When he asked her to breakfast, she didn’t consider saying no, but as she slid into the booth across from him, her stomach did flips and she didn’t know if she could keep food down. He wasn’t as noxious as Julie, but facing him head on from only feet away, for the time it would take to eat breakfast, horrified her. She couldn’t figure out what part of his face to look at, so she scanned the menu for much longer than necessary.
When the waitress took the menus, Emmy had no choice but to look at him. She decided to look at his nose.
“I’m sorry about your sister,” she said.
Nathan nodded. She knew it had been a useless thing to say.
“I don’t understand why you’re here,” he said.
“You asked me to breakfast.”
“No. The forest. Why are you really here?”
Emmy dropped her spoon. His question had a special quality about it—a command. And the intensity of it startled her. An image of the bracelet popped into her head and she stared at her coffee, trying hard to empty her mind. She didn’t know if he could read her mind or not, but it was possible.
She waited a long time before answering. Planning out every single syllable of the words she wanted to say. He squinted at her as she stared at him in silence.
“I don’t know,” she said finally. She didn’t tell the whole story, but didn’t flat out lie. She didn’t know what spell he tried to cast, but she must have cracked it.
Nathan leaned forward in his booth, as if he expected her to say more. When she didn’t he leaned back again.
“I guess you really don’t know,” he said. “I don’t like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Unless you have a habit of driving places in the middle of the night for no reason, it means you’re here because of magic. As part of a spell.”
“Maybe.”
“Are you a Vandergraff?” He said “Vandergraff” as if he described a type of mystical beast, not her last name.
“Yes. Emmy Vandergraff.”
“I’m sorry, I should have asked you your name. That was rude.”
“You’re Nathan, right?”
He nodded.
“Or, should I say ‘Are you a Prescott’?”
He smiled.
“I know your name because your family is in the news,” Emmy said. “How do you know mine?”
“I didn’t. Not your first name. But we know about the Vandergraffs.”
“Oh, do you? What do you think you know about us?”
“Not much.”
“That we’re winter wizards and there is nothing else you need to know, right?”
“We’ve left you be,” he said, as if ignoring them was a great kindness. “Do you know why your father drove by our house the other day?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Okay…why?”
“Oh, basic dark wizard stuff. Stalking the good guys. Being evil for no reason.”
He smiled bigger this time. His face had this wilted, tired look, but smiling came naturally to him, he couldn’t help himself.
“Is that right?” he asked. His eyes twinkled. Like, for real. As if invisible fireworks reflected in the greens of his eyes.
“Can I ask you something?” she said.
“Sure.”
“Have you met a winter wizard before? You know, before me?”
“No. I've seen them. I haven't talked to one.”
Emmy sipped her coffee and tried to pretend she didn’t hate it. She never drank regular coffee, just sometimes the sugary versions at Starbucks. But she wanted to seem grown-up. Since she’d been driving a car, he probably thought she was older. At least sixteen, and she wanted to perpetuate the illusion as long as possible. “Would you be in trouble if you were caught talking to me?” she asked.
“Yes. Probably.”
“Do you think a dark wizard took Julie?” She immediately wished she hadn’t asked the question. She didn’t want the answer.
His restrained smile faded away again. “I don’t know,” he said.
She sensed falsehood in his “I don’t know.” Not a lie, but not the whole truth, by a long shot. She didn’t know how to compel him to tell the truth as he could do with her…or as he thought he could do with her.
“You know. Not all dark wizards are bad,” she said. “I mean, just…mostly.”
“You mean, most of them are bad, or they are all mostly bad?”
“Yes.”
He laughed, that brightness breaking through again. He had a nice laugh. Even though sadness weighted his eyes, he laughed with abandon, as though he couldn’t help himself. He tilted his head back and let the sound rumble though every part of his body.
“Well, summer wizards aren’t all good,” he said.
“Just, mostly.” Emmy said.
“I guess so.”
“My dad thinks someone cast a catalyst spell to get Julie back, and we’re somehow part of it. Did you, or anyone in your family cast a spell like that?”
“A catalyst spell? Is that like spark magic?”
“I don’t know what that is. A catalyst spell is when you cast a spell to get something you want, but you can’t decide how you get it. Like, you could cast a spell to get a million dollars, and the magic would have your husband get in a car wreck so you get his life insurance settlement.”
“Yeah, that sounds the same.”
“But when you do it, it wouldn’t be bad right? Your magic isn’t destructive.”
“Since when is fire not destructive?”
“Yeah, but light creates, not destroys. So the spark you lit wouldn’t leave a wake of destruction in its path.” She could hear the desperation in her voice, and didn’t like it. Didn’t he see? He was the light. He was the goodness. And if not, then did goodness exist at all?
He gave her a look that combined sympathy and confusion. He could tell what he said upset her, but didn’t know why. “Well, it depends. The problem with spark magic is it’s unpredictable, like you described. It’s like trying to set off an explosion from a mile away. You have to light a long fuse, and the more complicated the magic, the longer the fuse. The fuse takes a long time to wind down, and you hope you set it up right, so the explosion goes off in the right place, or that it goes off at all.”
“What do you mean, an explosion?”
“Well, not a literal explosion. At least, not usually. Just whatever you’re trying to make happen. Fate doesn’t like to be messed with. If you’re successful at breaking it, it makes a loud crash. You know what I mean?”
Emmy did not know what he meant, but let it go. She had broken through his shell, and didn’t have the patience to wait any longer for answers. “Where are Leona and Caroline?”
His face turned pale. Although it might not have actually turned pale, more as if she could sense his light flickering.
“My sisters?”
“Yes.”
“How do you even know about them?”
“Why? Are people not supposed to know about them?”
“No…why are you asking?”
“You’re answering all my questions with another question.”
“Caroline is overseas doing volunteer work this summer.”
“And Leona?”
“It’s none of your business. I shouldn’t be talking to you anyway.” He stood up to leave.
“Wait.” She grabbed his arm without thinking about it. He shuddered at her touch. She pulled her hand away and wanted to shrink under the table.
She thought he would leave, but he didn’t. He sat down.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “I didn’t hurt you when you touched me, did I?”
“No. I thought I hurt you.”
“Oh, no. Maybe surprised me a little.”
“What do I feel like to you? Am I really cold?”
He smiled. “No. Not cold…refreshing.”
“Yuck. You have to be nice about everything. It’s so gross.”
“No, I mean it. Do you have an
y idea what it feels like to be burning all the time? It’s 100 degrees outside today. What sounds better to you? Ice water or lava?”
“I guess that makes sense.”
“Am I really hot to you?” He blushed a little. “You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, you’re pretty horrible. I kind of want to gouge my eyes out whenever I’m around you.”
“Thank you for sparing my feelings.”
“Did you want me to say you were like a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Well…I guess I did exaggerate a little. I don’t really want to gouge my eyeballs out when I look at you. At least, not now that I’m used to you.”
“Well, that’s sweet. I don’t want to gouge my eyeballs out when I look at you either.”
She felt herself blush again. He hadn’t exactly complimented her, but he twinkled far too much when he said it.
“Listen, I don’t know what you think about Leona,” he said. “But I’m sure you’re thinking it’s worse than it is. I don’t want you thinking bad things about my family, so I’ll tell you the truth about her if you want.”
“You will, just like that?”
“Well, can you keep a secret?”
“Yes, I can.” She shifted in her seat, thinking about the giant secret she had in her pocket.
“She sparkles.”
Emmy had to stop herself from spitting out pancakes in a suppressed laugh. His tone had been deadly serious, as if he said she had leprosy or snakes for hair.
“What?” Emmy tried to match his serious demeanor, but couldn’t suppress a grin. “Like a Twilight vampire?”
Nathan looked confused for a moment and then smiled. “No, nothing like that. I’m sorry, I forget we don’t use the same words for things. Sparkling is a nice way to say it, I guess. We always used that word to not hurt her feelings. I mean, she’s a kid. She’s fourteen.”
Emmy didn’t like that, as if he thought fourteen was so ridiculously young that no one could possibly be any younger or naïve.
“What does it really mean?”
“Well, you know how summer wizards can attract people? People are drawn to us without knowing why…present company excluded, of course. Anyway, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. The term you’re probably familiar with is siren.”
“The beautiful women that sing and make sailors crash their ships?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“So you’re saying her curse is being too beautiful?”
“I know you don’t think it sounds bad, but it’s bad. Especially when you’re young like that. It seems to come on around puberty, the hormones or something. When she’s older, she might be able to control it better, but not now. She could cause people to lose their minds or be violent, not to mention attract lots of unwanted attention. She can’t be around people.”
“So, what, she’s locked away somewhere?”
“No, not locked. She’s at a special school, you know where experts can keep an eye on her and stuff.”
“Like…a wizard school?”
“Yeah.”
“There are wizard schools?”
“Sure.”
Emmy stared at him confounded for a moment, before the obvious fact dawned on her. “Oh, you mean, for some kinds of wizards?”
Nathan looked at his plate. “Well…”
“No winter wizards allowed, right? Is there some kind of dating process you have to go through? What dates do you have to fall between to be considered worthy?”
“It’s not like that,” he said. He glanced up and met her eyes, but kept his head lowered.
“Oh, really? How is it like?”
“I’m sure winter wizards have their own things summer wizards can’t be a part of.”
Emmy glared at him.
“Besides, it’s not a place you want to be. More like an institution than a school, I guess.”
“Kind of like how you say she ‘sparkles,’ when you mean she’s a dangerous monster? And she’s not locked in an institution, she’s in school.”
Nathan bit his lip and poked at his scrambled eggs. He was useless in an argument. As soon as he looked sad, Emmy wanted to back down. No fun at all.
“I’m sorry I said your sister was a monster,” she said rolling her eyes. “I’m sure she’s just sparkly.”
“No, you’re right. It’s easier not to think of it like that, I guess. It is bad for her. She’ll always be alone. She can’t ever fall in love or get married.”
“Why not? You’d think she’d have her pick of anyone she wanted. They’d have to love her back.”
“No, that’s not how it works. Anyone she was attracted to would fall under her spell. It’s a hormonal reflex she can’t control. If she finds someone attractive, it releases pheromones that cause the siren song effect. She’d become like a drug to them. And if they managed not to destroy themselves getting to her, they’d never have a normal relationship. She’d never know if they really loved her or were addicted to her. But the siren effect isn’t always sexual. Sometimes it’s more like extreme charisma. Some cult leaders have been sirens.”
“So, cult leaders, like the ones who lead mass suicides and have a hundred wives. Those have been summer wizards?”
“A few have. I told you not all summer wizards are good. Summer wizards are powerful, and power corrupts. It’s almost impossible for a siren to avoid being corrupted by their power.”
“Are your other sisters sirens too?” Emmy asked.
“No,” he said.
Nathan’s phone trilled, and he glanced at it. He winced. “My parents are coming out here.” He looked her square in the eyes. “You should go home,” he said, and he tried to command her.
Emmy did the same thing she had before. She got still and quiet and focused hard on what she would say next. The reaction, the easy thing, would be to obey. But she could resist him if she concentrated.
“No,” she said finally.
He raised his eyebrows. “No?”
“No.”
He sat up straight and looked confused. He looked at his phone, and then out the window, and then back at her. He looked so lost.
“Oh, calm down,” Emmy said. “I don’t want to get you in trouble. I’ll go. I just wanted you to know that it was up to me.”
He nodded slowly, as if now he was the one in the trace. “Okay. Thank you.”
He insisted on paying for her breakfast and she didn’t know if that meant it had been a date, or if it was a side effect of his unstoppable niceness.
He also walked her to her truck, keeping his eye on the road the whole time.
“Can I see your phone?” he asked.
“Why?”
“I know you don’t need my phone number to call me. But it is a lot easier.”
“Oh,” she said. She turned on her phone and handed to him.
When Emmy got home, Mom and Dad waited for her. But they didn’t yell, they just glared at her. Their seething silence intimidated her more than yelling.
“So, where were you?” Dad asked.
“I was at a strip club smoking crack. And then I robbed a convenience store.”
Mom and Dad glared harder.
“You know what, Emmy?” Mom asked. “I don’t even care. It doesn’t matter what I do. Nothing I do or say matters. You’re so selfish and childish, you’re beyond hope.”
Mom handed her an envelope and Emmy stared at it.
“If you’re working as a stripper, dealing crack, and robbing convenience stores,” Mom said. “Then I’m going to ask you to use your ill-gotten gains to pay this credit card bill.”
“I was obviously joking.”
“Then, go get a real job.”
“I’m fourteen.”
“Are you? Really? I thought you were a grown-up. You know, since you can do whatever you want all the time and don’t have to listen to your parents.”
“I—”
“Do whatever y
ou want, Emmy. I don’t care. I give up.” Mom went into her bedroom and slammed the door.
Dad continued glaring at her.
“So, am I grounded, or what? Are you going to take my phone away? Why don’t we skip to the punishment part?”
“What’s the point of that? You’re going to find a way around it,” Dad said. “We’re trying to keep you safe. Why do you to have to make that so hard for us?”
“I’m not putting myself in danger. I can take care of myself.”
“You have no respect for us. And you have no respect for yourself.”
“Would you please punish me already?”
“Are you sneaking out to see him?”
“Who?”
“Your brother.”
“What, you can’t even say his name now? Are we going to call him he-who-must-not-be-named?”
“That’s not funny.”
“No, I’m not seeing Jude. We haven’t spoken.” Her voice hurt when she said it. She felt her throat tightening.
“I obviously don’t think you should see him. But if you have, you can tell me. I know it’s difficult to be away from your talisman.”
Just hearing him say it out loud made her chest hurt. It also made her eyes hurt, and the bottoms of her feet hurt.
“Why don’t you just punish me?” She had to push the words out of her constricted throat.
“I will. When I think of an appropriate punishment. One that might actually work.”
“So, you’re going to hang the axe over my head and not even tell me?”
“Just go to your room, Emmy. Get some sleep.”
She started walking away and then turned around. “Dad, I wanted you to know. I don’t think Leona and Caroline are missing like Julie. Caroline is in some third world country building wells or whatever…that’s why she hasn’t come home right away. And Leona is at some kind of institution for messed up wizards.”
Dad’s curiosity must have gotten the best of him, because his glare melted. “How do you know?”
“I’m trying to help find Julie. Just like you. And that’s what I was doing. If you must know.”
“You can’t go around investigating summer wizards on your own. They’re dangerous.”
“You told me to go to my room and go to sleep. That’s what I’m going to do.”
Watch Me Burn: The December People, Book Two Page 7