Tempest (#1 Destroyers Series)

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  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.

  “Looks like we’ll be using a dial-a-ride to get there,” she whispered to Gary. “I put in for them to pick us up at the high school at eight tonight. I don’t think my dad would let us get picked up here.”

  “I can pay for that. You’re taking this all pretty well.”

  “What choice do I have?” Another lump formed in her throat. She pictured crashing waves and palm trees bending under a fierce wind. The image was stuck in her head. “We leave as soon as he’s on the phone or something. I’ll leave some music on to make him think I’m still in here. It could be hours before he notices I’m missing.”

  Orange light crept across her carpet. It felt like the sun was going down forever.

  Her dad called her out to dinner and she turned off her phone to make sure Leslie wouldn’t call back and give anything away. He served up homemade macaroni and green beans, which she wolfed down as he asked her about her classes. It was her last meal with him. At least for a while. She repeated that to herself again and again, and it kept her from breaking down right there at the table. She couldn’t meet his gaze. What if she saw those hurricane eyes staring back at her instead of his human ones, like she had with Gary?

  An eternity later, her dad vanished into the study. Janelle grabbed a new plate and scooped the leftover macaroni onto it before returning to her room.

  “Here. Eat fast. It’s six and it might take an hour to get to the school.” She opened her closet door and shoved the plate in as Gary muttered his thanks.

  Chewing and scraping sounds followed. “This is a big change from earlier,” he said. “You were running from me before, and now you’re feeding me.”

  “Well…it’s different now. I didn’t know about my dad’s plans. Besides, you deserve a decent meal.” Her face flushed again as she picked up her gym bag. “You think Andrina will know where to look for us?”

  Gary shook his head. “I doubt it. As long as you’re not paying for everything with a card, she shouldn’t be able to track us down. But she's smart, believe me.”

  He put the plate down. It was time to go. Just one more thing.

  She plucked the picture of her mom from its frame and slid it into her pocket. It was the last shard of sanity she had, and the only memento she could carry.

  Janelle plucked a random album off her rotating CD rack and put it into her stereo. She turned the music up as Gary emerged from her closet. Her dad would hear it if he walked past the door.

  Letting out a breath, she took one last look at her room and the life she was leaving behind. Dolphins smiled out at her. Stuffed sea stars grinned to the music coming out of her stereo. The memories of the life she'd had before the move. How long would she have to stay gone? A while, at least.

  Tears blurred her vision. “Let’s go.”

  Bag under her arm and keys gripped tight in her hand, Janelle crept slowly down the hall. Gary’s breath blew against her hair. Her heart thudded so hard her dad might hear it.

  A muffled explosion came out from the study. He was playing video games, his usual nighttime activity, so it was less likely he'd hear her over it.

  That stupid board creaked underfoot.

  Janelle froze, holding her breath. A loud burst of artillery came out of the computer. But there was no creaking of her dad’s computer chair or footsteps behind the door. That was a relief.

  Janelle didn’t dare let out a breath until she’d gone around the coffee table. She leaned against the coolness of the door and willed her heart to slow.

  Gary stood next to her, blocking out the bay window. His breath blew against the side of her neck. Another tingle raced across her skin, and this one had nothing to do with the ocean. He was standing so close to her…

  Janelle turned away and rested her forehead on the cool wood of the door as her chest constricted. She was leaving her father, her only family. What would he think when he got up in the morning and found her gone? He’d figure out why she left, but he’d sit here and worry so much. Her throat hurt. She took a step back to return to her room when the hideous image of a hurricane reared up behind her eyes. No. She had to leave, because she’d kill people if she didn’t. She unlocked the door and turned the knob to pull it open.

  A door opened and footsteps thudded down the hall. “Janelle? What are you doing?”

  Her heart leapt as she whirled around.

  Her father stood at the mouth of the hallway, adjusting his glasses. The computer kept playing explosions and gunshots down the hall. So he’d used the same trick as her, making her think he was busy. He might have been waiting on the other side of the door the entire time, waiting for her to spring the trap.

  “Uh…” she dropped her duffel bag. No excuse or charade would work now.

  Her dad looked down to the bag, up to her, and over to Gary, who’d pressed up against the window. He swallowed and sucked in a breath. “So…you know now. I was afraid of that when you were so jumpy earlier. Oh honey, I’m so sorry you found out like this.”

  Janelle backed into the door, slamming it shut by accident. She couldn’t stop the words that tumbled from her mouth. “I went online and I saw what you did. You killed people!”

  Another explosion from down the hall. A scream. Then silence.

  Her dad’s eyes turned towards the floor as he unbuttoned his left sleeve and started to roll it up, to expose the upper arm she'd never seen before.

  There was only one reason for that, but she couldn’t look away.

  The familiar gray spiral stood out against her father’s pale skin, skin that had never seen daylight for that reason. Keeping his gaze trained on the floor, he spoke the three worst words he could have said. “Yes. You’re right.”

  Janelle let out a half-scream, half-sob. “No!”

  Her father backed away and raised a palm. His eyes had gone a watery red, but he blinked it away. “I had to do what was expected of me. Gary did, too. The deaths weren’t intentional. Sometimes tragedies happen, especially with a nature like ours. When you change and try not to kill, it’s like trying to walk across a field without stepping on any bugs.” He raised his head and wet his lips. “That’s the unfortunate part of our role as Tempests.”

  “Oh,” Janelle moaned, slapping her hand to her forehead. The world spun around her. This wasn't her father in front of her, talking about killing. "You're not saying these things, Dad. You're not!"

  Footsteps approached and her father’s shoes entered her field of vision. A moment later his arms pulled her into a hug, and she was too shaky to resist. “I’m so sorry. I tried, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell you. It’s never easy, finding out. It would have been simpler for you not to know anything before your time. So much emotional upset is spared that way.”

  Janelle trembled as she settled into his warmth. She squeezed her eyes shut, resting her head on her father’s chest. The world stopped spinning for a moment. He was lying. He had to be. He’d tell her in a minute that this was all some elaborate joke, and that he and Gary had planned it out for weeks, and that—

  “Gary, look at what you’ve done. I told you not to tell her anything.” A bit of venom had crept into her father’s words. He released her and stepped back. “Janelle, where did you find him?”

  “At the hospital.” There was no point in lying now.

  Her father sucked in a deep breath. “Janelle, did…did that woman in the gray business suit see you?”

  She nodded, begging her quivering chin to stop. She was about to lose it completely.

  “Did s
he try to come after you?”

  No point in hiding this anymore. “Y…yes. At the hospital and at school.”

  Her father swore and paced across the living room. “That’s never good news. I never should’ve taken you to the hospital.” His voice was filled with self-loathing, heavy and ready to pull him down to the floor.

  Janelle barely heard her own words. “Dad, it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know she’d be there. I went back after you said no. So it’s mine.” Busted, but who cared? She needed to change the subject before she broke down crying.

  No lecture. No break. “She’ll want you to kill as many people as possible,” her dad said, ashen. “And she has ways to force you. We leave for the Bahamas tomorrow. I’m booking the first flight. Gary, you’re coming with us. There’s a few Tempest families down that way that might be willing to hide you.” He stepped towards Janelle, eyes very dark and gray. “Now we can’t risk delaying your transformation another day. If Andrina finds you—”

  “I’m not taking this trip!” The mask fell as Janelle’s voice screamed in her own ears. So he did care about this law more than what this was going to do to her, or he wasn't going to stand up to it. “I’m not going to level a city or drown a bunch of people. We can just go inland and get away from her. I'm sure there's lots of places we can go.”

  Her father’s voice shook as he fumbled for words. “Don’t be afraid, Janelle. When you change, you get a whole new perspective. It’s an experience you can’t imagine. And--”

  “Get away from me.” Stomach heaving, she backed away and bumped into the kitchen table. His trembling voice told her that he didn't believe what he was saying. Was he a puppet, spouting someone else's words? The Elder Council's, maybe?

  The table lurched and the truck keys jingled on it. Janelle seized them and bolted for the front door. It would have to be the truck after all.

  “Janelle, please listen to me.” Her dad pressed himself against the door.

  “You've lied to me enough!” Her senses cleared. Every sound amplified in her ears as she ran for the kitchen window. Her footfalls. A car rolling past. “Gary, come on!”

  Her dad’s mouth dropped open as he ran for her, but Gary jumped in front of him. They crashed and hit the wall with a thump.

  “Go, Janelle!” Gary shouted. "Get out of here!"

  Janelle slid the window open with a bang. Muggy air and orange light washed over her as she crawled out. She landed on cool grass, sprang up, and raced for the silver truck.

  Thumps and bangs echoed in her ears. The front door flew open and both her father and Gary scrambled out, pushing each other aside. Gary couldn’t hold him back for long.

  “Just put the keys down, Janelle!” Her father yelled over Gary’s grunts.

  She wouldn't give him time to drag her down the ocean and shove her in. Janelle hit the remote. Click. The doors unlocked. Now she’d have to start the truck before her dad pulled her out. She reached it as Gary jumped into the passenger seat and slammed his door.

  “Come back in the house.” Her dad appeared at her side and seized her left arm with a grip like iron.

  Janelle froze in place. He wanted to talk this out? He’d already made it clear that she wouldn’t have any choices in this matter. She struggled to wrench her arm from his grip, not caring if the neighbors overheard. “I’m not going to be a monster!”

  “Janelle—”

  “Leave me alone!” She flicked her arm to the side and his grip broke.

  Her father hurtled backwards towards the house. Time slowed. He hit the shrubs and fell back into them. Leaves swallowed him up, cracking and bending.

  “Oh…” Janelle stared at her father’s legs, which stuck out of the shrub, thrashing. She'd hurled him across the yard now. He might have lied to her, betrayed her, and once turned into a deadly force of nature, but he was still her father. The only parent she had left. He'd never actually hurt her. Despite the last few days, that she knew for sure.

  The driver’s side door came open and Gary leaned out. “Last chance to go, Janelle!”

  “But my dad—”

  “Janelle," her father said, breaking away from the shrub. "Careful. The neighbors--"

  Her father was okay. Now she could go.

  Janelle leaped into the truck and started the ignition, ignoring the guilt squeezing at her heart. The truck’s engine roared to life and the headlights shined on her father. “Seat belt,” she said to Gary.

  He whipped it around himself and nodded to her. Go, it meant.

  Janelle felt for the gearshift and pulled it back with a trembling arm. Drive…which one was drive? No, reverse. She lifted her foot to mash the accelerator.

  Too late. Her father jumped forward and seized the front bumper.

  It was as if the truck had been chained to an aircraft carrier. Tires squealed against pavement. The truck lurched back a few inches and stopped. Her father grimaced, showing his teeth. He was holding the truck there with his bare hands.

  “What?” Janelle beat the steering wheel. “Come on, come on, come on!”

  The squealing grew louder. A rubbery stench hit her nostrils. At last the truck broke free and reversed so fast that Janelle scrambled to find the brake. They came to a stop inches from the neighbor’s debris pile, sending her back into the seat.

  “No, Janelle!” Her dad raced for the truck, arms waving in disregard for whatever the neighbors might see. His eyes were wide and desperate. Terrified. She'd never seen them that way before.

  She almost put the truck in park and opened the door. But the thought of what she'd become if she did kept her foot down.

  Gary tapped her right arm. “Go.”

  "I am!" She switched gears and hit the gas again, blazing down the street. In the rearview mirror, her father stood in the middle of the street and let his arms slap back down to his sides.

  Janelle let out a long breath. Now not only had she run away, she’d stolen the truck and nearly given him a heart attack. But the alternative would be…“I can’t believe this.”

  “We can just drive to Orlando from here. We can stop at a gas station and ask for a map,” Gary said, flinging his bangs from his face.

  Something flared inside of her. “Don’t you realize my dad could’ve been hurt back there?” Janelle blazed past mailboxes and piles of debris waiting for pickup. “And all you said was ‘let’s go.’ I might want to get away from this, but he's still my dad, Gary.”

  Gary stared down at his feet. "Sorry. You're right. I was just trying to help you not go through what I did."

  “That’s okay.” Janelle went through an intersection, not daring to look back at the sight of her house getting smaller behind her. It might make her turn and go back. Silence grew heavy. It was time to change the subject. “How am I going to explain this to Leslie? She won’t buy my excuse for long, if she even bought it at all.” Her voice cracked. “Hey, I came back up here because I didn’t want to add ‘destructive hurricane’ to my resume?”

  Gary leaned back into the seat. “Say your dad hit you or something.”

  “But he’s not abusive and he never has been. Everyone knows that. I can’t do that to him, too.” What kind of family did Gary come from if this was how he was all the time?

  Well, his mother did have a drinking problem. That might be part of his attitude.

  Janelle fell silent as her vision blurred. Maybe she could go back home next year, or when hurricane season was done. It would be too late for her to change then, since her name wouldn't be on that list. This didn’t have to be permanent.

  “Janelle! That light’s red!”

  Crap. Twin traffic signals glowed like a pair of evil eyes ahead. They’d never stop in time. She lifted her foot and slammed on the brake.

  Too late. With another squeal of tires, they slid right into the busy intersection—and straight int
o the path of an oncoming freight truck.

  Chapter Eight