can output goes up the longer I use it?”

William kept reading off the current until he reached ten amps. At which point the machine sparked. ”Uh that did not look good.” He could feel more power leaving but the machine was fixed at ten amps until it sparked again and a panel launched itself off the back. William let go of the leads he had been holding and the current from his hand stuck with it for a moment longer before he stopped outputting power. ”Uh… I think I broke it. It showed 10 amps before it broke.” William looked at the electrode he had held in his right hand. ”The hot lead looks… It looks like lightning hit it, blackened and bent.”

No longer generating power or letting it out, WIlliam had a corona around himself that did not seem to be fading at any appreciable rate. ”I might need… Specialized equipment to get hard numbers… They keep going up beyond what this can handle. And, well. I broke it anyway.”

Both of them seemed to be glad they were only dealing with electricity rather than something worse. At least, they seemed to be relieved until Ion tested his abilities and broke the machine. Evelyn let out a low whistle and grinned a little devilishly. "Cool...you maxed it out. We should look into getting something stronger to measure with next time. I can chart the progress up until that point though."

She quickly finished up the notes and graphs, closing her eyes and replaying memories to make sure she didn't leave anything out. Her hand moved like she was a machine, sketching, adjusting, until she was pleased with what she created.

"Don't worry about the broken stuff. If anyone asks, you can blame me. My parents can buy them a new one," she seemed vaguely disinterested when she said that. It was one thing to be spoiled, it was another when your parents just couldn't bother to realize you were still charging credit cards because they apparently had so much money they couldn't keep track of it. "Or better yet, we can order a better one online! Although, that would require a computer."

Evelyn looked around at their supplies and drummed her fingers thoughtfully. "Are there any materials you want to try running a current through? It probably won't give much scientific data, but it could be fun. We can melt more stuff!" If he managed to do that to the electrode, what would happen with other materials? "Hey, does this mean you can make glass? That would be so cool! I mean, lightning can do it when it hits sand, maybe if you do it right you can make some. Or, you know, things might blow up. Maybe I should read more first." For once she looked like a child as she was torn between the desire to see really cool tricks with electricity, and the realization she lacked knowledge of what was actually scientifically possible.

Look into getting something stronger to measure with?

”Maybe some more specialized equipment like… Stuff used to test plasma cutters?” If the power or wattage William could put out was already so high he could do damage to this machine than his limit must be incredibly destructive.

Evelyn was like a little machine. Notes and graphs were produced like she was some kind of printer at work. She also told him not to worry about what he had broken, to just blame her. William was not used to just blaming others for things he clearly did. If that is what Evelyn wanted though, WIlliam could oblige. Especially when her parents could foot the bill easily.

William poked at a few of the other testing devices they had pulled out. He messed with a few of them just watching the numbers go up and down. Compared to what he had just done it all felt like child's play. It was just something to occupy time while Evelyn worked on her documentation.

"Are there any materials you want to try running a current through? It probably won't give much scientific data, but it could be fun. We can melt more stuff!"

William thought about that for a moment. ”Oh! I have a great idea. It isn’t melting but it is really cool looking.”

"Hey, does this mean you can make glass? That would be so cool! I mean, lightning can do it when it hits sand, maybe if you do it right you can make some. Or, you know, things might blow up. Maybe I should read more first."

That stopped William. It was another super cool idea. ”Okay. That sounds epic. I’ll be right back!” He said before running off to grab more science supplies.

A few pieces of wood, some water, salt, and a bunch of sand in a large container. William made room on the counter and set them on it. ”I’ve seen this done before. You run high voltage through wood and you get fractals! Conveniently I do high voltage!”[/color] As he said it he mixed salt into the water before applying it across the board. He then put his hands at either end and pushed current through it. The wood burned in brilliant flashes. When he removed his hands he had left lightning shaped burns all across the wood.

”Now. The sand!” William pushed the wood aside and slid over the container of sand. His glee and excitement getting the better of him. He held a hand over the sand and let loose his power.

There was a flash from his hand as if a mini strike of lightning had flashed out of it. Two billion watts of electrical power flashed from William’s hand through the sand. The light left an afterimage in William’s vision and gave a crack of thunder. Not as deafening as a true bolt of lightning but still uncomfortably loud in such a close proximity.

Evelyn knew the school had a lot of technology but plasma cutters weren’t in the mix. Or, they were locked somewhere like the danger room and she had never seen them. It was probably just as well. If his powers were too strong would he break even that? Her little graphs showed no signs of upper limits yet. She wished she had taken some statistics so she could predict where the data was going more accurately. Right now they were just lots of numbers waiting for someone smarter to progress them.

Hmm, smarter for now, at least. She would catch up whenever she had time to read and train her powers. Although science was one thing. She could easily memorize a few principles. Learning math concepts involved knowing how to use the memories she had and taking the right approaches to application. Maybe she would wait until she was 8 for that.

William gathered different materials and Evelyn watched, while she had seen photos of glass being made, the wood was something new. Between the salt water and wood, the burning pattern was insanely cool. Evelyn was torn between crinkling her nose at the smell and feeling awed by what he made. ”That’s amazing! Look at the patterns. I wish my powers did cool things like that!” She wanted to touch it, but knew better than to grab a smoldering object. Maybe he would let her keep one. William was the coolest teenager ever! Thankfully Elke was younger so she didn’t have to let her new friends directly compete in age brackets together.

Then he moved to try with the sand. This time, it was the echoes that warned her while she was distracted. [Lightning, sand. Glass. Attempt likely to produce loud decibels of noise.] oh, cra—

She covered her ears just as he released his powers. She was fairly certain her hair stood up a little from all the static in the air now. Thankfully she covered her ears in time or her powers would have been MAD. She glanced at him, worried for his own hearing. ”Are you okay? Maybe we should have found earplugs first. I should have known that would be loud...oh, it kind of smells funny in here now. Maybe we should turn on the exhaust fan...” she scrambled to do so before they had a chance to see if his powers had done what they wanted. If they got some type of poisoning from their experiments she would never hear the end of it.

The art that William’s power created was incredibly beautiful. It was like lightning caught in the wood. Evelyn was impressed, she even wished her powers did things like it. It certainly was cool, but making art was not the only thing that interested William about his power. Up until that point he had done everything while touching it or at least being close. William wanted to see how far away he could reach out and hit things with his electricity. How good of a tool was it to protect himself?

”I wish my power did cool things like facilitate that.” William indicated the charts and notes she had put together with computer like efficiency ”Studying consumes so much time, but it is necessary. Good grades means great college. Great college grades means Harvard.”

After the mini crack of lightning Evelyn checked to see if WIlliam was okay. Her concern being with the volume of the thunder his power created. The thunder hadn’t bothered him as if ears had initiated their loud sound response in anticipation of the thunder from his power. It was a shame his retinas did not do something similar.

”I am okay.” William said as he started sifting through the sand. ”It was not loud to me. We should have found you some though… Sorry.” William grabbed hold of a fulgurite and drew it out of the sand. It was a hollow tube of glass that had branches coming off of it. It was as long as the container had been tall. ”That’s a good idea.” Holding the fulgurite in his hands like a newborn child, William watched Evelyn run off to turn on the exhaust.

William looked around at the nearby tables before deciding on a nearby one. He walked over and lay the fulgurite down, gently. Seeing the numbers of what his power could do was one thing. Seeing sand made glass was what truly gave William an understanding of what his power could do. It was awe inspiring and frightening at the same time. WHile he could make wonders… He could certainly take lives. Plural.

It would not even be traceable back to him. If it was during a thunderstorm.

Shaking the thought away, William asked, ”Do you want me to make some for you?” SHe was helping him. The least he could do was make these things for her as well.

Evelyn was caught off guard when he complimented her notes. She blinked and looked down, wondering what was special about them. Sure, she wrote faster than most people, and the echoes helped her put things where they needed to go, but she always regarded her powers as human. Normal people could think fast, reason, remember. She was just a little faster at getting there sometimes. But, to someone who couldn’t remember that easily, she realized there must be a lot of pressure. He had dreams too, of school, and a future. Even Harvard it sounded like. She set her pencil down, and looked at him seriously.

”But everyone has a potential to succeed in those things. If you ever needed a study partner, I would help you. I can only let people listen to the echoes, but sometimes they are better at solving things than I would be. The memory thing is the only part that would probably help you more, but once I let go it’s not like you would still be able to pick out the memories as fast...” she trailed off awkwardly. When had she ever been awkward? Maybe because it was the first time she actually appreciated another mutants ability, and he actually liked hers.

She was relieved his powers seemed to protect his ears. She noticed he seemed to have a little discomfort for his eyes though. Well, the echoes noticed. She stopped by one of the storage cupboards on the way back and scooped out two pairs of welder style goggles. Then she saw the fulgurite. She was mesmerized.

”They’re so much prettier in person. Would...would you really make me one?” she was rattled by the offer. She had spent her childhood with wealth, but there were things missing even then. Her parents never picked out presents, never gave her things she wanted or really created the family dynamic. At the school she managed to make herself known as a hit of a brat, and hadn’t really made friends. Even Elke appreciated her, but they had a more business like relationship. He was offering something he made though. Something beautiful. She was almost afraid to say yes.

”W...what if I break it?” she stared at the existing fulgurite and gulped. It seemed so fragile. She almost felt afraid to touch one. She could close her eyes and the memory would be there, but she didn’t want things to just be memories. She wanted them to be real too.

Evelyn was right, everyone has the potential to succeed in studying. Yet, that wasn’t exactly what WIlliam had meant. ”Oh, for sure. It is just an opportunity cost thing.” William thought of the best way to explain why he found her power so incredible. ”Anyone can learn something if they study long enough. The question is what do they lose by studying long enough to learn that thing? With your power I could spend less time memorizing things which means more time to memorize other things or to spend more time with friends or at job… Or… Well, doing anything else really. For someone with my aspirations it buys time. The most precious commodity. “

That being said…

”And I certainly will take you up on the offer to be a study partner!”

William’s offer to make things for Evelyn was a surprise. That was a surprise to William. They cost him nothing to make, why wouldn’t he make them for Evelyn. ”Certainly. You are helping me, it is the least I can do to repay you.” He said accepted a pair of welder goggles from Evelyn.

Returning to the sand, William pushed sand into the cavity he had made by pulling out the first fulgurite.

“W… what if I break it?”

That was an easy question to answer. ”I make another one… Cover your ears.” William made sure to warn Evelyn before he tried to make another fulgurite. Once he saw she was ready, he held his hand over the sand and unleashed a flash of power.

That time, William envisioned the electricity spiraling down like a spring into the sand. When he dug it out of the sand he found the fulgurite had formed the way he envisioned the electricity flowing. ”I… can make fulgurite sculptures!” William held up the spiralling fulgurite. It was only eight inches top to bottom but likely a yard if it was measured end to end following the curve.

”Here.” He handed it to Evelyn. ”For services rendered.” He said with a smile.

As Ion explained, Evelyn felt herself understanding what he meant. Actually, it felt odd being a bit wrong, but that was always a risk with her powers. Deduction did not always account for human emotions. His perceptions of time, his concepts of goals and abilities had a different direction that suddenly made his appreciate make sense. "To you, the real gift is time. Everything is possible with effort, but you are forced to make choices what is most important when you have a limited amount of time. But, that is what I felt was so great about being set back to this age! The chance to make choices again and if I help, we can study, and you won't waste as much time. And we already figured out a lot about your powers." she felt optimistic.

She did not argue further when he insisted on making another fulgurite. This one came out as a spiral, and she was once again in awe. "It's amazing! Heck, if you ever needed cash you could sell these little things! I never thought electricity would make such amazing art pieces..." She took her gift with reverence. She was still afraid she would break it, but no longer wanted to miss the opportunity to have one.

"How did you get this one to change shape?" She asked, feeling that was significant. There was a substantial difference in the shape between both items. The first was more natural, while the second seemed like he had to have planned to get the results.

THe real gift is time. To William it certainly was. He placed value in time because it was finite and everything cost it. Everything he did cost something else because the time was gone. What he hadn’t thought about that Evelyn brought up was being set back to being young. She could make choices again. That didn’t excite William. While he would have to live his life over again he did not have the virtue of knowing anything from his previous time as an adult. It did not give him the opportunity to not go to college or law school.

It gave William the fruits of his old life’s labor. In his past life the toil of work had earned William much but it had enriched him. William could now enjoy some of the fruits of his old labors that his old self likely could not because he was too busy earning more.

”I had not thought about how this… Situation… Gave me more time.” William waved his hands around in a vague fashion, ”I still have to do the work and spend the time to get what I want out of life but I can enjoy it a little more than my past me… I already have the fancy car and some other things. I can spend more time enjoying once I get where I want. It’s like I already invested in myself” He had assets but strangely money was not as apparent. Perhaps he hid it in places for some reason.

Evelyn suggested William could sell the fulgurites to make money, ”I’ve heard of people doing that. Using Ebay to sell their stuff. I’ve neer looked into e-commerce before.” Everlyn took the fulgurite with the appearance of utmost care.

"How did you get this one to change shape?"

”I just imagined how the electricity would flow through the sand. I found I could control it some while moving it on the table earlier. I tried just having it flow in a simple spiral pattern to test it.” He traced his finger through the air in the spiral pattern he had envisioned. ”Maybe… Maybe this is a good way to test what I can do with my control? Try to control the flow and use the fulgurites to see what I actually did.”

They might need more sand. And maybe a bigger container. William had ideas.