Power Revealed (The Elementers) (31 page)

“Justin. He’s heating up the metal. These are dangerous chemicals. This is not good. We need to stop them and warn everyone to get out of the building,” Raven said.

“You’re right, but they just destroyed the fire alarm system.”

“Then I’ll call 911.”

“Raven, how will you explain you know someone is sabotaging the factory? You can’t draw that attention to yourself.”

“I’ll come up with some excuse and leave it as an anonymous tip.”

“They’ll be able to trace it back to your cell phone. It’s too dangerous. They’ll think you might have had something to do with it, especially after they find out you had also just been in another fire only a week ago.”

“Well, we have to warn them somehow.”

“You’re right. You need to run back to the museum and use a phone there. So many people pass through the museum that they won’t be able to know it was you who made the call.”

“Justin, it’s just over a mile away. That’ll take too long. We need to warn them now.”

“I’ll keep Alexei and Boris distracted long enough for you to get the message out. I promise. Just run fast.”

“We don’t know how easy it is to create an explosion. I’m not leaving you here if it could go off at any moment,” Raven said.

“They won’t set it off while they’re here. Alexei is not about to sacrifice himself. He’s far too selfish for that.”

“It’s two against one. You need my help. I’m not leaving you to fight them both on your own.”

“I’ll pick them off one by one. No worries.”

“No worries? Of course, I’m worried.”

Justin paused and took a step closer to Raven. She sucked in a breath. They weren’t touching, so it wouldn’t hurt Raven. But Justin could feel the electricity, a different kind of energy, swirling between them. “You said you believed in me. Did you mean it?”

“Yes,” Raven whispered. “Of course I did.”

“Then believe me when I say I can do this.” Justin stood up taller but still looked into Raven’s eyes. “I need to do this.” Justin paused for a few seconds and then took a step back. Not only did he need to prove to himself that he could do this, he also needed to be sure Raven was safe and the best way to do that was to get her as far away from these goons as possible. “And you need to warn everyone. I’ll make sure there are no big explosions, but we should get everyone out of the factory as soon as possible if only to make sure they don’t see or aren’t hurt by any objects flying around during a fight. Okay?”

Raven hesitated and then finally nodded slowly. “Fine. But don’t get dead, Justin Wilder. Promise me.”

“Promise. Now go!” Justin nodded in the direction of the loading dock doors.

Raven turned, took a couple steps, glanced back at Justin, looked like she was about to say something, but then looked away and ran around the corner out of Justin’s sight.

Chapter 43

Justin turned to look back on Alexei and Boris, but neither of them were in sight. Moving toward the far end of the building, he found Boris tampering with another storage tank. Justin scanned the area, but couldn’t see Alexei. Boris wasn’t his priority for personal reasons, but it seemed pretty clear that Boris was the muscle and means behind the sabotage. Justin needed to stop him before anyone got hurt. Fighting Boris here in the factory would definitely gather too much attention and might even trigger the explosion he was trying to prevent. Besides, even if he succeeded in knocking Boris out without a fight, the beast was too big for Justin to carry or drag out of here without being noticed. He needed to draw Boris out of the factory and then take him on.

A cart full of metal pipes sat less than six feet behind Boris. Justin connected to the wind and sent it barreling into Boris. Because he was crouched down, the cart shoved him into the storage tank banging his head solidly against the metal. It didn’t knock him out, Justin didn’t expect it to. The guy had a seriously thick skull. All Justin aimed to do was grab Boris’ attention and make him mad enough to chase after Justin.

After taking a second or two to unscramble his puny brain, Boris looked up to see Justin who had stepped out into view. “Wow, and I thought that this skull of yours might have cracked the storage tank. You really should be more careful.”

Boris growled like a bear. “You little punk. I’m going to finish you off.” He stood up and stepped toward Justin who spun around and began running for the loading dock doors. Boris had strength, but Justin knew he could easily outrun the guy. Justin dodged between tanks and other equipment to avoid being an easy target for Boris to fling something at. He didn’t want the guy to start a fight here in the factory. Once he cleared the loading doors, Justin didn’t waste time with the stairs and instead jumped off the ledge. The jar sent a shot of pain through his shoulder, but instead, he focused on making it to the opening in the fence. Pushing himself full speed, he neared the fence before Boris exited the building. As Justin started to step through the opening, the pulled back fence section flapped back in place. Justin connected and pushed on it with his earth energy, but Boris held it in place with his energy. Boris was closing the distance, so Justin focused on another section of fence a few feet down and ripped a seam in the fence and pushed back a flap with such force that the whole fence shook.

Justin darted through the hole and sprinted seventy feet to the abandoned building. Boris ripped out large chunks of earth and sent them hurling toward Justin who shot gusts of wind to redirect the projectiles. The second projectile grazed Justin’s bad shoulder, but not enough to knock him down. As Justin approached the building, he blasted the door open and ran in. Taking quick stock of the area, he ran down a nearby hallway, slipped into a room that must have once been an office. Slowing down his breathing, Justin listened for Boris’ arrival.

Heavy steps inside the entrance announced Boris’ presence. “Vere are you, you little punk? Come out and face me.” Boris headed in the opposite direction, so once he was far enough away, Justin slipped out of the room he hid in and snuck down the hallway toward his opponent. Upon reaching the main entrance, Justin took a left away from Boris, hoping to find a better spot to attack from. The building must have been some kind of fabrication factory. Whatever they produced was gone, but lots of metal working machines were scattered throughout the large rooms Justin passed along. Near the west side of the building, Justin finally found what he was looking for. A large room empty of metal machinery with no windows. With Boris being an Earth Elementer, Justin preferred to face him in a spot where there was limited earth and metal for Boris to use against him. Sure, Justin wouldn’t have them either, but he had alternatives.

Now he just needed to draw Boris in. Justin headed back down the hall and listened. Boris’ heavy feet clomped along the crossing hallway. Justin braced himself and then stepped into the hall pretending to sneak across it. “Punk!” Boris yelled out and barreled down the hallway. Justin spun on his heels and ran back to his selected room, but slow enough that Boris would reach that hallway and see Justin before he entered the room. As Justin passed one of the manufacturing rooms, a large metal cutting machine that was nearly as tall as Justin came sliding out of the door and broadsided Justin into the wall. Justin tried to get up, but his arm was pinned between the machine and the wall. He directed earth energy to push the machine but Boris used equal force against it. It budged a little, but not enough to pull out his arm. Boris closed the distance so Justin quickly connected to the wind and shot a gust tipping the machine. Justin had to twist to the side to avoid it from crushing his legs, but he was finally free.

As Justin looked up, Boris was above him and lifted Justin up by his shirt and threw him at the wall. His back and head cracked against the wall. Justin lifted his head and shot a wind gust at Boris. It didn’t hold much power since Justin was disoriented from colliding with the wall, but it was enough to slow Boris down and give Justin enough time to get up and stumble into the empty room.

Justin placed his back against the same wall as the door so Boris wouldn’t see him immediately upon entering. But he stood far from the door to stay out of Boris’ reach and struggled to maintain his focus despite the dizziness. As soon as Boris rushed into the room, Justin shot a burst of wind from the sky causing the roof and surrounding walls to come crashing down in the hallway in front of the door. The force knocked Boris down, but more importantly, it blockaded the door. There was no way out of the room.

As Boris lifted his head and started to push himself to his feet, Justin moved to the center of the room, planted his feet firmly, and began spinning the air in a large circle around him. Similar to a hurricane, the center where he stood was perfectly calm. But he could hear the roaring of the wind spinning furiously around him. Boris stood up and stalked toward Justin, but as he reached the edge of the wind it pushed him over and threw him to the side. He got back up on his feet and this time ran toward Justin. His speed allowed him to get closer to Justin, but doing so exposed him to the faster winds at the center of the circle. The wind picked him up and shot him against the wall. The drywall caved in leaving a huge dent where Boris’ body collided.

Boris struggled to get up, but before he had time to stand, Justin decided to finish this fight. He needed to get back to the factory and find Alexei. Closing his eyes, Justin dropped any imagined barriers between him and the energy. Feeling it flow around and through him, the lines between the two became blurred. He joined with the wind as if it was the breath in his lungs and then he exhaled. The wind roared around him, but the hum resonated deep inside Justin. It felt like a natural extension of himself. For a few moments, he forgot about Boris until Justin opened up his eyes. Something tightened in his chest and a stab of fear caused him to stagger back. The walls of the room were nearly shredded to pieces and Boris was being flung about in the current with the wind and all the debris.

Justin immediately released the connection and the wind slowed, dropping Boris to the floor. For a moment, Justin stood frozen afraid he might have killed the guy. Boris wasn’t moving. Justin crept up to him and leaned over pressing his fingers against the guy’s neck desperately hoping he’d feel a pulse. When he felt a rhythmic beat against his fingertips, Justin breathed a sigh of relief.

Justin thought about Alexei, but he knew he couldn’t just leave Boris here, even if he molded make shift metal restraints. The brute was resilient and had proved twice already that he could wake up and escape easily. There was only one option Justin could think of. He knew it was risky, but the only way he knew to incapacitate Boris for a while was to do a partial overload. True, he’d never done one, but he had watched and sensed the others do it. He stepped back, opened himself to all four elements, let them flow through him until he could manage them in equal amounts. Justin had to reign in the wind energy, but once he had them in balance, he directed the flow toward Boris. Justin tried to mimic the levels he had sensed when the others did the partial overloads in the meadow, keeping it just below what he thought appropriate just to be on the safe side.

Suddenly, a ring buzzed from Justin’s pocket taking him by surprise. His connections jumped around and he quickly dropped them all to avoid creating an imbalance. Justin pulled out the phone he borrowed from his Mom and looked at the text message:
Help  - alexei found me in the museum— raven.
A stone plummeted to the bottom of Justin’s stomach. He may have got his grandpa back, but there was no way Justin would allow Alexei to take Raven from him. Justin blasted a massive hole in the wall leading to the hallway and shot forward running to the museum as fast as possible hoping desperately that he would reach Raven in time.

Chapter 44

Raven believed no one noticed her run out of the building, through the opening in the fence, and back up to the street. When she passed through the gates, she noticed Alexei’s red Ferrari parked a little ways down the road. She quickly pulled out her phone and took a photo of it as further proof that Alexei was behind all of this. Then she turned and began running toward the museum.