Watch Me Burn: The December People, Book Two (30 page)

ude saw her for the first time last May, the same weekend he would have graduated if he hadn’t dropped out. He would have already committed to a college football team. All of which now, seemed odd. He couldn’t remember why he had cared so much about football, and SATs, and Mundane girls. Ever since he had given himself to magic, the unmagical world had become gray, flat, and tasteless. And so much of the world lacked magic—just billions of Mundanes, living their pointless, disappointing lives. He hated all of it.

So when he caught a glimpse of her at the college party he had crashed for the free beer, he decided to follow her. She stood out, the colorful Oz against black and white Kansas. He found he could follow her without seeing her. Once he recognized her energy, he could just find her, whenever he wanted to see color. Everyone else just saw her as another pretty blonde college girl. They might as well have been blind. He had never sensed any energy like hers. Not from any wizard. And although wizards were rare, he did see them around town from time to time. They seemed more common in Austin than they had been in Houston.

But no, she was different. Beyond magical. Something greater. And more unique. He couldn’t classify her magic. Not hot or cold, or anything in between. Beyond classification. Beyond the seasons. The hottest heat and the coldest cold at once.

So he followed her. Maybe because he wanted to understand her unusual energy. Or maybe just because she was a pretty witch. Or, perhaps for something to do other than wade in an endless sea of gray. He had considered talking to her, but for some reason he held back. She was more than a pretty girl. She was something frightening and exotic he didn’t understand. He felt as if he hunted a mythical beast, not a girl. And so he knew to approach with caution.

When he walked around campus, he donned a simple disguise of a baseball cap, T-shirt, khaki shorts, flip-flops, and a laptop case…empty, of course. He felt like he wore a disguise, but as an eighteen-year-old white boy from Houston, he couldn’t stand out on the UT campus if he tried. The Mundanes didn’t give him a second thought, but he knew that the witch did. Even if he didn’t shine with an overwhelming and mysterious energy as she did, she could tell a dark wizard stalked her. And she didn’t seem frightened, nor did she seem to care at all. And that intrigued him more.

Before finals, she spent a lot of time in the library studying. And he tracked her to one of the larger libraries on campus. Once he got close, he could follow her easily. Her energy moved and breathed as if alive, beckoning him, whispering in his ear. He felt a pull upwards and took the stairs to the second floor.

The first floor of the library had no books at all, just computers. But books filled the second floor. The shelves made this floor feel less open than the first. She could be anywhere. The strength of her magic made her easy to track from a distance. But once he got close, her energy overwhelmed him and he couldn’t pinpoint the source. She was
everywhere
. The magic felt so strong, he could hear it hum. In the middle of the floor, he found a large section filled with desks and couches. Students occupied every open spot. Laptop cords strewn everywhere. He could smell the caffeine sweating from everyone’s pores.

“Are you looking for something?”

No one else looked up, as if only he had heard the voice. He shuddered, first thinking it had come from a disembodied speaker, but then he saw her, her face peeking out from behind her laptop screen. She smiled at him.

She gestured him over with a nod of her head. He didn’t know how he’d make his way through all the people to get to her, let alone sit next to her. As if she read his thoughts, he heard shuffling around him as all the other people in the section got up to leave. Except for the fact they all happened to leave at the same time, it looked normal. They packed up their backpacks and computer cases, and said goodbyes to each other.

It took a minute or two for them all to wrap up their cords and chargers, but it was still quick, and dramatic. And none of them looked the least bit concerned by the fact they suddenly had decided to leave. They did so cheerfully, as if a silent school bell had dismissed them.

Jude put his empty laptop case on the desk next to her and sat. “Wow,” he said.

“Thank you.”

She was prettier up close. And it wasn’t the long tanned legs and breast-hugging T-shirt. She sparkled. Her hair and skin and eyes and teeth had been sewn from a mixture of fire and flesh. However, he knew everyone else saw a boring, vapid sorority girl. But she had made this her own secret joke. On her T-shirt he had two Greek letters. Alpha and Omega. He had a feeling that wasn’t a real sorority.

“I was tired of waiting for you to talk to me,” she said.

“You weren’t bothered by the fact that a dark wizard was following you around?”

She laughed a sparkling laugh. “Well, I’m not frightened of you, if that’s what you mean. It’s a common mistake dark wizards make. The big bad wolf thinks nobody can be bigger or badder than himself. He ignores Little Red Riding Hood. It’s a dangerous habit.”

“Okay. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“And if big bad wolves didn’t occasionally try to eat me, life would be boring. It makes for a good study break.”

“Do you really go to school here?”

“What? Witches can’t get a college education?”

“I didn’t mean that.”

“Yes, I go to school here.”

“What do you study?”

“I’m in the Honors Program in Mathematics.”

“Math?”

“Yes,
math
. The language of Gods. Perhaps the most misunderstood form of magic.”

Jude stared at her.

She smiled. “I would say it’s a shame the cute ones always have to be so stupid…but that would be a lie. That’s how I like my men, cute and stupid.”

“I’m not stupid.”

“I didn’t mean offense. You’re probably not stupid, just stupid compared to me,” she said, as if that would weaken the insult.

Jude scrunched his nose at her.

“I’m sorry. Don’t leave,” she said. “I sometimes get out of the habit of talking to people. I don’t do it much.”

“Me neither.”

“Yeah, I gathered as much while I’ve been watching you,” she said.

“I thought I was the one watching you.”

“No. That’s why you
think
you ended up here, in that chair, across from me, at this moment, but it’s not.”

“Then why am I here?”

“You’re here because I want you to be.”

“Is that so?”

“You’re here because you’re a function in the big, beautiful equation. The one so many wizards play a part in, but so few understand.”

Jude scoffed. “And what function do I serve?”

“I’m not sure yet. I don’t always understand how my own spells work. But I’m glad you’re here. If anything, to keep me company. It takes a while for these things to unfold. Quite boring.”

Jude laughed.

“You don’t believe I called you here?”

“I don’t know.”

“How about this. If you were the one stalking me, and not the other way around, how come I know everything about you, and you know nothing about me?”

“What makes you think you know everything about me?”

“Well, maybe not everything. But a lot. Your name is Jude Michael Vandergraff. You were born on April 5, 1996 to David and Amanda Vandergraff. Your parents now live at 634 Tremont Street in Houston, with your siblings Patrick and Emmy, and your half-siblings, Xavier and Evangeline. Although of course, you’ll have to take my word for it on the last part because you haven’t spoken to anyone in your family since you left your uncle’s house on New Year’s Eve. Since then, you’ve been crashing on couches, but basically homeless, unemployed, usually drunk, and utterly pathetic in every way. Did I get that all right?”

Jude’s mouth parted in speechlessness, and she giggled. “Okay, then your turn, what do you know about me?”

“Nothing. You’re right. Just that you’re different. Special.”

She smiled and held out her hand. “I’m Caroline Prescott. And we have a lot in common. Well, except for the last part about being pathetic.”

Jude laughed. “All right, then. It’s nice to meet you Caroline.”

fter Nathan ran back toward the smoke, Patrick found himself alone. He wanted to follow, to find Xavier, and drag him out, kicking and screaming if need be. But he had to let himself trust the summer wizard to save Xavier, too. Patrick’s gut said Nathan would do his best, as he’d said he would. Patrick had to hope that as a wizard, and apparently a powerful one, his “gut” might know what it was talking about.