Tempest (#1 Destroyers Series) (14 page)

A shiny black van with tinted windows rolled
slowly their way, headlights glaring through the bushes like the
eyes of some possessed beast.

Mr. Deville pulled on Janelle’s other arm
with a grip like iron. “Now, Janelle. They’re coming to talk to me.
I’ll put you in a classroom ‘til they leave.”

She didn’t resist and burst in through the
doors, running beside Gary and her teacher. Something clicked. Mr.
Deville knew about Andrina and her cronies. It was why he’d turned
her away yesterday. And now they wanted to meet with him about
something. It all could mean only one thing.

“You’re a Tempest, aren’t you?” Janelle asked
between breaths.

“Yes. A lot of us live around here.” Her
teacher unlocked the classroom door, hands shaking, not showing a
bit of surprise. “We’ll talk later. Lay low.” He shoved the door
open and waved them inside.

Gary dove into the classroom with huge eyes,
silently begging her to follow. She did, ducking out of the glaring
light of the hallway.

Mr. Deville shut them in just as the squeak
of the main doors opening floated down the hall. A set of high
heels tapped closer. A few other pairs of footsteps joined it.

Janelle exchanged a look of horror with Gary
in the near darkness. The cold metal of the filing cabinet soaked
in through the back of her shirt as she trembled in place. Had
Andrina spotted them running into the school? She eyed the windows
for an escape route. They could break them if they had to. Things
were going to get bad fast.

“Hello, Hank.” Andrina’s loud voice boomed
through the hallway, sharp and cold as a razor blade. “How is your
evening? Is the school cleared out?”

“Yes, Ma’am. The last football players just
left. The janitor’s down at the bus garage, but she might come back
any minute."

“If I can say something really quick—” a
young man in Andrina’s group started.

Janelle’s bladder felt ready to let go.
Standing just feet away was the infamous Andrina in the form of a
human. Maybe Joey and Ivanna and Curtis had joined her.

Andrina made a
tsk
sound. Her voice
grew lower and more threatening with each word. “Look at where you
are, Hank. You ought to strive for something greater than coaching
high school football and teaching those human kids, with your
mother here in the Elder Council. But maybe I shouldn’t expect too
much out of you, after you leveled a few towns and started a relief
fund for your
own victims
. Don't you realize that they'd
kill us soon as they had the chance? What a shame for a Tempest
with the blood of Camellia in his veins.”

Janelle let out a breath. At least Mr.
Deville wasn’t one of the really bad Tempests.

“Hey, I tried with him.” An old woman’s voice
rang out just outside the door.

Mr. Deville sighed. “Not now, mother.”

A spark of sympathy for her teacher came to
the surface, but got drowned out in roar of her pulse a second
later.

Andrina spoke again, voice level. “Anyway,
I’m paying all known Tempests in the area a visit tonight. I’m
offering a reward for the capture of a certain individual—the
Janelle I was searching patiently for yesterday. I have no idea
what her last name has been changed to, so if you come across that
information, I would greatly appreciate it. Camellia, the official
statement, please.”

The old woman—Mr. Deville’s mother—cleared
her throat. “Janelle, age sixteen and last name unknown, is
currently wanted by Tempest High Leader Andrina L. Morgen. If found
or sighted, she is to remain unharmed and brought directly to
Andrina or the Elder Council. A substantial reward will be offered
to whoever delivers her to Alara. Janelle stands at five feet tall
with blond hair and a slim build. She may be accompanied by Gary
Plankett, also age sixteen, who is considered a fugitive and for
whom a reward is also being offered.”

Janelle cringed and tapped her fingers on her
jeans. Would Mr. Deville go for the reward—a
double
reward?
Teachers got paid peanuts. If the door opened, she could run for
the window across the room and break it open with a chair, and then
they could make a run for the woods.

“And we need her by the end of next week at
the latest,” Andrina added. “Her name is up on the list next.
Operation Reckoning will not wait.”

Next.
The word wormed its way inside
her.

“Operation Reckoning?” Mr. Deville echoed.
“You can’t be saying—”

“Yes. Janelle’s the one with enough power in
her to pull it off.” Andrina sounded as if she were showing off a
new car. “I’ve been waiting years for this. We need to be the first
to strike, before the world learns of our existence. It's our best
chance for survival.”

“You’re saying she’s more powerful than
either of us? We’re the two strongest Tempests on this side of the
world. How do you know this?” Camellia asked. Even she sounded
surprised. “Who are her parents?”

“Do not question me, Camellia.”

More powerful.
It didn't make any
sense. Her?

“Ma’am, if I can have a word. It’s
important.” The voice of the young man cut in again.

“
What,
Kevin?”

“I saw two kids running into the building
with Hank before I pulled into the parking lot. It might have just
been a couple of humans, but it doesn’t hurt to check the
premises.”

Gary took her arm and tugged her towards the
window, eyes were huge in the darkness. They matched the panic
exploding inside her.

Janelle raced after him. And caught her foot
on a table leg, which sent her sprawling to the floor.

Pain surged through her elbow. The table
toppled behind her with a deafening crash.

Janelle froze and squeezed her eyes shut,
waiting for it. She felt like a wounded animal on the ground, ready
to take the sinking fangs of a predator.

The door flew open with a loud bang. High
heels tapped closer. A hand seized the back of Janelle’s shirt and
yanked her roughly to her feet, spinning her slowly around.

Her gaze landed on a group standing in the
doorway: Mr. Deville, the young man in sunglasses—Kevin—and an old
woman with loose skin and curly gray hair.

Janelle tensed, ready to right, but a hand
grabbed her chin and turned her head to the side.

Andrina’s sharp face stared into her own,
triumphant. She smiled as if greeting a long lost relative. “Hello,
Janelle.”

A cry of revulsion rose up in Janelle’s
throat. She struggled to yank her wrist from the monster’s grip,
but her strength matched her own. She couldn't budge, and a picture
of roofs sticking out of a flooded landscape loomed bigger and
bigger in her mind, as if on a collision course with the rest of
her.

This monster had taken eight hundred lives.
Purposely.

Andrina’s shark grin grew wider. She’d won,
already. Now, Janelle was trapped in the grip of someone far worse
than her father ever could have been. It had been a mistake to
leave. She wanted to go back to him, and now, even if he took her
straight to the ocean. Better his company than Andrina's. “So you
heard me. All Tempests are born with different natural potentials,
and you’ve got great power in you, Janelle. You’re going to make
history, like me. But I doubt your father’s raised you with proper
Tempest pride. He wants us to live our lives apologizing for what
we are.” She glared over at Mr. Deville and then at Gary, who’d
frozen near the window. “There are so many disappointments in our
world, but I know you will not be one of them."

Heart racing, Janelle thrashed against her
grip. There was a mistake. Those words weren’t about her. She
couldn't be capable of anything like that. “No!”

Mr. Deville voice quavered as he spoke. “You
can’t use this girl for Operation Reckoning. The guilt would kill
her. I won’t stand for this.”

Andrina faced him, her words rolling like
crashing waves. “Do not argue with me.”

Wait. Her captor’s hand had loosened from the
back of her shirt in her distraction.

Janelle ducked, breaking her grasp. The
classroom tilted around her. She could run out of the school and
flag down a passing car. Even if they were a psychopath, she could
defend herself. Gary, too. Tempest or not, she wasn't about to
fight Andrina.

Andrina’s other hand shot out and caught her
wrist, stopping her cold. Now her voice dripped with sugar, but
there was still a blade underneath, waiting to come out and slice
at any second. “Janelle, listen to me. I have your best interests
at heart. You might be scared now, but your fear is misdirected.
The world is changing, and we need to--"

The monster never finished. A fist swung at
the side of Andrina’s face. There was a clunk as her teeth clamped
together. With a jolt, she let go of Janelle’s wrist and staggered
back, holding her other hand to her cheek. Janelle caught her
balance as Kevin rushed over to catch his leader before she fell
into the corner of a cabinet.

Gary took her place, fists balled and nodding
at some chairs nearby. “Now!”

Janelle raced for them without thinking about
what he was saying. She lifted a chair in front of her to use as a
shield. To the side, Mr. Deville rushed to do the same thing. Only
when she had the chair in hand did she realize that Gary wanted her
to fight with it.

With a sickening twist of her insides,
Janelle remembered. She'd never fought anyone in her life. Well,
she had slapped a boy in kindergarten for throwing Leslie's lunch
on the ground, and her father had grounded her severely for it, but
beyond that she had no experience.

Footfalls sounded as someone raced for her.
She whirled around, chair held high and mind blank.

“Umph!” Kevin collided with it so hard that
his sunglasses bounced on his face. He hadn't been expecting
this.

Shock ran up her arms, bending her elbows.
Janelle flew back into a table. Pain surged through her back.
Yellow spots danced in front of her eyes. Kevin was still rushing
at her, clawing his way around the chair, but somehow, she found
the strength to straighten her elbows and shove the chair back into
him. He flew back, hitting the file cabinet with a bang.

She'd shoved back a guy twice her size. But
there was no time to marvel.

“Run, Janelle!” Mr. Deville leapt in front of
Andrina, pushing her into a desk.

Camellia left the doorway and ran at her son,
waving her arms. “Hank! Knock it off!”

The door was open. Her teacher had given her
an escape. Janelle burst out into the hallway as sounds of struggle
followed from inside the classroom. Chairs scraped and something
fell over. Gary and Mr. Deville were still in there, outnumbered
and facing the two strongest Tempests in existence.

She stopped and whirled around. Nobody had
chased her out of the room. A loud cry—probably Gary’s—rang out. An
invisible cord tugged her back. She couldn’t leave him. Not after
he had saved her from a fate too awful to imagine.

Even if she knew nothing about her abilities,
she had to try
something.

Janelle bolted back to the room and stopped
in the doorway. The whole room seemed about to explode with
tension.

Andrina held Mr. Deville up against the wall
by the cuff of his shirt. It was the only reason she hadn't come
out after her.

Camellia waved her arms at her boss. “My son!
You’re hurting him!”

A breeze snapped through the room, blowing
papers everywhere. Camellia moved out of the way, revealing the
worst: Kevin had Gary in a headlock. Gary kicked his feet and
gasped for air as his face turned a purple color. Gary’s breaths
grew more ragged by the second. They'd kill him if she didn't
move.

“Hey!” she shouted, taking a bold step into
the room.

It was as if someone had hit the pause
button. Kevin peeked over his sunglasses. Camellia whirled around.
Andrina glared in her direction, the gray in her eyes swirling. If
Gary's had been terrifying, hers were worse. It was as if they were
filled with a million screams drowning in terror. Her sharp
features had become a mask for what was really underneath.

The sight stopped her in her tracks,
paralyzing her.

Andrina’s knuckles grew big around Mr.
Deville’s shirt. “Camellia, restrain her.”

The old woman shook her head, her own gray
eyes almost as formidable. “Not until you release Hank.”

The sound of Gary's breaths seemed to have
stopped. She could use the distraction. The cord of desperation
tugged again as Andrina shoved her teacher back into the window.
She had seconds before that monster had a hold of her again.

Janelle seized a chair and lifted it over her
shoulder. It felt light as cardboard, but it could do major damage
if she threw it. Kevin seemed to realize this. He froze, staring at
her from behind his sunglasses.

“Let go of him.” She sounded more confident
now, and realized she felt the same. Maybe all of them could
escape.

Kevin's grip on Gary loosened, and he sucked
in a breath and elbowed Kevin in the ribs, the normal color rushing
back into his face. Gary broke free and joined her at the door,
gasping for air as Mr. Deville peeled himself from the window.
Camellia and Andrina stood frozen near the desk to watch.

“You can only hit one of us, sweetie,”
Andrina said, smiling and ignoring the fact that Kevin was doubled
over, grasping his ribs. Her lack of concern melted the confidence
building inside her. She was right. What if she didn't have control
of this situation after all? “And frankly, that’s not going to do a
lot of damage.”

Mr. Deville barreled past her, shoving her
aside. “Go!” he ordered, grabbing Gary’s arm and hurtling towards
the door.

He was right. Janelle threw the chair,
watching it arc through the air and crash against a table inches
from Andrina. The noise almost made her reach for her ears.