Power Revealed (The Elementers) (30 page)

Raven tried not to think about what they were approaching, but she couldn’t help it. She hoped they would encounter only Alexei and Boris, but Alexei had been on the phone with a woman that Raven was quite sure wasn’t Lanae, the Water Elementer they caught. Therefore, if there was one more person involved, who’s to say there wasn’t ten or fifty more? The tension continued to build inside her stomach, so she tried to focus on the few things that were planned. It gave her a feeling of control and surety. Raven had already called a Seattle taxi company yesterday to schedule a pick up from the museum at 3:00 PM. The taxi company agreed to have the taxi driver send them a text message five minutes before he’d reach the museum.  They picked the museum because it was only a couple miles from the Lannix factory. Other than the location and a general layout of the buildings visible via Google Earth maps, they didn’t know what to expect when they arrived. Justin seemed to thrive on the unpredictability of it all, but it just made Raven’s stomach queasy.

Mrs. Johnson pulled into the museum parking lot and Raven took a couple deep breaths to calm herself. Thankfully, Nikki had been preoccupied with the conversation with Mrs. Johnson and Justin, that she didn’t notice Raven’s one or two word replies. Raven slowly climbed out of the green Subaru and followed the others toward the museum. As they stepped up to pay their entrance fees, Raven reached for her purse and realized she must have left it in the car. Mrs. Johnson handed Lewis her car keys. “You kids aren’t going to want me tailing along, so I’ll head off to explore. Lewis, would you be a gentleman and run out to the car and get Raven’s purse for her? Just don’t lose my keys, okay? I’ll meet you all back here at five PM when the museum closes, okay?”

“Yes, Mom,” Lewis said while the others nodded.

“Thanks, Mrs. Johnson,” Raven said as Lewis’ mom waved and headed further into the museum.

“I’ll be right back.” Lewis said and headed out the exit and jogged toward the car.

Raven felt ridiculous for forgetting her purse. She was so nervous she wasn’t thinking straight. But a frazzled brain would lead to a frazzled body when confronting the others. She needed to focus fast.

While waiting in line to pay for their admission, Raven needed a distraction so she began giving the others a mini tour of the entrance of the museum. Raven pointed out to her friends a wood and fabric flying machine hanging from the ceiling. She explained that it was based on Leonardo DaVinci’s drawings. Once they were through the line, Raven led them to the left into the massive glass-walled portion of the museum. Planes sat on the floor. They hung from the ceilings. From afar, they looked almost like model airplanes, but as you approached each full-size plane, you discovered the history and lives of the pilots who had flown the skies with each beautiful, elegant machine. The taxi wouldn’t be arriving for almost fifteen minutes, so she took the opportunity to calm her nerves by surrounding herself with something she loved: flying.

After describing the history of one of the planes, she quoted, “When once you have tested flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward.”

Justin turned to her. “Who said that?”

“Leonardo DaVinci, but it’s just as true today.”

Justin tilted his head to the side, kept his eyes on her, and grinned.

“What?” Raven asked.

Justin shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing. You really love flying, don’t you?”

“I told you, I do.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t realize how much. It’s just fun to see.”

Raven didn’t know how to take that comment so she paused her tour commentary and let the others look around on their own. A minute later, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She nearly dropped it on the floor in her rush to pull it out. The text message popped the peaceful aviation bubble she had been in and now she was exposed again to thoughts about Alexei and the danger ahead. Raven walked near Justin and discreetly lifted her hand with all fingers extended to give him the five minute warning. Justin nodded and he looked to see where Nikki and Lewis were located.

Not surprisingly, Lewis was following near Nikki, but sensibly leaving enough space between them so he didn’t seem like a stalker. Justin waited a couple minutes and then walked over to them. “Raven and I need to go do some of our research. It’ll be boring, so the two of you can go check out the other parts of the museum and we can find you later.”

Raven noticed that Lewis’s face lit up in response to the idea, but Nikki spoke up. “Oh, that’s okay. We don’t mind hanging out with you guys.” Raven knew this was a possibility, so they moved to plan B. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was better than nothing.

Justin stepped back. “Okay. But I need to go to the bathroom. Keep looking around and I’ll come find all of you,” Justin said and then headed toward the front of the museum.

After about a minute, Raven said she needed to go to the bathroom also. Nikki offered to go with her, but Raven said she’d be fine on her own and promptly started walking away to deter Nikki from deciding to come with her. Once she rounded the corner into the main entrance, she saw Justin motioning to her near the front doors. Nervousness propelled her forward as she followed Justin outside into the stormy, cool air sending shivers down her back. Justin leaned down to talk through the passenger window to the taxi driver. “Are you here for Raven Ashley?” A female taxi driver with short, messy, brown hair and more than a handful of wrinkles that life had generously given her nodded tiredly. Raven grabbed hold of the cold, metal handle, pulled the door open, and scooted over to give Justin room to sit. Raven stared ahead and focused on steeling her courage while Justin gave directions to the driver.

“Raven?” She turned in response to his voice. Justin leaned his head toward her. “It’s all good. Everything is going smoothly—accordingly to plan. Just how you like it, right?” He gave her a smile for encouragement, but she could see something else in his eyes. An unstoppable determination. Another shiver ran through her, but it wasn’t from the cold. While she was scared for herself, the look in his eyes made her more scared for Justin. She worried he’d risk anything to stop and catch Alexei. But she was sure there wasn’t anything she could say or do to convince Justin to turn back and she wasn’t about to abandon him to face Alexei, and any others, all alone.

“Just promise me you’ll be careful.” Raven lifted her hand to touch his, but held back at the last inch. “Please.”

Chapter 42

As they drove past the factory, both Justin and Raven unconsciously lowered themselves in their seats keeping an eye out for Alexei and any other Elementers. Peeking over the back window, Justin scanned for any signs of Alexei or Boris, but the only movement they saw was the swirling storm that became more intense by the minute.

“Here is good,” Justin said to the taxi driver.

The driver pulled over along the sidewalk and glanced at the two of them through the mirror. “That’ll be ten fifty.”

Raven pulled out a twenty dollar bill from her purse and handed it to the woman. “Keep the change.”

The woman’s tired face lifted just a bit. “Thanks. Do you need me to wait for you?”

“Oh, no. Our—friends—are nearby. Thanks,” Justin said pushing hard on the door against the wind and quickly climbing out of the taxi.

Once the taxi drove away, Raven turned to Justin. “I don’t see them anywhere.”

“Let’s take a closer look,” Justin said as they crossed the street and headed in the direction of the factory. They walked quickly past the factory to view the other side and then passed by again looking for any sign of Alexei. “Can you sense them?” Justin asked Raven.

Raven stopped and seemed to zone out. Justin watched her hair swirl around in the blustering wind. After about twenty seconds Raven looked at Justin again and shook her head. “No, nothing. Maybe we were wrong.”

“They may not have arrived yet. We’re early. I want to take a closer look. The property next door is abandoned, or at least no one seems to be around right now. Let’s go in. We can view the side of the Lannix property from there.” Justin walked along the wire link fence and pushed on the gate. A locked chain held the gate in place. Justin held up the lock. “Time for the master criminal.”

“Very funny.” Raven reached for the lock and in a few moments it popped open.

“You’re pretty handy to have around,” Justin teased as he loosened the chain from around the fence to create enough space for them to squeeze between the gates and then he locked it back up. He didn’t want anything to look suspicious.

Justin caught up to Raven and they walked toward the far end of the property along the bay. The weeds were overgrown here and were buffeted about by the storm. The two of them kept their distance from the fence abutting the Lannix factory because they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves. As they passed, they searched for Alexei, but to no avail. Once they reached the water’s edge, they turned around and started heading back, passing again an old abandoned building on the property. As they passed, a few birds scattered away from the building in surprise.

As they neared the street again, Raven halted. “What is it?” Justin asked.

“I can feel someone coming.”

Seconds later, Justin saw a fire red Ferrari drive past the factory. Justin ducked down behind a bunch of overgrown blackberry bushes and pulled down on Raven’s jacket. “That’s Alexei’s car.”

“You’re sure it’s his?”

Justin nodded. “Oh, yeah. Alexei has a red Ferrari. There’s no way a car that hot and expensive just happens to be owned by someone else right where we expected to find Alexei. That’s him. You were right. Now we just need to find out what he’s up to, stop him, and catch him.”

The two of them peered through the bushes expecting to see Alexei pass by them at any moment. But Justin was surprised when he saw Alexei and Boris stop in front of the gate to the empty property. Boris blew the lock and pulled the chain from the gate. The guy seriously lacked any finesse. Justin and Raven tiptoed around the massive blackberry bush as Alexei and Boris passed to use the bush as cover between themselves and Alexei.

The men stopped half way down the property along the fence and Boris used his earth energy to bend back part of the chain link along a seam in the fence and then walk through the opening.

“That’s so weird,” Raven whispered. “I’m sensing the same thing like when we were attacked in the park. He’s using his energy, but he’s somehow masking most of it so that I can’t sense it well. Before, I thought the energy was something else, but I just saw him use his energy and he is definitely masking it somehow. I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Well then, let’s stay close enough to keep an eye on Alexei and Boris,” Justin said as they quietly made their way toward the opening, trying to move behind as much overgrown vegetation as possible.

Justin and Raven carefully followed at a distance behind Alexei and Boris into the Lannix property. They watched Boris stop underneath a security camera. In a few seconds, smoke poured out from the camera before being blown away from the wind. Alexei and Boris entered into the nearest building through an open loading dock door.

Justin and Raven hurried behind to follow them, but suddenly two Lannix employees in orange jumpers walked out onto the loading dock, and the youths had to hide behind a recycling bin.

“How are we supposed to get in now?” Raven asked.

Justin thought of options and then a grin spread across his face. “Follow my lead.” Justin pulled out two large, uncrushed cardboard boxes from the recycling bin, stacked them on top of one another, and picked them up. Raven looked at him strangely. “Just keep the boxes in front of your face and they’ll think we’re employees,” Justin said. Raven gave him a skeptical look but she picked up a couple boxes. He looked behind himself once, nodded to Raven, and then walked up the concrete steps to the loading dock and through the open door at the farthest point away from the workers. Once he was inside and around the corner out of view of the workers, he sat down the boxes and made sure Raven was behind him. “Let’s find Alexei.”

They moved between storage tanks and aisles of tall shelves, making a point to avoid any other employees. Thankfully, this area of the factory didn’t have much activity right now. As they rounded a tall storage tank, Justin saw Alexei standing outside a door. Boris was inside a small room and had his hands on a bunch of electrical equipment. Soon Justin saw smoke drifting up from the console. Boris exited the room and closed the door behind him. Justin noticed the sign on the door, “Fire Safety”.

“What are they doing?” Raven asked from behind Justin.

“I think they just destroyed the fire alarm and fire protection system. With that damaged, the employees won’t be able to contain whatever Alexei has planned.”

“They’re clearly trying to do something bad. We need to stop them.”

Justin was irritated with himself. They should have stopped these two before they ever entered the Lannix property. He had been waiting for the optimal moment, but clearly it had passed. Justin halted when he peeked around an aisle and saw the two men stopped behind a large metal storage container about thirty feet away. Boris was crouched down and had his hand on the pipe leading into the tank.