Power Revealed (The Elementers) (5 page)

Justin spun around and began to storm away from them, but then he halted and turned around. He refused to look at either Mr. Hamilton or Raven in the eyes, but he said, “I can’t go walking back into the school with wet pants. Raven?”

Raven took her school jacket off and tossed it to him. “Justin—” she began to say, but before she could utter anything more, Justin quickly walked in the direction of the school holding Raven’s jacket in front of him.

Chapter 7

Raven couldn’t decide if she was more irritated with Mr. Hamilton, Justin, or herself. Mr. Hamilton had flown to New York City to meet with the Elementer Council. Justin refused to speak to her. And she was the fool that promised Mr. Hamilton she would convince Justin not to communicate with any other Elementers until her teacher spoke to the Elementer Council. But each time she tried to talk to Justin today, he either shushed her in class or simply headed in the opposite direction. Now it was the end of the school day and she still hadn’t been able to talk to him.

The only choice left was for her to show up at his house, but there was one problem with that option. She had no idea where he lived. She made up a white lie to one of the office secretaries explaining why she needed Justin’s address, but the grumpy, gray haired woman stubbornly refused to give Justin’s address to Raven spouting privacy rights of the students. Raven considered giving up. She had done her best. What more could she do without his address? But her conversation with Mr. Hamilton replayed in her mind.

“I’m concerned how Elementers are going to react to the news about Justin,” Mr. Hamilton said.

“What do you mean?” Raven asked.

“Some Elementers believe the universe gives this ability to Elementers to help maintain balance in the world. If there’s an unprecedented Triple—or Quadruple—Elementer, I can see some Elementers thinking that Justin is a sign of a terrible imbalance which can only be corrected by a Multi-Elementer.”

Raven hadn’t thought of that before. “Do you think that’s true?”

“No. There’s absolutely no proof that we have this ability because of anything other than some physical anomaly. The same is true for Justin. But I’m more concerned that others might fear Justin, rather than what they may think he represents. No one knows what having access to three or four elements will do to Justin. Will it be too much for him to harness so many elements? If his powers become out of control, either our secret could be exposed or he could cause real damage to himself or others.”

“I’m sure he’ll be able to harness his powers with practice. There’s nothing to worry about,” Raven said.

“If he can harness all the elements, than that might be some Elementers’ most serious worry.”

“That’s crazy. Why would it be a problem if he has his powers under control?”

“The Elementer records say that Double Elementers didn’t have twice as much strength and power than regular Elementers. The combination of the two elements gave them much greater power. If that’s the case, how much power will Justin develop with three or four elements?” Mr. Hamilton asked.

“But think of all the good he could do.”

“Yes, but what if he abused his powers. What–”

“Of course he wouldn’t abuse his powers!” Raven interrupted fervently, “He may be a little rude, but he isn’t bad. I can sense that much from him.”

“Yes. Yes. I agree. But some members on the Council may not be comfortable with the fact that they might not be able to control him if necessary.”

“He’s not theirs to control!”

“Raven, you know the main purpose of the Council is to make sure that all Elementers obey the rules so that none of us are discovered. They rarely have to play the role of enforcer, but many on the Council take that responsibility very seriously,” Mr. Hamilton gravely reminded her.

“What are you going to do about it?”

“I’m going to explain the situation to the Council and try to assure them that I’ll train and keep a very close eye on Justin. Hopefully, that will satisfy them for now. In the meantime, I need you to ensure that Justin avoids speaking to any Elementers until I meet with the Council.”

Raven stood in the hall trying to convince herself that she had done all she could do. If she couldn’t get Justin’s address from the school, how was she supposed to find him? She was great at feeling Elementers’ energy signature, but Justin was new and thus he had a weak, sporadic connection. The internet wouldn’t be much help. His address wouldn’t be listed online yet since he had moved here just a few days ago.

Just then, from around the corner, Raven heard one of the two office secretaries. “Helen, I need to take these forms to Mr. Young’s classroom. I’ll be back in about 10 minutes. Can you watch the office for me?”

“Sure. Go ahead. I’ll cover you,” the other secretary said.

The thought of stealing Justin’s address popped in Raven’s head. Maybe she could get a glimpse at Justin’s records if she could just distract the remaining secretary. She knew the records were in one of the side rooms off of the office. She had seen one of the secretaries bring her records out when Raven had brought in a form from her mom. Raven’s heart rate suddenly quickened. Was she seriously considering breaking into the office? No. She couldn’t be. Could she? She had never been in trouble for anything at school in her entire life. And now she was suddenly considering breaking into the office? Well, she had never before had a good enough reason to do such a thing. She trusted Mr. Hamilton’s judgment about the importance of keeping Justin quiet for now. Having another Elementer around seriously complicated her life.

Raven nervously looked down both directions of the hall. Most of the students had already left. Only students with cars or those in after-school activities remained. The nearest student was at the other end of the hallway. But how could she distract the other secretary? Raven knew she needed a plan and a quick one before the other woman returned.

She could set off the fire alarm, but that was drastic and she’d be in trouble if anyone found her still in the building. What about locking the woman temporarily in one of the office side rooms? Raven had learned how to manipulate locks when she forgot her house keys one too many times and hadn’t placed the spare key back under the red flower pot. After the third time, she became pretty good at manipulating the metal and rotating it to the right location to unlock the door.

Raven nervously checked the hall one more time and decided that if she was really going to do this, she’d better do it now. She peeked around the corner so she could see into one of the side office rooms. A plant sat on top of a large metal filing cabinet. Raven took a few deep breaths. To manipulate the elements, she had to connect and feel the energy. That was difficult with her heart behaving like she had just run a 400 meter run. Calm down. Calm down. She repeated silently to herself. Her heart slowed and she began to feel the energy flow through her.

She reached out toward the filing cabinet and used the energy to move it. First, it was just a minor vibration, but soon, the cabinet began shaking as if it were in the middle of a major earthquake. The cabinet already made a racket, causing the secretary to look up from her desk in the direction of the noise. But from her angle she couldn’t see the filing cabinet. A couple seconds later, the plant atop the cabinet had been jostled to the edge and fell off producing a crashing sound as it hit the desk below breaking into many pieces. The woman got up and hurried to the room as fast as her old legs would carry her.

Once the woman was inside the room, Raven reached out with the energy to gently rotate the door hinges until the door closed. She tried to do so quietly hoping the woman would remain distracted by the broken pot and resulting mess to not notice the door. Next, she focused the energy at the door knob. The inner portion of the door knob heated up and melted, deforming it just enough to prevent it from rotating to open the door, but not so much that it would be too hard to reform it. Thankfully, the door didn’t have a window. Raven hoped the secretary would be busy dealing with the mess for at least a couple minutes before she noticed she was locked inside and began calling for help.

Taking one last glimpse down the empty hallway, Raven hurried into the office and to the door of the student records room. Placing her hand against the door’s lock, she reached out with the energy toward the metal elements. It was like she could see the pieces inside the lock, but she visualized it with senses other than her eyes. She could see it in her mind. Having practice, she could unlock her house door in seconds, but this one wasn’t familiar and thus she rotated some sections too far. The nervousness certainly wasn’t helping either. Any sound she heard caused her to jump making her move pieces too far.

Finally, she unlocked the door, quickly slid inside the room, and closed the door behind herself. The door had no window so no one would be able to see her. But she also wouldn’t be able to see anyone coming. Thankfully, she had a gift for sensing other people’s energy. Mr. Hamilton claimed her ability was very rare, but it seemed to her to be a fairly boring and unimpressive talent. Elementers had different gifts even within the same element, and simply being able to sense other people keenly seemed like a rather lame talent. But at least it might prove helpful here.

Raven suddenly realized that she didn’t know Justin’s last name. Argghh! What was wrong with her? This is why she never did things without a plan. Well, never, until Justin showed up. She couldn’t possibly scan through all of the files. Her heart pounded so hard she felt like it would jump right out of her chest. What to do? “Breathe. Breathe,” she whispered to herself. “Think. Think.” Raven realized that Justin had been introduced in her science class just two days ago. What did Mr. Hamilton say Justin’s name was? “Come on. You can remember.” Raven pictured Mr. Hamilton introducing Justin at the front of the class. She remembered Justin’s smile and wavy brown hair. He did have cute dimples. She shook her head. Dimples were irrelevant right now. She needed a name. Justin? Justin? Justin Wood? No. Justin Winters? No. What is it? Why couldn’t she remember?

She was running out of time, so in desperation she used her powers to unlock the cabinet with the W’s. Halfway through one of the drawers she found it. Wilder! Justin Wilder. Quickly pulling out the folder, she opened it up and laid it on top of the other files. His main contact information was stapled to the left side of the folder.

Raven was too nervous to count on her brain remembering the address, so she quickly pulled out her phone and took a photo of Justin’s contact information. Her hands were shaking as she closed the folder causing her to drop the papers. The sheets spilled across the floor. She forced her nerves to calm down and quickly picked up the pages. Too much time had passed, so she shoved the folder back in the drawer at the front. It wasn’t in the correct alphabetical order, but that wasn’t a high priority for her right now. Quietly, she slid the drawer closed, relocked the cabinet, and tip toed toward the door.

She leaned her ear to the door and heard some rattling. The secretary tried to open the door Raven had jammed. It probably wouldn’t be long before she began calling for help. Raven began opening the records room door when she sensed someone coming around the corner and into the office. She quickly closed the door hoping she hadn’t made any noise.

“Helen?” a voice called out.

Great, Raven thought, the other secretary was back. How would she get out of here now?

“Cathy? Is that you? Help! I’m locked in here!”

Raven heard more jiggling of the door handle, but she knew they wouldn’t be able to open the door.

“Helen. I’ll go find someone who can help. I’ll be right back.”

Raven waited until she could sense the woman had left and she slid her door open. Her nerves were shot as she ran around the office desks and toward the front office door. But just as she reached the door, she collided with someone coming around the corner.

Stunned, Raven looked up. It was one of the vice-principals. “Mr. Weizman. I’m so sorry.”

He seemed to have a look of chastisement, but with amusement hidden beneath it. “I think we all know not to run in the halls, especially not in the office. What’s your hurry?”

Raven’s mind went totally blank. “Uhh. Uhh.”

The door handle rattled again. Thankfully, Raven’s brain seemed to restart. “Well, I was going to try to get help. Someone seems to be locked in that room.”

Mr. Weizman looked at Raven and then at the shaking door. “Someone is locked in my office?”

“Oh, is that your office? Well, then yes. Should I go get someone to help?” Raven asked.

“No. I have a key and can open the door to see who is in my office. But thank you.”

“Okay. Bye.” Raven forced herself not to bolt down the hallway. Instead, she rounded the corner and stopped to listen to the activity in the office. Raven knew his key wouldn’t be able to unlock the door as it was. If she didn’t reform the knob, the poor woman would be locked in there for quite some time. The woman may not have been helpful, and the ordeal nearly gave Raven a heart attack, but the woman didn’t deserve to be locked in the office for hours. Raven calmed herself down just enough to reach out to the metal in the door knob. Melting it was easier than reforming it well enough to allow the door to open smoothly.