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

‘sparkles,’ when you mean she’s a dangerous monster? And she’s not locked in an institution, she’s in
school
.”
    Nathan bit his lip and poked at his scrambled eggs. He was useless in an argument. As soon as he looked sad, Emmy wanted to back down. No fun at all.
    “I’m sorry I said your sister was a monster,” she said rolling her eyes. “I’m sure she’s just sparkly.”
    “No, you’re right. It’s easier not to think of it like that, I guess. It is bad for her. She’ll always be alone. She can’t ever fall in love or get married.”
    “Why not? You’d think she’d have her pick of anyone she wanted. They’d have to love her back.”
    “No, that’s not how it works. Anyone she was attracted to would fall under her spell. It’s a hormonal reflex she can’t control. If she finds someone attractive, it releases pheromones that cause the siren song effect. She’d become like a drug to them. And if they managed not to destroy themselves getting to her, they’d never have a normal relationship. She’d never know if they really loved her or were addicted to her. But the siren effect isn’t always sexual. Sometimes it’s more like extreme charisma. Some cult leaders have been sirens.”
    “So, cult leaders, like the ones who lead mass suicides and have a hundred wives. Those have been
summer
wizards?”
    “A few have. I told you not all summer wizards are good. Summer wizards are powerful, and power corrupts. It’s almost impossible for a siren to avoid being corrupted by their power.”
    “Are your other sisters sirens too?” Emmy asked.
    “No,” he said.
    Nathan’s phone trilled, and he glanced at it. He winced. “My parents are coming out here.” He looked her square in the eyes. “You should go home,” he said, and he tried to command her.
    Emmy did the same thing she had before. She got still and quiet and focused hard on what she would say next. The reaction, the easy thing, would be to obey. But she could resist him if she concentrated.
    “No,” she said finally.
    He raised his eyebrows. “No?”
    “No.”
    He sat up straight and looked confused. He looked at his phone, and then out the window, and then back at her. He looked so lost.
    “Oh, calm down,” Emmy said. “I don’t want to get you in trouble. I’ll go. I just wanted you to know that it was up to me.”
    He nodded slowly, as if now he was the one in the trace. “Okay. Thank you.”
    He insisted on paying for her breakfast and she didn’t know if that meant it had been a date, or if it was a side effect of his unstoppable niceness.
    He also walked her to her truck, keeping his eye on the road the whole time.
    “Can I see your phone?” he asked.
    “Why?”
    “I know you don’t need my phone number to call me. But it is a lot easier.”
    “Oh,” she said. She turned on her phone and handed to him.

    When Emmy got home, Mom and Dad waited for her. But they didn’t yell, they just glared at her. Their seething silence intimidated her more than yelling.
    “So, where were you?” Dad asked.
    “I was at a strip club smoking crack. And then I robbed a convenience store.”
    Mom and Dad glared harder.
    “You know what, Emmy?” Mom asked. “I don’t even care. It doesn’t matter what I do. Nothing I do or say matters. You’re so selfish and childish, you’re beyond hope.”
    Mom handed her an envelope and Emmy stared at it.
    “If you’re working as a stripper, dealing crack, and robbing convenience stores,” Mom said. “Then I’m going to ask you to use your ill-gotten gains to pay this credit card bill.”
    “I was obviously joking.”
    “Then, go get a real job.”
    “I’m fourteen.”
    “Are you? Really? I thought you were a grown-up. You know, since you can do whatever you want all the time and don’t have to listen to your parents.”
    “I—”
    “Do whatever you want, Emmy. I don’t care. I give up.” Mom went into her bedroom and slammed the door.
    Dad continued glaring at