Tempest (#1 Destroyers Series) (23 page)

No. No!

Andrina took a step forward and sucked in a
breath. “I'm sorry, but time is short and this is necessary to make
sure you do what's in our best interest. You led us right to your
best friend, Leslie.”

Leslie looked down at the floor, red hair
hanging in her face like a ragged curtain. Only the white cloth of
the gag was visible through it.

“Mmmph nggg,” Leslie tried, lurching
forward.

Janelle’s legs turned to rubber. Her best
friend, here in this horrible place, here in the nightmare her life
had become. Leslie didn't deserve to be dragged into this. Why had
she even left her that message? All she had done was put her life
in danger.

With a sickening twist of her insides,
Janelle realized this might very well be her first kill.

Gary’s grip tightened on her arm as her
friend cried out again, lifting her head. Tears streaked her
freckled cheeks. Her eyes had turned a dull red. She’d been crying
for a while. No surprise or relief flickered in them when her gaze
landed on her.

Her best friend knew everything. What she
was. What she could do.

“Leslie,” Janelle breathed. She glared at
Kevin. Rage rose up inside her like lava through a volcano. “Take
that off of her!”

Kevin jerked her arms further behind her
back, smirking. “She wouldn’t shut up. What else was I supposed to
do? I couldn’t have her screaming on the boat because it was giving
me a headache. Plus, how else was I going to get her out of her
house without her waking the neighborhood up?”

Kevin had taken Leslie from her own room. It
was the stuff of kidnapping movies.

More muffled cries from Leslie. She thrashed
against Kevin’s grip, hair flying back and forth. Her captor tugged
on her arms again. A squeal of pain echoed off the walls.

Blood roared in Janelle’s ears. All thought
left her as she leapt forward, but Andrina’s hand came down on her
shoulder.

“Do not damage that girl, Kevin,” Andrina
snapped. "We need her alive.” She sucked in a long breath, like she
was feeding off Leslie’s terror. “So, Janelle, can I count on it
that you'll prepare for Operation Reckoning with no argument?"

“Why her?” Janelle faced the Tempest High
Leader, fists balled. Red hate grew inside her, exploding into a
supernova. “Leslie's my best friend. I've known her since
preschool. You probably wouldn't know anything about that, would
you?"

A slice of hurt raced across Andrina's face,
and her hands closed and squeezed. She'd said the wrong thing, but
it was too late to take it back. But it was gone in a second. “This
is nothing personal, Janelle. You just need a little persuading
right now.” She tapped her foot with a bony sound. “You also happen
to be quite outnumbered. Now, I know that you're a smart girl, so
you can figure out the terms here."

Janelle’s breaths came shallow and whistled
in her ears. A faint breeze started to blow through the chamber—was
it her doing or the air conditioner?—but Andrina seemed not to
notice. Gary shook his head in warning, glancing at Ivanna and the
other Tempests. Two against six were pretty crappy odds.

He was right. They couldn't win here.

“W…what are you talking about?” Janelle asked
to stall. She knew that answer. Leslie's life…or the lives of the
hundreds Andrina would want her to take.

Andrina gripped Janelle’s shoulder and spoke
in that satin voice again. “Oh, I can’t spoil it ahead of time.
It’s nothing that hurts
you
, of course. Just some simple
suggestions to make sure you do what’s needed for the Operation.
Kevin, you made sure this girl heard all about it, didn’t you?”

This girl.
Andrina didn't even
consider her worthy of a name.

Kevin gave Leslie a nudge.

Her friend looked up like a puppet on
strings. Andrina marched forward, reached out, and ripped off the
gag. Leslie let out a breath as if the terror itself were escaping
from her, but she didn't speak. Leslie
never
stopped
talking.

Janelle couldn’t stand by anymore. “Leslie,
don’t worry. I’m going to get you out of—”

The freckles had turned brown against the
paste that was Leslie's skin. “St…stay away from me, Janelle. I
can’t be friends with a Tempest. It's just too weird."

The world went silent and still as a cloud
blocked out the sun, dimming the room. Janelle stepped back and
bumped into Gary. Leslie, her best friend. Revolted at what she
was. The past twelve years meant nothing now.

No, I’m not like these people
, Janelle
tried to yell. But she couldn’t. Her throat had locked up.

Because she
was
like these people.

Andrina faced Janelle, unsmiling. “See what I
mean?" she asked, somber. "I'm sorry, Janelle." She nodded to
Kevin. “Put that girl down in storage for now. I'll page you any
orders regarding her based on Janelle's behavior.”

Kevin twisted Leslie around and forced her
away down the hall. Only the sound of shuffling feet floated
through the air. They vanished around a curve, silent. There were
no apologies floating back to her. No pleas. Nothing.

“Gary, return to your quarters and stay there
for now. Alec, you make sure he doesn’t go anywhere,” Andrina said,
pointing to one of the black-haired men.

Gary started towards her. “But—”

“Now. Alec, let me know if he tries anything
funny. Because if he does, I’ll need to send Kevin some…new orders
regarding Janelle's friend."

Janelle jammed her hands into her pockets,
squeezing the thin fiber inside. Why didn't she just say it out
loud--that she wanted to have Leslie killed? It was so much scarier
hearing it like this. Even if Leslie hated her now, she couldn't
bear to see her murdered. It would also make every horrifying thing
she feared about herself true. So she faced him, to be met with a
gaze as hopeless as she felt. “Go, Gary. Just go!”

He cast his gaze to the floor and vanished
down the middle hallway, Alec right behind him, leaving only a
crushing feeling in her chest.

Andrina released her arm and walked across
the room, stopping at the mouth of the left hallway. She made a
clicking sound with her tongue, as if she were calling a dog to
follow her. “Come on, Janelle. You’ve got nothing to be afraid of,”
she said, making her way down the hall.

She wished she could go after Gary, to make
sure they didn't do anything to him.
They won't,
a voice in
her head told her, soothing the crushing pain down. Something
Andrina had said on the yacht--
and how you're going to make up
for that
--told her that he would survive the day, at least.

Eyes downcast, Janelle walked beside the
Tempest High Leader, staring down at the passing reflections on the
polished floor. Her head pounded, but she barely noticed. Attacking
Andrina would only kill Leslie. She couldn't risk going for her
phone and keeping it away from her. Too much could go wrong with
that plan. The only thing she could do right now was think.

“Oh, look up, Janelle. I keep my word. Your
human ‘friend’ will live if you only agree to take your part in the
Operation. If, in fact, you still feel any kind of friendship with
her. I won't blame you if you don't.” Andrina stopped, making a
show of checking out her surroundings. “Isn’t this room
beautiful?”

Janelle peeled her gaze from the floor,
fighting against the misery pulling her down. The hallway had
opened up into a smaller domelike chamber. Four tube aquariums
bubbled away in each corner, and fish of every possible color swam
inside of them. Sunlight filtered down through glass in the
ceiling, forming a swirl of light on the floor. For a moment
Janelle forgot all about Andrina and Leslie and Gary and stared,
amazed. It reminded her of a mall restaurant she'd been in not too
far from her old house, the one that always had loud jungle sound
effects and waterfalls and rainbows inside. She and Leslie had
always used to check out the shop there and--

A fresh wave of hurt roared through her
again, casting her gaze back down to the floor.

“This way,” Andrina said, oblivious to it.
Stairs curved up to a set of double doors with a huge Tempest swirl
carved across them. “This is our apartment, reserved only for
Tempest High Leaders and their families.”

The situation weighed down harder. If she
didn’t escape, she’d have to spend every day with Andrina, the
monster who had ripped away her most cherished memories of her
mother and replaced it with a nightmare with only a few words.

The Tempest High Leader placed her finger on
another touchpad. The doors clicked open to reveal the most
luxurious living room Janelle had ever seen.

Janelle shuddered. This was more what she’d
expected from Andrina. The inside was still beautiful like the rest
of Alara, but it was a dark type of beautiful, one with sharp teeth
and a craving for blood. Thick red rugs spread out like pools under
antique tables. A small shark swam in a tank nearby, baring all its
jagged teeth underneath a greenish light. Another tank held fish
with protruding jaws—piranhas. Darkness filled the rest of the
space save for a green lamp in the corner and a curtain that seemed
to go to an outside balcony.

Andrina patted her pocket in warning. “Come
on in."

Leslie would be crying right now, with Kevin
hovering over her, waiting for the call…

Janelle stepped into the room, fighting every
urge to turn back and run.

Andrina closed the doors behind her. They
sounded like a dungeon door closing. Janelle was trapped inside
this apartment with her. Alone.

The Tempest High Leader clapped her hands and
made for the kitchen counter. A motion-sensing light clicked on to
show a covered platter waiting on it. “It looks like the cooks
prepared our dinner already. Come grab a plate, Janelle, and we’ll
eat on the couch, though I want you to be careful not to get crumbs
all over it. You’re weak from lack of food, and we can't have that.
It's best if you're at full strength when you change.”

Operation Reckoning stared her in the face,
in the form of that platter. “Then I’m not eating.”

Andrina thrust her hand into her pocket,
grasping the phone inside. "I insist."

There were no choices here. This was the High
Leader's game, and she had no choice but to play by the rules.
Eating would give her time to think, at least. Maybe, if she made
Andrina complacent, she could pluck the phone from her pocket and
run. But what if Andrina had more than one phone, or had a second
one in the apartment somewhere? It was another risk she couldn't
take. She'd made too many poor judgments in the past two weeks, and
that one might be the most dangerous.

A chicken in some kind of sauce gave off an
aroma as Andrina carved it. Janelle’s stomach rumbled. Her legs
quivered with weakness and a dull ache had crept into her skull.
Her last meal had been home, with her father, the one she'd shared
with Gary.

Andrina opened a pan on the stove and heaped
some mashed potatoes onto two plates. She followed with green beans
and biscuits, making sure she could see.

Saliva flooded Janelle’s mouth, but she
looked away to hide her hunger. No way would she look grateful to
Andrina for anything. It would only give her more power.

A plate of steaming food slid across the
counter to her, and Andrina waved her towards the leather couch. A
minute later Janelle sat on the edge of it, pressing against the
armrest to keep as much distance as she could between them.

"Eat." She made a show of stuffing some
chicken into her mouth and chewing.

Her stomach growled again. She’d eat, but
maybe she could throw it up later, so that if Andrina did manage to
make her listen to any deadly tapes, she wouldn't have the strength
to go through with Operation Reckoning when she transformed.

When.
Not
if.
She couldn't kid
herself anymore. The fact that she was already out in the middle of
the Caribbean sealed her fate. Her only hope now was to get out of
here before the brainwashing started.

Janelle forced a bite of the chicken, trying
not to think about it, squeezing its juices out and across her
tongue. Despite her situation, food had never tasted so good.

Andrina ate in silence next to her, but
Janelle could sense her stare boring into her every time she paused
between bites. Janelle looked away and studied the books on the
shelf, regretting it instantly.
Hurricane Andrina: A Warning
Unheeded. Andrina and the Failure of Government Emergency Response.
Andrina: A Storm for the Ages.
The DVD's were no better, and
one that read
Geographic Review’s Future
Disasters
on
the spine sat on top of the DVD player as if it were part of a
shrine.

Janelle forced down a bite of her buttery
mashed potatoes, which tasted bitter all of a sudden.
She’s not
my mother, she’s not my mother, she’s—

“So how’s the food?” Andrina set her fork
down on her plate with a
clink.
“We have excellent cooks
here.”

“Fine.” Janelle finished the potatoes and
speared the green beans, barely able to eat but unable to stop.

“That’s good. And just so you know, I also
want you well rested before the Operation.” Andrina put her plate
down on the glass coffee table. “You’ve got rings under your eyes,
sweetie, so I suggest you take a nap. The sleep medicine in your
mashed potatoes ought to help with that.”

Janelle vaulted off the couch.
No!
She
let the plate fall to the floor, where it shattered and rained
splinters over her feet.
“Sleep medicine?
I just slept on
the boat!”

Andrina stood as well, her eyes shining with
triumph that she couldn't quite hide. “Only for two hours. You have
a lot of catching up to do."