Today is the Winter Solstice, the most important day of the year for dark wizards in the world of
The December People. To celebrate, I'd like to share a teaser from
Destruction, Book One of The December People Series--the first teaser from the series ever to be seen on the web!
Destruction is coming on April 14, 2014 from Curiosity Quills Press.
David and his family plus Samantha stood in a circle
around a small pile of unlit firewood in the backyard. They stood arranged by
age; David, Amanda, Jude, Patrick, Xavier, Samantha, Emmy, Evangeline, and then
of course, David again, all twice as thick with jackets and scarves. The air
felt hard with cold, a cold that seeped in through their layers with ease. They
held candles…but no matches…in their gloved hands. The family had gone through the
house turning off lights. And that meant all
of them. They even turned off the red lights glowing on electronics. They
had unplugged the entire house. However, David could see easily. An orange haze
of light peeked up from the trees. Millions of lights lit up the world all
around them. Darkness didn't exist in the middle of Houston.
As soon as they had managed to arrange themselves into a
circle, the kids got quiet without David or Amanda instructing them to. Wizards
standing in a circle felt significant to David. When they got in that position,
they snapped into place. The air became denser around him and he rooted to the
spot, as if with extra gravity. But he didn't feel confined. He felt powerful. He
plugged into an energy source he didn't even know existed. His fingers had an
itchy, tingly feeling. He knew he could do magic.
The paper in Amanda's hand crinkled loudly as she held it
close to her face. She had done her research, which David found endearing and
impressive, since one couldn't exactly learn how to cast spells on Wikipedia. She
had talked to the kids and talked to some of the witches Penelope's mom knew,
and had created a ritual designed specifically for them. The matriarch of the
family always directs spell casting. She's supposed to understand her family's
magic, the purpose of each family member, and knows how to keep them in balance,
a tall order, especially since she didn't know much about some of the newest
members of her family and knew even less about magic. But, he had never known
Amanda to say she couldn't do anything, so why start now?
Amanda owning this task shocked the kids, but not David. He
knew her better than anyone did. Thus, he knew her mind and the rest of her often
disagreed. Her left brain dug her feet into the ground and wouldn't budge. That
part of her would say things like, "We're not practicing magic," and "We're
divorced," until kingdom come. She would say it. She'd believe it. And she'd
do the opposite, because occasionally the parts of her not governed by her left
brain would break free. And because David had now learned that wizards stayed
wizards, no matter how many years they'd been indoctrinated otherwise. They
listened to forces that had nothing to do with logic or reason, making them stupid,
reckless, destructive, and exciting. And they liked to play with fire. Literally
and figuratively.
"How I am supposed to read this in the dark?"
Amanda asked. "How do people do this?"
"You're supposed to have it memorized,"
Evangeline said.
"Your eyesight is terrible," David said. "Let
me see it."
She thrust the paper out of his reach. "Back off."
"Why don't you just let Evangeline or Samantha speak?
David said. "I'm sure they have some stuff memorized."
"No," Amanda said. "It's supposed to be
me. My words." Amanda let out a shivery sigh. "I'm sorry. I know I'm
not supposed to do this." She took her phone out of her pocket and turned
it back on. She illuminated her paper with the dim blue light.
"First we honor the darkness,
For in darkness our eyes are not distracted by the flash
and flair of mundane sights
So only in darkness can we truly see.
In the silence of the deepest night, our ears are not
assaulted by mundane sounds
So only in darkness can we truly hear.
In darkness, we are unable to see danger and are rendered
vulnerable
So only in darkness can we truly feel.
We do not believe that light exists in spite of darkness.
We believe that light exists because of it.
Darkness is the only fertile ground for light. It is the
only garden where light can be sown.
So now we experience the darkness. Use this time in the
dark and quiet to use your deeper senses. Experience what you are called to
experience. The answers wait for you in the darkness. Do not deny them."
And then they fell silent. David couldn't hear the cars
on the highway anymore. He couldn't hear the music playing down the street. He
could hear only the breathing of the others in the circle. And the sky…the
orange haze disappeared and the sky looked like the one over Big Bend. Millions
of stars set against a perfect pitch black. The moon cast a crisp, blue light
upon them. With her words, or perhaps with some other magic deeper than words,
she had called the darkness to them. David pictured it as a bubble around them.
The quiet didn't feel awkward as David would have
expected. No one giggled or even coughed or sighed. His lungs felt larger. He
could breathe. This darkness didn't feel frightening. In fact, David couldn't
remember ever feeling so safe. The darkness was the foundation that everything
else was built on. The garden where the universe grew. The simplest, most basic
thing in existence. And it was spectacular.
He supposed that was the answer that waited for him. That
darkness in itself was not evil. Darkness was peace. Potential. Home.
When Xan is framed for starting a fire that seriously injures his best friend, he loses all his old friends, and instead gravitates towards the uber-smart, Lacey, believing that she may have answers. Together they investigate the arson to find the true culprit. What they find surprises both of them. Xan did start the fire...or someone who looks exactly like Xan.
