Power Revealed (The Elementers) (6 page)

“Raven, there you are.”

Raven jumped and her hands instinctively went to her chest in a subconscious effort to ensure her heart didn’t actually leap out of her rib cage. Spinning around, Raven saw Eric walking up to her. “Oh.” Raven clasped her hands behind her back so Eric wouldn’t notice they were shaking. “Hi, Eric.”

“Where have you been? I thought you said you were going to come watch our practice today.”

“I’m sorry. Uhh.” Raven avoided his eyes. “My mom just called me and needs me to help her with—” Raven swallowed. She hated lying, but telling others about the Elementers wasn’t an option. “—a meeting she’s planning,”

Eric frowned. “Isn’t she out of town?”

“She is. Uh, that’s why she needs my help. She’s gone and can’t do it herself.  She doesn’t like leaving things to chance, so she needs me to double check on the arrangements today before she gets back.”

“I thought we could grab something to eat after practice.”

“Sorry. She insisted I hurry home to help. Maybe I can watch tomorrow. I’ll see you later, okay?”

Eric leaned in to give her a kiss goodbye, but Raven had already turned and was walking down the hall and out of the school. That was the last time she was going to do something to risk detention, arrest, or serious bodily harm. It was too much stress. But at least she found what she needed. Now she just needed to convince Justin to listen to her.

Chapter 8

Raven slowly walked up the steps later that afternoon and hesitated before ringing the doorbell. What would she say to convince Justin to listen to her? Her dad always taught her to have multiple plans in place, but she wasn’t confident any of them would work. Raven held her breath and rang the doorbell.

A woman answered the door. “Hello. Can I help you?” Raven figured it must be Justin’s mom. She shared the same hazel eyes and wavy brown hair with Justin. The woman had a playful look that danced in her eyes. It made Raven wonder if Justin shared that same look when he wasn’t being bombarded with strange news about Elementers.

Raven exhaled. “Hi, my name’s Raven. I’m a friend of Justin. Actually, we’re partners for our class science project. I’m here to work on our project with him.”

“Oh, Justin must have forgot. He went out for a run, but he’ll be back soon. You’re welcome to come in and wait for him.” Justin’s mom pulled the door open further and motioned graciously with her hand to welcome Raven inside.

“Thank you.” Raven followed the woman into the living room. It wasn’t fancy, but even with all the moving boxes strewn about, it felt warm and inviting.

“My name’s Mary. I’m Justin’s mom. Please have a seat,” Mary said. Raven sat down on a simple, but very comfortable couch, across from her. “Excuse all the boxes. We just arrived on Monday and still have a lot of unpacking to do. Would you like something to drink?”

“Water would be great.”

Mary soon returned from the kitchen with two glasses of water. “So, Raven, tell me about yourself.”

Raven was surprised by how much easier she could talk to Justin’s mom than her own. But that probably had something to do with the fact that Mary was probably more interested in her than her own mom. Having to keep secrets, Raven had become accustomed to keeping things to herself, so it surprised her that Mary learned so much about her in the short ten minutes before they heard someone come in through the front door.

Raven turned to see Justin enter the living room and stop suddenly when he saw her. His shorts, shirt, and hair were completely drenched. It made Raven smile. She loved to walk in the rain, but she could never get anyone to go with her. She always received the same response when asking someone to come with her: “It’s raining.” To which Raven would respond, “I know, that’s why I want to go.” They’d just look at her strangely.

But Justin wasn’t looking at her strangely. Upon seeing Raven, Justin’s body tensed up and he folded his arms across his chest. “What are you doing here?”

“Justin, don’t be rude. Raven is here to work with you on your science project,” his mom interjected.

Justin stood there looking at Raven as if trying to make a decision. Finally, he dropped his shoulders and tugged on his wet shirt. “Just give me a minute to change. We can work in the backyard. Don’t worry. The rain stopped.”

It wasn’t a welcome from Justin, but at least he hadn’t kicked her out the door. Raven waited for Justin to return downstairs wearing a Texans sweatshirt and jeans. She noticed the waviness in his hair was more pronounced when it was wet. She liked it. He led her to a small gazebo in the far corner of their back yard. He sat down on the bench and looked at Raven. “How did you find me?”

“I got your address from the school office.”

“Yeah, right. They wouldn’t have given it to you,” Justin said.

“Well, I didn’t say they gave it to me. I needed to talk to you so I had to...get it myself.”

Justin tilted his head slightly and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. “You stole it?”

Raven stared at her grey and blue running shoes, nudging a small rock with her foot. “Well, I needed to talk to you, and they wouldn’t give it to me, so I snuck into the records room to get it.”

Justin’s smile broadened and he seemed to look at Raven with even greater curiosity and respect? Raven noticed that her suspicions were correct. Justin did have that same playful look in his eyes as his Mom. “Really? I’ve never had a girl break the law just to get my phone number or address.”

“Very funny. I came to help you with your powers,” Raven said.

Justin’s smile faded. “Who says I need help?”

“Just because you’re beginning to connect with the elements, doesn’t mean you have control over them. When Elementers begin to connect, the elements have a way of erupting around them. It’s dangerous not only to yourself, but to others around you. Such outbursts can also expose our—your—secret,” Raven continued, hoping to get as much in as she could before he stopped her. “You can’t turn your back on this. You’re connected, whether you like it or not. If you don’t learn to control your powers, you’ll quickly become a danger to yourself and others.”

“I just moved the water yesterday on my first try. It can’t be that hard,” Justin said.

“Justin. You created a little water spout. That’s nothing. Experienced Water Elementers can build bridges of ice, shoot water cannons, and much more. Besides, controlling it is way more difficult than simply moving it. Do you want to spray water on your pants again? Much worse things can happen if you can’t control the elements. Especially for you.”

“What does that mean, ‘especially for you’?” Justin crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I can do this just as well as you can.”

Raven took a breath. She had to find the right words to say. “If Mr. Hamilton is right, you’ll be doing it better than me or any other Elementer—ever. Previous Double Elementers were way stronger than other Elementers. So Mr. Hamilton believes a Multi-Elementer, like you, may be many times stronger than a Double Elementer.”

“Really?” Justin unfolded his arms.

“But that also means it’s probably going to be equally difficult for you to learn to control your powers. It was hard enough for me to learn basic control over the Earth element last year and I’m still working at it.” Raven paused when Justin lifted an eyebrow. She knew she had to convince him of the necessity of her request, but he didn’t seem to appreciate the danger. “You’re going to have to learn to control three, possibly four, elements all at once. Manipulating each element is different. Each has a different frequency and flow. We think that’s why Elementers can usually only access one of the elements. Each element is so different. Learning them all at once will be like learning multiple languages at the same time. Add on the fact that your magnitude of power will likely be much greater. The point is, it won’t be easy so you are going to need some help.”

Raven braced for another argument from Justin, but instead he just looked at her and finally said, “If I need so much help, why don’t you start teaching me something useful?”

Raven didn’t expect that response. She looked down at her shoes again. “Uhh, I would except Mr. Hamilton doesn’t want you Talking to any other Elementers until he gets back.” She glanced up to see his response.

Justin’s back stiffened. “Why not? Wait—back from where?”

“Well, he just flew to New York City to meet with the Elementer Council tomorrow.”

“The who?”

“The Elementer Council. They’re thirteen Elementers, three from each element, plus the Chairperson. They’re responsible for making sure Elementers obey the rules,” Raven said.

Justin gritted his teeth. “What rules?”

Justin’s irritation was clear, so Raven chose her words carefully. “Nothing that doesn’t make sense. We aren’t supposed to use our powers in ways that would cause non-Elementers to find out about us. That’s all.”

“I can do whatever I want. Some Council can’t tell me what to do. It’s none of their business!”

“Well, it kind of does matter to the rest of us. If someone finds out about you, they could use you to discover the rest of us.”

“What?”

“Because we’re connected to the energy, we can sense when other Elementers are using the energy. That’s how I knew you were Tree Talking during science class. So a single Elementer could expose all of us.”

“Expose us to who?”

“Everybody. Do you really think people are just going to accept you as the new guy at school if they find out you can create a tornado which could wipe out the school? What’s the point of schools checking for weapons if they knew we could level the school with an earthquake? People would see us as freaks, weapons they’d want to control, or threats they’d like to eliminate. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like any of those options.”

“Oh, come on. It wouldn’t be that bad.”

“Really? Have you ever heard of the Salem witch trials? A few Elementers lived there. People found out and called it witchcraft. One of the Elementers was killed, though two of them got away. But the hysteria was so great that many innocent people were accused who had nothing to do with Elementers or witchcraft. And that’s only one example that we haven’t been able to cover up. There are plenty more.”

“Fine. But why do we need to wait till Mr. Hamilton gets back? You must know some interesting things to teach me,” Justin said.

“He doesn’t want any Elementers to find out about you until he tells the Council.”

“Now we’re hiding from Elementers too?”

“Only until the Council has been informed. Justin, you’re, umm, special. If Mr. Hamilton is right, you may become stronger than any Elementer ever before. That’s going to make some people nervous, even Elementers. Mr. Hamilton just wants to let them know he’ll take responsibility to teach you so that you can learn control as quickly as possible. That’s all.” Raven wished she knew what Justin was thinking. “So are we good? Are you okay with not using your powers until Mr. Hamilton returns on Saturday?”

Justin paused, but finally spoke. “He said I shouldn’t talk to other Elementers. But he didn’t say anything about using the powers. Why don’t you show me how to do something?”

“Justin, it’s dangerous for you to try using your powers until someone trains you.”

“What harm is a little spray of water?”

“It can be far worse than that.”

“Like what?” Justin asked.

Raven hesitated before answering. “Did you eat outside at lunch yesterday?”

Justin’s forehead furrowed. “Yeah. How did you know?”

“I didn’t. But you were out there when the tree crashed. Weren’t you?”

“So?”

“You did it, didn’t you?”

“What are you talking about?” Justin said.

“You caused the tree to crash.”

“What? Of course I didn’t. I wasn’t anywhere near it.” But he looked away and seemed to be replaying the events in his mind. He finally looked at Raven again. “That’s impossible.”

“I heard about Hank giving you a hard time,” Raven said.

“Yeah, I told him to back off and then he told me it was my funeral.”

Raven saw the anger and pain in Justin’s eyes. “Hank has a big mouth. But Justin, that’s why we need to learn to control our powers. When we get emotional, they can get out of control.”

“How does getting angry have anything to do with the tree?”

“What did you feel just before the tree crashed?”

Justin stood up from the gazebo bench and began pacing back and forth in front of Raven. “What do you think?” he stopped and stared at the ground. “I was angry.”

“But what else did you feel?”

Justin shrugged. “I just felt the anger swirling inside of me. That’s all.”

“Swirling?”

“Yeah.”

“Then what?” Raven asked.

“I don’t know.” Justin looked back up at Raven. “It just—left.”

“Before or after the tree crashed?”

Justin didn’t seem to want to answer the question. “Just before. So?”

“I was inside the school at the time, but I felt a surge of Tree energy right around that time. I wondered if it was your energy, but I didn’t hear about the tree until today. That wasn’t just anger swirling inside of you, it was the elemental energy you released on that tree. Someone could have been seriously hurt. That’s why you need to be trained before you start using it anymore.”