Destruction: The December People, Book One Read Online Free PDF Page A

Carr?”
    Her whole body tensed, but her eyes came to life, as if flares lit them from behind. Amanda took a few quick steps forward and hit him in the face. Not a slap. A punch. His cheek vibrated with the sting. His eyes rattled in their sockets. Then she sat on the curb, put her face in her hands, and whispered, “Crystal.”
    David couldn’t take his eyes off her and didn’t notice when his Vandergraff kids came back out of the car. Emmy put her arm around her mother.
    “What did you do?” Patrick asked him.
    Jude didn’t look as if he needed to hear a reason before he planted a punch on David’s other cheek. But he didn’t get the chance. Amanda got up and herded them all back in the car like she had the stretchy arms of the woman from
The Incredibles
. And they drove away. Gone. Just like that.
    David got back in the car and turned to Xavier and Evangeline with a bright pink cheek.
    “I—―”
    “You didn’t tell them we were coming?” Xavier asked.
    At least he had finally said something.

avid took the kids to Golden Corral for dinner. The concept of a buffet baffled his newest children.
I can eat whatever I want? I just go up there and take it? Are you sure?
They made odd meal choices. Evangeline got a big pile of fruit, a hard-boiled egg, pizza, and a pile of shredded cheese from the salad bar, and then ice cream with sprinkles at David’s suggestion. Xavier got cottage cheese, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato casserole, and an egg roll, and then ice cream as well.
    “We’re going to stay in a hotel tonight,” David explained while they took tiny bites of their soft serve. They looked overstuffed. No one eats ice cream that slowly. Feeding them too much too fast and risking vomiting seemed like the least of his mistakes. “You’ll like the hotel. It has an indoor pool.”
    “I don’t know how to swim,” Evangeline said.
    “Oh. Okay, well, you’ll still like it, I think.”
    “Shawna said we were going to stay at your house,” Evangeline said.
    “I’m afraid I’m not sure if we will or not. My wife is upset with me.”
    “Because you had sex with our mom and had us,” Evangeline said. “And didn’t tell her about it until just now when you were about to bring us home?”
    “Yes.”
    “That was stupid,” Evangeline said.
    “Yes it was.”
    She wrinkled her nose. Disgust. Or judgment. Either way, he had disappointed her. Her father turned out to be a non-magical adulterer with no house.
    “It was a mistake… Not having you, that wasn’t a mistake. Not telling my wife until now was a mistake. But I was afraid to tell her.”
    “Because she’ll want a divorce,” Evangeline said.
    “Yes.”
    “You don’t think having us was a mistake?” Evangeline asked.
    “No. Of course, not.”
    “Why not?” Evangeline asked.
    “Because then you wouldn’t exist,” he said.
    She looked thoughtful, considering the concept as she would a new food.
    “And because I loved your mom,” he continued. “If I had to do it over again, I would.”
    “That’s stupid,” Evangeline said.
    David smiled. He couldn’t help himself. She had called him stupid twice. A man she barely knew. A father. She didn’t act like a scared, abused girl. She acted spirited and fiery, like her mother.
    “What?” she asked.
    “Nothing,” he said.
    They didn’t ask the questions he knew they must have.
So… if you loved her, why didn’t you stay? Why didn’t you marry her? Raise us? Why didn’t you save us?
They must have wondered.
    Xavier had the same look he had during the wizard conversation. Hardly readable… but listening. He watched Evangeline while she talked, and then turned to David when he talked. It wouldn’t seem like much to someone else, but David knew better. Unlike most conversations that went on around him, Xavier cared enough to listen.
    “It probably is stupid. But I’d do it again because I still haven’t come up with any other alternative. I love your mom, and I love my wife