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 out. 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.”
But he had.
He had killed, even.
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 finding out about all this the hard way?" The world took on a surreal gray tone. "That doesn't make any sense.” The thought of becoming a violent force of nature was just too weird, too alien, to terrifying to think about. Worse still was the thought of hurting anybody.
Gary rubbed his palms on his jeans. "I know. It doesn’t. I never understood it.”
"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. I don’t know what her problem is, but 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 we’re 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 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 killing as many people as possible is the way to do it. Anyway, I'm guessing she wants to take you to Alara to put you in her reeducation program, since you’re pretty much next to transform.”
“Alara?” 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. “Reeducation program?”
“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. And her program is where she takes Tempest kids and tries to brainwash them into killers. Well, worse killers. I’m not the only kid she had there. I’m sure she wants to take you, do some brainwashing stuff, and then make you transform.”
Janelle felt her jaw dropping as she turned to lean against the wall. “This is just too much. 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. 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 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 the neighbor guy. They’d been out again. 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.
She’d never look at him the same again.
Her dad parted opened the front door and waved to the neighbor. “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.”
“That’s good.” He opened the cupboard and shoved a can of green beans in between two cans of peas.
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. 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 get dinner started.”
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. We should make a run for it after dinner. That’s when he’s in his study. I’m going to break this stupid law.”
Gary didn’t speak fo
r almost a full minute. Then he opened the door and 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 where you live. 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.
“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. Leslie 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.”