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

bra. Patrick saw blood pulsing out of the gash with each heartbeat.
    Xavier came from nowhere and firmly pressed a folded throw blanket against the wound.
    “Thank you,” Mom said.
    Samantha made her way to Emmy’s side. Bits of glass sparkled in her hair, but she looked okay. What about Jude? Patrick climbed over the pile of wood that used to be the coffee table and scrambled over to the driver’s side of the truck. The door was cracked open but wedged shut against the side of what used to be the couch. Patrick heaved his weight against the couch and moved it out of the way. The door came open, and Jude fell out on top of him. He reeked of alcohol and needed to cling to Patrick to keep from falling over. But still conscious. Lucid. And, by the look on his face, he sobered up fast.
    “Emmy,” he said.
    As soon as he said her name, his blue eyes stilled, as if they had turned to glass. Then they seemed to melt. Patrick held his brother up while he cried.

    David had made it back to the Expressway when his phone rang. Amanda.
    “I’m almost home,” he said.
    He heard silence on the other line.
    “Amanda? Did you pocket dial me?”
    “No. I’m here.”
    “I’ll be at the house in ten.”
    “David.”
    “Yes?”
    “Something happened.”
    His stomach got heavy. Dear God, what now? His stress headache already made him nauseous. Not today. Nothing else today.
    “What?”
    “First, everyone is okay. Or will be okay.”
    “What?”
    “Jude crashed the truck into the living room. Emmy was hurt, but she’ll be okay. She needs stitches and a blood transfusion. We just arrived in the ER at Memorial Hermann. Please come here.”

    Patrick sat with Xavier, Evangeline, and Samantha in the hospital lobby. They all had blood on them, but Patrick had the most. They could have walked out of the horror film they never got to watch. They sat in four uncomfortable blue chairs facing each other in a tight little square, with Samantha and Patrick on one side and the Colters on the other. They didn’t say anything to each other for a long time.
    Tears streaked Samantha’s cheeks. If Patrick’s sister’s blood and his brother’s alcohol-saturated tears weren’t soaked through his shirt, he probably wouldn’t have done it, but he felt reckless. He took Samantha’s hand and held it. She squeezed it back, and the squeeze sent a rush of blood through his body like an extra heartbeat.
    Uncharacteristically, Xavier finally broke the silence.
    “She’ll be okay,” he said.
    He turned to Patrick when he said it. For some reason, the statement made Patrick angry. He wanted to punch Xavier in the face, although he couldn’t remember why. Then he remembered what happened right before Jude drove his truck into the house. Xavier and Mom arguing about magic. Glass breaking for no obvious reason. Samantha subduing Xavier with an aggressive hug. He dropped Samantha’s hand.
    “What’s going on?” Patrick asked.
    “What do you mean?” Xavier asked.
    “The glass breaking,” Patrick said.
    “I think we’ve been pretty open about it,” Xavier said. “I’m a wizard.”
    “You’re saying you broke the glass with your mind?”
    “I was mad.”
    Patrick laughed. “You guys really are bat shit crazy.”
    “How do you explain what you saw, then?” Evangeline asked.
    She had him stumped there.
    “How do you explain your mom telling him to stop? Not to do
magic
?” Evangeline asked. “She knows. She’s a witch too.”
    Patrick wanted to cry. He didn’t want to act like a kid, but he just wanted everyone to stop acting crazy. He wanted everything to be normal. He didn’t even care so much that Xavier and Evangeline lived with them now; he just wanted them to start doing things that made sense.
    He got up and went to the water fountain for something to do. He sat back down and everyone looked at him, waiting for him to say something, as if he hadn’t left.
    Patrick turned to Samantha. “What about you?”
    She bit her