Free The Lost by Caridad Piñeiro Page B

brighter orange and red markings delineating the strongest cells in the thunderstorm were moving quickly and would soon be directly above his Spring Lake residence. With a wave of his hand over a button, he released the lightning rods built into the uppermost story of his home.
    Almost as soon as he had done so, the low rumble of distant thunder warned that the tempest was growing nearer. For months Adam had been monitoring such storms using high-speed video. Shooting over fifty thousand frames per second, he had been able to detect the smaller ribbons of electricity that actually composed what the eye saw as only one huge bolt of lightning.
    He had also discovered another interesting phenomenon. With him maneuvering the lightning rods by remote, he was actually able to reliably draw the bolts to those devices. It was as if his natural affinity was beckoning the energy to join with him.
    Acting quickly, Adam engaged the junctions that would funnel any electrical strike he attracted to a series of sophisticated energy cells and capacitors. The purpose of the collection was twofold. If the array could collectand keep the charge, SolTerra might be able to develop a new source of energy to be marketed.
    If he could then personally absorb the power from the energy cells, he hoped to be able to take that force and calm the growing need within him. Afterward, he might be able to direct it to something or someone else without causing harm. Unfortunately, his control was sporadic, even after so many years of trying. Plus there was the recent phenomenon he had been experiencing, which created intense static in his brain and pain if his energy levels fluctuated too greatly.
    He suspected that part of the problem was the source of his power. Man-made power did not produce the same results in his body as natural supplies from the cosmos or other living things. As for his shapeshifting experiments, he chose his subjects carefully and made sure he didn’t take too much of their vitality, hence his need for alternate ways to recharge his power.
    An insistent beep-beep-beep intruded from a nearby computer. The weather service was issuing a severe thunderstorm warning.
    Perfect, he thought, and flipped one of the monitors to the security camera watching the rooftop. He shifted the camera’s orientation with a joystick, training its view onto the two lightning rods. Then he grasped the remotes for the rods, directing them toward the storm, focusing his attention on the rods while occasionally shooting a half-glance at the video from the high-speed cameras recording the experiment.
    Anxiously he waited, his heart drumming in his chest and his core growing warmer as he absorbed some of the free-floating electrical energy increasing with the approach of the storm.
    A flash of light brightened the night sky in the distance, followed several seconds later by the crash of thunder.
    Another minute passed.
    Another flare of light. More distinct. Closer this time. The thunder followed within a few heartbeats, its vibrations thumping against his senses.
    The storm was nearly overhead.
    Less than a minute later, the first zigzag spike of lightning blasted into one of the metal rods. A second followed ferociously.
    Adam turned from the sight of the strikes, their images alive on his retinas as he glanced at the screen tracking the energy levels in the battery array. Only a slight rise. Not nearly enough for the cells to be used as a power source.
    Anxious minutes passed before he pulled another bolt of lightning to the rod, and this time it ramped up the readings, as did a fourth hit. Each strike increased the power levels in the cells, but the storm was shifting by too quickly. As fast as the squall had moved in from the land to the west, its fury sped eastward out to sea.
    Turning on a different camera, Adam observed as the lightning brightened the inky night sky over the ocean, blinding white silver bursts racing down to midnight sea.
    With the storm