by Holly Hook
"You did this to get back at me." Andrina wagged her finger as she drew closer, her footsteps as sharp and cold as surgical blades. The handle of the knife stuck out from her back like the spine of a dinosaur.
Kenna wanted to let her head fall to the tile behind her and black out completely. No. She had to stay awake and get Andrina away from here before Paul and Gary got back. Huracan was taking his sweet time. What kind of god did he think he was?
"I did," Kenna lied, gritting her teeth to keep from crying out with the pain. Something crunched inside the bones of her pelvis.
"I knew it." Andrina took another step closer. A fresh burst of wind struck the building. The structure swayed a little underneath. Her voice stayed low and dangerous, and it was somehow more terrifying than the scream. "I knew one of you would turn on her. My only shock is that it took this long."
Kenna pushed herself to her feet. One last pop sounded in her thigh and the last of the pain faded away. No shock from Andrina. Someone like her didn't understand the concept of real friendship. Best to speak in her language, then. The crazy idea began to grow.
"Like you said, girls like us need to rise to the top. My mother and I don't need the competition," she said, injecting a growl into her voice. "And why should I side with you or Janelle? If she turns goddess, I don't think she'll want to share the power with me."
Andrina reached out and slammed Kenna against the wall. The storm goddess trembled with rage that threatened to make the building explode. Could she do that? "You listen. You're going back to Chichen Itza. And then I'm going to make a little trade." Andrina glanced around the kitchen again. Leslie withered at her gaze. "I will have my daughter back. And I swear, if you're lying and I don't get her back alive, I'm going to make a special request to the ancients to make your stay in Xibalba as painful and tortured as possible."
It was working.
Provided Andrina was talking loud enough to be heard through the freezer door.
And provided Kenna could find a way to convince the old Mayan gods to take Andrina instead and keep her in that underworld forever.
Or better yet, Huracan could do throw her in for them.
Kenna only needed Janelle and Sophia to hear all of this. The rest would come.
"No," she said, struggling against Andrina's grasp. It wasn't all an act, either. She might really end up back in that pit with that green light opening up to consume her.
"Yes," Andrina growled. She lifted, and Kenna's feet came off the floor. Panic turned her head to helium. What had she done? Her trip to the underworld--what would be her hell--was sealed. Andrina would continue her reign of terror. It sure didn't seem like--
The swinging kitchen doors came open with a deafening bang so loud that all the pans in the kitchen rattled with its force.
Andrina jumped. Her grip loosened and Kenna fell to the floor.
Huracan--at last--stood framed in the doorway. One of the swinging doors rocked on its hinge, gave up holding on, and fell to the linoleum.
Kenna took the opportunity to skitter away, ducking behind a counter as Huracan took a bold step into the room. Behind him, Gary and Paul hung back in the hallway, pressed against the wall.
Andrina froze like an animal, staring at Huracan like she couldn't believe that he'd gotten off his lazy butt and come to do something about this.
The storm was about to blow up.
And it did.
Chapter Sixteen
…Literally.
Although she knew that wind couldn't hurt her anymore, Leslie couldn't help but shield her face with her hand and duck down against the counter when it screamed through the room.
It whipped against her clothes and diverted around her. It was the weirdest sensation, almost as weird as taking Paul's breath in the first place. Huracan stood in the doorway, staring Andrina down with those enraged, swirling eyes and took a bold step into the room.
Andrina backed away and squared her shoulders, joining in on the staring contest. Which one of them was stronger? Leslie couldn't guess from the way they stood matched in the middle of the kitchen, pots and pans banging around them like a concert of metal.
Leslie ducked lower.
In the last few minutes, she had ceased to exist. And so had the freezer door where Janelle and Sophia still hid.
Leslie kept her gaze away from it. Kenna was still in here somewhere, and Andrina was planning to send her to the underworld. Kenna clearly had something of her own planned, and Leslie had a feeling she knew what it was. But did the volcano goddess really want Andrina to take her there? It was crazy if it really was a gate to an underworld.
It was best to try something now while the two gods were distracted.
Kenna had vanished. If she was smart, she was laying low. This wasn't going to get any prettier.
Leslie had to go after her. Now.
Lightning arced between Huracan and Andrina. A loud snap sounded. Neither of them moved, as if they were sizing up one another.
And then a deafening roar of thunder shook the floor and made Leslie cover her ears. They were going to rip the building apart when the fight did start. Andrina had already made it clear that she didn't care about sparing anyone besides her and Janelle. Janelle to take her place at her side, and Leslie to make it happen.
Leslie rose and searched the room. "Kenna!"
She stood around the corner, pressed against the wall, her tan skin paling to the shade of wet sand. The wind had extinguished the flame in her eyes. If she heard, it was impossible to tell, because the roar of the wind in the room was too much to yell over. They were down to hand signals.
Something crashed nearby.
Andrina had made the first move. She stood with Huracan pinned against the wall. He shouted something, struggling his way out of her grip. Even without the wind, Leslie couldn't have guessed what it meant.
Okay, maybe she could, and she was sure that she'd agree with it.
Huracan made the next move and lunged at Andrina. Motion blurred in front of the swinging doors, in front of where Paul and Gary stood. Paul was trapped on the other side, unable to reach her. His mouth moved on the other side of the blurred battle. For once, Leslie had to throw off his concern.
"Kenna!" she repeated, pulling her away from the wall. The wind snapped at her, trying to push her away, but Leslie held her arms. Mouthing her words would have to be enough. "Are you trying to get her to take you?"
Kenna's eyes were wide pits that led right down into the earth. She shrugged, lips pursed together. There was no point in trying to talk in this.
Leslie tried another approach. She pointed to Kenna, made a flapping motion with her arms, and then spread her arms like she was dropping something.
Kenna nodded, though she still didn't look sure.
It was enough. It was pretty clear to her now: cast Andrina into the underworld no matter what it took. It was the best idea anyone had come up with since raising Huracan. If he could help them out with that…
…they just might be rid of her forever.
Leslie nodded. "Okay," she shouted.
The counter behind them tilted and crashed to the floor. The wind could do nothing to mask its noise.
Leslie jumped and pushed Kenna back into the wall. They couldn't hide here any longer.
The floor was bare and dusty where the counter had once stood. It lay tipped on the floor like an overturned tractor-trailer she'd seen on the expressway once. Spoons and knives flew across the room, some impaling themselves in the opposite wall. It was getting too hazardous to stay in here, Outbreaker or not. Paul inched his way into the room towards their corner, hugging the wall and not taking his gaze off her.
Once again he was putting himself in danger for her. They had to leave, whether or not Kenna wanted to.
"Come on," Leslie mouthed, grabbing Kenna's arm. The blur fight had moved over on the other side of the overturned counter now. Someone got slammed against the wall so hard that cracks appeared in the bricks. Before
Leslie could make out who the victim was--hopefully Andrina--the fight moved again, farther away from them and knocking another counter to the side. The time to move was now.
Huracan materialized again, colliding with another counter and sending its entire length crashing into the opposite wall. Andrina stopped, staring down the pots on the floor. They rose in the wind, still and floating ominously for a second, before flying towards the old storm god and battering him in a deluge of Teflon.
Their help was losing. Five hundred years of sleep had taken its toll.
"Leslie!" Paul's voice barely cut over the wind.
"I'm coming," she managed, giving Kenna another tug. It wasn't easy. The volcano goddess was putting up a fight. Yes, she definitely planned to get taken.
"Let go," Kenna shouted when they cleared the main storm. "This is the only way. I know it is!"
She was probably right. But Leslie wasn't ready to jump into this yet. "Out in the hallway. Now!"
Blessed quiet covered Leslie like a soft blanket when the kitchen doors swung shut behind her. Kenna stopped struggling in her grasp. Leslie lost all thought of her when Paul appeared, hugged her, and planted his lips firmly on hers.
She let go of Kenna's arm. Everything else melted away. Paul's kiss was the sun itself, not this storm raging inside and outside of this building. It wasn't the monster inside them both, waiting for the next opportunity to break free. Warmth spread through her whole body as she embraced him. Another series of metallic crashes sounded in the kitchen, but they had to be miles away.
That blissful second didn't last. Paul pulled away quickly, too quickly, and eyed the kitchen doors. "They're sure fighting it up in there."
"Excuse me," Gary said, pushing his way in between them. "Janelle is still in there, if anyone forgot that fact. And so is Sophia. What do you think we do about them?"
Gary stood with his hands in his pockets, but Leslie could see the terror in his hazel eyes, the paleness in his normally olive-toned face, the sweat beading the skin that his locks couldn't hide. She'd never seen him like this before.
"We can't go in there and get her out," Kenna said, moving to block the double doors. "The plan won't work if Andrina sees her here."
"What plan?" Gary's voice rose, carrying with it a trace of that storm growl. The color in his eyes began to swirl. "What plan, Kenna? My girlfriend is in that kitchen somewhere with those dueling gods. Even if Andrina won't want to kill her when she finds out she's not a Tempest anymore, Huracan could hurt her by mistake!"
Kenna steeled her stance, ready to stop him.
Gary rushed for the door.
"Gary!" Leslie grabbed his arm. She was on board for this. That was crazy. Wow.
"Let me go!" Another burst of wind snapped through the hallway. Gary stared hard at her, his irises swirling with gray clouds and angry whitecaps.
Leslie almost let her grip loosen at the sight of those eyes.
She wasn't much different from him.
"Leslie!" Gary's voice deepened into a roar. His eyes spun, glaring at her with hate.
But she held on, keeping him in place.
The door exploded out into the hall, crashing into the opposite wall. Two blurs shot out and slammed into it. Cracks snaked out from the impact. Paul leapt out of the way. Kenna pressed up against the wall. Leslie jumped away from the racket, losing her footing and falling to the floor.
The blurs materialized, and Andrina stood with Huracan pinned against the wall. He panted and squirmed. His eyes turned towards Leslie. Questions burned in them. What did you get me into? What do I get for all of this?
Leslie breathed out. She had no answer for that one.
Andrina growled, tightening her grip on the bundle of the storm god's necklaces. She turned her head to face Kenna…and then Leslie.
The winds died away, leaving a heavy silence in its place. It was somehow worse than the raging storm outside, somehow more terrifying. Andrina's mouth turned up in a smile, an insane mirror of the woman the former Tempest High Leader used to be.
"This can all be fixed," she said, her voice dangerously calm and bubbly. "And more."
The blur returned, rushing at her. Leslie gasped with the force of something slamming into her. She flew back, spinning around. A hand gripped the back of her shirt.
"Leslie!" Paul cried, strained and desperate.
She tried to call back to him, but her feet left the ground. Her captor zoomed closer and closer to the elevator doors at the end of the hall. They were going to collide. Leslie screamed instead with the coming impact, but at the last second, they turned and rushed back towards the kitchen doors.
Gary dove, hitting the floor. Huracan stood catching his breath and Paul lunged for her, eyes wide and mouth gaping open. His mouth moved. The sound got lost in the rushing that filled her ears.
Kenna jumped in front of them.
She turned into a blur, too, then solidified next to Leslie, dangling above the floor rushing past under them. She kept her legs curled up, avoiding the carpet rushing past below. Leslie looked down. She was doing the same. If her foot hit the floor at this speed, her ankle would snap like a popsicle stick in the hands of an angry toddler.
A hand kept its strong grip on the back of her shirt.
Andrina flew along the ceiling and had a hold of her.
Her and Kenna both.
She was taking them both the Chichen Itza to open the gate to the underworld. Kenna to spill her blood--or worse--and Leslie to turn Janelle once Andrina rescued her.
Only the storm goddess wouldn't be rescuing anybody.
She would find out the truth soon enough, and Leslie would be lucky to even survive. After all, Andrina still had Paul to work with.
The hallway ended in a large window right ahead of them.
It shattered, sending millions of slivers of glass out into the storm. Gray clouds swirled overhead and trees whipped back and forth. Leslie held her breath. They drew closer and crossed the line from inside to outside.
Paul screamed her name one more time. The sound carried all the agony of the past month, all the trials they had gone through together and all of the close shaves.
Most of all, the regret that he had made her an Outbreaker.
She tried to turn her head to look at him, but it was impossible. She only saw Andrina's business suit and the hotels below, now turned to islands by the ocean. If Leslie didn't know better, she'd guess that this was the end of the world.
Chapter Seventeen
Paul lost it.
He turned away from the broken window seconds after the dot in the sky--Andrina--disappeared into the clouds with his girlfriend in tow. With a growl that matched Gary's, he raised both fists, balled them tight, and slammed them into the wall.
Pain surged up both of his arms, but he was beyond caring.
Andrina had taken the last thing that made his life bearable.
She had already taken his father and uncle away from him.
Now Leslie was gone, too, and it was all because of him. Andrina wouldn't want her if she wasn't an Outbreaker. He should have known Andrina would follow them to the concert a few weeks ago. This whole mess could have been prevented.
Gary stood there, silent, as Paul watched a single drop of water make its way down the wall and to the carpet below. It was stained with moisture, dark with the storm that invaded all around him, spewing cold rain.
"Dude," Gary said at last. "Are you just going to stand there staring at the wall and feeling all bad for yourself or are you going to come with me and figure out how we're going to get Leslie and Kenna back? In case you forgot, we still have Mr. Storm God here to help us. Whatever Kenna's planning, he might know what--"
"I don't know what she's planning!" Paul roared at him, turning away from the wall. "You wouldn't give her a chance to say anything. If you had, we might not be standing here in the rain, twiddling our thumbs while she--"
"Hold it!"
Paul silenced.
Janell
e and Sophia ran up the hall towards them, pulling Huracan between them. Even in the dim light pouring in from outside, Janelle's eyes were definitely different. Bluer and calmer, almost like the sky on a summer day. It was if a great tension inside of her had finally found peace.
"Sophia thinks she knows where they're heading," Janelle said, stopping just outside the rain's blast radius. She faced the other girl, releasing Huracan's arm. "Tell them."
Sophia had spent this whole time in the freezer. She would have had contact with Hyrokkin in that case. Paul felt the storm inside him ebb away to be replaced by hope.
"Hyrokkin thinks that Andrina's taking Kenna and…Leslie, it must be," Sophia said, scanning everyone, "back towards Chichen Itza. I don't understand why. She must have something planned."
Janelle nodded. "Andrina thinks I'm dead or missing. I didn't hear everything she said to Leslie while I was in the freezer, but I caught that much." She stared into the space beyond Paul for what felt like minutes, her eyes calculating. "If she took Leslie, then she thinks I'm wherever she's going. There's no other explanation."
"But why would she think you're back in that old city?" Gary asked, moving to block her from the rain. "That doesn't make sense."
Paul swallowed and found the guts to speak up. "Kenna has something planned. That's what I caught." All eyes fell on him. "Kenna didn't want Andrina to know that Janelle--that you--were still here. So I think Andrina expects to find you back at Chichen Itza for whatever reason."
"Chichen Itza."
Huracan had spoken.
Recognition crept over the old god's features. He nodded, which Paul guessed was the Mayan way of saying yes. Some things never changed over the gulf of time.
"I heard Andrina saying something about some place called Xibalba," Janelle said, raising her voice to emphasize the last word. She stared hard at Huracan, waiting for a response.