Tempest (#1 Destroyers Series) (11 page)

Gary’s hazel eyes bore into hers, serious.
“Yeah. Has your dad decided to take you out on a boat sometime in
the next week or so? Take you out somewhere in the ocean?”

A chill swept through her. The ocean water
was supposed to make her release her full power. Her voice came out
small, timid. “We’re going scuba diving Wednesday in the
Bahamas.”

Her breath caught.
Oh, God
.

“That’s what your dad wants you to think.
It’s not scuba diving you’re going to be doing.” Gary wiped his
palms on his jeans. “A lot of Tempest parents don’t tell their kids
anything, then shove them off a boat or something when their time
comes.”

A hollow terror bloomed in her chest. The
world dropped out from under her. A flash of anger ran through her,
and this time it was directed at Gary. How could he imply that?
“No. My dad wouldn't do this to me.”

Gary marched over to the computer and typed
three words into the search bar:
hurricane naming list.
Another article from Freepedia popped up. He clicked, and columns
of names for the Atlantic hurricane seasons filled the screen.
“Take a look.”

“I don’t want to see this.” But she couldn’t
look away. Her legs carried her closer to the monitor, one step at
a time.

Gary tapped his finger on one of the columns.
“That’s this year’s list. Here’s me. Now make your way down it and
see what you find.” He took a deep breath, stepping back.

Janelle raised one shaking finger, pressed it
to the screen, and made her way down the column.
GARY…HEATHER…IAN…

A moan of horror escaped her throat.

…JANELLE.

Janelle swiped the contents of the bathroom
sink into her gym bag: deodorant, toothpaste, a few combs, and
several other items. A towel…she’d need one of those, too. And
aspirin.

“Gary! Help me pack.” She made her way to her
neat closet and threw clothes about, stuffing shirts and jeans into
the bag at random. It didn't matter what she took. All that
mattered right now was getting away from this, from what her father
had done to her. She wanted to vomit when she thought of her dad,
smiling as he told her about the vacation that wasn't really a
vacation. "He's my father, Gary. How could he do this to me? He's
not the type who likes to hurt people. He even helped Ed clean that
tree out of his yard."

Gary flinched at her last sentence. He’d
pressed himself up against the wall to avoid the flying shirts. “I
don't know. He must be a stickler for the law."

She imagined a
Hurricane Janelle
article appearing on
Freepedia
in the near future and hugged
herself, dropping the bag to the floor. “So he cares about this
Tempest law more than what this is going to do to me or everyone I
could hurt? He was just planning on letting me jump off the boat
and find out about all this the hard way?" The world took on a
surreal gray tone, as if it didn't know how to deal with the
thoughts racing through her head. "That doesn't make any sense.
Unless there's a
very
good reason that Tempests have to
transform--and I doubt there is--I'm not on board for this." She
faced Gary, dreading the truth. If there was a good reason, she
didn't want to hear it. The thought of becoming a violent force of
nature was just too weird, too alien, to terrifying to entertain.
Worse still was the thought of hurting anybody.

He rubbed his palms on his jeans. "I don't
think there is one, to tell you the truth. My mother never let me
know while I still lived with her, and no other Tempest I ever met
gave me a reason."

Somehow, she felt both relieved and angry at
the same time. This meant her father had truly disregarded her in
favor of some law she didn't even understand. Why? There was
nothing good about natural disasters. Could someone else be
controlling him, making him put her through this? "That's why I'm
getting a flight back to Michigan. There's no ocean there."

“We can try that. I have to get away, too.
Andrina’s going to kill me if I don’t.”

Janelle whirled around to face him. “Andrina?
That’s
who your guardian is?
That's
who I met at the
hospital?”

Gary nodded. “Surprised?"

She shook her head. The thought had crossed
her mind earlier, but she'd shoved it down inside, hoping that it
was anything else.

"See why I don’t want to be around her? She
wants every Tempest to be as bad as her. Some of us try not to hurt
too many people, but Andrina just likes killing. She's bitter at
the world, I think. Something must have happened to her during her
childhood. Whatever her problem is, you don't want to see her
again."

Janelle’s stomach turned. The infamous
Andrina was walking around in human form right now, searching for
her. What a nice, comforting thought. “W…what does she want with
me?"

Gary drew a deep breath. “She claims she's at
war with humanity, and wants every other Tempest to jump on her
cause. You saw what she did to coastal Texas six years ago, so I
believe her. Plus, she's always spouting some crap about having to
protect Tempests from the rest of the world in case they discover
us. Which is a good point, but I don't think her starting a big war
is the way to do it. Anyway, I'm guessing she wants to take you to
Alara for that reason, since you're pretty much next to
transform."

“Alara?” Janelle held her breath, trying to
chase out Gary's words. It was bad enough that her father had lied
to her, and this was worse. If Andrina was in the area, she
couldn't stay here even if her father apologized and agreed not to
take her out on any boats in the future.

“Yeah. It’s an island out in the Caribbean
that only Tempests know about, somewhere south of the Bahamas. I've
lived there for the past four years. Andrina and the Elder Council
live there, too. Basically, it's our capital."

Janelle felt her jaw dropping as she turned
to lean against the wall. “This is just too much. Andrina. I never
would have thought. Why don’t the Tempests who try not to kill
people stop her?”

“That’s kind of hard when she’s the Tempest
High Leader and she’s got the Elder Council in her pocket. Some of
them, at least. She took charge when her grandfather died. Great,
huh? And there's no law in our books saying you can't kill as many
people as you want when you change, so there's no reason for them
to take her out of power."

The rumble of an engine floated in before
Janelle could process the new information. Her father had come
home.

“Hide!” She gave Gary a shove into the
closet, and he didn’t resist. “He’ll know that I know everything if
he sees you here.” She'd lose her advantage then, and he might try
to pack her up and go shove her in the ocean tonight. Gary said
nothing as she closed the door and straightened out her hair.

Her father would suspect something if she
didn’t look and act completely normal, which she’d have to pull off
to make a clean getaway later. Once in the hallway, she examined
herself in the mirror and breathed deeply.
Calm down
, she
told herself.
Don’t look like you’re ready to scream.
The
mask went up as her eyebrows relaxed and some color returned to her
features. Satisfied that her face looked calm and untroubled,
Janelle stepped out into the living room.

The silver of her father’s truck gleamed in
the driveway. The engine died and her dad climbed out along with
Ed. The two chatted as her dad pulled a box out from behind the
passenger seat and reached in for a plastic grocery bag.

Her father, the killer.

Her dad parted with Ed and opened the front
door. “So how was school today?” he asked, smiling. He was wearing
a mask, too, one she could see past for the first time in her
life.

“Fine.” Her voice sounded like she’d
swallowed some helium.
Calm, stay calm
. Now to find
something normal to say. “I got a lot of homework to do ahead of
time.”

“Did you and Serena get to go to the beach
today?” He opened the cupboard and shoved a can of green beans in
between two cans of peas. His tone gave away his suspicion.

“No. We were at her house doing homework.”
Janelle shuddered. Thank God he was facing away from her. He was
trying to prod to see what she knew, so it was best to sound
stupid. She forced her way to the fridge and poured herself a glass
of orange juice, then made herself to take a seat at the table. The
air had grown thick. Heavy. She couldn’t breathe.

Her dad took a seat opposite her and adjusted
his watch. “You’re awfully quiet.”

“I don’t feel very good today. I didn’t sleep
too well last night.”
And I just found out you want me to turn
into a hurricane and kill a bunch of people. That’ll do it,
too.

“Well, maybe you should go to bed early. I
want you well rested for the trip.” Her father shot her a smile.
Didn’t he understand what he wanted to make her do? “Our flight
leaves Monday morning and we’ll spend our first day sightseeing
around the islands. Tuesday we’ll go shopping. Wednesday we do the
scuba diving lesson. You’re in for a surprise that day.”

Janelle choked on the orange juice, nearly
spitting it out onto the table. Now she’d blown it. “Surprise? What
surprise?”

If her father knew anything, he sure didn't
show it. “Well, it wouldn’t exactly be one if I told you.” He
stared at her with his gray eyes, almost prodding, and for one
sickening moment Janelle imagined the center of Hurricane Lucas
swirling inside them.

Category 3 storm.

Janelle pulled her mouth into a smile, the
hardest thing she had ever done. “I can’t wait.”

5 billion dollars worth of damage.

Her dad opened up one of his computer
magazines. Conversation over.

Killed 13 people.

Janelle crept over to the sink and dumped out
the rest of her orange juice, holding back tears. Her stomach
churned like she might throw up. “I’m going to lie down. My head’s
pounding.” That part wasn’t a lie.

“Sure thing. I’ll be in the study playing
online in a little while.”

Janelle made her way down the hallway and to
her room, leaving behind the father she thought she knew. She
closed the door behind her as a cry of revulsion escaped her
throat. No matter where she went in the house, she had a killer to
run into. But at least Gary wanted to help her escape becoming one
herself.

“So…how are we getting out of here?” Gary’s
voice floated out from the crack under the closet door.

“Well, I can’t leave right now. But I’ve got
him fooled. He thinks I’m looking forward to the trip. We should
make a run for it after dinner. That’s when he’s in his study. I’m
going to be the first to break this stupid law.”

Gary didn’t speak for almost a full minute.
Then he spoke, his eyes soft and determined at the same time. “I'll
help you, Janelle. Nobody’s done it before to my knowledge, since
the Elder Council makes sure of that, but you might have a chance
since they don't seem to know your address. They’re the ones who
put our names on that list, by the way. They’re obsessed with the
Natural Law.”

“And what’s that?” It was best to know as
much as possible before setting out. A pang gripped her stomach as
the thought hit her. She was leaving, at least for now. There were
no other choices.

“They
say
that Tempests were made by a
storm god and that he gave us these rules we had to follow a long
time ago. And they suck. Thanks to them I was forced to change.” A
groan crept into his voice. “I think that whole story was made up
to keep Tempests in line, but do you want to hear the legend? My
mom told it to me before I got taken away.”

Taken away? Had Andrina actually kidnapped
Gary? She almost asked him, but the pain in his voice told her it
wasn't the time. "No, maybe later." It wouldn't be a good idea to
stand there and listen to a story when her dad could knock on her
door any second. "We’ve got to come up with a plan. Look, I’ve got
eight hundred dollars in my account. We can get a flight back to
Michigan. How much do you have?”

“Uh…forty dollars. Sorry.”

“That’s fine.” It beat what she’d
expected—nothing. “I’ll see if my friend Leslie can let us stay at
her house for a day or two, or at least meet us at the airport. But
we’ll have to find someplace else to go after that. My dad will
look there for us.”

“But how do we get to the airport?”

Janelle let out a curse, not caring that she
was letting the mask slip away. Her father wasn't here to see it.
“Well, we can either find a bus somewhere or steal my dad’s truck.
And I’m not stealing his truck. I’ll get online and plan this out,
but first I’ve got to call my friend.”

Janelle pulled out her phone and dialed her
number. How was she supposed to explain
this
one?

The call went straight to Leslie’s answering
service. Her friend didn’t even have her phone turned on right now.
She must have used up all her minutes in record time—again. What a
surprise.

Janelle sighed into the phone. “Leslie, my
dad’s sending me back up there for a few days because our house is
flooding. It just came up. We don’t know anyone down here, so
there’s no one I can stay with. I’ll try flying out from Orlando.
Sorry to throw this on you so soon.” She closed the phone and set
it down, realizing just how weird and awkward it sounded. “How was
that?”

Gary stuck his fingers out from under the
door. “Hey, it beats what I would’ve said. How are you going to
explain me?”

Janelle’s face turned warm. “Um…that’s the
least of our problems.”

* * * * *

Over the next hour, Janelle looked at flights
at the area airports. Only Orlando had any going up to Flint within
a day or so. And that was an hour away, of course. But too much
could happen in the next few days that could prevent her escape,
like her dad seeing through her bad charade earlier. So they had to
take whatever flight they could get.