Destruction: The December People, Book One (28 page)

But lo and behold, Santa came right before dinner on Christmas Eve. Since they didn’t have a chimney, Santa rang the doorbell. David remembered a blast of fear and happiness at once when his father opened the door and saw Santa Claus, complete with the red suit, white beard, and bag of toys. He wished Santa had known to come at night while his parents slept, as he did for the other kids.

This bizarre appearance probably baffled David’s father so much that he forgot to be angry right away. He said, “I think you have the wrong house.”

“Is this the house of David and James Vandergraff?” Santa asked in a deep, authoritative voice.

“How do you know my sons’ names?”

“I’m Santa Claus,” Santa said, and then he winked at David’s father. Grown-up David couldn’t help but laugh at this ridiculous act.

“We didn’t ask for this,” his father said. “You need to leave.”

“Just take the presents,” Santa said, in a less Santa-like voice. He took a wrapped package out of his bag. “James, this one’s for you.”

James approached Santa like a squirrel trying to take a piece of food out of someone’s hand. Then Santa gave a gift to David.

“Merry Christmas,” Santa said and then left quickly.

David feared his father would take away his present. He looked at his brother and said, “Run.”

They ran out the back door before their parents could react and into the wooded area behind their house. They ran until they had to stop and catch their breath. He had worn only socks, and his feet hurt from running across the rocky ground, but he didn’t care. He and James sat down on the ground and opened their presents. David got a Lego set, and James got a toy car. They played with their toys in the middle of the woods until their hands got stiff with cold. David didn’t remember what happened after that.

The grown-up David figured that memory had stuck with him for a reason. A far more important memory than his little self would have ever guessed. It would have shown little dark wizard David that good magic existed, too. Because if Santa Claus wasn’t an example of a good wizard, he didn’t know what was.

David had reeled this memory though his mind so much that week before Christmas that he wondered if he had summoned Santa by accidental magic. Santa Claus, played by his brother James, came to the door unexpectedly that Friday. Of course, this Santa Claus dressed in a black V-neck sweater and jeans and didn’t have a bag of toys.

“It looks like Christmas threw up on your house,” he said.

“Hey, James. I didn’t know you were coming.”

“I was in town,” he said.

“Are you checking up on me?”

“I can’t visit my brother and my nieces and nephews on Christmas? Besides, I believe I have two more to meet. I brought them gifts.”

“Where?”

James didn’t have a thing with him. David guessed that meant he didn’t plan to stay.

Emmy and Evangeline came down the stairs to see the visitor.

“Gift cards,” James said. With a flourish, five gift cards appeared in his hand, splayed like playing cards. David wanted to ask him to do it again so he could watch more carefully. A common parlor trick or… not?

“Thanks, Uncle James,” Emmy said.

She reached for the cards, and he held them out of reach.

“Have you been nice this year?” he asked.

She stood there with her mouth slightly open and looked stumped.

“I’m just kidding,” James said. “You can have one anyway.”

She smiled and took one.

“You too,” he said to Evangeline. “Come on.”

“This is my brother, James,” David explained. “It’s okay.”

Evangeline approached him slowly and took a card. She examined it with a puzzled look. David would have to explain the concept of gift cards later.

“Attagirl,” James said.

“Can I get you something to drink?” David asked.

“Sure.”

His brother followed him into the kitchen, and David handed him a Saint Arnold.

“Emmy’s gotten pretty,” James said. “You should lock her in a tower until her twenty-first birthday.”

“We considered something like that.”

“Ha. Sounds like Amanda. She here?”

“Work. Where’s Justin?”

“He already left for his parents’ house for Christmas.”

“You mean you don’t spend Christmas together?”

He shrugged. “Nah, it’s easier this way. Fewer questions from his relatives.”

“I didn’t know you were always alone on Christmas. Why didn’t you tell me? You could have been coming here.”

“It’s not a big deal. I have friends.”

“But you visit me
this
Christmas. Is that a coincidence? I mean… it’s nice to see you and all.”

James peeled the label off his beer. “So I can’t check up on you?”

“I told you, you don’t have to worry. I’m fine.”

“There’s magic in this house,” James said matter-of-factly.

“It’s the kids. We can’t keep them from doing it. We’re trying.”

“I’ve just been thinking. If you don’t remember magic, then you don’t remember why you shouldn’t do it.” James continued to stare at his bottle while he created a pile of shredded label on the counter.

“Trust me, I have Amanda for that. I’m not planning on practicing magic. At least… not dark magic.”

James winced. “It doesn’t work like that. Dark wizards can’t do good magic.”

“As Amanda tells me again and again,” David said. “But I’m not sure if I believe that. Being evil is a choice. No one is born that way.”

“I read about the wildfire in the news. That was your development it wiped out, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. I can’t believe you noticed that.”

“Did you do that?”

David huffed. “Did I set that fire and destroy my company? No, of course not.”

“Then maybe Amanda, or one of your kids.”

“You’re accusing them of arson? That’s out of line. Besides, no matter how much they hate me, none of them wants to be poor.” As he said it, he couldn’t help but think about what Xavier had said when he took him shopping.
Wizards shouldn’t care about material things.

“Wizards don’t need a match.”

“It’s a drought year, James. The wildfire was caused by a jackass with a cigarette butt or something like that.”

“Can I tell you something in confidence?” James asked. He looked up at David for the first time in the conversation.

“Sure.”

“Five years ago, I cast a spell. I don’t practice… but I thought it was a special case. Justin was really unhappy. He had this horrible job. He worked fourteen hours a day and on weekends and his boss treated him like shit. We never saw each other and when we did, he was so tired and stressed, he was an ass. I thought it was going to break us up. So, I cast a spell. I should have known better than to do one so complicated. Even Mom and Dad didn’t do this one. It was a catalyst spell. It’s supposed to change your circumstances. I cast it around Justin’s job, with the goal of positive change, to either make his current job better or find him a new one. The thing about a catalyst spell is that you can only define the consequences, not how they will be achieved. Humans don’t have the depth to understand how magic works and can’t change the moving parts. They can only push
go
. But if you do it right, you can get the change you want, one way or another.”

“It didn’t work.”

“It did.”

“Oh, God…” David put two and two together without James having to explain. He didn’t know much about James and Justin’s daily life, but he did know about this. The story had even aired on the news in Houston.

“The next day, when Justin was out of the office running errands for his boss, a motherfucking tornado touched down right on top of his office. It was a stormy day, but a tornado didn’t touch down anywhere else in the whole goddamn town. Fifteen people died inside that office, including his asshole boss, but also including… fourteen innocent, random people.”

James leaned over on the counter and stared at the granite.

“James, you can’t…”

“It fucking worked. It took him six months to find another job, but he did. A better one. He’s much happier now.” James raised his beer bottle in a highly ironic ‘cheers’.

“Does he know?”

“That I murdered fifteen people to cheer him up? No, it’s never come up. Thankfully, Justin isn’t a wizard, so he wouldn’t even begin to suspect I had anything to do with it.” He sighed. “I’ve never told anyone about that spell.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Those people would be alive if it wasn’t for me.”

“It could be a coincidence.”

James laughed darkly. “No.”

“I’m sorry, James.”

“Listen, I’m not saying for sure that’s what happened to your business. I just want you to know: it doesn’t matter what your intentions are. Magic sucks.”

n the afternoon of December 21st, Amanda returned from shopping all frizzy and sweaty. She put a loaded paper grocery bag onto the kitchen counter and said, “Fine. Here you go.”

“What?” David asked.

“You get your wish. As long as it’s just observances, and no significant magic. And if someone calls the fire department, you get to explain why we thought we’d light our backyard on fire. Now help me get the wood from the back of the truck.”

“We’re going to celebrate the solstice?”

“You said you didn’t want to ignore a holiday like your parents did. And the kids want to, so I didn’t want to be the bad guy all by myself. I figure it doesn’t hurt anything to light some candles and have a fire. As long as there is no real magic.”