Watch Me Burn: The December People, Book Two (21 page)

He gasped and finally looked at her, clutching his shin. Still not satisfied with his response, she pushed him hard enough that he had to catch himself from falling out of his chair. That time, he pulled back like he prepared to strike back.

“Good,” Emmy said. “Hit me. Curse me.
Do something
.”

“Why do want me to hit you?”

“I don’t.” Emmy felt her eyes burning with tears yet again. “I just want you to stay. I’m not asking you to be happy, or normal, or not a psycho. I just want you to stay.”

Xavier continued rubbing his shin, but the anger in his eyes faded again. Emmy had to stop herself from attacking him again. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ll try.”

“I need to go somewhere,” she said, still wiping away tears and hating herself for it. “Can you keep an eye on my mom?”

“What do I do?”

“Nothing. Just pay attention enough so if she needs help or something, you actually notice.”

Emmy found it unbelievable and aggravating that, despite their identical predicaments, the Vandergraffs and Prescotts continued to ignore each other. Emmy believed this was stupid and arrogant on both sides. Julie and Evangeline didn’t fall down the same rabbit hole by coincidence. They had some link to each other. There
had
to be a reason why someone wanted them and not Emmy. Or Nathan, for that matter. Julie and Evangeline had to have something in common. However, she had no idea what. She couldn’t imagine any two witches so different. And she could not imagine any plausible circumstance where they would have come into contact with each other, or anything else that tied them together.

However, she knew whom to ask. She may have just wanted to see him again, but she didn’t care. When Emmy asked Nathan to pick her up from the grocery store, he agreed right away. He checked several times that she didn’t have any of her family members with her. And she said, several times, yes, she had ridden her bike there to pick up some prescriptions, milk, and coffee.

When she saw his truck pull into the parking lot, she felt so nervous her tongue swelled. She had asked him to come pick her up, but hadn’t given any specific reason, which made it feel like a date.

When she climbed in, she still felt nervous at first. And felt very aware of the bulky bag of groceries she had with her. Their time together had an expiration date, because she had brought unrefrigerated milk with her. Not brilliant. But she felt better quickly. He had a reassuring presence about him. He kept his brow and lips in a firm serious line, but radiated a warm glow despite himself. She felt her cheeks grow warm too.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“I guess it’s not any less okay than it was before.”

“Fair enough.”

“Are you okay?”

“Same. Not any less okay. I worried that since you called me, something might be wrong.”

“No. Nothing specific. Is it still okay I called you?”

“Yeah. You want to go somewhere?”

“Sure.”

“Anywhere in particular?”

“I don’t care.”

He started driving and Emmy felt relieved. She didn’t care where he took her. She wanted to get away. And away with him was even better. And she liked his truck. It didn’t smell like Jude. It smelled of sunscreen and cinnamon gum.

“I wanted to talk to you, anyway,” he said. “I wanted to finish the conversation we started in the ambulance about your sister. There are things you should know. Things I should have told you in the first place. I didn’t realize you needed to know. And you know, wizards don’t spill their guts to everyone they meet. Especially not a dark witch…no offense.”

Emmy felt like she was about to be given a present. Or had scratched off a winning lotto card. She was right. He did have the key. He would tell her everything.

“Tell me.”

“Well, I don’t know anything for sure. But my family has a theory about why Julie was taken. And Evangeline may be able to help us confirm that theory.”

“Okay.”

“Julie isn’t an ordinary witch. She’s special. You know how every wizard falls somewhere on the solar calendar?”

“Every wizard has their moment.”

“Yes. Some wizards claim to be able to narrow it down to the minute, or even the second, although they might be full of it. In any case, we know we can narrow it down to the day. And some days are more important than others. Julie’s date is June 21
^st
. She’s a summer solstice witch. And that’s rare and special.”

“So, what does that mean?”

“She’s more powerful than most, pretty much all, other wizards. At least when it comes to summer magic. There may be some powerful spells that only she can cast. And some believe she has even more importance and power. In any case, we tried to keep it quiet. We always knew that her being a solstice witch would lead to unwanted attention at best, and at worst, something like this.”

“But she’s the one with the power. What use would she be to another wizard? Do they think they can get her to cast spells for them?”

“Well, you know, there are ways to take someone’s power. I don’t know much about it, of course. I don’t know if that’s what happening or not. I hope not.” His voice got softer and softer as he spoke, and “I hope not” was barely audible.

He had said “you know” as if he assumed she did know about that kind magic, probably because it was some kind of dark magic.

Emmy waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. He pulled into the parking lot of a small park.

“It’s too hot for any kids to play here. All the slides are burning up and the fountain is off and grills closed because of the drought. So no one will be around.”

Emmy smiled to herself. Her family had visited a different park on the Fourth of July, but had the same reason. They went at night so no one would be around. Nathan had the exact same idea, but he chose the middle of the day in the summer.

Emmy followed behind Nathan, the air so hot she thought her skin might cook. The drought caused Nathan to track dust and pieces of dead grass into the air as he walked. The dust burned her eyes. She wanted to point out that everyone else in the world had the right idea by avoiding the park today, but she wanted to be with him. And she wanted to know what he had to say.

They found a well-shaded picnic table, so the heat and humidity still made it hard to breathe, but at least the sun wouldn’t cook them alive. The walk from his truck to the picnic table took about thirty seconds, but sweat and dirt coated her skin as if she’d wandered the desert for hours.

“Does the heat not bother you?” Emmy asked.

“I don’t mind it too much. But it’s not like I can’t feel it. We can go somewhere else if you want. I just thought Mundanes wouldn’t be around.”

“No, this is fine,” she said, as she wiped a droplet of sweat from her temple. “So, you were talking about spells that can take someone else’s magic.”

“Yeah,” he said.

“For that kind of magic, would Julie and Evangeline have to die?” Emmy asked. She knew many bad things could happen before death. But she assumed that any other trauma could eventually heal. Some hope existed. Only death was irreversible.

“I don’t know if that’s part of the plan. It could be. Sometimes. There are dark spells that require human sacrifice. As I said, I don’t know much about prax portentia. But I know it’s not always about death. I know Julie isn’t dead. I can feel her presence. As a solstice witch, she has a strong presence. And if that light went out, I’d know it.”

“So, there’s still hope. Like you said.”

“Yes. I think so.”

“Prax portentia. What does that mean?”

He looked up at her. Previously, he had kept his eyes on the ants crawling across the surface of the table. “You’ve never heard that term?”

“No.”

He raised his eyebrows. Perhaps he didn’t understand how he could know about a dark spell and she didn’t. But he didn’t know she barely knew anything about magic. She definitely didn’t know any fancy names for spells.

“Well, that’s good, I guess,” he said. “I’m glad you don’t know.”

“So, what is it?”

Nathan picked at his cuticles and made a face, as if the explanation tasted bad in his mouth.

“It’s hard to explain,” he said.

She could tell he meant,
I don’t want to explain
. And she didn’t ask him again. For most people, she wouldn’t give up until they told her what she wanted to know. But she felt different about him. She didn’t want to make him say things he didn’t want to say. She didn’t like seeing him struggling.

“And you want to know if Evangeline is a winter solstice witch?” Emmy asked, changing the subject.

“That’s right. We always just thought it was about Julie and her power. But having the power of both the poles, that’s unthinkable. Maybe they were waiting for both. Used magic to call for both. Evangeline just came second.”

“If they were waiting for both poles, then…”

“Then, now that they have Evangeline, they might do…whatever it is they plan to do. Time might be running out. Unless…”

“Unless, what?” Emmy asked.

“Unless they want all four.”

“You mean, spring and fall too?”

“Exactly. Equinox wizards. If having the power of summer and winter was unthinkable, having all four…I mean, they could do anything. The solstices have the power, but the equinoxes have the precision. Together, they’re sometimes called ‘the four events.’”

“So, if they’re greedy, they’ll wait until they have the full collection.”

“Maybe. But that would not be easy to get. Finding one of the poles is rare. Finding two is astronomical. Finding all four…I don’t know. I would have thought it was impossible, but now I’m not so sure. Whoever did this, used magic to bring Julie and Evangeline to the forest, which meant manipulating a complicated string of events. It’s possible the spell has been working for years, gradually aligning the fates. Who says they couldn’t use that same magic to call spring and fall too?”

“So that’s why we can’t find them. The magic only ‘calls’ the ones it wants.”

“Yeah, we think so. It’s a magical snare. But it only traps the wizards that meet its qualifications.”

“So, then Evangeline
must
be a solstice witch.”

“I take it you don’t know for sure.”

“No. None of us know our dates.”

“Is your sister powerful? And darker than you?”

“Yes, she’s powerful. And pretty dark, but not evil. But she’s a good person. She’s not the darkest moment of the darkest night.”

“As you might have already figured out, I’m not like a lot of other summer wizards. I don’t believe all dark wizards are bad. We all have our kind of magic, but we’re still just people. Not angels or demons. People. Julie is a good person. She’s a great person, probably the best person I know. But if you were to listen to legend, you’d think the summer solstice witch would be more superhuman, like an angel. And as good as Julie is, I wouldn’t say she’s
that
good. She has flaws like anyone else. I assume it’s the same with Evangeline.”

“Yeah, well you said that even though Julie isn’t perfect, you said she’s the best person you know. Evangeline is not the worst person I know. Not even close. Hell, she might be the best person
I
know.” Her voice wobbled.

“I didn’t mean that.” He put his hand on her back, and then must have thought better of it, because he pulled away.

“I’m not crying,” Emmy said, even though salty tears and sweat stung her eyes. “It’s okay. I know what you’re trying to say. This just sucks.”

“Yes, it does.”

“So, you’re saying there is no chance the Mundane police will find them.”

“Probably not.”

“So, it’s up to us.”

“Yes.”

“Alright then. We should do some kind of spell together. Like you said, combining magic from the two poles can be very powerful. Maybe if we worked together—”

“I don’t think magic is the answer,” Nathan said.

“Why? Because it’s dangerous? Because it has unintended consequences? I’ve heard it all before. But I’m not talking about using magic to open a pickle jar. This is to save our sisters. It’s worth the risk.”

“No, you don’t understand. I’m saying our magic wouldn’t be powerful enough. Whoever is pulling the strings here is incredibly powerful. They enacted a complicated spell with many variables that was able to bring two powerful magical families to their knees. They could snuff out anything we tried to do. We’d end up hurting ourselves.”

That made Emmy feel small. Being a witch meant she didn’t have the same limits the Mundanes did. She was special. Powerful. And she couldn’t imagine anything worse than not saving Evangeline because she wasn’t special
enough
or powerful
enough
.

“So you’re saying we can’t use magic to find them. And we’re not going to be able to find them by looking like humans would. So what, there’s nothing we can do?”

“I told you. We have to keep the hope. We have to assume there is something we can do. I just don’t know what it is yet.”

“Can you tell me my date? Do you know how to do that?”

“Yeah, I can,” Nathan said. “You want me to?”

“Yes.” She wanted to know her date, but that’s not what got her heart racing. She’d seen this done before, so she knew it meant he would have to get close to her. He’d have to touch her. Maybe for several minutes.