Power Revealed (The Elementers) (9 page)

“Now that you’re connected, let’s get to work. I’m going to send some more wind your way and unless you want to be on your knees again, you’d better deflect it.”

Justin tried to push back the next blast, but it was like holding up a pillow in defense during a pillow fight. Sure, you didn’t get hit directly, but the force still pushed you around. After being knocked around five or six times, Justin had enough and decided to go on the offensive by hijacking Rex’s connection. He hoped it was similar to forcing a fumble in football. Rather than directing a gust of wind at Rex, Justin shot a burst of energy at Rex briefly disrupting Rex’s connection to the wind element. Justin picked up the wind gust at that moment and sent it barreling right back at Rex. The surprise and force combined to hit Rex firmly in the gut and throw him back against a large tree.

“Wow,” Raven said. Mr. Hamilton choked back a laugh.

Rex grimaced and didn’t respond to the comment. Instead, he stood back up and said, “Again.”

This time, wind wasn’t the only thing heading Justin’s way. The faster wind picked up some small branches which were flying toward him. Justin tried to force another fumble, but Rex was prepared for it and Justin’s attempt to steal his connection failed. With the branches only a few feet away from him, Justin shot a perpendicular wind gust which collided from the side with Rex’s force and pushed the branches enough to the side so that only one hit him. He was pretty sure it’d leave a bruise on his shoulder, but it could have been worse.

Rex clearly wanted to force Justin to give up. He didn’t even start a new gust. He simply turned the existing one around, which picked up more debris along the way, and directed it back at Justin. This continued for what felt like a few hours, when in reality it was less than thirty minutes. In the midst of just surviving, somewhere in the back of his head, Justin wondered how many cuts and bruises he’d have and how he’d explain them to his Mom.

“Are you done yet?” Rex asked.

Despite having never been more exhausted in his life, there was no way Justin would ask for mercy from this creep. While thinking about the refusal, Justin must have lost some of his concentration because he didn’t notice the coming gust until a large branch hit him solidly in the back. As he dropped to the ground from the force and pain, his vision blurred and sounds seemed to be muffled. A small part of his mind could hear his name being called and steps running toward him. But all he could really sense was the anger burning inside him and the need to defend himself from this jerk. He didn’t send a wind gust. Instead, he closed his eyes and pushed the energy out in all directions as if to create a protective barrier.

He heard what sounded like a bunch of fireworks go off almost all at once in the distance and, in the midst of it all, a scream. He opened his eyes, but things were a blurry for a moment and he wasn’t sure where he was. The forest seemed to be gone. He saw Mr. Hamilton and Rex standing near each other looking at the same spot on the ground. Anger erupted in Justin at the sight of Rex and he thought about using the wind to throw Rex in the creek, but he followed where their eyes were focused. Raven laid on the ground with her eyes closed, blood on her forehead, and a fallen tree across her legs. The anger was suddenly forgotten.

“Raven!” He shook the fog and anger from his mind and leaped up to cross the twenty feet to reach her. Dizziness tried to pull him down but he stumbled across the distance and dropped to his knees next to her, oblivious of the pain in his sliced up knee. “Raven. Are you okay?”

Justin touched Raven’s arm, but when he did so, a spike of energy rushed into him. It was like an electric shock, but many times stronger. He automatically pulled back his hand and noticed that Raven jerked in pain at the same time. Sure that it was a freak occurrence and wanting to help Raven, he reached out to her again and they were both jolted again. Raven’s body shook in response.

“Stop touching her you fool!” Rex yelled at Justin as he rushed toward them.

Raven slowly opened her eyes, but she squeezed them shut again as she grimaced in pain. “What was that? What happened?” Raven mumbled.

“I’ll tell you what happened!” Rex shouted. Before he continued his tirade, he paused to use the wind to carefully lift the tree off of Raven. Luckily, one side of the tree had fallen on a nearby boulder so it hadn’t crushed Raven’s legs. “What happened is this boy clearly has a dangerous power he can’t control! He’s a danger to himself, and to others, as he has so plainly demonstrated just now.”

Mr. Hamilton knelt on the other side of Raven. “Raven, where does it hurt?”

“Oh, I think it’s just my forehead. It really isn’t that bad.”

“Raven, I’m so sorry,” Justin said looking down at her.

“What did you do?” Mr. Hamilton asked Justin.

“I—” Justin tried to remember what he did, but all he could recall were images of bright light and a rush of fury. He did his best to push the feelings aside. “I don’t know what happened. I just pushed the energy out to protect myself. My eyes were closed so I didn’t see. What happened?”

“I’ve never seen one in person, I’ve only read about them, but it looks like you created a microburst. The wind was so fast and powerful that it flattened all the trees around you. Rex only had time to raise a defense right in front of him just before it hit. I was behind him so the two of us were protected, but Raven was running toward you to see how you were doing after the branch hit you. She’s lucky she fared as well as she did. That boulder protected her from being crushed,” Mr. Hamilton said.

Justin looked up at Mr. Hamilton and saw that his teacher seemed to be concerned about him too, but he also seemed hesitant, or maybe even just a little afraid of him.

“David, I told you he’s dangerous,” Rex said.

Justin glared at the Texan. “If you had backed off, I wouldn’t have felt the need to defend myself.”

“Against this girl?” Rex said.

“No! I didn’t mean to do that,” Justin said.

“If you didn’t intend to create this level of damage and it just happened accidentally than that’s all the more proof that you’re dangerous.”

“I said I was sorry,” Justin said. He felt the urge to put Rex in his place, but he suddenly felt drained and didn’t have the energy to argue.

Mr. Hamilton spoke up. “I think Raven is safe to move so we should be on our way. Others will have heard the noise and we don’t want to be found in the middle of this.”

“We are going to have to do something about this boy,” Rex said to Mr. Hamilton

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Justin gritted his teeth wanting desperately to shut Rex up.

“Rex, can we talk about this later?” Mr. Hamilton said.

Raven assured them that she was okay, but Rex easily picked her up as if she were a small child and carried her back to the jeep. Justin followed the group back to the car with thoughts burning through his mind of how best to humble Rex.

Chapter 12

Justin shoved the hotel’s bathroom door with far more force than necessary, taking his frustrations with Rex out on the door. Mr. Hamilton had dropped Justin and Rex off at Rex’s hotel before driving Raven home. Justin turned down a ride home preferring to run to his house to help clear his head.

Justin had popped into the hotel to use the bathroom before heading out. Walking down the hallway to the lobby, Justin recognized Rex’s voice. The jerk was arguing with someone. No surprise there. Justin slowed as he listened in on the conversation. But his feet came to an immediate halt when he heard a certain name. Wanting to catch more, he backed up against the wall of the hallway to make sure Rex wouldn’t see him, and slowly slid along the wall to get closer to better overhear the argument.

Not only was Justin stunned to hear his grandpa’s name, but it seemed even stranger that the man Rex argued with had a Russian accent. “It must be so much easier to get what you want with Henry gone. Look what you’ve gained. With Henry dead, I hear you were even made Head Wind Elementer on the Council. How convenient for you.”

“Maybe we didn’t agree on everything—”

The Russian interrupted. “The two of you never agreed on anything.”

“Just because we disagreed doesn’t mean...” Rex’s voice was drowned out by some bossy woman at the other end of the lobby telling her husband what to do. Justin inched closer to the lobby while still remaining hidden. The woman quieted down and Justin caught Rex’s voice again. “... can’t prove Henry’s death wasn’t an accident.” Rex’s words hit Justin like a train at full speed. He felt like he had been punched in the stomach. Justin choked and had to fight to prevent his knees from buckling underneath him. He tried to focus back in on the conversation, but it was difficult because his head spun like the time he rode the Mad Tea Party cups at Disneyland.

“Rex, as always, it was a pleasure seeing you.” Justin could recognize the sarcasm even with the Russian accent. A set of footsteps that sounded like Rex’s large cowboy boots stomped off toward the front doors. Justin peaked around the corner and saw the man with the Russian accent walking toward the elevator. He had dark brown, wavy hair that hung to his shoulders. His clothes looked expensive and flashy. He must have been in his early thirties.

After watching the man enter the elevator, Justin thought about leaving, but he felt numb all over. His legs wouldn’t move. Instead, his body involuntarily lowered itself until he sat on the floor with his back against the wall. Rex’s words kept repeating in his head, “Henry’s death wasn’t an accident. They can’t prove Henry’s death wasn’t an accident.” Justin closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. Could it be true? Had Rex murdered his grandpa?

Chapter 13

Justin didn’t know how long he sat in the hallway trying to absorb what he had just heard. It wasn’t until someone nearly tripped over him coming around the corner that he came out of his daze. Pulling himself up off the floor, he made his way through the lobby and out to the parking lot. Justin looked up for any trace of the sun, but the grey clouds did all they could to block out the light. He began crossing the parking lot, when he heard someone call out his name. Justin turned in the direction of the voice.

The Russian man that had been arguing with Rex walked toward him. “You’re Justin Wilder, aren’t you?”

“How do you know my name?”

“I’m Alexei Novokov. News has spread fast and everyone is talking about you, Justin. I saw David Hamilton drop you off so I figured it had to be you,” Alexei said.

“Who’s talking about me?” Justin asked.

“Everyone. Everyone in the Elementer community.”

“Why would they be talking about me?”

“Are you serious?” The man walked next to Justin and lowered his voice. “Justin, you’re the only known Elementer to ever be able to control all four elements. You’re not just famous now. You’ll be famous for centuries to come. Don’t you realize how special you are?”

Justin shrugged. “Mr. Hamilton told me no one else can access all four, but I’ve just spent the afternoon with Rex treating me like I have a terrible curse that threatens to destroy humanity.”

“Rex is just jealous that he doesn’t have your talents. You’re going to become the most powerful Elementer ever. Rex only wishes he could have that power.” Alexei looked at his watch. “You know, I was going to go for a drive before meeting someone for dinner. Do you need a ride home?”

“That’s okay. I was going to run home.”

“I think you’ll change your mind when you see my car. Why don’t you at least come over and see Alina?” Alexei started walking toward the far end of the parking lot and motioned for Justin to join him.

Justin wanted to learn more about the conversation he just heard between this man and Rex so he followed Alexei across the parking lot. Justin’s jaw dropped when Alexei stopped next to what was clearly Alina. Despite his current mood, the sleek, fire red sports car took his breath away. “What is it?”

“The Ferrari Italia 458. Isn’t she a beauty? Come inside. You haven’t experienced her until she’s wrapped her arms around you.”