Book 1 in the Michael Vey series
Michael seems to be just another kid in the small town of Meridian, Idaho. He gets bullied, he gets by in school, and he has one friend, Ostin, a genius at everything but social life. There's also a secret he's hiding, that only his mom and Ostin know about. He's electric. Literally. He can "surge" or "pulse" and shock people. He and his mom have moved around for years to prevent people from knowing.
But one day, as he is being pantsed by Jack, Wade, and Mitchell, he can't take it anymore and electrocutes all of them. The hottest girl in the school, Taylor Ridley, sees it. His mom is upset, but tries not to show it. The next day at school, Taylor keeps passing him notes, insisting on him telling her about the power. Finally, she gets him to her house and reveals that she, too, has an electric power. She can "reboot" people and read their minds if they are touching. Michael tells her about his ability.
Michael also tells Ostin, and the three form a club, the Electroclan, for people with electric powers. They discover that they were both born at Pasadena General Hospital in the same week (Taylor was later adopted), and that all but 17 of the babies born there in that time died. They discover that Dr. C.J. Hatch of the Elgen corporation was testing a machine called the MEI there, and that it had adverse side effects. Soon after, Ostin discovers that the 17 children are all electric and that they are the only 2 the Elgen haven't found. However, their computer searches reveal them, and Taylor is kidnapped (with a note to her parents saying she ran away). Meanwhile, Michael and Ostin are celebrating his birthday when a man tries to rob his mother. Michael shocks him, prompting a mysterious man later revealed to be Hatch and two electric children to come forward. Ostin shows up at that moment, forcing the Elgen to take Michael's mother as bait.
At the Elgen Academy in Pasadena, Taylor is pampered into believing Hatch is good. She quickly realizes that he is using the "glows", as he calls them, to his own plans of world domination. When she refuses to kill people at his command, she is locked up in a cell with others who defied Hatch. Ian can see through walls (even though he is physically blind), Abigail can make pain go away, and McKenna can generate heat.
Michael comes to rescue her and his mother with Jack and Wade, who are terrified of him now and agreed to drive him to California. They try unsuccessfully to free Taylor before they are caught by Hatch. Hatch offers Michael a place at the Academy, and Michael, not knowing how bad the place is, agrees. That is, until Hatch tells him to electrocute Wade as proof of loyalty. Michael refuses, and is locked up in Cell 25, where he is tortured by Tara, Taylor's lost twin sister, who can induce emotions.
After 25 days, he is brought back out into a room with Taylor and Austin, along with Zeus, who had similar powers to his. He taunts Zeus into throwing lightning at him, but it turns out Michael can absorb electricity and use it, allowing him to free himself and his friends. Taylor probes Zeus's mind and eliminates falsehoods that Hatch has planted, successfully turning Zeus to their side.
They break out of the cell and free both the other glows and the regular prisoners, storming the building and forcing Hatch to flee with the glows still loyal to him.
