Power Revealed (The Elementers) (16 page)

Flames began taking over even more of the kitchen and attempted to engulf him. Justin backed up slightly and tried to figure out how to put out the fire. Peaking over the counter, he caught sight of a fire extinguisher. Unfortunately, it was near the kitchen doorway leading to the bathrooms and the intense blaze completed surrounded it.

Justin mentally did an inventory of the elements available to him. Water wasn’t going to work. Trees certainly weren’t much help. They’d just serve as fuel for the fire. The Earth element? No. Not unless he wanted to bury the restaurant in dirt. All he had left was wind. But wouldn’t that just make it stronger like when he blew on a campfire to get it started? Arghh! Something had to work. Wait. Candles can be blown out. They just needed enough wind force relative to their size. Justin thought that maybe hurricane force winds might be able to blow out the fire. He worried about making things worse. But he had no time to argue the matter in his head. Wind it would be.

Opening himself up to the Wind element, he could feel the energy swirling around him. The fire had a chaotic effect on the air around him, making it difficult to focus and direct the wind. He realized he needed to create some hard core air current and that would require a clear path. Quickly accessing the earth element, he used the energy to yank open the back door, but in his urgency he ripped the door right off its hinges. Oops! Oh well, Justin thought, it was out of the way. Focusing again on the air he began pulling in the wind from behind the restaurant, through the kitchen, and out through the front of the building.

The flames seemed to enjoy the fresh source of oxygen and burned even stronger. For a moment, a very brief one, Justin considered defeat since everything he tried seemed to make the fire more dangerous. But his stubbornness, the thought of Raven in danger, and his desire to be able to help Raven even though he hadn’t been able to prevent his grandpa’s death, all combined to overcome his doubts. He thrust all of the energy he could control into the air. The wind picked up so quickly that it flung him forward, but he caught himself before face planting the floor. Pots, cupboard doors, and anything loose began rattling and as the wind continued to pick up. A spatula flew forward, hit him in the back of his head, and continued hurtling past him. Suddenly, a slew of other items became dangerous projectiles shooting toward the front of the restaurant. Justin dropped to his stomach and instinctively placed his arms over the back of his head.

It was hard to will the wind forward while it posed such an immediate danger to him, but he knew he needed faster speeds so he stayed down and directed it onward. As the howl of the growing wind rushing through the kitchen replaced the sound of rustling knives, Justin lifted up his head. The flames were struggling against the strong wind, but they still burned. Justin needed more.

Sweat poured down his face. He mentally reached out far from the restaurant and willed the air toward him. He heard a deep roar from far away, then it grew louder. Suddenly, the wind rushed with so much force through the back door, into the kitchen, and past the seating area that it caused some of the front windows of the restaurant to explode outward. Justin could feel the wind pushing him along the floor and nearly lifting him off the ground for brief moments. The gale shoved him toward the front of the kitchen, the area under fire. Justin reached out to a cupboard handle and held on tight to avoid moving forward. He couldn’t feel the blistering heat on his skin anymore, but that might be simply because of the speed of the wind rushing past his body.

He needed to know if the fire was out because he couldn’t keep this wind up much longer or he’d endanger more people from the gale force winds. Justin couldn’t see the hallway from behind the counter, but if he let go of the cupboard handle, he knew he might be pushed into the fire. Turning his head to look toward his feet, he couldn’t see any flames in that area, so he released his grip on the handle. The wind propelled him along the floor and shoved him against a cupboard near the sinks.

Hoping to see all the flames gone, he was distraught to see the fire burning in the only place he absolutely wanted to extinguish it, the hallway to the bathrooms. The hallway was a dead end. The wind must have flowed in the direction of least resistance, toward the front of the restaurant. He was about to try and raise another wind gust, but his eyes fell on the fire extinguisher which had previously been blocked by the fire. Justin released the wind energy, jumped up, ran over, and grabbed the extinguisher. “Owww!” Justin dropped the extinguisher and it clanged against the floor. Justin’s hands burned from touching the fire heated metal.
Way to use your brain
, Justin thought. Pulling off his jacket, he used it as makeshift oven mitts to handle the hot exterior of the fire extinguisher. Hurrying over to the hallway, he squeezed the handle and hoped it would work. The foamy mixture sprayed on the flames and Justin inched forward as the flames were extinguished.

Finally, Justin couldn’t see any flames amongst the smoke filled building. He dropped the extinguisher and hurried forward and knocked hard on the women’s bathroom door. It hurt his hands, but he didn’t care. “Raven! Are you okay? The fire’s out. Raven!” He pushed at the door, which resisted as if it were stuck in mud.

“We’re here. Just a minute. Let me move the paper towels.” Hearing Raven’s voice, Justin’s heart skipped a beat. He took a deep breath of relief but coughed from the smoke. Raven’s face appeared in the opening door. Justin’s throat felt like it had been rubbed with sand paper, his eyes burned, his skin felt like he had a bad sunburn, and everything stunk like burned toast. But the sight of Raven’s smile was all that registered to him at that moment. Raven reached out and grabbed his arm. Her touch sent a bolt of energy through Justin. Like before, all four energy forces seemed to combine and pull him toward Raven. Their eyes locked and he felt like he was connected not just to Raven, but to the universe.

His hand involuntarily lifted to touch her face when the door opened wide and something leapt out at him. “Thank you!” Justin staggered back as arms encircled his neck. Long, blonde hair flew into his face and he was pushed him back breaking his hold on Raven’s hand. The rush of energy cut off and Raven crumpled to the ground. Nikki, the owner of the blonde hair, noticed her friend fall and spun around to help her. “Raven!”

Justin dropped down beside Raven and reached out to help lift her up. As he touched her, Raven’s body shuddered. He pulled back immediately. He wanted to help her, but he suspected he was the reason she was on the floor. Did she feel the same things he felt when they touched? But why did it seem to jolt her worse? Justin knelt beside Raven, but made sure he didn’t touch her. “Are you okay?” Raven looked up at him searching his eyes. Justin wondered if she was asking the same questions, but he wouldn’t ask with Nikki nearby.

Before he could say anything more, a deep voice boomed out. “Is anyone in here?” All three of them turned to see a large fireman coming around the corner. “Are you guys okay?”

As the fireman carried Raven out of the building, Nikki sprung into a long dialogue of the trauma she and Raven experienced and how Justin heroically saved them. Justin did all he could to downplay his involvement. He explained that by the time he entered the back of the restaurant, the flames were all out except in the hallway and all he did was use the fire extinguisher to put out the fire near the bathrooms. The fireman was impressed with Justin’s courage, but scolded him for entering a burning building since that was the role of firefighters.

When Raven noticed Justin favoring his hands, she absolutely refused to be examined by a medic until someone began treating the burns on Justin’s hands. While experiencing the pain of the ointment application, he overheard numerous comments within the crowd about the strange wind that seemed to miraculously put out the fire. Justin was thinking about the earth energy he felt before the fire ignited. He kept trying to feel if he could sense other Elementers nearby, but he couldn’t feel a thing. Justin needed to talk to Raven. Finally, he found a moment when the medics and Raven’s friends were all occupied. Justin walked over to Raven who sat in the back of the ambulance.

“Sorry, Raven.” Justin said it quietly, trying to avoid anyone hearing him.

“Sorry for saving my life?”

“No. I’m sorry for being a jerk earlier.”

“Well, I suppose saving my life is one way to make up. I just hope you don’t have a habit of doing such grand apologies. I don’t want to go through that again.”

“Raven, I felt some earth energy just before the fire. Was that you?”

“No. I noticed it too, but when you showed up to rescue us, I figured it was from you. It wasn’t?”

“No. I think an Earth Elementer started that fire,” Justin said.

“We’re not allowed to use fire.”

“I know. But I think whoever attacked us last week and followed me last night, probably isn’t very concerned with following the rules. They could have killed you. Twice.”

“Followed you? Who did? Why didn’t you tell me?” Raven asked.

“I tried to this morning, but I couldn’t with others nearby and then I went and made you mad at me.”

“I’m sorry. Who followed you?”

“I don’t know. They didn’t do anything but trail me in their car,” Justin said.

“Justin. What are we going to do?”

Justin could see the anxiousness in her eyes. “We’ll figure it out,” Justin said with far more confidence than he felt. “Remember. You said yourself that I have more power than anyone else. I’ll just send another microburst if I need to protect us.”

“I don’t want you to hurt yourself using destructive energy,” Raven said.

“It’ll be okay. We’re meeting with Anya tomorrow. Maybe she has some information that can help us. I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise. You’re still coming, aren’t you?” Justin asked.

 “Definitely. Besides, I’ve always wanted to see her house.”

“What’s special about her house?” Justin asked.

“You’ll see.”

Chapter 24

Mr. Hamilton dropped the newspaper on Justin’s lap as he sat down in the jeep. “So how’s the hero this morning?” Mr. Hamilton asked.

Justin looked at the newspaper and gaped at the headline: “Boy Rescues Friends from Fire.” Below the bold text sat a photo of him standing next to Raven being treated beside the ambulance.

“You’ve had your powers less than three weeks and you’re already front page news. That has to be some kind of record. I’m sure this will help convince the Council I can help keep your powers under control and a secret,” Mr. Hamilton shook his head.

“All you care about is what the Council thinks of you,” Justin turned toward his teacher.

“No, it’s not about me. It’s about you. And it’s serious, Justin. If the Council doesn’t believe I can help you manage your powers and maintain our secret, they will step in and I’m not sure what they’ll do to you.”

“They don’t own me,” Justin said.

“What were you thinking using your powers like that?” Mr. Hamilton asked.

“It’s not my fault. I think another Elementer started the fire. Both Raven and I felt the earth energy just before the fire started.”

“Another Elementer? Not that again.”

“We both felt it. There was a burst of Earth power right before the fire started.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t your own powers?”

Justin glared at his teacher, “I did not start that fire. I suppose you’re also going to suggest I imagined the car that followed me last night.”

“What car?”

“Last night, after you dropped me off, I noticed a white car tailing me. It kept pursuing me. I finally had to cut through some yards and jump fences to lose them. I was worried they were going to show up at my home.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I didn’t have your phone number and I was worried that I’d lead them to my house if I used the energy to Talk to you.”

Mr. Hamilton glanced over toward the forest contemplating something. “What did the driver in the car look like?”

“It was dark. I couldn’t see them.”

“Did you see who started the fire?”

“No,” Justin stared at his lap.

“Did you even try to find them?”

“Excuse me. I was busy. Raven was stuck in the middle of an inferno and I didn’t want her to die.”

“Justin, I’m glad Raven is safe, but you can’t go around risking the safety of other Elementers by parading your talents so publicly,” Mr. Hamilton said.

“If I hadn’t used my powers, it would have meant the likely death of one Elementer, and I don’t care what the Council has to say. Raven’s safety means a whole lot more to me than their little secret.”

“Justin, that secret isn’t just protecting their lives. It’s protecting your life too.”

“It’s my life to risk. Raven was in danger. I wasn’t about to let her be hurt,” Justin said.

Mr. Hamilton looked past Justin, “Oh, good morning, Raven.”

Justin spun around in the passenger seat to find Raven step forward and place one of her hands on the open window of the jeep next to Justin. “Hi, Mr. Hamilton,” she nodded at her teacher, but she was staring at Justin. “Hi, Justin.”