Power Revealed (The Elementers) (21 page)

“Hey, guys.” Hank looked past Justin. “You were invited too? You’ll have to wait until I’m done with him.”

Justin turned around to find two more oversized guys walking toward him from the other end of the hallway. This would be a little more difficult, but Justin fumed when he thought about Eric sending three guys to rough him up rather than attempting to do it himself. Justin immediately began working out how to take on all three guys without making his special abilities obvious. First, he decided he needed a little more privacy so he opened the classroom door behind him, confirmed it was empty, and slid inside.

He quickly walked to the back of the classroom and turned to face his attackers as they entered the room. Justin decided the skills he would use. There were no water sources in the room, but it didn’t really matter since it would have looked too suspicious for another water accident. Trees wouldn’t be much use indoors. Justin figured he’d do some of what Rex did to him, but just make it look like the force came from him. If necessary, he could use some Earth energy in the same way.

Hank walked through the door and stopped at the front of the room glaring at Justin. “Eric doesn’t appreciate you hanging out with his girlfriend. We wanted to make sure you got the message.”

“And he’s too scared to tell me himself?” Justin said.

“Scared of you? Funny. He’s busy with his girl and we enjoy helping out in such ways,” Hank said. The three goons fanned out walking down the center and sides of the room to box in their target. Justin connected to the energy and strode toward the guy on his left so he could deal with one person at a time. As he closed in on the guy, he cocked his arm back and shot a gust of wind at the guy as he swung his fist at the guy’s stomach. The wind threw the guy back a few feet into a shelving unit and he lay on the floor stunned. The strength of the wind had been enough to pull Justin forward also. He stumbled a few steps trying to stay on his feet.

“Chris, get up! Stop being such a wimp!” Hank yelled at the guy on the floor.

Once Justin regained his balance, he turned to see Hank coming for him. Justin was furious at the guy, but some level of self-preservation still held sway making him want to maintain some distance between himself and the beast. Hank pushed a desk aside to hurry toward his prey. With only one desk between them, Justin placed his hands on the edge of the desk preparing to push it and propelled it at Hank with more wind force than was necessary.

Hank and the desk went flying back a couple rows. It wasn’t clear whether the loud cracking sound came from Hank colliding with the desks or simply the desks themselves crashing into each other. Hank grimaced in pain and looked up at Justin. “You’re going down!” Hank yelled.

“You’re the one down on the ground. Not me,” Justin said.

The third guy resumed walking toward Justin, but Hank sneered at him. “I told you, he’s mine.” As Hank stood up, he unconsciously held onto his side. “Come here loser. I’m going to teach you to respect your superiors.”

“Be sure to point them out if you see any,” Justin said as he stepped to the left to avoid tripping on any of the toppled desks. “Are you sure you’re hungry for more punishment?”

“I’m gonna punish you.” Hank rushed at Justin to tackle him into the ground. It took Justin a little by surprise, but he had time to shoot a narrow blast of wind and swing his fist just as Hank reached him. Justin’s hand hit Hank’s left cheekbone along with a great deal of wind force.

Hank’s head snapped back and his body spun to the side and fell to the ground. Hank lay groaning on the floor while Justin shook his right hand. “Ow,” Justin groaned. He’d never punched anyone with that much force before. His hand throbbed as if a brick had been thrown at it.

The first guy was back on his feet. With Hank incapacitated, the other two seemed to decide it was their turn. They were slowly closing in on Justin from opposite sides, when suddenly Guy Number Three rushed forward to tackle. Justin jumped to the right to avoid the hit, but his right foot tripped on a fallen chair sending him to the floor. The first guy lunged at Justin, punching him a couple times in the stomach before Justin had time to respond.

Connecting to the Earth energy, Justin yanked a desk from behind his attackers toward them until it smashed into his attacker in the side pushing the guy away from him. Justin started to sit up when he noticed the other guy’s foot swinging toward his stomach. A moment later, a combination of fury and pain erupted. But Justin tossed the pain aside and focused on the anger. He no longer thought much about whether the fight looked suspicious. He grabbed the guy’s foot when it came at him again. His hands screamed out in protest as they absorbed the force, but he couldn’t let that slow him down. He shot a wind gust into his attacker’s face knocking the guy to the ground. Justin scooted over, got up on his knees, and planted a solid wind punch at the guy’s face. Spinning around, Justin found the other guy getting up so he planted a similar punch sending him again on his back.

Justin struggled to his feet. He almost doubled over from the pain that seared through his mid-section. Part of him was tempted to kick his attackers before leaving, but it hurt to make any sudden movements. Instead, he just threatened them with words. “And don’t try that again or I’ll do worse.” He turned and slowly walked out the door. He had only made it about fifteen steps before he heard what sounded like two teachers coming down the far hallway. Justin jogged ahead, wrapping his arm around his waist to limit the pain, and scooted around the nearby corner before the teachers saw him. He kept that pace until he reached the closest bathroom to clean himself up and check his injuries.

He splashed water on his face when he heard Raven’s voice. “Justin.” He tried to ignore her. “Justin. I know you’re in there.”  Justin was glad she couldn’t come in the bathroom. He wasn’t in any mood to be lectured. “Justin. I’m coming in if you don’t come out.”

Yeah, right
, Justin thought.

The door slowly opened part way and long black hair and a pair of deep blue eyes peeked around the corner. “Justin, please come out.” Justin had enough, so he walked over, pulled the door open further, and walked past Raven heading down the hallway. He would have preferred to walk quickly, but it wasn’t worth the pain it generated.

“What were you doing?” Raven asked once she caught up to him.

Justin reached a side door and shoved it open walking out into the rain. Unfortunately, it didn’t deter Raven, but he hoped the water and temperature might help cool down his emotions. “What do you mean?”

“I know you were using your energy and pretty intensely. What happened?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“Of course I do,” Raven said.

“Fine. Your boyfriend sent three of his buddies to try to beat me up. Is that what you wanted to hear?” Justin said.

“What are you talking about?”

“When you left me, Eric sent Hank and two other guys to remind me that you’re his girlfriend and I’m supposed to stay away from you.”

“You’re kidding, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, right. And I just imagined these bruises.” Justin stopped and despite the cold rain he pulled up his shirt to show his stomach. The red bruises were already turning purple where he had been kicked.

Raven’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Justin. Are you okay?”

“Let’s just say they’re worse off than me.”

“You used your powers against them?”

“What else was I going to do? It was three against one, and if you count size, it was more like four or five against one. Don’t worry, I made it look like it was me hitting back. I just used the wind to enhance the force when I hit them.”

“Justin, I’m really sorry they bothered you. But, we can’t use our powers that way.”

“I tell you what. The next time you have a bunch of thugs trying to beat you up, go ahead and stick your powers in your back pocket and take the beating. Then you can talk to me about not using your abilities. I’ve had enough of being told what to do, being pushed around by jerks, and sitting around waiting to avenge Henry. I’ve had enough, period. So stop telling me what to do. Besides, if you weren’t dating such a jerk, I wouldn’t have to defend myself. Why don’t you just go back to him before he sees us together again and sends more of his goons after me?” With that, Justin stalked off leaving Raven standing there in the rain.

Chapter 31

“Raven, tell the group what you saw and heard at the hotel,” Rex said.

Raven rose from the fallen log she sat on and stood in front of the others. Rex stood to the side with his arms folded in front of him. Three Elementers Raven had never met until today sat to the left on various large rocks. Mr. Hamilton and Anya sat in the middle on the log she had been on and Justin sat silent at the other end. She’d barely been able to get two words out of him on the drive here to Larabee State Park. Raven repeated the events that had replayed themselves in her mind dozens of times since last night. She knew that except for Rex, the others hadn’t been told much before arriving, so she hesitated when she reached the part about the Zephyr. She was pretty sure none of them would take the news well and she felt terrible repeating the details in front of Justin. Glancing over at him, she hoped he’d look up at her so she could apologize with her eyes, but he stared at the ground.

Raven bit her bottom lip, took a deep breath, and continued. “When he told the person on the phone he’d kill Rex, he said he’d do it as cleanly as he killed —the Zephyr.”

“What?!” Anya yelled. “Alexei said he killed Henry?” A hard mask fell over her face. “No more. He has to be stopped.”

Rex interrupted the exclamations by the others. “Anya, he will. I guarantee that,” he said with conviction. “But we need more proof if we going to convince the Council to Wipe him.”

Steven Collier, the Tree Elementer to the left of Raven, spoke up. He wore a red golf shirt, khaki pants, and had perfectly combed blonde hair. Raven figured he was in his forties. “Our top priorities are keeping Rex safe and looking over the documents Raven found to see if we know what Alexei is planning.”

“I agree we need to protect Rex.” Grant Williams was an Earth Elementer, so Raven had heard his name before. His royal blue dress shirt and matching blue and gray tie were striking against his chocolate brown skin. He had one of those smiles that made you feel at ease. But after hearing the news his smile disappeared. “It’s clear from the call Raven overhead that he’s working with someone else. We need to find out who it is and how many other Elementers are involved. If they are up to something, even if we stop Alexei, someone else may just fill his place. How do we get Alexei to tell or show us who he’s working with?”

Rex stepped forward. “We need to find out what Alexei is up to, but if any of you think I’m going to hide from him while he’s out causing problems, you don’t know me very well.”

“Rex—” Steven said.

Rex interrupted. “Don’t argue with me, Steven.”

“I don’t mean to doubt Raven, but I still find this hard to believe,” Selena, a Water Elementer, said with her heavy Latina accent. She had long black hair and a tiny frame that rose only a couple inches over five feet. “Alexei may break the Elementer rules. But murder? Aren’t we jumping to conclusions?”

Justin finally spoke up. “Jumping to conclusions? Raven heard him say he killed my grandpa and plans to kill Rex. What more proof do you need?”

“We do need more evidence if we going to convince the Council to Wipe him,” Rex said.

“More proof?!” Justin jumped up out of his seat. “Raven heard him admit his guilt. What are you waiting for?”

“No one has the right to Wipe another Elementer without approval from the Elementer Council. Approval requires a two-thirds vote by the Council. While I believe what Raven heard, they are going to demand further evidence. So we need to find it,” Rex said.

“How are we going to get sufficient proof?” Grant asked. “I’ve looked through the papers you emailed me. They’re just some business documents. Alexei is an investment broker. They won’t help convince the Council to vote on approving a Wipe. We need to find out more about what he is up to.”

 “I’ll do it. I’ll get him to tell me what he’s doing.” Justin stood up in front of the log with his fists clenched beside him. “What do I need to do?”

Raven turned to face her teacher. “Mr. Hamilton, tell him he can’t do this.” But Mr. Hamilton remained quiet. Raven turned to Justin. “Alexei may want you on his side, but if he finds out your working against him, he’ll kill you.”

“That’s why it has to be me. He wants me on his side. I’m the only one who can get the truth from him,” Justin said with a black stare.

“Mr. Hamilton? Anya?” Raven pleaded for support.

Finally, Rex spoke up. “Justin is right. He’s our best bet. But only if he can keep his cool and not behave like a ten year old and blow up like he did when he created that microburst.”

Raven expected Justin to argue back at Rex, but instead he responded with an emotionless voice, “I’ll be fine.”

“You think you can keep your cool and make friends with the man who murdered your grandpa? You can’t let him suspect you know anything,” Rex said.