Tempest (#1 Destroyers Series) by Holly Hook

well. He had no choice but to change no
matter what. When your name comes up, you have to become a storm
whether you like it or not. That’s what I came to warn you
about.”
    “Warn me?” Janelle lowered her hands from her
face. The gurgling in her stomach was enough to tell her what was
next.
    Gary’s hazel eyes bore into hers, serious.
“Yeah. Has your dad decided to take you out on a boat sometime in
the next week or so? Take you out somewhere in the ocean?”
    A chill swept through her. The ocean water
was supposed to make her release her full power. Her voice came out
small, timid. “We’re going scuba diving Wednesday in the
Bahamas.”
    Her breath caught. Oh, God .
    “That’s what your dad wants you to think.
It’s not scuba diving you’re going to be doing.” Gary wiped his
palms on his jeans. “A lot of Tempest parents don’t tell their kids
anything, then shove them off a boat or something when their time
comes.”
    A hollow terror bloomed in her chest. The
world dropped out from under her. A flash of anger ran through her,
and this time it was directed at Gary. How could he imply that?
“No. My dad wouldn't do this to me.”
    Gary marched over to the computer and typed
three words into the search bar: hurricane naming list. Another article from Freepedia popped up. He clicked, and columns
of names for the Atlantic hurricane seasons filled the screen.
“Take a look.”
    “I don’t want to see this.” But she couldn’t
look away. Her legs carried her closer to the monitor, one step at
a time.
    Gary tapped his finger on one of the columns.
“That’s this year’s list. Here’s me. Now make your way down it and
see what you find.” He took a deep breath, stepping back.
    Janelle raised one shaking finger, pressed it
to the screen, and made her way down the column.
GARY…HEATHER…IAN…
    A moan of horror escaped her throat.
    …JANELLE.
     
     

Chapter Seven
     
     
    Janelle swiped the contents of the bathroom
sink into her gym bag: deodorant, toothpaste, a few combs, and
several other items. A towel…she’d need one of those, too. And
aspirin.
    “Gary! Help me pack.” She made her way to her
neat closet and threw clothes about, stuffing shirts and jeans into
the bag at random. It didn't matter what she took. All that
mattered right now was getting away from this, from what her father
had done to her. She wanted to vomit when she thought of her dad,
smiling as he told her about the vacation that wasn't really a
vacation. "He's my father, Gary. How could he do this to me? He's
not the type who likes to hurt people. He even helped Ed clean that
tree out of his yard."
    Gary flinched at her last sentence. He’d
pressed himself up against the wall to avoid the flying shirts. “I
don't know. He must be a stickler for the law."
    She imagined a Hurricane Janelle article appearing on Freepedia in the near future and hugged
herself, dropping the bag to the floor. “So he cares about this
Tempest law more than what this is going to do to me or everyone I
could hurt? He was just planning on letting me jump off the boat
and find out about all this the hard way?" The world took on a
surreal gray tone, as if it didn't know how to deal with the
thoughts racing through her head. "That doesn't make any sense.
Unless there's a very good reason that Tempests have to
transform--and I doubt there is--I'm not on board for this." She
faced Gary, dreading the truth. If there was a good reason, she
didn't want to hear it. The thought of becoming a violent force of
nature was just too weird, too alien, to terrifying to entertain.
Worse still was the thought of hurting anybody.
    He rubbed his palms on his jeans. "I don't
think there is one, to tell you the truth. My mother never let me
know while I still lived with her, and no other Tempest I ever met
gave me a reason."
    Somehow, she felt both relieved and angry at
the same time. This meant her father had truly disregarded her in
favor of some law she didn't even