Tempest (#1 Destroyers Series) by Holly Hook Page A

understand. Why? There was
nothing good about natural disasters. Could someone else be
controlling him, making him put her through this? "That's why I'm
getting a flight back to Michigan. There's no ocean there."
    “We can try that. I have to get away, too.
Andrina’s going to kill me if I don’t.”
    Janelle whirled around to face him. “Andrina? That’s who your guardian is? That's who I met at the
hospital?”
    Gary nodded. “Surprised?"
    She shook her head. The thought had crossed
her mind earlier, but she'd shoved it down inside, hoping that it
was anything else.
    "See why I don’t want to be around her? She
wants every Tempest to be as bad as her. Some of us try not to hurt
too many people, but Andrina just likes killing. She's bitter at
the world, I think. Something must have happened to her during her
childhood. Whatever her problem is, you don't want to see her
again."
    Janelle’s stomach turned. The infamous
Andrina was walking around in human form right now, searching for
her. What a nice, comforting thought. “W…what does she want with
me?"
    Gary drew a deep breath. “She claims she's at
war with humanity, and wants every other Tempest to jump on her
cause. You saw what she did to coastal Texas six years ago, so I
believe her. Plus, she's always spouting some crap about having to
protect Tempests from the rest of the world in case they discover
us. Which is a good point, but I don't think her starting a big war
is the way to do it. Anyway, I'm guessing she wants to take you to
Alara for that reason, since you're pretty much next to
transform."
    “Alara?” Janelle held her breath, trying to
chase out Gary's words. It was bad enough that her father had lied
to her, and this was worse. If Andrina was in the area, she
couldn't stay here even if her father apologized and agreed not to
take her out on any boats in the future.
    “Yeah. It’s an island out in the Caribbean
that only Tempests know about, somewhere south of the Bahamas. I've
lived there for the past four years. Andrina and the Elder Council
live there, too. Basically, it's our capital."
    Janelle felt her jaw dropping as she turned
to lean against the wall. “This is just too much. Andrina. I never
would have thought. Why don’t the Tempests who try not to kill
people stop her?”
    “That’s kind of hard when she’s the Tempest
High Leader and she’s got the Elder Council in her pocket. Some of
them, at least. She took charge when her grandfather died. Great,
huh? And there's no law in our books saying you can't kill as many
people as you want when you change, so there's no reason for them
to take her out of power."
    The rumble of an engine floated in before
Janelle could process the new information. Her father had come
home.
    “Hide!” She gave Gary a shove into the
closet, and he didn’t resist. “He’ll know that I know everything if
he sees you here.” She'd lose her advantage then, and he might try
to pack her up and go shove her in the ocean tonight. Gary said
nothing as she closed the door and straightened out her hair.
    Her father would suspect something if she
didn’t look and act completely normal, which she’d have to pull off
to make a clean getaway later. Once in the hallway, she examined
herself in the mirror and breathed deeply. Calm down , she
told herself. Don’t look like you’re ready to scream. The
mask went up as her eyebrows relaxed and some color returned to her
features. Satisfied that her face looked calm and untroubled,
Janelle stepped out into the living room.
    The silver of her father’s truck gleamed in
the driveway. The engine died and her dad climbed out along with
Ed. The two chatted as her dad pulled a box out from behind the
passenger seat and reached in for a plastic grocery bag.
    Her father, the killer.
    Her dad parted with Ed and opened the front
door. “So how was school today?” he asked, smiling. He was wearing
a mask, too, one she could see past for the first time in