by Holly Hook
Chapter Twenty-One
"It's okay. We're not lying."
Leslie barely heard the words as Janelle sat on the opposite bunk. She stared at the ceiling of the camper, keeping her hands folded over her stomach. Holding herself in, just in case she flew away again. She didn't care about everyone staring at her. She didn't even care about Thomas Curt. Where was he now? It didn't matter.
Beside her, Paul waited for her to say something, anything. Leslie had managed to turn everything off. Her emotions. Her mind, even. To protect herself, and even more, him. Did she even have a mind anymore? She sure hadn't when--
"We mean it. It was only an abandoned factory." Janelle sounded more desperate with each word. "Even the radio says no one seems to have died. For some reason, Andrina only wanted you to target there."
Genuine confusion came over Janelle's face. The sight of it got something jump-started in Leslie's brain.
She probably wasn't a killer.
Yet.
Paul could rest easy, knowing that his promise wasn't broken. The Outbreak could have been worse. Much worse, but it hadn't been. Leveling Flint hadn't been Andrina's plan after all. If it had been, it could have--would have--easily happened. The flattened factory was testament to that.
Leslie surprised herself by sitting up and speaking.
"She chose me because of you," Leslie said. "Paul can't give anyone his breath for a few months. Me, she could mature and use. She said I couldn't give you my breath until I have an Outbreak."
Janelle gripped the edges of the cot so tightly she seemed to be trying to strangle it.
"Which I'm never doing," Leslie told her as firmly as she could. "I know she was trying to scare me into it today. You know, after the Outbreak." Leslie shuddered. She knew without a doubt that was true. Andrina had sent her a warning: turn Janelle, or become a killer. The storm goddess wanted her to know how much control Leslie had.
And that was none at all.
She'd shown her that today, when she'd floated over the city and forgotten her name.
Even if she did give Janelle her breath, it would only give her a reprieve from Outbreaks for a few months. And then? Andrina would release her, and she would kill anyway.
She might as well keep control over the one thing she did have. And that was not to betray her best friend.
Paul hugged her close, joining her on the bunk. "She's trying to manipulate you the way she tried with me," he said, holding her so close his hair mingled with hers. She couldn't tell where he ended and she started. He sounded so relieved and horrified at the same time. "Don't let her. We'll figure something out."
A well of emotions was rising through her. "But if she could find us this easily, she can do it again," she said, burying her face in his shoulder. It felt like home, the only one that she had now. "I mean, where do I go, Paul? This came very close to the worst today. I'm not giving my breath to anybody. I swear I won’t."
She raised her head to make her promise again when Janelle got up and left the camper, letting the door swing shut behind her. Gary stood there against the counter, as if unsure whether to go out after her or not. At last he did, quietly, not looking behind him.
* * * * *
"I should just go through with it and get it done already."
Janelle sat down beside Gary at the coast of the lake, not far from where they had pulled Kenna out earlier that day. This was where Hyrokkin had taken over Sophia and made her run away and end up at the airport, all in the false hope that Andrina would free her. The footprints in the dirt still stood out nearby in the setting sun.
"But that's what she wants," Gary told her. "She wants you to feel bad and take Leslie's breath to give her a rest from her Outbreaks."
He was right. He'd been right so many times before.
"But look at what this is doing to her. She could have killed today. Leslie can't handle that."
"We can't either. But we do."
"That's bad enough." Janelle faced him to find his hazel eyes downcast and sad. "At least we have a purpose. Outbreakers have none that I can think of."
"You can't turn, Janelle. Your dad doesn't want you to. Leslie doesn't even want you to. I don't want you to." Gary leaned over her, giving her the most desperate kiss he ever had. She melded into it, wanting to apologize for even saying it, wanting to believe that this would never end. He had a point. She couldn't do this even if it meant they had a chance at fighting Andrina. It would hurt too many people who had been hurt enough.
At last they broke their embrace, and she sucked in a lungful of air, taking in his scent. "I don't know what else to do," she managed at last.
And she didn't.
The sound of the footsteps didn't reach her until they were right on them. She and Gary separated to find Kenna standing there. Callie, too. Her father stood with them, glasses crooked on his face.
And Sophia.
She had a scratch across her cheek and a bruise starting to show just below her elbow, but otherwise, she seemed okay. Happier, even, although she no doubt still had Hyrokkin on board. She even managed a weak smile that she barely saw.
Janelle leapt into her dad's arms. She'd never wanted a hug from him more.
The pat on her back told her that he understood. He walked her back towards Leslie's camper. "Come on," he said, glancing at Sophia and back to her. "We have some things to talk about."
* * * * *
Everyone in the cramped space shifted as Sophia told her story.
Janelle shuddered as if the icy cold had invaded her camper. Gary, so close she could feel his warmth radiating onto her skin, reached for her hand. Paul tightened his arm around Leslie's waist. Kenna waited by the door and Callie was squashed into the corner next to Sophia at the end of the camper. Thankfully, Leslie had regained her ability to speak and her will to get out of bed. Her freckles still looked dark against her skin. The next few days weren't going to be easy on her, regardless of whether or not she had actually killed. The Outbreak itself was bad enough. It had woken her all the way up, the same way it had woken Paul up to his cruel reality.
"Andrina tried to murder you?" Janelle exploded as she faced Sophia on the opposite side of the room. "But I thought she wanted to free Hyrokkin and--"
She realized her mistake, speaking the winter demon's name. Kenna was over by the door, which might be too far away for her presence to completely prevent another outburst. But Sophia didn't seem too concerned. Her pale face remained free of icy hate as she nodded. It was almost if the demon was gone. With a plop down onto Janelle's cot, she spoke. "That's not what anyone thought would happen. Well, I think she did want to free her at first, but then something must have happened to make her mad and want to kill me instead. Maybe…maybe she didn't want to share her power with anyone else. I think that's why she brought Leslie on board for this."
Leslie stiffened next to her. "Ohmigod." Her hand flew to her mouth. "That makes sense. Sophia, I'm so sorry!" Her best friend glanced at the door, her face paling to a sickly shade. She took a step forward, ready to run out of it.
But to Janelle's shock, Sophia was the one to take her arm.
"I understand," she said. "There are just some things you can't control."
Leslie relaxed as Sophia released her arm, though the shock on her face was evident. Paul hugged her from behind, wrapping his hands around hers. She sank into him as if he were a mattress catching her fall from a thirty-story building.
Janelle was so glad he was there and vowed she'd never even think of yelling at him again. "She has a point." It was something everyone in the room understood.
They all shared a moment of silence. Every single one of them knew this experience all too well. They were all puppets, slaves to their natures.
"We're more in control than we think," another voice piped in.
Janelle jumped back. It was an ancient voice, scratchy as on old hag's, pouring out of Sophia's mouth.
Hyrokkin was back.
Kenna leapt f
orward, rushing for her. The demon moved Sophia's feet back into the bunk, raising her arms in a plea. "Let me speak," she said, voice weakening with each word.
Janelle reached out and stopped Kenna from advancing any more.
"What are you doing?" Kenna asked. Her eyes burned with fire and fury at her trip to the bottom of the lake. That wasn't going to go away quietly, even if she did forgive Sophia.
Something about the voice sounded sincere. "Just let her talk," Janelle said. "I don't feel the temperature in the room dropping. Do you?" She watched Kenna reluctantly shake her head. "If she acts up, you're right here."
Her words were meant for everyone in the room, but Callie slid down the wall away from Sophia. She'd seen what Hyrokkin could do all too well. They all had. The tension in the room was practically jumping around.
"It will take another like Andrina to stop her," Hyrokkin explained. "I am entirely willing to assist you. However, I do not have the right set of abilities to do so. And Kenna, neither do you. Storms are not your realm. She needs to be fought by another storm god. It is the only way."
Janelle felt ready to crumple. She'd known it all along.
"Don't give us that look quite yet, Tempest High Leader," Hyrokkin continued. "You may not be the only choice."
"Then what other options are there?" she asked as everyone watched, waiting for the answer. "Do you happen to know any storm gods that are still around? I thought most of them were gone by now. I haven't met too many."
Sophia's lips continued to move as the mouthpiece of something far and distant. "Most are. Not gone, but dormant. Forgotten as people turned away from them. And those that I know will not be willing to listen to me if we were to awaken them. Which deity created Tempests and Outbreakers? You could be the work of nothing else."
"His name was Huracan," Gary supplied. "God of bad weather. Mayan or something. Wait--are you saying we should go knock on his door and wake him up? If legend is right, he hasn't been around for about five hundred years. He pretty much made us and then started taking the world's longest nap."
A strange feeling washed through Janelle: like the world was tilting and ready to throw her off. Gary and Hyrokkin couldn't be serious. A storm god who could or couldn't be real wouldn't be willing to help them--would he?
But Andrina was tipping the scales to that possibility. There was no reason Huracan couldn't exist. Kenna had already proven that point just by being here. So had Sophia.
The scales were also tipping to something else.
Hope.
It was a crazy idea that might blow up in their faces, but it beat the alternative. If they woke him up, maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't have to turn. There was a chance that Huracan might want to reverse what Andrina was doing. He had set up the whole Tempest and Outbreaker system, after all. It might anger him to see it fall apart.
"Can you help us find him?" she asked.
All faces turned to her, but no one argued. Leslie stared. Paul pulled her closer and kissed her on the temple. They all seemed to be on the same page now, even Gary. This meant there was a chance they wouldn't lose each other. A small chance, maybe, but far more of one than she'd had before.
"Possibly," Hyrokkin responded. "I can't guarantee pleasant results, however. I never knew him personally. But if he's anything like me…"
She didn't finish her sentence. She didn't have to.
Still, this was the only shot they had.
"Could you help us wake him up?" Janelle pressed on, squeezing Gary's hand in hers. "You know--if we decide to go ahead with this?"
"Depends. We have to find where he's dormant first. My best guess would be someplace in the old Mayan civilization."
This might be a bad idea, trusting Hyrokkin. A very bad idea. Going after the creature that had started the whole Tempest and Outbreaker curse might be a worse one. Her gut pulled her in the direction her common sense was telling her not to go.
Janelle still found herself pulling out her phone, dialing Mel's number.
"What are you doing?" Gary asked, eyes bugging out. He was more gorgeous than ever, even like this. Now, she might not have to lose him after all.
"Getting our passports together," she said, praying that she wasn't making the worst mistake of her life. "Pack up, everyone. We're going to Mexico."
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