Power Revealed (The Elementers)

Copyright ©2013 by
Leah M. Berry

Published by Raring Book Press

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage and retrieval system, or otherwise, without written permission of the author.

Cover & Interior formatting by
Indie Designz

Dedication

To Logan and Rowan,

for anxiously awaiting each new chapter

and for always being willing

to join in our adventures.

Chapter 1

Justin stepped off the dirt path and moved deeper into the forest, unaware of what lay ahead. Weaving between the trees, he soon found his way closed in by a tangle of bushes and grasping vines. He stopped and stared at the living wall. After all that had been taken from him recently, the barrier seemed like one more thing determined to break him down. Fighting the ache inside, he shoved the branches aside and pushed ahead.

A cold wind whipped at his face. The breeze carried the voices of his classmates from down the path near the high school. Justin was tired of the flood of unfamiliar faces and needed some space. He plunged farther into the thick web of undergrowth. But his search for solitude was a vain attempt to escape the memories that plagued him. It had been almost two weeks and he still couldn’t accept that his best friend was gone.

After pulling a tree branch aside to create an opening to pass through, Justin came upon a break in the thick undergrowth. The clearing revealed a massive Douglas fir that stood apart by itself. The rest of the forest didn’t dare intrude on its space. Justin crossed the unspoken boundary and found a dry spot of ground below its high branches. The bed of spongy earth and fallen needles provided a comfortable seat as he leaned against the enormous trunk. Closing his eyes, he tried to shut out any memories of the car accident. Whenever he thought about the phone call and the look on his mother’s face as she received the terrible news that Grandpa had died, Justin’s throat would gum up and he’d have to grit his teeth to hold his emotions in check.

An intense vibration shook through the tree he leaned against, tingling along Justin’s spine and distracting him from his grim thoughts. Justin opened his eyes and glanced around, but all he could see was an endless panorama of green. He looked up, hoping to see the sun for the first time since moving to Bellingham, Washington a few days ago. But the small openings in the forest canopy revealed only a diffused light filtered through dreary, grey clouds. He missed the wide open skies of Texas.

He was about to shut his eyes when he felt the tremor again. Justin twisted around and touched the trunk. Heat spread across his palm and fingers. He pulled his arm away and stared at his hand in wonder. Doubting the sensation, he touched the tree again. Energy flowed into his body like liquid sugar running through his veins.

A buzz of energy traveled from the top of his head to his toes. He yanked his hand away from the rough bark of the tree, but he could still feel the charge. Justin ran his hand through his wavy, brown hair in an unconscious effort to brush the sensation away. Energy crackled across his palm. He pulled his hand down expecting to see sparks coming off his fingertips, but his hand appeared normal.

“Hello, there.”

Justin spun around, but no one was in sight.

“Hello-ohhhh,” came the voice again. Justin wasn’t only hearing the voice—it vibrated through him like music did when he played it at full volume in the car.

“Where are you?” Justin asked.

The voice chuckled. “The tree, of course. How else could I talk to you?”

Justin felt the energy vibrate through him in sync with the words. It seemed to emanate from the tree and pulse through his entire body. He jumped up from the tree and looked around. “Come on. Who is this?”

“I’m Katie. What’s your name?”

Even though he was no longer touching the tree, he could still feel the power pulse with the words. Justin hesitated. Did he really intend to speak to a tree? He’d heard of people talking to their plants. But he’d never heard of plants starting the conversation. He wondered if his inability to accept Grandpa’s death had finally driven him to hallucinations.

He heard another laugh. “You know, it’s not a difficult question. Why not start with your first name?” Another rush of energy flowed into him seeming to push the answer right out of him.

“Justin.” Yep. He did it. He just introduced himself to a tree. He was clearly losing his mind.

“Hi, Justin. I haven’t heard of you. Where are you from?”

He couldn’t explain why, but he opened his mouth to respond. “I just moved here from—” Justin stopped mid-sentence when he noticed a girl from his science class come around the bend into view.

“Are you talking to that tree?” she asked.

 “No!” Justin said quickly, looking around to see if anyone else saw him.

“I saw you talking to that tree.” She brushed her long black hair away from her face. For a moment, Justin was distracted by the blueness of her eyes. She was stunning. But she was obviously one of those girls who found it entertaining to make fun of anyone below her social rank, so it didn’t matter to him what she looked like.

“No, I don’t make a habit of talking to trees. But if you’re really desperate for someone to chat with, I suppose you’re free to try speaking to that rock over there.”

The girl’s mouth shot open, but she seemed uncertain what to say. She bit her bottom lip and blushed. The color in her cheeks made her look even more attractive. But hot or not, Justin wasn’t going to wait for her to confirm that he had been talking to the local plant life. He marched down the path toward some of his fellow classmates, anxious for the school day to finally end.

Chapter 2

Justin dropped onto his bed and pulled a pillow over his head trying to silence the arguments fighting it out in his mind. His brain wouldn’t stop replaying the events in the forest trying to find a reasonable explanation for what had happened. So far, he could come up with only two possibilities. One, trees could talk. Unlikely. Or two, he was going crazy. More likely. He didn’t want the second answer to be true. But he wasn’t very excited about accepting the first option either. He desperately needed to clear his head. Throwing the pillow aside, he changed into a pair of shorts and t-shirt, and bounded down the stairs. “Mom, I’m going for a run.”

Justin heard his dad call from the den. “Do you have your homework done?”

Justin gritted his teeth. “Yes. You’ve dragged me a few thousand miles from anyone I know, so what else do I have to do but homework?”

“You didn’t finish the dishes from dinner. I shouldn’t have to remind you. Wash them before you go,” his dad said.

Justin turned around to argue back, but stopped when he noticed his mom and the sad look on her face. She put on a strong show these past couple weeks, but even with all that had happened to him today, Justin couldn’t help but notice the red circles around her eyes. She must have been crying again. He wasn’t the only one struggling with Grandpa’s death. He washed the dishes without argument and headed for the front door. “Be back by nine,” his mom gently called to him. Justin gave her a supportive smile, slipped into his running shoes, pulled on a jacket, and left the house.

The air smelled deeply of pine trees and something else. He couldn’t put his finger on it. The scent reminded him of camping trips to Colorado with Grandpa. But thinking about his grandpa made Justin even more upset. In less than a month, his parents had told him they were moving to Bellingham, then his grandpa died in a car accident, he had to start at a new school, and now he was hearing voices from trees. He was pretty sure the last thing was due to the first three. He needed to clear his head and the best fix was always running. His feet pounding against the pavement felt good. Each collision of his shoes against the ground usually succeeded in chipping off a piece of his frustrations. The bigger the problem, the longer the run he needed to work things out.

But running alone wasn’t enough to make sense of the chaos churning inside of him. There was no way he could sleep until he convinced himself that he had imagined the events of earlier today. He needed answers about what happened in the forest, and the only place he’d find them was at that tree.

He rounded the corner and saw the convenience store located a couple of blocks from his school. He hadn’t noticed he’d been running in that direction. As he approached the path leading into the forest, Justin slowed down. The few miles had passed too quickly. He needed answers, but he worried he wouldn’t find the answers he wanted.

Walking deeper into the forest, it became even darker, with the moonlight only breaking through occasional openings in the canopy. Rounding a bend in the path, he came upon the tree. It was bigger than he remembered. It rose above the rest of the forest like an imposing tower. Justin approached it. Slowly extending his arm, he placed the palm of his hand against the tree. He braced himself for—something.

After about thirty seconds, he realized that he hadn’t been breathing. Sucking in some air he placed his other hand on the tree. He could feel energy, but it had been bouncing around in him for the last few hours. Was it coming from him or the tree? An argument erupted in his head.

See. It’s just a tree.

But maybe I need to say “hi” first.

Oh, come on, now you’re going to try to start conversations with trees?

I just want to be sure.

Fine!

Justin let go of the tree and looked around. He wasn’t going to be caught talking to a plant again. He circled around the trunk and looked carefully in every direction. No one was nearby, so he placed his hands against the tree again. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. This was just way too weird. He continued arguing with himself.