Tempest (#1 Destroyers Series) (13 page)

“No, Janelle! Andrina’s out there!” 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. Almost. 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."

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, eyes
squinting with what looked like pain. “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.”

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.

Gary sat bolt upright. “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 into the path of
an oncoming freight truck.

Headlights blinded Janelle as a horn blasted
through the air. All thought left her; she slammed her foot down on
the gas pedal. Gary swore as they burst towards the other side of
the intersection.

Bang
.

A jolt seized Janelle’s body as a strange
calm swept over her. Glass shattered. The world spun. The massive
side of the freighter rumbled past. Another jolt shook her body as
the truck slammed into a street sign.

They stopped. Janelle let out a huge
breath.

Was she hurt? And what about Gary? She
glanced at him. He laid back on the seat, mouth gaping open and
arms limp at his sides. A numb shock took over the strange calm.
No. He couldn’t be dead. Not after what he'd done for her.

“Gary!” She broke her paralysis and shook his
arm.

“Huh?” He blinked, like he’d woken up from a
long nightmare. “You all right?”

Janelle leaned forward to hug him, but the
seat belt held her back. “You’re okay,” she breathed, heart bashing
against her chest. She glanced at her body, expecting blood and
splintered bone, but there was none.

The freighter squeaked to a stop ahead of
them. A man in a blue uniform jumped down from the passenger door
and raced for them, mouth hanging open. “Are you hurt?” he
called.

The rest of the shock blew away in a second.
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” A panic seized her Janelle’s breath
came in shallow gasps as she gripped the fabric of her jeans.

Gary sat up with a groan. “This isn’t
good.”

“How bad?” Janelle looked out the rear
window. It was smashed. Gone. Glass covered the floor of the truck,
sparkling yellow in the streetlight. One corner of the tailgate was
bent in as if a giant's hand had squeezed it.

Perhaps she should feel some sense of revenge
against her father, but she couldn't. The sight of the truck only
made her heart ache more.

Janelle urged her heart to slow. She took a
deep breath. No chest pain flared inside her, so her ribs were
fine, at least.

But her dad would be coming. Even in her
state, she knew he was only two minutes away. They needed to get
the hell out of here before someone called him, and definitely
before the cops came. The look on Gary's face told her he was
thinking the same thing. She grabbed Gary’s arm and squeezed. “I
think we’re f…fine,” she lied to the man. “It doesn’t look that
bad.”

“You want me to call an ambulance?” The guy
stared in with huge eyes. “The driver up there’s calling the police
right now. And we'll need your insurance info. This truck’s gonna
have to be towed, unfortunately.”

“No thank you.” Janelle flipped off her
seatbelt. “I’m sure they’ll send one anyway. Look, we’ve got to
go.”

“Yeah.” Gary tossed his seatbelt off. “We
really need to leave, sir.”

The man held up a hand, squinting at the rear
tire. “You can’t go until the police get here. That’s a felony. And
you’re not moving with a back end like that.”

Janelle jumped out of the truck. Gary’s feet
slapped onto the pavement as he ran over to join her. She ignored
the slowing traffic around them and followed the truck driver’s
gaze.

Gary’s mouth fell open. “Oh, man.”

The back tire had twisted out of place,
leaning out to the side at an unnatural angle. They weren’t moving,
unless they wanted to spark all the way to Orlando. Her stomach got
heavy. She was doing everything wrong, everything. Gary must think
she was an idiot. Her father would never forgive her, if she got to
see him ever again.

But she couldn’t give up, not unless she
wanted to become a murderer. Janelle waved to Gary. “Come on.”

The truck driver narrowed his eyes at her.
“Whoa. I said you’re not going anywhere. You could get in big
trouble for leaving the scene of an accident. I’m talking jail
time.”

Gary raised his eyebrows and shot her a look.
What now?

Janelle’s legs threatened to give out. Jail
time beat spinning over the Atlantic as a giant storm, hands down.
“We’re sorry about this. When my dad gets here, let him know we’re
okay.” She seized Gary’s arm and bolted to the walkway. He didn’t
resist.

The man yelled at her to come back, but his
voice faded into the traffic noise behind them.

Gary ran beside her. “Janelle, this is
illegal.”

“So is killing people.” She ran across the
parking lot of a party store with rubbery legs, a sick feeling
filling her. This was wrong, and nothing she'd ever dreamed of
doing, but if she stayed, the cops would turn her over to her
father. It would be all over then.

He took her arm. “Okay. You’ve got a point.
We lay low as much as possible.”

Sirens wailed and grew louder. Her back
prickled, as if they could see her already.

No one got hurt. No one got hurt.
She
repeated the mantra to herself as she ran, following Gary into an
alley between a plaza and a tall wooden fence. If she didn't, her
legs would stop and carry her back, fueled by that sickening guilt
in her stomach.

The sirens peaked and stopped. Red and blue
lights flickered against the fence.

Janelle pumped her legs faster, dodging
around trash cans and old furniture. Gary breathed heavily in her
ears. At last they emerged from the alley and onto Main Street,
leaving the emergency lights behind them. Cars sped by. People
laughed inside the ice cream shop. Gary stopped on the sidewalk and
slapped his hands on his jeans.

“Now where?” Janelle looked around at
downtown Palm Grove, pausing for a second to stare at the alley
she'd hidden in earlier.

“Well, not that way.” Gary caught his breath
as he looked to the beach they’d gone to that afternoon. The ocean
sparkled orange in the setting sun. “I’m not running down the beach
in the dark. Tides go in and out.”

A shudder raced over her as she remembered
what he meant by that, what he had
been,
and what he was
helping her to not become.

"We've got to get to the school. We’ve still
got that ride coming.”

With a shrug, he said, “You know, we could
always hitch a ride there.”

“Hitchhike? Like who would pick us up?”

Gary brushed his hand through his hair.
“We’re Tempests. We can force someone.”

Another shudder crept over her skin as the
whole day came rushing back. “No. We’re not getting in more
trouble. And please don’t remind me of what I am for a while.”

* * * * *

Janelle’s feet ached and burned by the time
they got to Palm Grove High School.

They’d walked into the end of a football
game. Cars pulled out of the parking lot and the lights to the
field dimmed, leaving the campus in darkness. Hopefully they could
blend in if the cops came looking this way. Otherwise they might be
screwed.

“Great. Witnesses,” Gary said, stopping near
the curb.

“We’ll blend right in until everyone leaves.
Where’s our ride?” Janelle looked back and forth across the parking
lot for the blue dial-a-ride van that was supposed to pick them up
at eight. A nervous feeling bloomed in her stomach. “Uh, Gary? What
time is it?”

“Probably eight-thirty by now.” He glanced at
the sky and shot her a grimace. “I think we missed it.”

Janelle sighed and kicked at a piece of loose
concrete. A bunch of cheerleaders in a passing car pointed at her,
but she didn’t care. Thanks to the accident, they’d had to take
detours to avoid patrolling cops. She skulked over to the benches
near the main entrance and plopped down on one, staring down at the
flattened gum on the sidewalk. “Why isn’t anything working out
tonight?”

Gary sat down next to her, cramming his hands
in his pockets. His presence made her feel warmer in the dying
light, but maybe it was just his body heat. He lowered his voice.
“We could bum a ride off someone. See any of your friends here? I
don’t know anyone, so it's up to you.”

The last occupied car was pulling out of the
parking lot. A rusty maroon one was parked nearby, but nobody was
in it.

“Nope. We’re screwed.” A gust of wind blew
over her, reminding her how cool the night would get. She
remembered the website for
Your Transport Service.
“We’ll
have to wait until tomorrow to do anything. The dial-a-ride place
shuts down at nine.”

Gary pulled himself up from the bench. “Hey,
I know a spot behind a strip mall where there’s a shed we can sleep
in for the night. It’s about a mile from here.”

Janelle shivered. The thought of being on the
streets all night weighed down on her, but the only other option
was to return to her dad and find out what being a hurricane felt
like. She stood and clenched her teeth. How could her dad go along
with some Elder Council and make this demand on her? If he'd given
her any indication that he was going to help her fight it, se
wouldn't be in this position right now. “Let’s go.”

“Janelle? Waiting for your folks to pick you
up?”

Mr. Deville strode towards them, his whistle
bouncing on his gray shirt. Somehow, he was a welcome sight.

“Um…” she began, fumbling for an excuse.

“Great game, huh?” Her teacher leaned against
the brick of the building. “We’ve been waiting to spank the Cougars
for years.”

“Yeah. It was,” she said. Something about Mr.
Deville made her feel a little better. Maybe it was the fact that
he’d turned Andrina away in the office.

“It’s getting awfully late,” he said,
surveying the lot. “You two have a ride home?”

Gary looked to Janelle and nodded. They had
one last shot, and she’d better try for it. And her teacher would
feel more sympathetic for a girl than a boy. It was all up to
her.

“I…I’m supposed to meet my dad so we can
leave for the Bahamas tonight, but I missed the dial-a-ride that
was supposed to pick us up,” she said, letting her voice wobble a
little. “He just flew in from a business trip so he’s waiting at
the airport for me. If he drives out here to pick me up, we’ll miss
our flight and have to cancel our trip.”

Mr. Deville rubbed his chin. “There’s got to
be a bus or something you can take. And who’s this?” He gestured to
Gary, but his tone was still as friendly as ever.

Crap. “My cousin, Gary. He’s going with
us.”

Her teacher took a long look at him. Way too
long. He could probably see right through her lie. She and Gary
didn’t share a single trait--except for--no, they couldn’t show him
their Tempest marks.

Her teacher nodded. “Come on in here, and
we’ll see if there’re any services that can get you to where you
need to go. I'll grab the phone book from the office. Sounds like
an important trip that you don’t want to miss.” He produced a shiny
key ring and went to unlock the main door as the sound of an
approaching motor floated down the street.

Janelle’s stomach dropped. That motor sounded
like distant thunder. She’d heard that before, at the hospital. No,
it couldn’t be. It was a fluke. Why, of all places, would that
black van show up here?

Mr. Deville froze in place, mouth falling
open. His expression hardened in an instant. “In. Quick. Somebody’s
coming.” He waved them inside. “I want you to stay out of
sight.”

Janelle looked down the street. Her heart
seemed to stop.
Oh, god no.