Destruction: The December People, Book One (6 page)

avid awoke to the sound of breaking glass. Cube-like shards littered the floor of the Expedition. The back window, the one closest to where he had slept, had shattered. He sat up fast but didn’t see anyone outside. He shook pieces of glass off his jacket and inspected himself for cuts.

He climbed out of the car and saw Emmy and Amanda run through the doorway into the garage.

“What the hell?” Amanda demanded.

“I—―”

“Did you break the window?” Amanda asked.

“Of course not. I was sleeping. I don’t know how it broke.”

“That’s it. We’re not going to church.” Amanda threw her hands in the air.

“How did it break?” Emmy whispered. Someone had turned her volume down.

“I don’t know, honey,” David said. “Stay back. You don’t have on shoes.”

“Give me your keys,” Amanda said.

“I’ll take the car and get it fixed today. I don’t want you to have to worry about that on top of everything else.”

“How considerate,” she said acidly. “Give me the keys.”

He removed the house key from the ring and handed only that one over. “Let me keep the car keys. I can sleep there.”

“Go to a hotel, David.”

“No.”

“You can stop sleeping outside; there’s no point. You can’t pull off the romantic guy thing anymore. Romantics don’t cheat on their wives.”

He disagreed. Too much romance caused his downfall, not too little.

“Emmy, can you go inside, please?” David asked.

“It’s not like she doesn’t know what’s going on,” Amanda said. “She’s smart. She’s an Honors student.” But she nodded Emmy back inside.

“How dare you?” Amanda said as soon as the garage door closed behind Emmy. “How could you not at least tell me about this before showing up at our door?”

“I meant to, but I chickened out. I wanted my last day with you to be good. I couldn’t give any of it up.”

“Just get out. I think I’ve done a damn good job managing a surprise adoption, and I’ll continue to do it well. Everything you touch turns to crap.”

“I’ve touched you, and you’re not crap.”

“Shut up.”

“Can I talk to Evangeline and Xavier? I want to make sure they’re okay… I mean… I know they’re okay with you. I just think I should check in. And may I come in and brush my teeth and take a shower?”

“No. Shower at a hotel. Or, even better, go ahead and rent your own place. You can come in and get some stuff and talk to the kids. You have half an hour. Oh, and don’t forget you have five children you’ve screwed up, not just two.”

“I haven’t forgotten.”

Xavier and Evangeline entered the kitchen around the same time David did. Evangeline wore a LHS volleyball T-shirt and Victoria Secret PINK pajama pants, both a size too big which made her look even thinner. Emmy’s clothes. They didn’t look right on Evangeline. Patrick’s clothes fit Xavier well, but they didn’t look right on him either, unless he had in fact attended soccer camp in Fort Collins last summer. The pair looked like they’d woken up in someone else’s lives. Which, of course, they had.

David wanted to make them chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream and a cherry. But he knew Amanda wouldn’t give him the time. He made them frozen waffles and helped himself to the coffee pot. Amanda had made enough coffee for two, out of habit.

“Did you sleep okay?” he asked them.

“When you bought the house, did you know Xavier and I would live here some day?” Evangeline asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Why do you have two empty bedrooms in your house?”

“They’re guest rooms,” David said.

“Do you have guests a lot?”

“No. Sometimes my wife’s parents.”

She paused and considered him, as if checking for holes in a weak story.

“I brought in your bags,” David said. “I’m sorry I didn’t bring them in last night.”

“It’s okay. I don’t need stuff. I’m okay as long as I have this.” Evangeline opened her palm to display a black rock. He didn’t know how it appeared there. He had seen both her hands a moment ago, and he didn’t see any pockets.

“It’s my magical object.” She handed the rock to David.

She watched him carefully while he held the rock in his palm.
Would it glow or dance around if I was magic?
It lay in his hand as a rock always does.

“What is a magical object?” he asked.

“It’s something a wizard keeps with them when they do magic, sometimes called a talisman. They leave a little bit of their magic in it every time. In time, the object collects power. Keeping it with you when you do magic makes you more powerful because all the other magic you’ve ever done is with you too. And talismans can be anything. Objects. Animals. People.”

“People?”

“Sure. They’re the best ones. Except for their unpredictability.”

She glanced at Xavier.
Was he one of her talismans? Certainly, he must be.

Xavier didn’t listen as closely to this conversation. He looked at Evangeline periodically but mostly enjoyed conversation with his waffles and syrup. David wanted to engage him but had no idea how.

Evangeline seemed to read David’s mind and helped him out.

“Show him yours,” Evangeline said to Xavier.

In a look, Xavier’s eyebrows said twice as much as he’d ever said out loud. One eyebrow rose, saying
are you kidding?
and the other slanted, saying
how dare you?
David hadn’t considered asking Xavier about a talisman. Evangeline had the magical narrative, not Xavier. Did Xavier play along for her?

“No,” Xavier said.

She rolled her eyes at him. “It’s not a big deal. He’s not going to try and take it or anything. He doesn’t even believe.”

“If it’s not a big deal, why do you want me to so badly?” he asked her. He squinted at her as if reading the fine print on the tip of her nose.

“Just do it.”

While glaring at his sister, he tugged a chain out from under his shirt and pulled it over his head. A heavy silver object clattered onto the counter. A Christian cross.

David didn’t know if this meant Xavier was secretly a wizard or secretly a Christian, or which one of those things seemed more unbelievable.

“Are you a Christian?” David asked him.

“No,” Xavier said neutrally. He grabbed the cross again, put it back around his neck, then tucked it into his shirt.

“Thank you for showing me,” David said to Xavier, who ignored him.

“Our mom gave it to him to use as his object. It’s more powerful as an object than my stone, but I wanted something of my own to build from scratch. The cross comes with built-in magic. Millions of people across the world and across time have used it as their talisman. People sing to it. Speak to it. Put it over the bodies of their dead. It all adds up. But you still have to make it your own, put your own magic in it, or it’s still just an object.” She swished a piece of waffle around her plate with her fork. “You have these in your house,” she said, still looking at her plate.

“Yes,” he said. “We’re Christian.” He didn’t know if she expected any more explanation.

“I thought you might understand then, if you saw his,” she added.

“I do,” he said, even though he wasn’t entirely sure.

“You have another talisman too.” She put one finger on his hand, on his wedding ring.

He smiled. “I guess I do.”

atrick stood at the edge of the family room and watched his “brother” peruse their bookshelf. This strange boy had hijacked the family room. Patrick lingered in the hallway, a good ten feet away, as if Xavier emitted radioactive waves he wanted to avoid. But Emmy blew past Patrick like a stiff wind of cherry vanilla body lotion. She came from behind Xavier and grabbed his arm. He jumped and pulled away, but this didn’t discourage Emmy. She grabbed his arm again and pulled him away from the bookshelf. Patrick wanted to tell her to lay off… because she should… but he didn’t, because he wanted Xavier to know he stood firmly on Emmy’s side.

“When is your birthday?” she asked him.

Emmy generally got her questions answered, but Patrick didn’t know if she would this time. Xavier looked at her as if her voice just sounded like an annoying buzz.

“October 17th,” he said finally.

“That was just a week ago,” Emmy said.

He stared at her without response.

“Happy Birthday, I guess,” Emmy said.