Watch Me Burn: The December People, Book Two by Sharon Bayliss Page A

little.”
    “What do I feel like to you? Am I really cold?”
    He smiled. “No. Not cold…refreshing.”
    “Yuck. You have to be nice about everything. It’s so gross.”
    “No, I mean it. Do you have any idea what it feels like to be burning all the time? It’s 100 degrees outside today. What sounds better to you? Ice water or lava?”
    “I guess that makes sense.”
    “Am I really hot to you?” He blushed a little. “You know what I mean.”
    “Yeah, you’re pretty horrible. I kind of want to gouge my eyes out whenever I’m around you.”
    “Thank you for sparing my feelings.”
    “Did you want me to say you were like a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    “Well…I guess I did exaggerate a little. I don’t really want to gouge my eyeballs out when I look at you. At least, not now that I’m used to you.”
    “Well, that’s sweet. I don’t want to gouge my eyeballs out when I look at you either.”
    She felt herself blush again. He hadn’t exactly complimented her, but he twinkled far too much when he said it.
    “Listen, I don’t know what you think about Leona,” he said. “But I’m sure you’re thinking it’s worse than it is. I don’t want you thinking bad things about my family, so I’ll tell you the truth about her if you want.”
    “You will, just like that?”
    “Well, can you keep a secret?”
    “Yes, I can.” She shifted in her seat, thinking about the giant secret she had in her pocket.
    “She
sparkles
.”
    Emmy had to stop herself from spitting out pancakes in a suppressed laugh. His tone had been deadly serious, as if he said she had leprosy or snakes for hair.
    “What?” Emmy tried to match his serious demeanor, but couldn’t suppress a grin. “Like a
Twilight
vampire?”
    Nathan looked confused for a moment and then smiled. “No, nothing like that. I’m sorry, I forget we don’t use the same words for things.
Sparkling
is a nice way to say it, I guess. We always used that word to not hurt her feelings. I mean, she’s a kid. She’s fourteen.”
    Emmy didn’t like that, as if he thought fourteen was so ridiculously young that no one could possibly be any younger or naïve.
    “What does it really mean?”
    “Well, you know how summer wizards can attract people? People are drawn to us without knowing why…present company excluded, of course. Anyway, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. The term you’re probably familiar with is
siren
.”
    “The beautiful women that sing and make sailors crash their ships?”
    “Yeah, that’s right.”
    “So you’re saying her curse is being too beautiful?”
    “I know you don’t think it sounds bad, but it’s bad. Especially when you’re young like that. It seems to come on around puberty, the hormones or something. When she’s older, she might be able to control it better, but not now. She could cause people to lose their minds or be violent, not to mention attract lots of unwanted attention. She can’t be around people.”
    “So, what, she’s locked away somewhere?”
    “No, not
locked
. She’s at a special school, you know where experts can keep an eye on her and stuff.”
    “Like…a wizard school?”
    “Yeah.”
    “There are wizard schools?”
    “Sure.”
    Emmy stared at him confounded for a moment, before the obvious fact dawned on her. “Oh, you mean, for
some
kinds of wizards?”
    Nathan looked at his plate. “Well…”
    “No winter wizards allowed, right? Is there some kind of dating process you have to go through? What dates do you have to fall between to be considered worthy?”
    “It’s not like that,” he said. He glanced up and met her eyes, but kept his head lowered.
    “Oh, really? How is it like?”
    “I’m sure winter wizards have their own things summer wizards can’t be a part of.”
    Emmy glared at him.
    “Besides, it’s not a place you want to be. More like an institution than a school, I guess.”
    “Kind of like how you say she