Destruction: The December People, Book One (21 page)

“Hello,” David said. “I thought you were going to stay over,” he said to Amanda.

“We wanted to talk to you,” Jess said. The women had drawn eyes and mouths in straight lines. Carson had his arms crossed and his face turned away from David. They had moved beyond mad and had gone straight to showing the sad faces they had prepared for his funeral.

“Where are they?” Amanda asked, and David knew she meant Xavier and Evangeline.

“They went to bed.”

“Maybe the dining room,” Amanda said to Jess.

The three removed their jackets, then Amanda grabbed David’s arm and pulled him. He could tell by the way she walked that Amanda had the most to drink. The other two looked more composed.

“What’s going on?” David asked.

“Should I open a bottle of wine?” Jess asked.

“Yes,” Amanda said.

“Can I put on pants?” David asked.

They ignored the request. Jess came back with four glasses and a bottle. She poured wine into only two of the glasses.

“None for us yet,” Jess said to David, then handed glasses to Amanda and Carson. “I need you sharp. Have you had anything to drink tonight?”

“What are you talking about?”

Amanda had already nearly emptied the glass she had just been poured.

“Just do it,” Carson said. “Don’t give him time to prepare.”

David took a few steps back.

“I have to tell him what I’m going to do,” Jess said. “It works much better that way. As soon as you tell someone you’re trying to find their secrets, their secrets float to the top of their mind and are much easier to find. With wizards, I
have
to tell them, they’re too good at keeping secrets.”

“If wizards are good at anything, it’s keeping secrets, right, David?” Carson said.

“Amanda?” David asked.

“Carson and Jess came to an agreement,” Amanda said. “Carson has agreed not to kill you if Jess does a spell to scan your mind and look for secrets. She’s really good at it. I’ve always told her she should have been a cop or something.”

“It’s a fairly useful trick for a wife and mother, as well,” Jess said.

“I don’t keep secrets,” Carson said. “I’m an honest man.”

Jess put her hand on Carson’s arm. “Calm down, honey. I was making a joke.”

“I thought you didn’t practice,” David said.

“We don’t,” Jess said. “We don’t do this every day. We just thought it would be the best way to decide if we could trust you.”

“Amanda, you can’t let them. What about your secret? You want her to know that?”

“What secret?” she asked.

“
Your
spell.”

“She knows. Carson told her years ago,” Amanda said. “Since we hadn’t told our kids about magic and they don’t want to tell theirs, for the most part, it was fairly easy to keep it from you. No one ever discussed it around the kids. But we spend time with Carson and Jess alone sometimes. Eventually, they would have said something about magic. She had to know.”

“So, let me get this straight,” David said. “None of you practices magic… until it benefits you. Then, all your beliefs go out the window and you do whatever you feel like.”

“It’s not like that,” Amanda said. “It’s complicated. Everything in life is complicated.”

“Well, I at least agree with that last part,” David said.

“I thought you were a good man,” Carson said. “You’re as rotten as the rest of them.”

“Carson, chill out,” Amanda said. “He betrayed me, not you.”

“I’m sorry, Carson,” David said.

Jess approached David and stood with only a fist’s worth of space between them. She looked in his eyes in the same probing way Amanda did. Jess grabbed his hands. It reminded him of his odd moment with Penelope Carthage.

“Stop.” He pulled his hands away and stepped back. “It’s not safe. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt me?”

“Someone did this to me before,” David said. “Penelope Carthage. It was before I knew I was a wizard. I thought she was just completely crazy. She grabbed my forearms and it made me feel weird. I felt myself attack her… with my mind. Some sort of defensive thing, like a skunk’s spray. She freaked out. I thought it was all in my head. But now that I know what I am… I don’t know.”

“When was this?” Amanda asked.

“August,” David said.

“Nice try,” Carson said. “I will hold you down for this if you make me.”

“I’m trying not to hurt your wife,” David said. “I don’t know shit about magic. I don’t know what I might do by accident.”

“I’ll be fine,” Jess said. “You won’t feel anything.”

She reached for him again.

“Okay, Amanda, there is one thing I haven’t told you,” David said.

“Nope,” Carson said. “You’re not getting out of it that way either. You don’t get to share some decoy secret and avoid the spell. You might as well just let Jess tell us.”

“The more you fight this, the more scared I get,” Amanda said. “You really
are
hiding something.”

“Nothing about us.”

“Just let her do it,” Amanda said.

David took a deep breath and held out his hands. “You just have to hold my hands?”

“Relax. You won’t feel anything.” Jess took his hands and stood close enough that he could feel her breath on his neck. She inclined her head to look in his eyes. He didn’t know why she had to stand so close. Did she need to listen close to hear the thoughts in his head? Read miniscule writing on his eyeballs?

She stayed in that position for a painfully long time. He didn’t feel any magical sensations, but that didn’t make it any less weird or uncomfortable. He focused on breathing to keep himself from panicking, as he had with Penelope, and tried to keep whatever attacked her tied up in back. He wanted to close his eyes but didn’t know if Jess would let him. Amanda and Carson watched as if they waited for a doctor to give them the results of a biopsy.

“He is keeping something,” Jess said. “But it doesn’t feel romantic or sexual. He feels embarrassed. Maybe in denial. It’s big, but not well defined, like he’s trying to ignore it. He doesn’t want to tell you because he’s ashamed. Feels like he’s not a man.”

“Jesus, David, what is it?” Amanda asked.

“That’s it?” David asked. “You can’t even tell what the secret is?”

“Magic is vague,” Jess said. “I can’t read your thoughts like they’re a movie screen. I get general impressions of feelings, and then from there I try to guess what it is based on what I know about the person. I’m not finished. There was something else.”

She took his hands again.

“It’s strange. I think there is something about a woman. She did tempt him in some way. But I don’t think it was with sex. She was frightening. A witch.”

“Just let me tell her,” David said. “You’re making it sound worse than it is.”

“She likes to guess,” Carson said. “She likes the game.”

“It’s not a game,” David said.

“Magic?” Jess asked. “She wanted you to do magic and you were tempted? No, wait. Maybe that’s a part of it, but that’s not what you’re trying to hide. It’s more like… you feel like a failure. You didn’t want Amanda to know. You were tempted by a chance to keep that private.”

Jess dropped his hands.

“I know what it is,” Jess said. “It’s about money. You don’t have any.” She said it with inappropriate triumph, as if she had just solved a riddle.

Despite the terrible violation, David had to admit she had impressed him with her skill. “All right, Jess. Stop. That’s very terrifying and remarkable. I’m glad I’m not Carson. No wonder he’s an honest man. Now are you satisfied I’m not having any other affairs? That I’ve never been with any woman besides the one you know about twelve years ago?”

Jess squinted at him. “I can’t guarantee it. It’s possible you have but don’t feel bad about it. If it’s not overwhelming your mind, I might not see it.”

“Fuck, Jess. What was the point, then?” David asked.

Carson moved in on him.

“And for the record, if I had had any other affairs, the remorse would be overwhelming my mind. I’m not a sociopath. I may not be perfect, but if I do something wrong, I feel fucking bad about it. So, I passed your test.”

“You’re right,” Jess said to David. “I believe you.” She patted Carson’s arm again.

“May I speak to my wife privately, please?” David asked. “Or are our money problems your business now?”

“Of course,” Jess said. She poured herself a full glass of wine and towed her husband into the family room, now boarded up to keep out the winter air.

“Money?” Amanda asked as soon as they disappeared.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I really didn’t mean for you to find out like that.”

“Tell me.”

“Vandergraff Home Builders is shutting down. I have my last paycheck scheduled for the Friday after Christmas.”

Amanda sank into a chair and stared at David’s knees.

“How?” she asked. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“There was a fire that destroyed our largest project, and we lost a lot of our capital. We couldn’t recover.”

“How long have you known?”

“I found out on Halloween.”

“Shit, David.”

“I’ll find something else. We’ll figure it out.”

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

“Why don’t you ask Jess? She seems to understand the inner workings of my psyche better than I do. Perhaps because I’m a failure. Not a man.”

She poured herself another glass of wine. “So everything falls apart,” she said. “Who was the woman?”

“An investor. She wanted to buy us out.”

“A witch?”

“Yes.”

“Please God, don’t tell me you signed a contract with a witch.”

“I didn’t. Jess was right. I was tempted, but I said no.”

“I can’t do Jess’s spell,” Amanda said. “So, I can’t be with a man who requires its use.”

“I know I should have told you. I was going to, soon; I just wanted to have a plan first.”

“You don’t have to have a plan before you tell me something important. We’re supposed to be partners in life. We’re supposed to make the plans together.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“We could lose our house,” Amanda said. “No, we
will
lose our house. Even if you find a new job quickly, which is a long shot in this economy, you won’t be taking home a CEO paycheck. When were you going to tell me we were downsizing? The day the movers came?”

“I’m sorry,” David said again.

“I don’t even really care about the money. We have too much excess as it is. Our kids could use a little grounding. And you know, you’re not the only one who brings in good money.”

“I know.”

“I don’t bring in
your
kind of money, but if we make some changes to our lifestyle, I still can take care of the family. We don’t need you as much as you think.”

“You won’t have to do that. Like you said, we’re partners. You don’t have to support the family on your own. I’ll find something.”

“No, we
were
partners. Now, it will just be up to me. That’s what divorce means. Doing it alone.”

“No.”

Amanda stood up too fast and grabbed a chair to keep from swaying forward.

“You don’t deserve me,” she said.

“No argument.”

“I am not that kind of woman.”

“What kind?”

“I won’t be abused.”

“Did I abuse you?”

“Yes.”

Tears pooled in the lashes under her eyes. For a second, he feared he had abused her and forgotten. But, on a deep level, he knew he wouldn’t do that. She didn’t mean it that way.

“If you hit me, it would be better. Easier. I would know what to do. I could divorce you. I want to be stronger. Like women are supposed to be. Like what I believe. That women have the right to be loved by their husbands. They have the right to be their
only
lover. That I am enough to be your
only
.”

“You are.”

“Shut up.” She moved closer to glare at him from close range. “Why wasn’t I enough for you?”

“I don’t know. You are. You should have been.”

“You loved her. You really loved her. If it was just sex, it would be easier, but it wasn’t. You
loved
her. You were together for years. You had
two
children with her. You loved her. Don’t tell me you didn’t.”

“I wouldn’t have risked what we have for anything less than love,” he said.

“You see… that doesn’t help me, David. That doesn’t make me feel better. I can imagine you wanting to fuck someone else. It’s not a great feeling, but I can live with it. It’s human nature. I mean, I think about other people. Have fantasies.”

David wanted to kick some fantasy ass.

“With who?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter. That’s what I’m saying. It’s just sex. I wouldn’t really do it, and I don’t love anyone else. I
never
have.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“What did you love about her?”

“You don’t want me to answer that question.”

“What did she have that I didn’t? What was I missing?”

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit. Don’t fuck with me. It’s too late. Tell me the truth.”

“I just… loved both of you. I believed I couldn’t live without either of you.”

“I’ve been talking with Carson and Jess, getting some magical consult, if you will. There is something binding me to you. A spell. Otherwise, I would have kicked you out. I would have already served you with papers.”

David laughed coldly. “Of course, there is something binding you to me. How about twenty-three years together? I didn’t give you any love potion, if that’s what you’re implying.”

“Not a potion,” she said seriously. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s something. I know magic when it’s happening. It has this unnatural feeling. Carson and Jess are going to help me figure out the spell and break it, so I can divorce you.”

“I haven’t cast any motherfucking spells. You know I haven’t. You know I can’t.”

“I didn’t say you did. I don’t know what it is.”

“Are you listening to yourself? Is this a wizard thing? Blaming all problems on magic? Child abuse? Adultery? Drunk driving? You know, those things happen to Mundanes, too.”

“I know.”

“You don’t want to divorce me because you’re still in love with me. Because something I did twelve years ago didn’t change everything that happened in between now and then. At least part of you knows that.”