by Holly Hook
“Janelle!” Her father cut in front of Mr. Deville, eyes huge and relieved.
Her father pulled her into a hug, and Janelle returned it. “Dad.” His warmth enveloped her. It was safe, secure, a break from the nightmare that had closed in around her since Gary had revealed the truth hours ago.
But then she remembered.
Now her plans to save thousands of people were shot. She would probably become a killer after all.
“Oh, honey. I didn’t mean to scare you earlier.” He hugged her tighter as his hair tickled her cheek. “I knew you’d probably come here, since this is the closest major airport. The neighbor guy drove me. I was so worried that you got on that 1 a.m. flight to Flint. I saw Kevin running to that one.”
Janelle pulled herself out of the hug and caught her breath. Flint? Kevin? "He must have thought we were going to be on that plane." At least they hadn't boarded that flight. They almost had. She hoped Kevin was sitting there now, moping. At least they’d be rid of him for a while.
“Andrina might have sent him there to intercept you in case you go that way. She might be here somewhere,” her father continued.
“She is,” Gary said. He stood there, hands at his sides.
Her father swore and hugged her tighter.
But how had she known they were going to head to Flint? The horror of it crept under her skin. There was no way Andrina could have figured out that much. Was she somehow spying on them right now? The airport was one thing, but Flint was another.
An idea struck her. It might be a way out of everything. "We’ve got to go home or get away from here as soon as we can. And I left all my stuff at the house.” Shifting leg to leg, she shot her dad a pleading glance, one that she hoped communicated everything she felt. “I’m tired and hungry and I’ve got a headache. I’m sorry about running away. Really, I am." All the guilt over that and the truck crashed down. It was too much to take. "I just want to get home.”
Her father ran his hand through his hair and faced her teacher. “That’s too dangerous. We’ve all got to get to the Bahamas. There’s a flight there soon, right?”
“Not that I’m aware.” Gary stuffed his hands in his pockets, trying to look casual, but the lie wouldn't work. It fell to the floor, flopping and dying.
Mr. Deville glared at him, the realization coming over his features. “There’s one at quarter to five, if I remember correctly.”
Her dad looked up and down the room, brushing his hand through his hair as he faced her teacher. “Hank, you can’t stay here either after crossing her. Gary, I’m having a talk with you later. Now we stay together. Come on.”
Her father knew Mr. Deville?
Her father took her arm and wouldn't let go as he paid for tickets, took them through security, and to the waiting area for the Bahamas flight. Mr. Deville breathed down Gary's back the whole time. Janelle struggled to find something smart or sarcastic to say, but nothing came out. Why did her dad go along with this Natural Law when he knew that her escape would stop these deadly forces of nature and save thousands of lives? In the end, she could only manage a plea. “Please, Dad. Don’t make me do this.”
He shushed her as if she’d woken from a nightmare, speaking low enough so that the people seated nearby couldn't hear. “It’s okay. Trust me. You only have to change once and life goes back to normal. You’ll graduate high school, go to college, and be a great doctor. This will not stop you from that.” They reached the waiting area and sat.
“But I don’t want to kill people.” Janelle shot a look at Gary as she sat next to her father, but he stared down at the floor as he took a seat. He was giving up hope.
Her father said nothing to that. He looked away, because he knew that was what she was going to do.
She tried prying her arm from her dad’s grip. It didn’t budge. He only pressed it harder against the armrest. She was going to the Bahamas whether she wanted to or not. And then--
Think, Janelle. She wasn’t doomed yet, and wouldn't be until she got on the boat. That was hours from now. Why couldn't her mother still be here? If her mother was in fact human, she might have helped her out of the situation.
Mr. Deville elbowed her father, grinning. “It’s a shame you had to cut off contact with us for so long, Lucas. I would have liked to know I had a niece before today.”
Janelle stared right into her teacher’s smiling face, a jolt running through her. “Huh?”
Her father pointed to him with his free hand. “This is my little brother. You know, the one I haven’t talked to in years and years?”
“Only I’m not so little,” Mr. Deville said, patting his stomach.
Janelle struggled to process the words. "But why?” she asked. “Why didn’t you guys talk for so long?” They didn’t seem to hate each other. It was quite the opposite.
Her father looked far away into some void, lost. “When you were born, Andrina was starting to…go bad. I knew she’d want to take you and train you to be a monster, like her. It’s what she’s doing to Tempest kids now. We had to go into hiding, and to keep you safe, I needed to cut off all ties. I even changed our last names from Deville to Duvall." A smile crept back onto his face. "But thanks to you, I've found my brother after fourteen years. I don’t care about the truck after that. It was worth it."
Thunderstruck, Janelle looked between the two men. Her teacher…her dad’s little brother? They didn't look much alike, except for their thin eyebrows, maybe. And their eyes, which had the exact same gray shade. “You moved us away from Florida because of that? But you always told me we moved to Michigan so Mom could take care of her parents.” What else hadn't he told her yet? "Why is Andrina so…you know? Evil?"
Her father sighed as his gaze sunk to the carpet. An invisible mountain had come down on top of him. Had she asked the wrong question? “She wasn’t always like that, Janelle. At least, not on the outside. Maybe she hid her anger and fear until she took the role as Tempest High Leader. We were fooled. I was, and it cost me.”
A long, heavy silence followed. Her dad put his face in his free hand. She’d forgotten about the fact that he still had her arm pinned with the other.
“Was Mom a Tempest?”
“Tina was human,” he said without hesitation. “I miss her so much.”
Her teacher—or uncle—spoke up. “I didn’t know—“
“Yes. It’s a shame I never got to introduce her to the family.”
Janelle clutched her dolphin necklace with her free hand. Her mom wasn't a killer. She hadn't deserved to die that winter night. She squeezed the armrest tighter as the injustice of the world pulsed through her. Her mother had died way too soon, while Andrina and Kevin and Camellia--
No!
Mr. Deville was Camellia’s son, and her dad was his brother.
She had to ask before someone came along, and they couldn't talk anymore. "Is Camellia my grandmother? Please say no.”
Gary lifted his head, eyes almost popping out of his face. Mr. Deville blanched, gripping the armrests of his chair. That pretty much answered her question.
Her father swallowed. “Yes.”
Sorry, Gary mouthed to her.
“Hank told me about what happened at the school, but I’m sure she had no idea who you are. She mentioned that she didn’t know who your parents were, right?” her dad asked, apologetic.
Janelle nodded. All the horrible things her teacher had said about her swirled in her head, finally gathering in her stomach and threatening to bring up her dinner. “That doesn’t make me feel any better."
“I haven’t had contact with her in years, either. But when you get back home, I’ll have her give you a big apology.”
“Who said I wanted anything to do with her?" Janelle buried her face in the crook of her arm. She couldn't take any more news like this.
“Janelle, she’s nowhere near what Andrina is,” Gary said, his
tone uncertain.
“She’s not all bad, Janelle.” Her father patted her on the back. “She might not be the nicest of us, but she’s not the worst, either. Your grandmother did a decent job raising us. And she will feel bad once she finds out who you really are.”
Her throat locked up. Good mother or not, she had still murdered hundreds. Did she regret it at all? Did it bother her at night as she drifted off to sleep?
Her father shifted in his chair to face his brother. “That’s why Andrina’s after her. Janelle must have inherited Mom’s power.”
His words came down on her like a life sentence, but before she could react, a woman near the gate opened the door and announced that the flight had started to board. Her father stood, pulling Janelle to her feet.
A woman called out from behind them. “Oh, Lucas.”
Uh, oh. Not again.
Her father whirled around, releasing Janelle.
She took a step to run but stopped cold. Andrina stood ten feet away, hands folded over her chest. Fury churned in her eyes as she stared at her father. “Come here.”
“Janelle, go,” he said. “They won’t let her on the plane.”
Janelle found herself unable to move. The plane--and Gary--waited behind her. Her transformation was waiting there, too, on the other side of that flight. Escape might wait down that hallway and past Andrina, but the might was too risky.
Andrina walked closer, taking each step slow. She gave a friendly smile, but it was a deception. "Hello again, Janelle." She turned to her father, tone darkening. "I can't believe you thought you could hide her from me for so long. I have every right to--"
“Stay away from Janelle.” Her father’s voice took on a trace of a growl.
Janelle flinched. She was seeing another part of him for the first time.
Silence. Andrina stared right at her, gray eyes boring right into her soul. The corner of her mouth twitched. Like she wanted to say something that she’d held in for a hundred years. Something crushing.
A prickle raced across Janelle’s skin. She couldn't risk running. “Come on, Dad.” Her heart hammered against her ribcage as she pulled on his sleeve. “I’ll go.”
The ticket woman looked from Andrina to her father and back again. “Please, sir. The plane can’t wait for you. And if you don’t have a ticket, ma’am, I’ll have to call security.”
The friendly face dropped away as Andrina's eyes seemed to darken to a more ominous gray. “Fine,” she snapped, storming back towards the hallway. Pulling a phone from her pocket, she crossed the room and vanished into the thickening crowd of travelers.
