by Holly Hook
Then the old god stopped, leaving Andrina hanging in his grip.
Huracan looked at Janelle, the gray and blue in his eyes swirling faster, and nodded.
Beckoned to her with his free hand.
"Janelle, come on. This doesn't look good." Sophia appeared at her side, tugging her arm.
His lips moved. He spoke one word that got lost in the wind.
Andrina's face hardened and her life returned. Her eyes swirled with fury. She faced Huracan, a growl rising in her throat. "No," she said, slamming her fists into Huracan's chest. "Don't you even think of that. You hear me? Don't you even consider it!"
"Let's go," Sophia said, yanking Janelle away from the brewing fight.
Janelle didn’t turn fast enough to miss the first move.
With a fresh burst of wind, Andrina jabbed her knee right into the old god's stomach.
He grunted. Let go. Doubled over.
"Agreed." Janelle didn't resist Sophia's next effort. They almost tumbled to the ground, bolting away from the green fountain where the cenote had once stood. Another rumble shook the earth and the light grew angrier, brighter. It still wanted blood. They all had to get out of here.
Andrina roared, a sound that drowned out the earth's tremors. Janelle clasped her hands over her ears. She ran. Trees bounced past. Sophia bumped into her and crashed into the foliage. Nearby, Paul sat against a tree while Kenna, Gary, and Leslie leaned over him. Why? They all had to get out of here. This was a fight for the gods now and no one else.
And yet an invisible rope tried to tug her back.
"Run!" Sophia shouted. "It's getting ugly back there."
Janelle slowed. Stopped near Paul. He stared into space, muttering. His ponytail stuck against his shoulder, sopping wet. "Come on!"
Leslie faced her, shaking her head. "He can't. He's about to have another Outbreak."
Something crashed behind them. Cracked.
A tree.
The full battle had started.
"Well, Paul, it's going to have to wait," Janelle said, grabbing his arm. She tugged, shocked at his weight. Was this how much trouble normal people usually had with lifting? "Come on, Paul. You're heavy!"
"I can't." Paul looked right at her, then Leslie, but not fast enough for Janelle to miss it. The brown and black in his eyes molded together now, forming swirls that moved around each other like the storms on distant planets.
"I'll get his legs," Gary said, shoving his way into the group. "Kenna and Leslie, get his arms."
"Janelle! Get down!"
A set of arms wrapped around her from behind. Janelle tumbled down in her captor's grasp. A gray sleeve shot into her vision and dirt rose up to meet her. A huge mass of leaves crashed nearby, defeated. Someone screamed. A body landed on top of her and rolled off, leaving her face-down in the muck.
Andrina had leapt on her.
And a tree had landed where Janelle stood seconds ago. The sharp end of its broken trunk impaled the dirt that would have been her had the goddess not knocked her out of the way.
Janelle pushed herself up.
Andrina stood in front of her, facing away with her legs splayed. Her fists grew tighter, balling into clubs.
Huracan faced her, panting in front of the green fountain of death. It blazed higher, a frothing beam into the sky. The god lowered his arm, clenching his fists. He was a silhouette against the gateway, a crowned king of darkness.
Janelle's insides flattened and she froze on her knees. The wind sucked the breath out of her mouth.
He had thrown the tree.
Tried to impale her.
She was the payment that the old god wanted.
The sacrifice.
"Oh, crap, Janelle." Sophia pulled her up by the back of her shirt. "Run. He's trying to do you in!"
"Leslie…" Paul managed nearby.
"Go!" Janelle turned, smacking into Gary.
He dropped Paul's legs, letting him fall back down the ground. Paul blinked, jarred awake. The color stopped swirling in his eyes.
"You run," Gary told her, his hazel eyes deepening to storm gray. "I mean it, Janelle. You're no use here."
"But she'll vaporize you!"
He shook his head. "I think she has other things to worry about. Go!"
Andrina stood taller. Every tree bent down in the changing wind, bowing towards Huracan like peasants before a king.
The first snapped.
Flew.
Missed the old god by feet, sliding past him and into the maw of the underworld. The green fountain sparked like a bug zapper and the tree was gone.
But the second tree hit, and Huracan went down like a bowling pin.
Then a third, and a fourth, piling down on top of him.
"Time to go!" Gary shouted in her ear.
He was right. Even with Huracan trapped, she still had--
"Janelle!"
A hand clamped down on her shoulder and turned her around.
Andrina.
Even though Andrina didn't have that paralyzing power over her anymore, Janelle froze, staring into those eyes that for a second, calmed enough to look normal. A spell came over her, one that had nothing to do with Tempests or Outbreakers or even gods. It kept her cemented in place, despite every promise Janelle had made herself that she would run, just run away when this moment came.
"Huracan wants you as a sacrifice," Andrina said. "I don't understand why. What deals have you made with him?" Her voice dropped to an accusing growl, but there was something else there, something Janelle had never heard from her before. Andrina looked up at Paul and Leslie, who stood together near the fallen tree. Paul leaned on Leslie for support. Nearby, Gary remained a statue, unable to move. Andrina had them all snared. "What--"
Andrina looked right into Janelle's eyes, deep enough to see into her soul, and her mouth fell open.
She knew.
"No," she breathed, grabbing Janelle by both shoulders. "You gave it up? You gave up your Tempest gift?" Andrina's face widened in shock, confusion, terror.
Behind her, the trees moved as Huracan struggled underneath them. One rose a few feet and fell back down. The green gateway shot up higher than ever, trying to stab the storm above.
Janelle struggled to say something, anything.
And then it all came out.
"So I suppose you'll want to kill me now?" she shouted. "Being a Tempest isn't a gift. I never wanted it. I thought I accepted it after a while, but I never really did. And do you know what? I honestly don't care anymore."
"You have no idea what you've thrown away!" Andrina pushed her back until her back met another tree, a survivor of her rage. The rain blew sideways, pushing Janelle's hair into her face, into her eyes. "But wait."
Those two words sounded louder than anything the storm could produce. The trees rattled again, higher this time, as their captive made progress. There wasn't long.
"Huracan made Tempests by giving them his breath. There's no reason I can't do the same."
No.
She couldn't. Not after this.
Not after all she'd gone through.
Gary struggled to say something, but his lips remained closed, stuck together. His feet stayed glued to the ground despite his attempts to lift them. Andrina had frozen him with her presence.
"Not saying much now, are you?" Andrina asked. She moved her hand under Janelle's jaw, pulling it down. "I'll restore you to a Tempest, sweetie. And stay close, the rest of you. You'll give her some Outbreaker breath, too." Andrina smiled. It was the most sickening thing Janelle had ever seen. "Then Huracan will not be able to hurt you."
"No!"
This hadn't stopped Andrina at all.
Turning human had merely delayed the horror by a minute or two.
"Now hold still. We need to do this quickly," she said, leaning closer.
A tree branch swung from the side, hitting Andrina in the side of the head.
Then another, turned to a flaming staff, came in and slugged Andrina in the
side.
The grip on Janelle's jaw broke and she fell to the ground. Sophia's black-and-pink shoes dodged out of her way and the bottoms of Kenna's jeans moved in. High heels turned and broke into pursuit after the punk shoes.
"You okay?" The flaming branch hissed and went out when Kenna threw it to the ground. Kenna helped Janelle to her feet.
Words wouldn't come. If Janelle became a Tempest again, it was all over.
She remembered. "Sophia!"
Sophia ran in the direction of the green geyser, towards the pile of trees where their other enemy lay. The first tree rolled off the pile, leaving only two holding down Huracan. Andrina ran behind her, holding the side of her head with one hand and swatting out the smoke of her business jacket with the other.
"What is she doing?" Kenna burst, bolting after her.
It was no use. Andrina stopped her pursuit, letting Sophia run closer to the pile of trees. She turned. Faced Janelle. Broke back into a run, arms pumping.
Even Sophia couldn't distract her now.
The wind screamed against Janelle, trying to push her closer, to keep her from running away. Paul and Leslie huddled together against the tree. Paul's swirling eyes were unfocused, staring into space. Gary shouted something to Janelle, extending his hand.
Kenna leapt and intercepted Andrina, catching the storm goddess by the feet and sending her to the ground. It would buy them maybe thirty seconds.
Janelle had seconds, and then--
* * * * *
--Leslie would have to give Janelle her breath.
The moment had come. When Andrina gave the order, it was done.
Leslie struggled to stand, but the goddess's power held her down. "Run!" she shouted to her best friend.
But Janelle fell back on her butt, pushing against the wind, backpedaling towards them. The storm pushed back, whipping her hair forward in a flare of blond. Andrina closed in, slower now, fighting against Kenna's grasp and sucking in the breath that would deliver the very curse Janelle had just escaped. It was a cruel twist of fate.
All Leslie could do was bury her face in Paul's neck. "I can't do this!"
He lifted his head. Stiffened with the last of his strength. His Outbreak, like Janelle's transformation, bore down on him like a charging steed.
* * * * *
"I won't let you."
Paul sat up, ignoring the electric pulses that signaled the start of his Outbreak. His limbs felt loose, almost gone.
He had little time.
No matter what, Leslie would not be the one to live with this guilt.
"No!" She grabbed at him, taking his sleeve, but she still couldn't move her legs. Andrina's orders to stay still held her down.
But Paul wasn't disobeying them. The paralysis couldn't work on him now.
You'll give her some Outbreaker breath, too.
So be it.
As long as Leslie didn't have to do it, he could deal. As long as Janelle didn't have to become a goddess, he could live with it.
"Janelle! Run!" Kenna hugged Andrina from behind, holding her back, but the storm goddess plodded forward, dragging Kenna with her. The distance closed by the second.
Paul crawled across the ground, past Gary, through the mud, and towards where Janelle sat, unable to push any farther against the wind.
"What are you doing?" Gary asked, trying to lunge.
Paul ignored him.
Janelle met his gaze.
Only a Tempest could take Outbreaker breath and become a goddess.
Not the other way around.
She faced him and nodded her understanding, a calm resignation coming over her features.
There was no other way.
"Paul, no!" Leslie's shouts cut over the wind, shrill like the siren that wailed when he'd turned her.
Paul's heart raced like a runaway train. The roar filled his head, threatening to tear out of his skull. "Janelle--"
* * * * *
Janelle braced herself.
She wouldn't be going back to anything she wasn't already used to.
It beat doing this Andrina's way.
She leapt for Paul, seizing his shoulders. He looked up, his eyes a swirling maelstrom of brown and black. Janelle stared right into the fury of the plains, wrapped her hands around Paul, and embraced it.
"Give me your breath."
* * * * *
Paul pressed his lips to Janelle's open mouth.
The roaring and the tingling raced out of him, riding on his breath and leaving him calm and empty. He fell back from Janelle, every trace of his Outbreak gone and the monster quieted once again.
"No!" Andrina let out a roar of rage that drowned out everything--
* * * * *
--except for the tempest that now filled Janelle's entire being. It spread through her limbs, throwing her to the ground and turning the world gray and fuzzy. She collapsed, facing the trees. The air before a storm filled her lungs, an air just like the countless summer days back home with her father. Gary shouted her name. It was a welcome, she thought, a welcome back to a home she never knew she missed.
Chapter Twenty-One
"You've ruined everything!" Andrina hovered over Janelle, glaring in what must be Paul's direction. "Do you understand what you've done? As soon as I sort this out, I'm going to release you, and then you're going to spend the rest of time making this up to me, do you hear?"
Paul said something in another universe.
Janelle couldn't care less.
"Shut up. All of you, shut up," Andrina growled. "Do you think this is going to stop me? I'll find a way around this."
Janelle couldn't muster the strength to turn her head. She could barely keep her eyes open. There wasn't much left of her to argue right now. A single word rolled through her head like a distant rumble of thunder, getting louder each time it repeated itself.
Outbreaker.
"Janelle. Honey! Can you hear me?" Andrina leaned down, eyes wide. "Hold on. There must be a way. If I can find out how Huracan made you human, we can start over. You can still join me as a goddess."
"It's too late."
Janelle let her head roll to the side.
She was free.
With a price, but free.
No becoming a goddess for her.
"No, it isn't. Don't ever say that." Andrina shook her again and pulled her into sitting. Janelle struggled to look up from the ground. Panic warped the storm goddess's features. "Let me try something. Stay there. I--"
"Behind you!" Sophia cried.
Huracan loomed behind Andrina, headdress crooked from his struggle out of the pile of trees. He swung a massive branch at her. It slammed into her back. She grunted, falling away and leaving Janelle's view clear.
He loomed above her now, armed with the branch in one hand…and a ceremonial dagger in the other.
Screeches of panic filled Janelle's being, zapping her back to full awareness. She staggered to her feet, backing away, keeping her eyes as wide as she could. If he saw that they were now brown and black--they had to be--he might change his mind. He wouldn't want to kill an Outbreaker. One of his children. The wind whipped around her, ignoring her now and sending filmy curtains of rain between them.
Huracan stepped closer, his face stony…and slowly raised the dagger until it pointed at her heart.
His payment.
A wave of vertigo came over Janelle and she fell, overcome by her fresh transformation.
"No!" Gary appeared from the rain, lunging at Huracan. His eyes swirled with the storm inside him.
The god turned in time to meet him. The dagger dropped and Huracan shouted something, shoving Gary back into the rain from where he came. His form tumbled into the gray and disappeared.
"Gary!" Janelle rose to her feet again, searching for him, searching for a place to hide, searching for anything. Trees bent at impossible angles. The gateway to Xibalba burned higher and the earth roared, near the end of its patience.
Someone had to go in or they w
ere all going in.
Kenna leapt from the rain, legs flopping in the onslaught of water, and Huracan swept her aside with the flick of an arm.
Leslie came next, followed by Paul. Huracan turned in a circle, staring them down, and they both fell back to the ground from his gaze alone.
Janelle turned only to have her foot lodge between fallen tree branches.
She screamed and pulled. It remained stuck.
Huracan drew closer, dagger ready.
Sophia appeared in front of him, her back to Janelle.
"Excuse me," she shouted into his face. "Have you forgotten my payment? Don't you think you should take that first before you cut out her heart? Mine's way more overdue than Janelle's is, you know."
Sophia extended her arm, waiting. Huracan looked met her gaze, emotionless. He let the dagger drop to his side.
"What are you doing?" Janelle shouted, pulling her foot from the fallen tree. "Sophia--get out of there! He'll rip you apart!"
Sophia glared back at her. Her expression was knowing, bold--
* * * * *
--because there was no longer a reason to hide it.
Sophia held her hand out to Huracan. Rain beat against her skin. She had the god distracted. Janelle had time to run, so long as she didn't do something stupid.
Have you lost your sanity? Hyrokkin's voice rose in panic inside her, pumping ice through her veins. If he takes your heart, we'll both die. It will be my end!
Shut up, you hag!
Don't you talk to me that way. I'm talking sense.
Sophia kept her arm out, unable to keep it from shaking. This could be the biggest--and last--mistake of her life.
Huracan reached out and took Sophia's arm.
"Sophia!" Janelle yelled behind her. Janelle's arms wrapped around her middle and she pulled.
Huracan held on, turning Janelle's struggles into nothing.