Destruction: The December People, Book One by Sharon Bayliss Page A

“It’s too scary for you.”
    “Yeah right. Besides, it’s Halloween.”
    “It has subtitles.”
    “Uh… we can read, Patrick,” Emmy said. “Unlike the Colters.”
    “We can read,” Xavier said.
    Patrick jumped. Perfectly placed to argue this point, the Colter siblings sat on the floor in a blind spot behind the couch, pulling books off the bookshelf and placing them in piles. Flushed patches appeared on Emmy’s neck. She had intended her mean comment to be of the behind-their-backs variety.
    “I didn’t know you were there,” she said.
    “What are you guys doing?” Mom came into the room as if she had smelled the confrontation brewing. She saw the movie on the screen. “No. It’s too late. You all need to start getting ready for bed.”
    “Jude’s not home yet,” Emmy said.
    “Let me worry about that,” Mom said.
    “It’s only 11:15.” Patrick’s own words surprised him. Since when did he stand up for his brother?
    “I’m sure he’ll be home any minute,” Mom said.
    “Where’s David?” Evangeline asked.
    Patrick hadn’t even noticed Dad’s absence.
    Mom hesitated. “Away.”
    Evangeline stood. “You can’t send him away.” Her voice had a higher pitch than usual. “You can’t be apart.”
    Patrick’s eyebrows knitted together.
Who was she to say anything? What did she care?
By the indignation on Emmy’s face, she thought something similar.
    “If you really cared about their marriage, you should have thrown yourself off a cliff,” Emmy said.
    Okay, he didn’t think
that
.
    “Emmy!” Mom shouted.
    Everything in the china cabinet along the wall shattered.
    “Xavier!” Mom shouted. “No magic.”
    What?
    “Magic isn’t a choice,” Xavier said. “The only choice is whether or not you control it or let it control you.”
    The light bulbs in three of the lamps shattered.
What the fuck?
    “Stop it,” Mom cried.
    Xavier’s chest rose and fell rapidly as he breathed. His gray eyes darted back and forth. Looking for something else to break?
    Then something even more disturbing happened: Samantha ran at Xavier and thrust her body against his. He stumbled back at the influx of her weight. She wrapped her arms around him, plastering his own arms to his sides and pressed herself… close. Patrick’s throat got dry. It looked so… intimate. Xavier sort of grunted, in surprise, but it also sounded kind of private, like the sounds people make during sex.
    After what seemed like several years, she released him. An odd way to calm someone down, but it worked. Xavier didn’t speak or move. Patrick supposed that would shut any guy up. Distract him, at least.
    “That was weird,” Emmy said into the silence.
    Then a few seconds of calm passed over them. Like the eye of the storm.
    Then all hell broke loose.

    The whole house shook in a deafening crash of shattering glass and splintering wood. Patrick grabbed Emmy and tried to shield her, but he couldn’t tell where the danger came from. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back as bits of glass grazed his arms.
    When the terrible crunching and shattering sounds had ended, Patrick raised his head. He had somehow guessed correctly about where to pull Emmy. In the spot where she had stood, he now saw the front bumper of Jude’s truck.
    Patrick scanned the room for everyone else. Where had they stood? He even wanted to glimpse the dark-haired heads of Xavier and Evangeline. Patrick saw them first. They had backed into the hallway and huddled together, looking as shocked as he felt. Mom? Samantha? Where?
    And what about Jude?
    He heard his mother’s voice. “Emmy!”
    Patrick released Emmy from his grip and saw blood on his hands. Emmy stayed standing when he released her, a good sign, but her stomach and chest were red with blood. She clutched at her heart, breathing heavily.
    “What happened?” Mom ran over and pulled up Emmy’s shirt. “What got you?”
    “Glass, I think,” Emmy said.
    She had a deep cut right under her