Inferno (#2 Destroyers Series) Read online

  Kenna laughed. She couldn’t think about Natalie unable to open her mouth and not laugh. Even Janelle relaxed and cracked a smile. This guy was blunt in a funny way, and she liked that. “Oh, the Kissies? If I did that, I’d be dead. Their leader, Natalie, doesn’t—”

  She stopped short.

  The old woman stood out there again, closer this time, maybe only a couple hundred feet off. Deep wrinkles lined her face from decades under the sun. A smile grew across her features, a warm one that Kenna never saw at home. Behind her, vapor swirled into the air like the gate to another world. Once again she raised her hand and beckoned her over with a gentle wave.

  Kenna jumped. “There she is!”

  Gary and Janelle broke apart and whirled around. Janelle leaned over the fence, gripping the rope. “I see her. What’s she doing? Gary, we’ve got to get a ranger out there. She could get hurt.”

  Gary ran off through the crowd just as the old woman wrapped her shawl around herself and hurried off, disappearing around a crusty hill. Kenna blinked. She was gone for the second time. “You see her?”

  “Not anymore,” Janelle said, leaning against the ropes and squinting against the glare of the ocean. “Come on, Gary, hurry…” she muttered.

  Kenna shook her head as her fever came back full force. The ranger had better get here soon. It looked like the old woman was headed right for the steam erupting at the shoreline. She fought the urge to jump over the fence and run out there herself, screaming at the woman to come back.

  Footsteps approached from behind her. Janelle whirled around and Kenna started to follow, but too late. A pair of hands rammed into her, and hard.

  Kenna cried out as she tumbled over the rope fence. One of her shoes popped off as her foot got caught on the rope. Pain erupted in her finger as she landed on her hands, but it was the only thing that stopped her from landing headfirst. Kenna rolled over on the crunchy ground, stood, and brushed herself off. The person who’d pushed her over the fence stood two feet away, searching the crowd for something.

  Pink shirt. Bleached hair. It was Natalie. What a surprise.

  She stood with the other Kissies, pointing at her and shouting at the top of her lungs. Janelle rushed over to break them up, but it was too late. “Ranger! Over here! She jumped the fence!”

  Gary came running with a ranger right behind him—the one with the bushy black mustache—for a completely different reason. It was the worst possible timing. Heart racing, Kenna rushed for the fence to jump back over before she got in trouble. If she got caught, her parents would find out about this for sure.

  The ground rumbled again, more this time. She stopped short.

  The most horrible sound split through the air, making even Natalie shut up.

  A loud, cracking noise.

  Everyone froze again, mouths falling open. Gary and the ranger stopped. The Kissies broke apart, making squeaky noises. Janelle’s eyes grew big as her gaze fell to the ground near Kenna’s feet.

  She looked down and her heart stopped.

  The ground was splitting open right between her feet.

  An inch. Two inches. The black line grew longer and opened up under the fence, going for the Kissies as an earthy groan filled the air. They screamed and backed away.

  But Kenna didn’t have any time to laugh.

  Heat bellowed up through the crack as it widened, wrapping around her skin and warping the air. Kenna’s legs felt heavy, ready to sink into the ground. The crack kept growing, opening like a gigantic mouth, threatening to swallow her.

  And that wasn’t all.

  Kenna’s mouth dropped open. No. It couldn’t be, not this far from the volcano’s main vent.

  An orange glow lit the crack from below, growing brighter every second.

  A new eruption was happening right under her feet.

  Chapter Two

  An eerie silence fell. The crowd on the other side of the fence watched, frozen. The ground seemed to reach up with monster hands, pulling Kenna’s feet to the black earth. Her heart raced in terror. She couldn’t move. The air warped around her. The orange glow between her feet got brighter, oozing up to the surface. It would hit in seconds, burning them away. Burning her away.

  At last Kenna’s vocal cords unlocked. “N…no!”

  Someone in the crowd finally acted.

  Janelle shook her head, took the rope fence with both hands, and pulled it apart with a snap. The two halves fell around Janelle as she burst towards Kenna and grasped her sleeve, grimacing in the heat and the warping air. She bellowed one word into her ear:

  “Move!”

  Janelle tugged on her sleeve, so hard Kenna almost came off her feet. The earth seemed to let go as Kenna snapped out of her trance. Life sprang back into her legs, and she leaped off the crack in the earth. Orange and red oozed out of the hole and grabbed for her shoes, missing by inches. The air rippled with heat, but she couldn’t feel it in her terror.

  Kenna pulled her foot away as lava spread over where she’d stood a second before. “I’m coming!”

  Flames leapt up the rope fence where the crack had crept under it. Screams echoed through the crowd as people broke their trance and ran for the parking area. Feet trampled the black ground. Rangers waved them on, running around and yelling into their radios. All the sounds blurred together in a nightmare Kenna wouldn’t forget for the rest of her life.

  Kenna let Janelle pull her through the busted fence and towards the stampede of people. Only one person rushed through the bodies towards them. Gary. His eyes widened as his hair flopped around his head.

  A pancake of orange and black oozed out of the crack where the Kissies were a minute ago, expanding and spitting flames at its edges. It wasn’t moving slowly, either. The air wavered around it. Janelle stopped and Kenna nearly smacked into her.

  Kenna’s legs turned to rubber. If they didn’t get out of here, they’d die, and horribly. “What now?”

  Gary waved them over to the parking area. “We’ve gotta go before there’s a jam!”

  He was right. Kenna glanced over there as Janelle let go of her sleeve. Cars squealed away and doors slammed. A rumble sounded through the air as the school bus started. The Kissies scrambled on, screaming and practically trampling each other. A purse fell to the ground and rolled away, spewing makeup everywhere.

  Then, there was a horrible sound. A squeal as the bus door swung shut. Without her. They’d forget her again, like they always did.

  “No!” Kenna yelled, pumping her legs.

  With another squeal, her bus roared out onto the highway and grew smaller in the river of cars fleeing the park. Her legs turned to rubber as she stopped and let her panic wash over her. “Come back!” she yelled, waving her arms.

  Flames hissed and crackled behind her. Kenna dared a glance back. The lava still poured out of the crack, and faster now. Orange and black covered almost half the viewing area in a pond of death. A fence post collapsed in the flames and disintegrated. They had little time.

  “We’ll drive you out of here!” Janelle waved her over to a corporate-looking black van near the end of the lot, which was almost empty now. “Gary, bring her!”

  “I can—” Kenna got cut off when Gary seized her arm.

  She started to move, but Gary wrenched his hand back and cradled it with a grimace. “Nrrrgh!”

  That was weird, but she’d ask about that later. The lava was expanding towards them like a giant spilled drink.

  Janelle reached the black van and unlocked it with a remote. Click. Kenna’s heart raced like a caged animal as she yanked the door open and hoisted herself in. Gary took the front passenger seat, still cradling his hand.

  Janelle fished some keys out of her pocket and tried jabbing them into the ignition. “Come on, come on, come on!”

  “You should’ve brought a driver,” Gary said, wrapping his hand in his shirt.

  “Not now, Gary!”

  Kenna seized the leather seat as tight as she could, breathing fast, urg
ing Janelle to get the van started. The smell of something burning filled the air. They had seconds, if that.

  An orange glow crept closer to the van, rolling into the rearview mirror.

  Kenna’s heart stopped for the fifth time as she dug her nails into the leather seat. Even through the tinted windows she could see the lava rolling towards them, maybe twenty feet behind. The tires would explode under them and the van would burst into flames in seconds.

  She couldn’t help it. Kenna squeezed her eyes shut and pleaded, “Go go go go go!”

  The van started with a sound like distant thunder. There was another click as Janelle cranked down the gearshift. They raced forward so fast across the bumpy ground that Kenna’s head slammed back into the seat. Yellow spots danced in her vision as she opened her eyes. She didn’t dare let go of the seat under her hands.

  “Faster!” Gary yelled.

  Janelle said nothing and lay on the gas. The growling got louder and the van trembled under Kenna’s butt. She breathed out a sigh of relief. The orange glow kept getting fainter behind them, and the road ahead of them was fairly clear. She was going to live. Thanks to this strange girl in the business suit, she was going to live.

  “Th…thanks,” she managed, urging her limbs to stop trembling.

  Janelle pulled the van past the gate and onto the road. The shaking subsided a bit. Her blond hair flew around in a mess as she glanced back at her. “You okay?”

  She had to admit that was a good question. Every muscle in Kenna’s body had tightened like a spring. Her heart refused to slow. She twisted around on the seat and looked back at the parking area. A pair of jeeps were pulling out behind them—the park rangers, who hadn't left until everyone else got out. Well, she prayed everyone had gotten out. And what about that old woman?

  A sick feeling filled her stomach. Because of her, the three of them had almost been burned alive. Why hadn’t she moved when that lava was coming up at her? Maybe her parents were right after all. The field trip was a bad idea. This wouldn’t have happened to her if she’d stayed at school and spent the day in the study hall with the other kids who couldn’t go. If her parents found out about this, they’d no doubt force her to take another two or three after-school activities to keep her out of trouble.

  She stared down at the shoe she still had on, which had miraculously escaped getting burned. “I’m…I’m sorry.”

  “What do you have to be sorry about?” Janelle hit the brakes as they came up behind the river of cars.

  Trees boxed them in on both sides as the ocean peeked at them through clearings. The yellow of the school bus disappeared around some trees ahead. The Kissies were probably on board, hoping that Kenna had died so she couldn’t rat them out.

  “Nobody knew that was going to happen. The only person I’d like to talk to is that girl who pushed you over the fence. Like now. I can’t believe the rangers didn’t catch that,” Janelle finished.

  Kenna looked up and let out a breath. The sickness inside her eased up a bit. Yes, Natalie had something to do with all of that. None of the Kissies had lifted a finger to help out when that crack opened. Hopefully they’d get expelled from school when they got back. Or better yet, grounded off their phones for life. She had Janelle to back up her story. Kenna felt a smile creeping onto her face. Maybe this wouldn’t be all bad after all.

  Gary wrapped his left hand tighter in his shirt and seethed. “Janelle, I think I need a doctor.”

  “You all right?” Kenna leaned forward to stare at him. He’d been like that when he climbed in, but she hadn’t paid much attention to him with that lava coming.

  He didn’t answer. Gary leaned forward like he was doubling over in pain, or trying to hide something. Maybe both.

  “I said are you okay?” she pressed. Her upset stomach started to get worse again. If Gary was hurt, it could be her fault.

  Gary nodded without looking back. “Yeah. It’s nothing. I just banged my hand climbing into the van.”

  Janelle glanced at him, narrowing her eyes, and then at Kenna. “You’re not burned anywhere, are you?”

  Kenna studied her jeans and T-shirt, keeping her death grip on the seat. Everything looked fine. Even her fever seemed to have gone down. “No. I’m not.” That was a miracle, considering that she’d been standing right over that crack with heat belching out of it.

  “I’m taking Gary to the doctor. Can you give me some directions to the nearest hospital? Thanks.”

  The yellow of the school bus peeked out from behind some trees, then vanished again. When the Kissies found out she’d lived, they’d start setting some kind of revenge up. Kenna could definitely wait to get back to school. She’d already rebelled today by coming on this field trip. What was being late getting back to school going to hurt?

  Gary seethed again right in front of her.

  “Okay,” Kenna said. “Keep going up the highway until we get to Hilo.” Rebel or not, she wanted to put as much distance between her and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park as she could.

  * * * * *

  Gary still cradled his hand as they all jumped out of the van some time later. It sure didn’t look like he’d hurt it opening the door. Whatever his injury was, it was serious.

  Janelle clicked on a remote and the corporate van chirped as all the doors locked. Kenna tried not to stare, but it was hard. Tinted windows. Leather interior. Where did a sixteen-year-old girl get a vehicle like that? It looked like something the Secret Service would use. And her business suit looked weird, too. Maybe she was one of those teen CEO’s she’d read about in magazines who got rich inventing some new kind of glue or developing some new software. Janelle’s story about inheriting her mother’s fortune didn’t quite explain all of this.

  Kenna shook her head and walked for the emergency room doors right after Janelle and Gary. Even if Janelle was the head of some company, she wouldn’t dress like that to go on vacation. She couldn’t imagine any sixteen-year-old who would want to. Heck, Kenna hated dressing up for those stupid pageants her mother made her do every year.

  Janelle slipped her hand into Gary’s uninjured one and squeezed. “Come on,” she said. “This shouldn’t be like last time we were in a hospital.”

  She and Gary grimaced at each other like they were sharing a private joke, and one that wasn’t funny.

  “What?” Kenna asked, reaching out to get the door.

  “Nothing,” Gary said, swinging his hurt hand behind his back. He was hiding it, and not doing a very good job.

  “Something’s really wrong with your hand,” Kenna said, watching the two of them duck through the door she held open. “Let me see.”

  Without a word, Janelle and Gary disappeared into the emergency room.

  In other words, something was really wrong with his hand.

  Kenna tore after them, barely preventing the door from banging into her nose. She was being ignored, once again. It was the story of her life.

  Inside, people sat in plastic chairs while florescent lights glared down on shiny linoleum. Kenna always called them headache lights: if she sat under them too long, her temples started to throb.

  Everyone in here looked as if they’d been sitting under the painful lights way too long. One man tilted to the side and grimaced, probably from horrible back pain. A woman not far from him coughed violently into a tissue. Kenna fought the urge to pull her shirt up over her nose to block out the flu virus. She’d probably be just fine, though. For some reason, she never caught coughs or colds or flu viruses. Even her fever had gone away.

  Gary rushed forward into the emergency room ahead of her, Janelle at his side. He seemed to know Kenna was still looking at his hand, because he yanked it back in front of him and seethed again. But not before she caught a glimpse.

  It wasn’t just a trick of the light, either. Gary’s palm was covered in red, angry blisters, as if he’d just slammed it down on a Bunsen burner and held it there. He sure hadn’t done that climbing into the van.

  Kenn
a opened her mouth to say something, but Janelle’s gaze fell on her as she rushed Gary past the coughing woman and up to the counter and the waiting nurse. “Kenna, thanks. We owe you one,” she said. Her voice gushed with gratitude. “I don’t know this area at all.”

  Gary wrapped his hand back in his shirt. “Yeah. It was supposed to be a date. Some date.”

  “I don’t get left alone much,” Janelle added. Somewhere on her, a phone buzzed. She scrambled through a bunch of lavender pockets in search of it. “Great. I told them not to call.”

  The nurse waved Gary up to the counter, and Kenna backed off a bit to let him get checked in. He must’ve been burned trying to pull her towards the van, but he hadn’t gone anywhere near the lava. Could he have burned it opening the van door? No. That hadn’t been close to the lava at the time, so the handle wouldn’t have been hot enough. In fact, he was grimacing before that.

  The sick feeling filled Kenna’s stomach again.

  Gary had only touched one thing right before he’d grabbed his hand in pain like that.

  Her arm.

  Chapter Three

  Janelle gripped the armrests of the plastic emergency room chair with sweaty palms, trying to will away the headache between her ears. Great. She always got them whenever she got stressed out. And lately, that was often. Being Tempest High Leader wasn’t exactly an easy and relaxing job, especially since she was the youngest one in about two hundred years. Especially with the Elder Council breathing down her back all the time for that very same reason.

  Nearly getting roasted alive by lava and watching her boyfriend get injured today didn’t help, either. Maybe she could ask the nurse for some aspirin while they were here. And they’d better give Gary something for the pain, too. If they didn’t, she’d have a word with them. There was no way she wanted him to be hurting tonight for the party. He deserved an awesome vacation and she was determined not to let this ruin it.

  The Kenna girl sighed and sat down next to her. She stared at her shoes as she swung her feet back and forth. The poor girl had to feel even worse than she did, almost dying and all. How had she escaped that lava without getting injured, anyway? That vent had opened right below her. Her skin ought to be at least red. But no. It was still its normal tan color. And Gary had somehow got burned from about fifty feet from the lava. Something wasn’t adding up here.