Out Of The Ashes (The Ending Series, #3) by Lindsey Fairleigh, Lindsey Pogue

this?”
    “Does it feel
okay?” he asked, his eyes searching my face. “It doesn’t hurt, does it?”
    “No, no,” I said,
laughing a little. “It’s just, um, I don’t even know. It’s almost fuzzy…sort
of. Does that sound right?”
    The tightness
around Carlos’s eyes relaxed, and he nodded. The tingling sensation started
spreading down my torso and up my neck much faster.
    “I got the idea
from you, actually.” A quick smile flashed across his face before it retreated
under his increasingly tense mask of concentration. “I thought, maybe if I
could control it enough, we could do our own version of that electrotherapy
stuff you mentioned, but without the torture part.” His eyebrows drew together
as the tingling reached my opposite arm and my thighs. “You know, so like, a
lot slower and with less electricity and stuff, but still enough to make our
Abilities stronger…?”
    I had to stifle
my first instinct at hearing him mention electrotherapy, which was to shudder
and pull away. “I—” I took a deep breath. “I think that’s an excellent idea. I
bet Gabe would love to hel—”
    “No.” Carlos
retracted his hand, and the tingling sensation evaporated immediately. “Not
him. We can’t trust him, not after what he did to you.”
    That earned
another frown. “Carlos…” I reached over and touched his wrist. “Ouch!” As soon
as our skin made contact, electricity shocked my fingertips, numbing my hand
almost instantly.
    Carlos leapt off
the wagon, stumbling as he landed on the ground. “I’m sorry!” He spun around
and stared up at me, his eyes opened too wide. “Shit, Dani, I’m so sorry!”
    “Carlos—”
    “You can’t touch
me when I’ve been doing stuff like that. I forgot to tell you—Jesus fucking—I
could’ve killed you!”
    Shaking out my
arm, I laughed, aiming for nonchalant, but hitting nervous perfectly. “No
worries. Just killed the nerves in my hand for a few seconds.” I held up my
hand and wiggled my fingers. “It’s already going away.”
    Carlos didn’t
look the least bit reassured. “I’m sorry. I should’ve warned you.” He hit his
forehead with the heel of his hand several times. “I wasn’t thinking. It was
stupid. I—”
    “It’s fine,
really,” I said as I moved to the end of the bench seat and hopped down. I took
two steps toward him and offered a tight-lipped smile. “It’s better than fine,
really.” Pausing, I looked into his haunted eyes. “This could be a game-changer
down the road. If we can use this to increase our Abilities…” As I trailed off,
I shook my head. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to the undefined period of
having a nonfunctioning Ability that resulted from electrotherapy while my invigorated
synapses settled back down, but there was no denying how badly we needed to be
as strong, as capable, and as dangerous as we could possibly be. And , a tiny voice said in the back of my mind, maybe this
could fix my broken Ability…
    Carlos’s brow
furrowed, uncertainty and hope clear on his face. “You think this could work
the same as the electroshock stuff they did to you?”
    I took a deep
breath, exhaling slowly. “I do,” I said with a nod. “But I really think you
should talk to Gabe about—” I held up my hand, cutting off Carlos’s protests as
soon as he opened his mouth. “He knows more about this kind of thing than
anyone else. He’s experienced it— firsthand —just like me, and he’s
a freaking genius. If you want your non-torture version of electrotherapy to
work, he’s your best bet.”
    Carlos’s gaze
shifted to some point low and off to the side. “I’ll think about it.”
    “Hey,” I said,
and without thinking, I reached for his arm. “Maybe—”
    He backpedaled
out of reach so quickly that I flinched.
    “I’m sorry.” I
held my hand up. “That was stupid. My fault, okay?”
    Carlos stared at
me with wide, horrified eyes. “You can’t do that shit around me, Dani. If