Power Revealed (The Elementers) (4 page)

“Why do we need to talk to the science teacher?” Justin said.

“Mr. Hamilton is a Water Elementer. He can help,” Raven said. “Let’s go see him,”

But Justin wouldn’t budge. “What? How many of you are there?”

“Not many. But new Elementers are always assigned a Guide. There weren’t any Earth Elementers available when I gained my powers so they assigned Mr. Hamilton to move here last year to be my Guide. You’re just lucky to be near others. Come on! Mr. Hamilton can answer all of your questions.” Raven led the way toward some of the other students and Justin eventually followed.

They stopped about thirty feet away from Mr. Hamilton and waited until he had finished helping some other students. Once he saw them, Raven motioned with her head for him to meet them away from the rest of the students. As Justin followed Raven, he kept looking back and forth between Raven and his science teacher, trying to find some visible evidence of their strangeness. But they looked as normal as anyone else. As normal as him, so appearances clearly didn’t mean much. Justin noticed Mr. Hamilton looking at him. Was he trying to determine the same thing?

“Raven. Justin. How can I help you?” Mr. Hamilton asked as if they simply needed help with their research project. But Raven got right to the point.

First, looking around to be sure no one was near, Raven announced, “Mr. Hamilton, Justin is both an Earth and Tree Elementer.”

Mr. Hamilton looked at Justin again, with an obvious air of concern. “Raven, are you sure?”

“I just Earth Talked with him and he Tree Talked with Anya yesterday.”

Mr. Hamilton’s eyebrows rose. “How would the Council not know about him?”

A smile rose on Raven’s face, and she paused before announcing the big news. “He started accessing his powers only yesterday during science class.”

“Excuse me! I’m here and can talk,” Justin said.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Mr. Hamilton looked again at Justin. “Sorry. This must all seem a little strange to you right now.”

“A little?”

“Okay, more than a little strange. You must have a lot of questions,” Mr. Hamilton said.

“To say the least,” Justin agreed. Now he finally had someone who could provide him with answers. He shot a barrage of questions all at once at Mr. Hamilton. “Why is this happening to me? What does it mean? How does it work? Why do I feel energy when people talk to me? Why is it suddenly happening to me now? Why haven’t I ever heard of this talking before? And what did Raven mean when she said I shouldn’t be able to do both Earth and Tree Talking?” He paused to talk a breath.

“It’s going to take time to answer all of your questions. But as to why it is happening to you, being an Elementer is a very rare gift. It’s simply how you were born, but it takes maturity till you can control it,” Mr. Hamilton said.

“What do you mean? I’ve never felt it before.”

“Oh, I’m sure you have. Do you ever feel like you can barely sit still because the energy inside of you is building up? Have you ever had fainting spells?” Mr. Hamilton asked.

Justin thought of his blankouts but didn’t say anything at first. He called them blankouts instead of blackouts, because he didn’t experience darkness when they came; instead, he felt like he was drowning in light and energy. He would lose consciousness for a minute or two and sometimes he’d get the shakes. He had always struggled sitting still all day in school. By third period, he felt like he was going to explode through his skin. Doctors wanted to put him on Ritalin but Grandpa convinced Justin’s mom to skip the medications. He taught Justin how to mentally focus the energy building up inside. It wouldn’t release the energy, but at least it helped keep the pressure in check until he could get active again to release it.

 “I don’t have fainting spells. But I do have blankouts,” Justin said.

“What do you mean?” Mr. Hamilton stepped closer.

“I don’t fall over, like people do from passing out. I just kind of zone-out for a couple minutes at a time and I sometimes get the shakes. It’s like I’ve hit overload and my brain has to reboot”

Trying to prevent a blankout took concentration, so he often got in trouble for not paying attention in class. But even when he did focus, the technique didn’t always work. When he couldn’t hold it in any longer, he sometimes skipped class. His dad always freaked out when he learned Justin had cut class, but that was better than having an episode right in front of everyone at school. Justin would take off and run miles upon miles until he had released all the pent up energy. Mom said he was just an energetic boy, but Justin had always known it was more than that. There was something wrong with him, at least something different, and maybe this explained it all.

“Interesting,” Mr. Hamilton said. “Fainting is normal for Elementers before their powers manifest, but maybe it’s different for you since you can access two elements. Don’t let it bother you. It should stop happening now that you’re accessing your powers. You’ve always been connected to your element, but until you develop the ability to harness it, the energy can overload your system sometimes.”

Justin didn’t altogether believe what they were telling him about Elementers. Part of him wanted to walk away from the insane conversation. But, he didn’t know how else to explain what had been happening to him these last two days. He desperately wanted answers to the questions keeping him awake all of last night and the thought of never having another blankout was a very appealing thought. He needed to know if this was for real.

“So how many Elementers are there? And how many types of Elementers exist? Raven said you’re a Water Elementer.”

“I am. There are only a few thousand Elementers in the entire world. As far as types go, there are four types of Elementers: Water, Earth, Tree, and Wind. Normally, an Elementer can only access one element. It is very rare to access two elements,” Mr. Hamilton explained.

“How rare?”

“The last Double Elementer lived over a hundred years ago.”

“A hundred years ago?!”

Justin looked between Mr. Hamilton and Raven trying to see if they were just playing with him. But they seemed serious. Once again, his curiosity overcame his disbelief. “So how do I know if I can also Water Talk?”

“You can’t Water Talk,” Mr. Hamilton said matter-of-factly.

Justin tried to control the ball of anger that erupted in his stomach. He hated only one thing more than someone picking on him because of the blankouts. And that was someone telling him what he could or couldn’t do. “Why not?” Justin said.

“No one has ever been able to access more than two elements,” Mr. Hamilton said.

If this was for real, Justin wouldn’t have anyone telling him he couldn’t do it. “How do you know I can’t Water Talk until I try?” Justin argued and walked toward a small pond of water that must have formed from the last rainfall. Reaching the edge of the water, Justin looked up at Mr. Hamilton, who seemed to have a know-it-all smile that reminded Justin of the one his father often wore when Justin wanted to try something new. This simply drove Justin all the more to prove he could Water Talk.

He stood over the water by balancing himself on a few partially-submerged rocks. Crouching down, he shoved his hands into the cool water. His anger caused him to forget about trying to use the water to talk to anyone. Instead, he focused his irritation at the water and began to feel the energy coming from the water into his hands. But in his irritation, he pushed the energy right back at the pond.

The water started swirling around his hands. It started bubbling. Finally, a stream of water shot straight up toward his face. Justin yanked his hands out of the water in an attempt to use his arms to balance himself. He stumbled back off the rocks and eventually steadied himself on the dry ground.

Looking up, he saw Mr. Hamilton’s bottom jaw drop. Justin waited a few moments for Mr. Hamilton to say something, but his teacher just stood there looking at Justin as if he were from another planet. Normally, Justin would have felt satisfied proving he could do something new. But Mr. Hamilton's frozen stare began to make Justin uncomfortable, so he turned to Raven. Her response was much different. A huge grin spread across her face as she tried not to laugh. But after a few more seconds she broke out in giggles.

“What?” Justin asked.

Raven finally stopped laughing. “I think you’ll need to learn better control of the water.”

“What do you mean?”

Raven tried not to smile as she pointed at Justin’s jeans.

Justin looked down. “You’ve gotta be kidding!” The blast of water had done more than just hit him in the face. It also sprayed the front of his jeans, making it look like he had wet his pants.

Raven’s laughter had jarred Mr. Hamilton out of his shock. He still shook his head, but at least he seemed to be processing the implications of this new discovery. Mr. Hamilton took a deep breath. “Justin. I don’t know how this is possible.”

“I don’t understand what the big deal is. If I can do two, what difference does it make if I can do three?” Justin asked.

 “Justin. No one has ever been able to access three elements. Ever.”

“What? I’m sure some people have done it if I can,” Justin responded casually.

“No. The Elementer Council has written records going back more than two thousand years and there is no record of any Elementer accessing more than two elements.” Mr. Hamilton took another deep breath and shook his head in disbelief. “You are the first.”

Justin thought Mr. Hamilton looked like a bobble-head with all of his head shaking. But his teacher finally seemed to come to grips with the idea. Mr. Hamilton took a step closer to Justin. “If you can control three of the elements, we should check to see if you can also access the fourth.”

Justin nodded his head glad to see Mr. Hamilton believe in his possibilities far faster than his dad ever would. “How do we do that?”

“Accessing the wind element is a little more tricky and dangerous than with the other elements. So let’s not try to influence the element. Just stick with Talking. Agreed?”

“Okay,” Justin said. He was intrigued by Mr. Hamilton’s description of the wind element, but figured he could get to the more interesting parts later. “So how do I do it? With Tree, Earth, and Water Talking, I touched something to communicate. How do I touch the wind?”

“Technically, you don’t need to touch the elements. It just makes it easier to hold the connection. You just need to feel the energy around you and find the connection,” Mr. Hamilton explained.

“Oh, thanks. Feel the energy and connect. That’s a lot of help,” Justin looked at him skeptically.

“Why don’t you focus on Talking to a specific Wind Elementer? I know two in Texas.”

Justin asked, “Texas? How am I supposed to reach that far?”

“Wind Elementers can reach greater distances than other Elementers. If you can Wind Talk, the distance won’t be a problem.”

“Okay. I’ll give it a shot. Who’s this Wind Elementer?”

“His name is Henry O’Malley,” Mr. Hamilton said.

The smile on Justin’s face immediately disappeared. It took him a few moments to get out his next question. “Where does Henry O’Malley live?”

“He lives in Baytown, Texas. But don’t worry. You don’t need to know his exact location to reach him. Just connect to the wind and send out a greeting.”

The color had drained from Justin’s face and he stumbled back a few steps away from his teacher. Justin mumbled, “I can’t Wind Talk to him.”

“Why not at least give it a shot? If you can access three elements, there’s a possibility you can access all four. Just give it a try,” Mr. Hamilton encouraged.

“No. I can’t Wind Talk with Henry O’Malley because,” Justin finally choked out the rest of the sentence, “he’s dead.” Justin began breathing deeply, as if the air had thinned and his lungs couldn’t obtain the oxygen they needed.

“What?!” Mr. Hamilton said, “I haven’t heard any such thing. How could you know that?”

Justin fought to dislodge the lump in his throat. Finally, he choked out, “He’s my grandpa.”

“Your grandpa? Oh, Justin. I’m so sorry!” Raven blurted out.

“But how? When? I just talked to him in March. That was barely a month ago,” Mr. Hamilton stumbled over his words.

“He was in a car accident two weeks ago,” Justin said.

“Justin. I’m sorry. He was a great man.” Mr. Hamilton took a step toward Justin.

The pain was too much for Justin. His grandpa had been his best friend and the accident had ripped him away. Justin still had a hard time believing he was gone. It wasn’t fair. During the last month, Justin’s heart couldn’t decide what to do. Did it prefer to wallow in sadness or boil in anger at the injustice of it all? And to top it all off, his dad still decided to take this new job and move them across the country.

Suddenly, the storm inside Justin switched from sadness to anger. Anger at the stupid gasoline truck driver who collided into his grandpa’s car and exploded. Anger that his parents dragged him across the country and abandoned his grandma at such a time. Anger that he wouldn’t see any of his friends again. Anger about a lot of things.

But then something else occurred to Justin.

“Wait. So you’re saying my grandpa was a Wind Elementer?”

“Yes. One of the best,” Mr. Hamilton confirmed.

“Why didn’t he ever tell me? We never kept any secrets from each other. We told each other everything.”

“Justin, Elementers can’t tell anybody about their powers. It’s simply too dangerous,” Mr. Hamilton gently explained.

“I wasn’t anybody! I was his grandson and his best friend!  How could he lie to me?” Justin fumed. He loved his grandpa and his anger wasn’t really directed toward him. But he couldn’t hold the hurt inside any longer, and he had to lash out somehow.

“Justin, he wouldn’t have told anyone, not even his wife.”

That didn’t make Justin feel any better. Sure, he hadn’t spent as much time with Grandpa this last year. He’d been busy with school and friends. But that didn’t change the fact that they were still close. His grandpa was the only person who had ever really understood him. The sadness began to win out, but when he thought of his grandpa keeping such a big secret from him, the anger built up even more. Justin felt like he had to fling his anger at someone before it exploded. “I have no interest in being any kind of Elementer if it means lying to those you care about. I’m outta here!”