Watch Me Burn: The December People, Book Two (38 page)

atrick and Evangeline had been admitted to the hospital for “observation,” which meant anyone could see something was wrong with them, but the doctors didn’t know what, other than dehydration and some cuts and bruises. Patrick also had two broken ribs from where Jude had kicked him. And his blood pressure was too high, which the doctors found strange for someone young and in good health. But Patrick knew his body had been pushed to the limit.

Surely, Julie had been admitted to the hospital too, but Patrick didn’t know. As soon as the firefighters brought them to the hospital, she disappeared back into her summer world. Maybe her parents had her moved to a different hospital, far, far away from the Vandergraffs.

Dad came in with a pizza. It hurt to eat, but Patrick didn’t care. He wanted to do it anyway.

“Good, you’re awake,” Dad said. “You can have dinner with me. Evangeline wanted sushi, so Emmy and Amanda went to get that. But I’m not interested in sushi and I figured you wouldn’t be either.”

“No. Thanks.”

Dad pulled out plates and sodas. Things still sucked a lot. But Patrick had to admit, it was all relative. Being alive. Not being in pain. Eating pizza with his Dad. It was all pretty freaking fantastic.

“I would say it’s nice you’re all staying here with me and Evangeline…but you don’t have a house, so…”

Dad chuckled. “Eh. Details.”

“What am I supposed to tell the police?” Patrick asked. “So far, I’ve just been saying I don’t want to talk about it. That’s not going to work for much longer.”

“Tell them as much of the truth as you can.”

“Even about Jude?”

“He’s done nothing to deserve your loyalty.”

Patrick nodded.

“Try not to be too upset when they don’t believe you,” Dad said.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve already talked with the police. We’ve talked and talked in circles. They say no one named Caroline Prescott exists. I’m thinking she has some spells up to hide her identity, which is why I had trouble finding her.” Then Dad’s eyes seemed to darken. “And the police don’t believe for a second John Prescott shot your Uncle James. They instinctively trust the Prescotts and presume them to be good. I’ll keep trying. He doesn’t get to just walk away…” Dad trailed off, glaring at the bubbles popping in his Dr. Pepper.

“If they don’t believe Caroline or John are guilty, what do they think? That we all just ran away from home?”

“They found Jude’s fingerprints at the house. And he’s in the system. They believe
he
exists. And he fits their idea of a criminal. It’s an easy answer and they all seem to like it. They think that’s why I’m fabricating things about the Prescotts, to try and cover up my son’s crimes.”

“So, they’ll arrest him? He’ll go to jail?”

“I suppose that’s up to Caroline.”

“What do you mean?”

“She managed to hide several acres of land from the police. She can hide one man if she wants to.”

“Right.” Patrick rubbed the skin around his IV. His hands shook. “So, then, there will be punishment for them at all? No justice?”

“I didn’t say that. I’m saying the justice won’t come from the Mundane police.”

“Are you disappointed in me?”

“Why in the hell would I be disappointed in you?”

“I didn’t save your brother. I didn’t forsee him dying. I don’t know…I guess I didn’t know him well enough to have a vision about him. I’m sorry.”

“Son, you’re not responsible for preventing every bad thing that ever happens. I don’t expect that of you. No one does.”

“I never actually saw it. The vision I had of Julie being tortured. I never saw the same image I saw in my head. What does that mean?”

“I don’t know.”

“Does that mean it was a trick? That the siren spell made me see it, so I would come to the forest?”

“Perhaps. Or maybe it means your power is more complicated than you realize. You knew Julie was being tortured, and you were right. You may have been taking the vision too literally. You assumed you would have to see it as you did in order for the vision to make sense. But maybe you just knew.”

“Maybe.”

“Even if you didn’t understand why, you were right. You were right that Julie was being tortured. You were right that you could walk through the concealment spell. And you were right that you could save Julie and Evangeline. I hate to say it, but if fall magic is anything like other types of magic, it involves a lot of guesswork. But in the end, you were right.”

“Being right is overrated.”

“I wouldn’t know. You’ll have to ask your mother.” He smiled slightly, and handed Patrick another slice of pizza.

manda opened her eyes and saw the empty chair where David had sat a moment ago.

“David?”

She had dozed off, a strange thing to do while getting chemo. She didn’t care how tired she was, she couldn’t sleep with chemicals being pumped into her veins. And where was David? He always stayed with her. She believed in the power of his presence more than she believed in the power of chemotherapy.

She tried to comfort herself. He could have seen she was sleeping and took the chance to go use the restroom or get a drink. But she doubted it. She could feel agitated, dirty magic polluting the room.

“Mom?”

She saw Jude, and that monster, Caroline. Jude looked stricken. He hadn’t seen her since the chemo had taken her hair and all the youth left in her skin. But Caroline smiled at her, her arm looped around Jude’s. If Amanda had any strength at all, she would have done her best to attack her. But she had neither physical or magical strength anymore, at least not enough to put a dent in Caroline. She had sucked magic out of three of the four events, and had to be more deadly and dangerous than ever.

“David,” Amanda called.

“He’ll be right back,” Caroline said. “Just taking a break.”

Amanda looked around and saw everyone had taken a break. The nurses. The other patients. The entire chemo room had emptied.

“Stay away from me,” Amanda said.

“Mom, it’s okay. She’s here to help you.” Jude approached her and reached for her hand.

Amanda grabbed Jude’s hand and squeezed it as hard as she could, a combination of affection and attack. “You need to stay away from her.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“How could you? After you’ve seen what she did to your brother and sister? I still had faith in you. How dare you prove me wrong?” She threw his hand back at him.

Caroline put her hand on Jude’s arm. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “She’s sick. In pain.”

Caroline poked at the tubes on the chemotherapy machine curiously. “Did they give you odds?” she asked.

Amanda didn’t answer. She looked around. She knew magic would do no good. So, she prayed to God instead. For David to come back. For Caroline to leave. For Jude to be okay. For her to live.

“It’s important,” Caroline said. “I need to know your odds. They must think you have a chance of survival, if they continue treatment. Is this right? Is there some chance? If not, I need to know.”

“Tell her, Mom. What kind of odds did they give you the treatment would work?”

“Go away,” she said.

“If you’re terminal, then I may still be able to help,” Caroline said. “But I’ll have to wait until I find the spring equinox wizard. Magic from three out of four events will be enough if you have a chance of survival. But in order to reverse death, I’ll need the spring.”

“Reverse death? That’s not something wizards can do.”

Caroline smiled. “That’s not something polar wizards can do. A wizard with magic from each event could do anything.”

“I don’t want your help,” Amanda said. “I don’t want any of your dirty magic touching me. I know what you did to get it.”

“Please, Mom,” Jude said. “You don’t like her, that’s fine. But that’s no reason to die. Think about Dad. About Patrick and Emmy. How could you leave them knowing you didn’t have to?”

“I don’t want to leave them. I don’t want to die.”

“Of course you don’t,” Caroline said.

“5-10% chance of remission. Those are my odds,” Amanda said.

“That should be plenty,” Jude said. “Right?”

Caroline nodded. “You’re going to be fine,” she said.

Amanda wanted to spit in her face, but instead tears slid down her cheeks. She wanted to live. All she had wanted for the past few months was for someone to tell her she would be fine, and
really
mean it.

“It won’t happen overnight, I’m afraid,” Caroline said. “At least I don’t think so. It means the treatment will work. You’ll still have to get the chemo. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

Caroline took her hand. Amanda winced. At her touch, she felt fear. And for a moment she didn’t know if Caroline had come to kill her or save her. A demon and an angel all wrapped into one.

Caroline patted Amanda’s hand. “This won’t hurt a bit,” she said.