Destruction: The December People, Book One (30 page)

His light shot a good thirty feet into the air and then scattered in a rain of what reminded him of pixie dust. He looked at his unlit candle.

He heard a scattering of giggles.

“Hush…” he said.

“Try again,” Evangeline prompted.

David held his fist up again and positioned the candle above it. He tried pumping his fist more gently. The same thing happened, although he spanned only about ten feet this time. He tried to follow the light with his candle as a catcher would follow a fly ball, which resulted in even more giggles.

Then, before he could ready himself, another fireball shot out of his fist unwillingly and went straight for Emmy.

She dove to the ground and dodged it.

“Oh, God. I’m so sorry, honey. That one was an accident. Are you okay?”

She laughed so hard she couldn’t answer.

“Why are you doing it like that?” Amanda asked.

“I have no idea,” he said. “How do you make it stay on your hand?”

“No, the real question is, how did you shoot it out of your hand like that?” Xavier asked. “That’s awesome. Show me how to do that.”

“I would if I knew.”

“Okay, try it again,” Amanda said.

“Picture the light staying on your hand,” Jude instructed. “Visualize in your head what you want it to look like.”

David followed his instruction and managed to get the orange orb of light to hover only about a foot over his hand. He carefully dipped the wick of the candle into the orb, and an orange flame stayed on the candle, while the rest of the orb sprinkled around him.

“Okay, try to get serious again,” Amanda said. “We’re not done.”

She waited for quiet.

“Now we will combine our lights into a communal fire,” she continued. “This symbolizes the importance of the connections wizards have with one another. Our lights are how we find each other in darkness. Wizards can always find each other. It is a sign that God does not intend for wizards to be alone.”

This seemed dangerous to David. He didn’t like them throwing random unknown chemicals together to see what might happen. Starting with Evangeline again, they each used their candle to light a part of the campfire. The result prompted many
ooos
and
aaas
. The fire twisted and spat in a swirl of colors that reminded David of the Tasmanian devil. David placed his hand on the jug of water, but the fire relaxed into a more normal, yet multicolored fire that swayed unpredictably but stayed in its ring.

“Do you think we can cook marshmallows on it?” Patrick asked.

“Yummy. S’mores,” Emmy said.

“Just to be safe, let’s not cook food with the magic fire,” David said.

David noticed Patrick and Samantha held hands.
Okay… that is new.

ecember 22nd was a rainy, nasty, muddy day. Everyone stayed indoors except for Amanda, who had to work. David heard the doorbell ring from inside his office, where he attended to some last-minute business matters. When he came downstairs, he saw Emmy at the door, looking at none other than Rachel Colter wearing a black trench coat. David’s heart skipped several beats.

Rachel leaned toward Emmy. “Aren’t you a pretty little girl?” she said in her best why-don’t-you-come-into-my-gingerbread-house voice. “Is your daddy home?”

Emmy peeked outside, and then at Rachel. “You’re not wet.”

“I have a very good umbrella,” she said with a wink.

David stepped in front of Emmy. “What the hell are you doing here?” He scanned the room for Xavier and Evangeline.
They must be upstairs, thank God.
“The kids.”

“Don’t worry,” she said. “They won’t recognize me, I expect.”

“Why would you come to my house?”

“Who is she?” Emmy asked.

“A business acquaintance,” David said.

“Yes, David built the house that will fall on me one day,” Rachel said.

Emmy laughed. “So you’re a real witch?”

“Well, so are you, sweetie.”

“A business acquaintance? Really?” Emmy asked David. “You’re such a liar. Don’t think I won’t tell mom.”

“My dear, your father is being quite honest. I am an investor interested in purchasing your father’s business. My being a witch is mere coincidence.”

“You’re selling the business?” Emmy asked.

David glared at Rachel.

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Rachel said easily. “I am simply referring to the purchase of certain assets. He has many things of value.”

“My office,” David said in a cold-as-December-22nd tone.

He bounded up the stairs and hoped she would move quickly too. He wanted to avoid any more encounters between Rachel Colter and his kids.

He herded her into his office and shut the door. She glanced at the sofa bed still in the out position.

“You sleep in here?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“So, your wife didn’t know?”

“Tell me what you want. Be mindful of the fact that walking onto a man’s property where his children are is quite different from approaching him at his place of business. If you didn’t like my attitude as a businessman, it’s risky for you to test my attitude as just a man.”

“Are you threatening me? So soon into our chat?” she said playfully.

She sat in the chair and lowered her head slightly, as if in deference to the pack leader of the territory she had walked onto. “I apologize. Both for coming here to your home, and for our disagreement in your office. I am here because in my time of sacred reflection on Mid-Winter’s Eve, I was called to act. I was called to come here and pay my penance.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“Would you please sit?” she asked. She raised her eyes to him only slightly. Her statement sounded more like a request than a command. She gave him control.

David sat.

“You emailed me and wanted a favor,” she said.

“I expected you to simply hit ‘reply’.”

Her inkpot eyes blinked at him impassively.

“I would like to hear your proposal,” she said.

“It wasn’t about money. It’s too late for that. My employees have already been given their severance.”

“I know. What was it about?”

“I can’t believe I’m talking to you about this,” he said. He paused and shook his head. “You’re a practicing dark witch?”

“Quite.”

“How dark?”

“You mean, where to do I sit on the solar calendar?”

“I suppose.”

“December 31st. Which is quite dark, as I’m sure you know.”

“I’ve done some research on you,” he said. “You’re well-respected in the financial community. No criminal record. You’re successful, and perhaps even, should I say… sane.”

“Well, aren’t you the charmer?”

“I don’t mean any offense. I just want to know how that’s possible.”

“So, you marvel at my ability to be a practicing dark witch who is less than criminally insane.”

“You could say that.”

She laughed. “I thought I told you not to believe everything you hear about practicing wizards. Yes, David, you can be a practicing dark wizard and still function as part of civilized society. Dark wizards have a habit of blaming all their problems on magic. Everything they do that’s bad is always due to magic, and not their own dark nature. Evil people do evil things and it has little to do with whether or not they practice magic.”

“So dark wizards can practice good magic?”

“It depends on what you mean by ‘good’. I assume you’re asking whether or not dark wizards can do magic that has a positive impact. And, of course, the answer is yes. Dark magic is destructive magic. It refers to the type of tool we carry, but not what we intend to do with it. But we must understand our tool. It is destruction. Which can often be dangerous, imprecise, and quite evil. But it doesn’t have to be. I have heard of dark wizards who are healers. Accomplished dark wizards practiced in the healing arts can destroy maladies while leaving the healthy tissue intact. They have their best luck with tumors but can sometimes also attack bacteria, I believe. In a general sense, dark wizards can be good by destroying things that ought be destroyed. I would even say that those who know the ways of darkness are the best at destroying it. If they have the willpower for it, dark wizards can be excellent protectors. Policemen. Soldiers. Of course, they can also make the most terrible ones. It depends on whether or not they have the strength of character to limit their destruction to those who deserve it.”

“You use dark magic in business?”

“Not really. I do use magic. Wizards often have a special skill. Mine is perception. I can see things other people can’t. People say I have a good eye. I can buy businesses with potential that others don’t see. That is absolutely correct; I just see it more clearly than they could imagine.”

“Are you just as perceptive when it comes to people?” David couldn’t help but think it. If she could notice things so keenly, she should have noticed what her brother did to his kids.

She looked down at her hands. “No. Not individual people. I’m good at noticing larger trends and patterns in communities and society. I can understand the behavior of groups. I know what they will want to buy.” She chuckled. “A romantic power, isn’t it?”

“Thank you for telling me all that. But I don’t believe you really came all the way here to answer my questions about magic.”

“Not as such. I came here to give you something. Something I need to pass along in person. Although in order for you to understand what it means, I need to explain some other things about magic. May I?”

David leaned forward and examined her. If only he knew a spell to learn her intentions. He’d have to ask Jess how she did that terrible secret digging thing. But he knew now, magic wasn’t always about spells. As she said, wizards often had innate abilities available to them, with or without the intentional use of magic. Her explanation of her “business magic” had made him think. He had always excelled at sales. With a handshake, he knew whether or not he would make the sale. He could tell how much his target desired the object in question. He could tell if they trusted him. Sometimes it even came in as a message: “She’s lonely and wants to talk to you, but she doesn’t have any money” or “He acts like he makes the decisions, but he doesn’t. Talk to the wife”. Bam. Just like that.

It worked on the other side of the table too. When he started his own business, people often tried to sell him things. Everything from office supplies to lumber to construction equipment. He could tell in an instant how badly they needed the sale. He could tell whether or not they deceived him or gave him a bad price. It worked in job interviews too. Even after he hired Liza, he sat in on most job interviews. He could sense fear, even if they hid it well. He could tell how confident they felt. If they told the truth. If they believed they could do the job. He never thought of it as magic. He didn’t know how non-wizards experienced things and thought he just had excellent perception.

“Take my hand,” he said, and he reached it out over the desk.

“I thought you didn’t practice magic.”

He didn’t respond.

“I have nothing to hide, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to allow you to thumb through my thoughts and memories like it’s your own personal library.”

“I don’t know how to do that. I’m just good at reading people. The handshake always helps. Just a handshake. One or two seconds.”