by Holly Hook
Huracan had taken up the bed closest to the window, lying on his back in the middle with his arms behind his head. He waved, smiling and shifting to make himself more comfortable. Anger flared up in Janelle. They had things to do. A goddess to stop.
He's probably just tired, she thought, forcing the irritation away. And he was a storm god, capable of making them all his puppets if he wanted. They were still treading dangerous waters.
Manuel translated into Spanish, and Huracan's brows rose. He said something, gesticulating with his hands.
"Yes and no," Manuel said at last to Paul and Leslie, who stood over on the other side of the room. "Outbreakers can't die from the wind, but the storm surge could kill you. It's the water you need to worry about."
Paul swallowed as he pulled Leslie closer. "That does make some sense, I guess. Back at the Masonic Temple, when Gary and Deon used that wind attack, it went right around us both."
"We're on the third floor," Leslie reminded them all. "I'm not sure it could come all the way up here. You know, if there is going to be flooding."
"There will be," Manuel told them, his gaze going to the growing storm outside. "It's not going to be pretty. We can expect the ocean to rise up over these islands."
"Great," Gary said, plopping down on the free bed. "At least with a storm going on already, we can't transform if we touch it--right?"
Manuel translated his question to the storm god, who responded with a shrug and another broken sentence.
"He says he's not sure," he relayed. "Since there's another like him controlling things, anything can happen."
* * * * *
The knock on the hotel room door came about an hour later, right before Janelle got to the part where they were going to tell Huracan about Andrina's plan to liberate all the Tempests and Outbreakers forever.
Janelle answered. A woman in a hotel uniform stood out in the hall, hair standing on end like someone had woken her up from bed way too early. The racket of doors opening and closing rang through the building around her despite the fact that it was only six in the morning.
The evacuation had started. No surprise.
"Everyone must leave due to the storm," the woman managed in English so accented that Janelle could barely understand it. “Pack your belongings. A bus will take you inland. The hotel will refund your money.” She peeked around Janelle to where the others stood gathered on the other side of the room. She hoped they were blocking the storm god from view.
“Okay,” Janelle lied, hand on the door. Of course they weren't going to go—they couldn't, anyway—but they didn't need the hotel staff badgering them to do so. “We'll pack right now.”
She closed the door, silencing the noise.
“We're not actually leaving, are we?” Gary sounded as if he did want to leave.
Janelle swallowed. “If we go on that bus, Andrina will slaughter everyone on there with us. It's the same if we go to a shelter. She's going to find us.” Me, she wanted to say. “Now's the time to end this.”
“You're right,” Gary said.
“Excuse me?” Shock ran through her gut like a lightning bolt.
“I said that you're right.” He shuffled his feet on the carpet. “She will go after everyone we're around. But what about Paul and Leslie?” He motioned to them. “And Sophia?”
There was more in his question. Shouldn't we get Leslie away from you? She was the one Andrina would force to turn Janelle, after all. But even Gary wouldn't say that out loud around her best friend.
“We're staying,” Paul said.
“Definitely,” Leslie said. “Do you think we're just going to abandon you, Janelle? And where would we go, anyway?” She shrugged.
The door opened again, and this time Sophia came through, breathing like she'd run up all three flights of stairs. Her face had a greenish tint like Hyrokkin had taken her on another trip.
Janelle's heart constricted and her stomach lurched as she faced Sophia. “Did you see anything?”
“Kenna's not in the ocean,” she said. “Hyrokkin said her energy's really faint right now, but she's definitely on land. She might just be weak. And Andrina isn't anywhere around her.”
“Are you sure?” Janelle wanted to dive into a bed of relief and curl up inside, but she couldn't celebrate quite yet. “Do you know where she is?”
“Somewhere in the area we left. Hyrokkin couldn't hone in on her well."
The expanse of trees flashed in her mind. She could see why right there. “We'll have to do another search later. Hopefully she'll be stronger then.”
The rain drove down harder, sending rivers down the picture window. Outside, the gray surf rose and fell, consuming the beach. It would only get worse. "Any clues at all?"
Sophia's shoulders rose in frustration. "Other than her being around the Chichen Itza area, no. We searched for almost a half hour." She winced. "We might have to try again in a while. You know, hope that Kenna's stronger and easier to find."
Janelle could tell from the tone of Sophia's voice that she was looking forward to that as much as she was looking forward to knee surgery. She should be more sympathetic towards what Sophia had to go through on those trips, but there was no time for that. "If you could, that would be great," she said, hear heart fluttering with the knowledge of what they had to do next. "Right now we have to get ready for battle."
Huracan sat up on the bed now, ignoring them all and discovering the TV remote. Another wave of rain assaulted the window, but he didn't turn his head. He was the god of bad weather, after all. He had no reason to even bat an eyelid towards it. If he wanted, he could probably dismiss the whole storm.
Andrina had done that with a thunderstorm once back in Mobley. It gave Janelle an idea. It was crazy, but they had to try it.
The TV went from quiet to deafening over and over with the push of the buttons. Huracan didn't seem too dangerous at the moment. More like a clueless character from a time travel show, maybe. But Janelle couldn't be too careful. One wrong step, and she could get vaporized the way Elise had or worse, left to her own devices when facing Andrina.
"Huracan," she managed as he turned the volume all the way down again. She tilted her head down in respect. She wasn't sure if he would get the meaning, but it wouldn't hurt to butter it on. "Can you dismiss this storm? We would appreciate it."
Manuel rushed up to her side and quickly translated into Spanish, speaking in a broken, nervous voice.
A silence followed that felt like a minute, although it was probably really only a second or two. Huracan turned on the bed to face them, folding his hands as he considered the question. He spoke slowly back to Manuel, pausing over a couple of words and nodding his head at the end. The look on his face was hard, businesslike, and Janelle didn't like it.
Manuel swallowed. "He says that he can't, High Leader, because another like him is controlling it. Their power is equal. If you want him to combat her or fulfill any other requests, he says he needs something in return."
"But we already gave him our valuables," Gary said.
"My ring," Leslie added.
"And my last hundred from my dad and my uncle," Paul added, stuffing his hands in his pockets. They bulged, empty of his memories. "What do we need to give him now?"
Janelle didn't like where this was going.
Not at all.
"Ask him," she told Manuel.
He shifted, turned, and did.
Huracan was quick to answer, like he had been thinking of this for a long time. Janelle tried to pick up what she could of the Spanish before Manuel delivered the news, but it was hopeless. Her lessons went blank as she gripped the fabric of her pants.
Manuel sighed as he finished and said, "He is giving us two choices. One, we can leave things the way they are and he returns to the Mayan underworld. We will not owe him anything. Now for the other choice. He can fight Andrina for us and take over as the ruling storm god again. If you choose this, he will make all the Tempests and Outbreakers human and contr
ol all of the storms himself."
Janelle felt her spirits lift through the ceiling. It was the moment she had been hoping for ever since Gary had stared at her with those swirling eyes back at that Florida beach and given her the truth. She took Gary's hand in hers and squeezed. The end of their torment was almost near. On the other side of Gary, Leslie and Paul hugged, no doubt hoping for the same thing. They would have normal lives now. Leslie could go back home. Janelle could go with her and rejoin the life she had left behind, taking Gary with her.
"Under what condition will he do Choice Number Two?" Gary asked.
His words threw a wrench in the moment. Of course there would be conditions.
Huracan must have understood what he was asking, because he spoke before Manuel had a chance to translate.
"He will tell us what he wants in return when the time comes," Manuel said. He furrowed his brows and stood with his hands behind him, in military posture. "I'm not sure I like this choice. I would love for my daughter not to have to transform and kill when it's her time. The thought scares her. It bothers all Tempests who have a heart." He dared not glance at the storm god. "But what does he want for this? We don't know, and that may be worse than the world I do know."
Chapter Twelve
The hallways of the hotel were chaos, Paul noticed. People blocked up stairways with luggage and frustration. They skipped the elevator altogether in case the power went out and left them stranded. It was something Andrina might try.
But it was better to have a conference out here than to stay in the same room with Huracan.
His palms tingled with nerves as they entered the hotel restaurant. Even though the lighting did the best it could to keep it bright and cheery, the driving rain outside and the growing wind ruined the effect. Even the water fountain gurgling on the other side of the room made a dark, scary feeling rise up inside of Paul.
The flooding from the hurricane could kill him and Leslie, and he had a feeling that Huracan wouldn't lift a finger to help them unless they cut their limbs off as offerings.
He had to remember that.
The restaurant was empty, devoid of customers drinking out of glasses with umbrellas in them or digging into exotic dishes. Somewhere metal clanged against metal. Manuel waved them all farther into the room. This would work.
Paul rubbed his hand down Leslie's back and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He did that a lot now. It was like medicine. After he'd done it enough, she'd started to talk like her normal self after her first Outbreak. If he kept doing it, it would keep her from slipping back into that silence that scared him.
He could hope.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Fine," she nodded, managing a smile.
“Okay,” Janelle said, heading to the middle of their circle and standing up tall. Even Paul could tell that she felt no more confident about this than he did. “I suppose we should have a vote on what to do. Let's not take long.”
Paul looked at Leslie again. She was so delicate, so full of potential—and so in danger, just like his mother had been the morning she'd had her last Outbreak and killed dozens by mistake. Just like his mother in the days before her guilt had weighed down too heavy and killed her--
“I vote that we let Huracan fight and turn us to human,” Paul said, aware that all eyes had landed on him. “Or some of us, at least.” If it came down to it, they could compromise. Even if he had to remain an Outbreaker for the rest of his life, it would be far better with Leslie restored to her right state, the one where she could go back to her mother and go to college without worrying about being a danger to those around her.
"But we don't know what he wants," Leslie said. "It could be anything. If he's not telling us what the deal is now, I'm sure it can't be anything good. Think about it. Once he turns us back, if he does, that is--we'll be even more vulnerable. He could demand we throw ourselves down in that cenote for all we know."
She was talking. That was a plus. But her eyes were still brown with perfect black flecks all through her irises, betraying her change to an Outbreaker. Paul felt a deep sense of shame whenever he saw them. It was he, after all, who had made her that way. Leslie had demanded it, but he'd ultimately given in.
Paul would give anything to see her eyes green again.
"He could," Gary said, "but I don't think he will. I think we should go through with it. It's our only chance."
Paul recognized concern for his girlfriend in Gary's voice.
Leslie didn't seem to get what he was saying. "Maybe there's another way."
"You were for it last night," Sophia said. "Everyone except me. I was the only one who didn't get on the Desperation Train."
"That's because you're not a Tempest or an Outbreaker," Gary snapped. "You didn't even sacrifice anything to Huracan back at the cenote. I don't think you should vote on this."
Sophia moved her lips like she was about to speak, then caught herself. "You're right. Maybe I shouldn't vote. But I'm saying, I think this is just, what do they call it on the news--a power grab? Huracan sees an opportunity he thought he'd never see again."
"People survived him before," Janelle stammered. Every ounce of the leader in her had melted during the argument.
"People were sacrificed to him before so he wouldn't destroy their cities," Sophia put in. She pulled at her black pants, straightening out the pink lines on the sides. "Trust me. I know what insane deities are like."
She did. Paul gave her that.
"Then we need some kind of safeguard," he said, surprised that he'd managed to speak up in such a heated argument. He'd always been the quiet guy whenever his friends Brian and Dominic got into it. "Something else to offer him. There's a lot more in the modern world that might interest him."
"Like what?" Sophia asked. "Facebook and Twitter?"
"Facebook and what?" Paul asked, shaking his head and feeling stupid. Once again he cursed his father for keeping him away from the post-fifties world.
"They're social networking sites," Leslie told him. "No, I don't think he'd care for that."
"Thank you," Sophia said, turning and nodding to everyone else.
"We need to come up with something, and fast," Janelle said, regaining her composure. "The storm's going to make landfall in two hours. That's when she'll come. I think we should let him fight her. We sure can't do it and we don't have Kenna here." She pulled at her collar, even though it wasn't nearly tight enough to prevent her from breathing. "At least if we're human, Andrina won't be able to paralyze us if--when--she comes around. Same for Huracan. We actually might be better off."
"Except for the storm," Gary said. "That could kill us."
"For me, that might happen anyway," Paul said. "You know, if we don't stay on the upper floors." He looked longingly in the direction of the stairway as his legs twitched, itching to get back up in case the weather on TV was wrong and the storm surge came rushing into the building early. If Andrina had Leslie, there was no use for him other than getting released and being forced to serve her forever. His loss wouldn't make Andrina shed any tears.
"Does anyone have any better ideas?" Janelle asked. Bags hung under her eyes. Her hair looked grayish in the weird light. She'd aged twenty, thirty years in a few minutes.
Paul felt the same, like his joints hurt and his muscles were tight and tired. He faced Leslie. "You're not going to have to give Janelle your breath," he promised, giving her a peck on the lips. "And you're returning to human. I promise you that."
Leslie shook her head and glanced to the side. "I chose this," she said. "Paul, I don't want you to risk your life. We don't know what that god wants. I can learn to control the Outbreaks. Your father did. I know I can with some time. It might take a few years, but once I do, I can go to college."
Paul searched her eyes for any sign of doubt.
Leslie kept her gaze steely and hard. But her first Outbreak had left her silent for a good part of a week. She might not get out too lucky with the next.
“There
's a chance it can happen to you again today,” he said, running his hands down her arms. They were cool in the air conditioning that would likely quit soon when the power went out. “With Sophia here, you might not get as lucky this time.” He stressed the word lucky, as much as he hated it. It was something blunt and insensitive that Gary would do. But there was little time.
“I know.” She stared at the floor. Tremors ran through her arms under his grip. “I just don't like how all this sounds. I think it's better that we wait.”
Paul watched her shoulders fall as if a weight were settling on top of them. She shouldn't have to make another hard decision like this. She was sticking this out for him, and it was an awful feeling.
It was time he made the decision for her, then.
It was the only way to keep his promise.
“I vote that we let Huracan take control back,” he said to Janelle.
“Paul!” Leslie stiffened in his grip. She let out a breath as her shoulders rose. She wouldn't admit it, but the weight was coming off and she wasn't entirely angry about it. “I still don't think this is--”
“I still vote no,” Manuel said, crossing his arms and leaning back into a table. It was clear that he wasn't going to budge.
Janelle pointed out everyone in the room, tallying the votes. “Yes, yes.” she gestured to Gary and herself. “No, no,” she said, facing Leslie and Manuel. At last, she looked right at Paul, her gray eyes dark with the fate of the world. “Yes.”
“It would be an even vote if I were allowed to have some say in it,” Sophia said.
Janelle took the high road and ignored her as she turned towards the door and made her way back to the rest of her life.
Chapter Thirteen
The entire world felt surreal to Janelle as if she'd walked into a reflection in a mirror. The other world still lived and thrived on the other side of it, but it was muffled and distant, unreachable. This was fitting. She was about to cross a border that she had only dreamed of since the truth of her Tempest status crashed down on her.
