Tempest (#1 Destroyers Series) (20 page)

With a cry, Janelle yanked her arm away. A
drug, and some of it was pumping through her veins already. She
fell back against the rope fence of the dock, barely catching her
balance and urging the pain in her arm to ebb away.

The air around her exploded with noise.

“What did you do?" Gary bolted for Ivanna,
fists balled.

Panic filled her father’s voice. “Hank, get
her out of here.”

Ivanna was pushing past Gary now, teeth grit,
readying the syringe to finish the dose. Mr. Deville ran for her,
seizing her arms and wrestling for the syringe. The sounds of their
scuffle seemed far away, distant, at the end of a long tunnel. A
wave of light-headedness swept through Janelle’s body. Her knees
wobbled like they wanted to give out. No. She’d fall.

The shot. It was affecting her, already.

Janelle sagged against the railing and looked
up at the passing clouds. They looked like giant cotton balls, and
if she could just jump up to one, she could float away…
Get it
together!
She looked down at the whitewashed boards of the dock
and sank to her knees with a thud. If she didn't fight the drug,
Andrina could push her into the ocean.

Feet trampled nearby as Ivanna growled and
slapped at the others. Mr. Deville cried out, pulling the syringe
out of his arm and dropping it. Gary’s foot came down on it. Shards
of glass flew across the wood.

Janelle scooted away from the broken glass,
drowsiness creeping under her eyelids like an invader.

Mr. Deville slumped onto the fence and listed
back too. Andrina grabbed her father’s collar and hoisted him into
the air, but Deon appeared in front of her, blocking the view. “Get
up, Janelle.” He took her arm. “I’ll drive you out of here.”

She shook her head, wobbling as she stood.
Yes. Get out of here. “My dad.” It was all she could manage.

A roar like raging wind and crashing waves
sounded through the air. Janelle jumped in place as Deon whirled
around to face Andrina.

Andrina ground her teeth and shoved her
father forward. He sailed back, airborne, colliding with Deon. They
tumbled back across the planks. The dock trembled as the two of
them landed in a heap, moaning in pain.

“Dad!” Janelle stepped away from the railing,
the world snapping back into place for a split second. But the
wooziness came back full force, and she fell to the side.

A bony hand clamped down on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry about your father, Janelle.” Andrina’s voice sounded
low and menacing in her ear. “He’ll see you shine with the rest of
the world. I’ll make sure of it.”

“No,” she cried, lurching forward to break
her grip. But her limbs seemed to double in weight. Andrina
tightened her grip.

“Janelle,” Mr. Deville said, head rolling
back. “Gary…help her.”

Gary. Where was he? She searched the dock,
struggling to keep her eyes open. Ivanna now held Gary up against
the railing.

“He’s in no position to do anything,” Andrina
said, facing her dad. She raised her free hand and waved it in a
circle.

Another roar filled the air. Boats started to
bob up and down like they were trembling with terror. Her father
looked up, jaw falling open.

A swirling column of vapor extended yards
into the sky and advanced for the stretch of dock between them and
her father. Sails flapped and flocks of birds exploded off the
water as the wind picked up.

Janelle realized what it was: a tornado. But
even so, she could only sway in place and lean against Andrina for
support. The entire world started to seem like some strange dream.
Colors and sounds danced around her.

The vortex cut between a pair of boats and
carved its way into the dock, blocking Deon and her father from
view. White boards crashed into sails and windows with deafening
crashes and shatters. Ivanna and Gary stopped struggling and
separated, staring up at the swirling cloud of debris. The entire
dock trembled underfoot and the water churned below them.

The tornado crossed over the dock and
dissipated, raining glass and splintered wood down into the water.
A ten-foot-wide hole in the dock now separated Deon and her father
from the rest of them. Nearby, Mr. Deville had all but passed out
against the railing.

Andrina raised one hand and waved. “Goodbye,
Lucas.”

“No!” He stood near the edge of the hole,
fingers curled like claws and eyes bulging behind his glasses.
“Janelle!”

A dream. That’s all this was. Of course her
father wasn’t trapped. He was just yelling at her to wake up. His
screams echoed a million miles away as Andrina’s arm curled around
her, holding her up.

The Tempest High Leader’s pointed face stared
into her own. “Why did you have to give me such a hard time?” she
asked. “You’ve made your mother very upset!”

A kaleidoscope of colors and sounds later,
Janelle blinked the last of the drug’s effects away and sucked in a
huge breath. Warm tan walls boxed her in on all sides. A faint hum
sounded through the air. Soft bedcovers gave way under her body. No
crashing, no breeze, no screams. They were gone, left behind
somewhere hours ago.

Janelle gazed up at the ceiling. A round
light etched with dark veins shined down on her like a bloodshot
eye. A hotel room, maybe? This didn’t look familiar.

Janelle sat up and grimaced as her joints
protested. She'd been here at least a few hours.

She was on a wide bed with black covers. A
few stairs led up through a doorway and up to a hallway. More
lights cast a soft glow against walls and polished cabinets.
Everything about her surroundings spoke luxury. But how had she
gotten here?

A dam broke somewhere in her mind, and
memories came flooding back. The dock. The tornado. Her father,
unable to come to her aid.

The rest had been a blur, like a dream she
couldn't quite remember. She’d ridden in a vehicle with Ivanna
sitting next to her. Then someone had pushed her over a
railing—onto a boat?—and told her to sit here and rest.

“Dad?” She sat up as dread grabbed at her
insides. It was nothing but a grab at false hope, but she couldn't
help it. “Where am I?”

“Oh, I'm glad you snapped out of it. Whatever
Ivanna injected you with made you really loopy for a long time. You
just let Andrina kidnap you.”

Gary sat on the floor, leaning up against the
wall with his legs bent up. One eye had swollen shut and a purple
ring had risen around it.

For a second she forgot all about herself and
rushed over to examine the bruise, nearly falling off the bed.
“Gary. What happened to you?”

He struggled to open the swollen eye but
failed. He sat up, no doubt trying to hide the pain he was in.
“When I tried getting you away from Andrina, she did this. Then
they put you in the truck. And they took me so I couldn’t help your
dad get over that hole in the dock, and they didn't have any of
that drug left to inject me with. Remember that green truck that
cut us off in traffic? That was Ivanna rushing to get to Deon’s
boat before us.” He winced.

“You sure you’re okay?” That bruise had to
hurt. She strangled the bedsheet in her hand just thinking about
it. He'd done so much for her lately, and he didn't deserve to lie
there in pain like that.

“Have to be. It’s just a headache, Janelle.
It’s the least of our problems.”

That was a relief—if he wasn’t lying. “Where
are we? A hotel?”
Please say yes,
she thought. Anything
but—

He wasted no time speaking. “No. They took us
to another marina. We’re aboard Andrina’s yacht now.”

Janelle shot off the bed, sucking in a
breath. “We’re out on the
ocean?”

Gary rubbed his forehead, struggling to look
up at her. “Yeah. But I don’t think she’s planning to throw you in
yet. She would’ve done that while you were drugged. I think she
wants to try some...manipulation stuff on you first.”

Janelle sat down next to him, close enough to
feel his body heat. It felt safe, secure for a second, and dulled
out the horrible thoughts racing through her head. But the floor
swayed a little underfoot and a chill swept over her. They were out
to sea, all right. “She’s taking us to that Alara place, isn’t
she?”

Gary leaned closer and whispered in her ear.
His breath tickled her skin and sent shivers down her neck. “I'm
sure she is. If you changed now, you’d just take your natural
course instead of doing what she wants. What we do when we change
is planted in us since birth. She wants to mess with that
programming and then throw you in. Otherwise she would’ve left you
to your dad.”

“I should have stayed home, then.” Misery
washed through her limbs, drowning her chest in it. She hated
herself for running away. Not only had she'd blown her chance to
stop other Tempests from transforming, she had blown her chance to
escape Operation Reckoning as well.

“Janelle, it was partly my fault. Neither one
of us knew.”

“I'm the one who made the decision to run.”
How would things have turned out if she'd stayed only a few minutes
to listen to her father back at the house? Then she remembered. Her
father. “My dad. Is he okay?”

Gary groaned as he stood. One of his joints
popped. He'd been sitting next to her bed for a long time. “She
left him there on that dock. He’s alive and so are the others.
Andrina and Ivanna could only drag off two people.”

Janelle remembered her father, standing on
the other side of the dock, eyes wide and terrified like she'd
never seen him. And Andrina had said something to her right before
she’d lost it…No.
No!
Bile rose in her throat. She shot off
the floor and took Gary’s arm. “Andrina told me--” She couldn’t
form the words. Had it been a hallucination? Gary would know. He
always told her the truth.

Gary let out a breath and stared at the
floor. “I heard her. I’m so sorry.”

I'm so sorry.

No. He hadn’t heard her, too. He couldn’t
have. The whole thing didn’t make any sense. “She’s not my mother.
She can’t be. I’ve got a picture of my mom. Here. I’ll show you.”
She crammed her hand in her pocket.

Her hand closed on air.

“Are you looking for this?” a voice said from
the doorway.

She whirled around and lost grip of Gary’s
arm.

Andrina leaned against the doorway, holding
up the missing photo. Her mother, smiling out from the dock. “Well,
it looks like your father got himself a girlfriend after he left
me.”

Janelle pressed up against the wall as the
room seemed to close in.
After he left me?
What? Her dad…and
Andrina? She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t scream. Her knees buckled
and threatened to go out. Only the hum of the yacht filled the
air.

“Leave her alone,” Gary growled.

Andrina stepped through the doorway,
approaching like a lion stalking its prey. “That's awful, Janelle.
Your father probably kept everything a secret from you, including
me. Judging from the look on your face, he told you this human
woman was your mother.” Her grip tightened on the photo as
jealously and old hurt crept into her joints.

"I don't believe you," she blurted.

“Now who do you look like, Janelle? Tell
me.”

Janelle gulped. She had blonde hair and a
thin frame. The mother in the picture had brown hair and a few
extra pounds. Andrina had blonde hair and a thin frame--

The world closed in, suffocating. Crushing
her to death. She hadn't even noticed until now, or hadn't wanted
to notice.

“I said leave her alone!” Gary moved in front
of her, fists balled.

Andrina ignored Gary as her fist closed on
the picture, but didn’t step closer. “I'll give you the truth that
you deserve, Janelle," she said, lowering the photo. "Your father
never told you anything about your nature, did he? He never had
proper Tempest pride or sense of duty to his people, but while we
were married, I was coming to realize it was time for us to change
their role in the world, and strike first. With the coastal
population growing in recent years, it's only a matter of time
before we're discovered. Look at what happened with Gary. Your
father didn't agree with my stance, and he grew distant from me
even after we found out we were going to have a child.”

A roar of panic raced through her ears.
“Please. Stop. You’re lying!”

The Tempest High Leader let out a breath. “I
never thought his disagreement with me would result in him taking
you away the day you were born, as I was recovering in bed. But the
Tempest High Leader can't look vulnerable, so I needed to tell the
Elder Council that you had died instead. Thankfully, your name was
still added to the naming list for this year, as an 'honorary'
thing. I made sure of that.”

Janelle’s ears rang as she forced herself to
face Andrina. Shudders of revulsion raced through her body. This
had to be the drugs. Yes, the drugs. It wasn’t real. “My dad
wouldn't marry you.” Her father and Andrina…she just couldn’t
imagine the two of them together.

“Our marriage was arranged by the Elder
Council, as the High Leader's marriage often is to ensure that the
family line stays powerful.” Andrina took a step back. “It was
ideal. Myself, and the son of Camellia. You, Janelle, are probably
the most powerful Tempest alive. That’s because you’ve inherited
Camellia’s power as well as mine. And rest assured, you'll get your
chance to shine.”

Gary crept closer to Janelle, his body a
shield against the horror in front of her, but she barely noticed.
A strangled cry crept out of her throat as she pressed into the
wall. She wanted to disappear into it. “I don’t believe you.”

“I can't blame you. You’ve been lied to all
your life. That’s all your father’s done to you.” She turned and
headed back for the doorway, heels clicking, but stopped and looked
back. “I know your birthday. You were born on the seventeenth of
August.”