Book Two, Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

“The first thing I want to get across,” said Vixen, “is that Justin is going to be okay.”

Lucas breathed out a heavy sigh of relief, which the others echoed. Even Joyce visibly relaxed. They were all sitting around the dinner table, holding mugs of hot cocoa prepared by Charlie. The question had been gnawing at Lucas ever since Vixen had emerged from Justin’s room, but he’d forced himself to stay quiet. Even he could recognize when a line had been crossed, and a line had been crossed tonight. A very big one. By revealing their true nature to Charlie and Joyce, they risked the exposure of everything that their lives revolved around. They were on incredibly thin ice here, and rushing things would only cause it to crack faster and send them all into the freezing, murky waters of this awful metaphor.

“He will be bedridden for a couple days, at least,” the Elder went on. “Willow has volunteered to stay by his side until he recovers. Considering the circumstances, I see no reason to deny her that.”

Everybody nodded. Even Charlie and Joyce seemed to have picked up on what was going on between them. Justin had thought that he was hiding his feelings for Willow, but Lucas doubted there was a single elf or reindeer in Laetitia who didn’t know he was antlers over tail in love with her.

Vixen paused to take a sip from her mug. “It’s his badge. Whether it’s a side effect of its original purpose, or if this was Santa’s plan from the beginning, I don’t know. But the badge’s magic is healing him. It’s working slowly, but so long as Justin is allowed time to rest, I believe we can expect a full recovery.”

“Thank you, Santa,” Lena whispered, leaning back in her chair.

“That is why I decided to reveal myself—and the rest of us—to the Dawsons,” Vixen said. “It would have been…difficult…to apply first aid to the degree that Justin required without Charlie finding out one way or another. I won’t ask what led you four to do the same to Joyce—”

“Lena’s big mouth,” muttered Tanraak, earning him a slap on the back of the head from Moryta.

“—but considering how things have worked out, I suppose it’s for the best.”

“So it’s true,” Joyce breathed, her eyes wide. “You all really are from the North Pole? You work for…for Santa Claus?”

The Val Luminarans exchanged uncomfortable looks with each other, but Vixen eventually nodded. “Yes. It would take more time than we have to explain everything in full, but we come from Laetitia, in the country of Val Luminara, the land ruled over by Santa Claus. I’m sorry for deceiving you like this and taking advantage of your hospitality.”

“Well,” Charlie said slowly, “while I can’t honestly say I enjoy bein’ lied to, under the circumstances I suppose I can understand. Frankly, I think I might be a, uh…a little bit in shock about all of this.”

Vixen’s ears drooped. “If you want, we can all pack our things and leave right—”

“Now, hold on just a dang minute!” Charlie said, waving his hand. “I didn’t say nothin’ about that! I just need a little time to process all of this.”

“Why are you here, though?” Joyce asked. Her eyes were shining with excitement. Unlike her grandfather, she didn’t seem the least bit put off by any of this. Surprised, yes, but in the way that you would be surprised to find that all of your best friends had come home from college just to throw you a birthday party.

“There is a monster running amok in your town,” Vixen answered. “Her name is Mari Lwyd, and she serves Santa’s ancient enemy: Krampus. We were sent to hunt her down before she can cause any more damage.”

“More damage?” Charlie asked.

The mood around the table darkened.

“She has, to our knowledge, killed two people in Derby Mill already,” Vixen said softly, bowing her head. “One of whom…”

Lucas’ head shot up. Was she really going to tell them?

“…was your grandson, Shane.”

Charlie froze, his face going pale.

“Y- You mean…Shane is…” Joyce whispered, the wonder in her eyes slowly being replaced with horror. She shook her head. “No, you’re lying! I just talked to him the other day! He was too sick to come over for Thanksgiving, but he was still alive!”

“We found him in his house yesterday morning.”

Everyone looked at Lucas in surprise, but none of them were more surprised than Lucas himself.

He reached out and put a hand on top of Joyce’s. “I- I’m sorry, but—”

“No! Shut up!” Joyce stood up so fast that her chair toppled over behind her, and she stormed out of the dining room. A few seconds later, they heard her bedroom door slam.

“Shane,” Charlie whispered. His hands were resting on top of the table, and they were shaking. “Little Shane…I haven’t even seen him since…since Christmas last year.”

“From the bottom of my heart,” Vixen said, “I am truly, deeply sorry.”

Charlie wiped a tear from his bearded face. “Besides Joyce, he was the only person in my family who hadn’t moved out of town. We’ve been growing apart for years, but…but I always told myself we would reconnect before I…” His voice cracked. “I never thought he would be the one who…before I did…”

Vixen raised her hand, like she wanted to put it on Charlie’s shoulder, but seeing the pain on his face was too much and she looked away. Lucas wanted desperately to get up and walk away like Joyce had. The scene was more than uncomfortable, it was downright painful. Maybe he could use it as an excuse to go check on Justin.

Instead, he stayed where he was. Say what they would about his actions the night before, abandoning Justin and Willow to get Vixen still bore the acidic sting of cowardice. He wouldn’t do that again. He would stay here with his friends, the people who needed him, and help however he could.

“We finally managed to track her down tonight,” he said, his voice hollow. “But she did…that…to Justin and got away.”

Charlie took a deep breath. “Is Joyce in any danger?”

Vixen shook her head. “No. Mari Lwyd operates by a strict set of rules. She could only come to your house if she found something that led her here after killing her last victim. I don’t know what she will do now that we’ve stopped her from feeding tonight, but rest assured that nothing happened that would bring her here.”

Charlie nodded, but didn’t respond. For a long time—Lucas wasn’t sure for how long—they just sat there around the table, letting him grieve in silence. Lucas’ thoughts drifted over to his best friend lying unconscious in the next room. Willow was there with him, he reminded himself. If anything happened, she would tell the rest of them. Still, he desperately wanted to go in there and look at Justin for himself. Just seeing his friend’s chest rising and falling would go a long way in easing his mind.

Vixen has been through this hundreds of times before, he reminded himself. If she says Justin is going to be okay, then he’s going to be—

A door closed, and Lucas was on his hooves in an instant. But it wasn’t Willow who walked into the dining room—it was Joyce. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she sniffled as if she’d just gotten done blowing her nose, but at least she wasn’t crying anymore.

“Hey, kiddo,” Charlie said, giving her a weak smile. “You all right?”

She nodded. “I- I think so. But actually, I was wondering…can I talk to Lucas for a little bit?”

Lucas blinked in surprise, but nodded. “Yeah, sure. What’s up?”

Her face reddened a little. “Alone?”

Lucas hesitated, then followed her into the backyard. The night was crisp, but not quite cold, and the stars twinkled brightly above them. Joyce shut the door, then beckoned for Lucas to follow her. Since the entire back wall of the house was one big window, Charlie and the others could still clearly see them standing on the porch together. The yard was twelve acres across, though, and the porch lights could only shine so brightly. Before long, they were standing in the dark together, illumined only by the light of the half-full moon.

“All right,” Lucas said tentatively, “what did you want to—”

He cut off sharply as Joyce reached out and touched his cheek. She ran her hand across his face tenderly, up the side of his head, and his ear twitched involuntarily when she stroked it.

“It is real!” she whispered. “You’re real! I- I’m sorry, I just had to make sure!”

“It’s okay,” Lucas replied. Was it just him, or had his heart skipped a beat when she’d done that? “Are you doing all right?”

She nodded. “Yes. I just needed a little time to process it. Hearing about Shane was a bit of a shock.”

“I’m sorry. Really, I am.”

Joyce looked away guiltily. “He was kind of a jerk. I know I shouldn’t talk about my cousin like that, especially considering…what happened…but it’s true. I never liked it when he came over. All he ever did was complain about his job and ask for money that he never paid back. If it were up to me, I would have stopped inviting him over years ago, but I never said anything because I knew how much seeing him meant to Grandpa.”

“If there’s anything I can do to help, just tell me.”

“There is,” she said without hesitation. The gleam came back into her eyes. “Tell me everything!”

Lucas took a step back. “E- Everything?”

“Yes! Tell me about where you come from! What’s it like? What is Santa like? Everything!”

Lucas hesitated, then felt his eyes drawn northward. “It’s…amazing. We don’t actually live in the North Pole. There’s a portal above the North Pole that leads to another world…dimension…whatever, called Val Luminara.”

“Tell me about it!” Joyce said breathlessly.

Lucas smiled—really smiled—for the first time that night. “I already am. Aren’t you an impatient young—”

Joyce grabbed him by his jacket and started shaking him. “Stop screwing around and tell me already!”

“All right, all right! Lucas laughed. God, but it felt good to do that again. Joyce stopped shaking him, and he thought for a minute. “It’s a valley surrounded by mountains, and forests filled with evergreen trees as tall as buildings. You can see the portal up in the sky above us, always swirling with every color you could imagine, like a halo made out of the northern lights.”

“It sounds beautiful,” Joyce whispered.

“It is. I could look at it all day and never get bored of it.” Reflexively, his eyes turned upwards to seek it out. The sky seemed so empty, so naked, without it. “And in the very center of everything is Laetitia, the city we all live in. It’s like something out of a storybook. Walking down one of its streets, you’d almost expect a certain green ogre to go strolling by at any second. They hang up strings of colored lights all throughout the year, trying to mimic the portal above us. And as beautiful as they are, they still can’t compete. On one end of the city, there’s the Aviary where reindeer like me live. It’s like…imagine a barn big enough for everyone in the state to live in, except it has a birdcage coming up out of the roof like an enormous steeple.”

He glanced at Joyce. She was totally enraptured, like a child hearing The Night Before Christmas for the very first time.

“Then there are the toy factories,” he went on. “Hundreds of them, all filled with elves like Tanraak, Lena, and Moryta. They love being crammed in there day and night, making toys like little pointy-eared robots, but reindeer like me and Justin can get pretty stir crazy if they stick us in one for too long.”

He smirked, remembering the game they had played just before being called before the council.

“And then, on the far end of town, is Celebration Hall. That’s where Santa and Mrs. Claus live, and—”

“Have you met them?” Joyce broke in. “What are they like?”

“They’re…” He paused, unsure of how to continue. “I don’t know if I can really describe them. Me or anybody else. They’re different from us. Not just the reindeer and elves, but from everyone. Mrs. Claus is ancient, but beautiful. She’s…like a river. Impossibly old, but constantly being renewed. Does that make sense? It doesn’t make sense, but I don’t think I can explain it any better than that.”

Whether it made sense or not, Joyce didn’t seem to care. “And Santa?”

Lucas frowned. “Santa is…big. Everything about him is big. He’s, like, seven and a half feet tall, for one thing, and has arms that could crack boulders like walnuts when he flexes them. But it goes beyond that. You can tell just by looking at him that there’s more to him than you can see. You feel it. Like he’s the tip of an iceberg, and the rest of him is hidden away in a place that mortal eyes can’t see into. He could crush us all like bugs…less than bugs…but you know as soon as you lay eyes on him that he never would. As sappy as it sounds, the stories are true. He really does love each and every child on Earth as if they’re his own sons and daughters. And not just the kids. Everybody.”

Joyce stared at him in awe, like an angel who had just appeared and told her that heaven existed and it was like Disney World multiplied by a million. He looked into her eyes, and found it hard to turn away.

Those were the eyes of someone whose every dream had just come true.

“Can you really fly?” she finally asked.

Lucas smiled. “Sure. Want to see?”

She nodded, and Lucas put his arms around her. Then, not giving her the chance to change her mind, he lifted off into the sky. Joyce gasped in surprise, wrapping her arms around him as well, but didn’t ask him to stop. Lucas went slowly, but soon her grandfather’s house was just a brightly shining speck on the ground far below. The lights of Derby Mill spread out around them in every direction. Most were stationary, but a few streaked this way and that through the darkness as late night drivers zoomed toward their destinations.

“Holy crap,” Joyce whispered into his ear. “Holy crap!”

Lucas began to rotate in midair, letting her see in every direction.

“This is incredible!” she said. “And you get to see this every day?”

“Flying is the best thing in the world,” he answered. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

For a while, they just hung there in the night, with Joyce gasping and murmuring in delight whenever she saw something new. Eventually, though, they had to descend back into Charlie’s backyard, and Lucas was surprised to find Vixen and Charlie waiting out there for them.

“Grandpa Charlie!” Joyce called. As soon as they touched the ground, she dashed over and wrapped him in a hug. “That was the most incredible thing ever!”

Charlie patted her on the back, smiling, but Lucas could still see the pain in his eyes.

“We’re still going to work tomorrow, right?” she asked, the brightest smile Lucas had ever seen stretched across her face.

Work? Lucas thought. Oh, right. Charlie’s mall Santa gig.

Charlie hesitated, but then nodded. “I think so. After everythin’ I’ve learned tonight, I think the world is gonna need every spark of joy we can help to give it.”

“Then they need to help us!” Joyce pointed at Lucas, then Vixen. “All of them! They’re real, actual Christmas reindeer, Grandpa Charlie! And elves too! Just think of how happy we’d be able to make everyone with their help!”

Lucas looked at Vixen, and was surprised to see her nod. “Yes. We will help. It is the least we can do after everything you’ve done for us…after everything we’ve taken from you…”

“You folks haven’t taken nothin’ from me,” Charlie said firmly. “It was this Mari Lwyd thing, and the Krampus person she works for. So long as y’all are the ones fightin’ back against all this, then you don’t have a darn thing to apologize to me for.”

Vixen bowed her head again. “Thank you.”

“Yes!” Joyce ran over and gave Lucas another hug. “This is going to be so great! I’ll go tell the others!”

She ran back toward the house, and Lucas watched her go, feeling…

Something.

“Y’all should get some rest,” Charlie said, turning to go back into the house as well. “You’ve all had a long night.”

“We will,” said Vixen. “Goodnight.”

Lucas took a step toward the house too—but then stopped when Vixen took him by the arm.

“Lucas,” she said slowly.

“Y- Yeah?” he asked. There was something about her expression that he didn’t like.

“Joyce is an amazing young woman,” she said. “But you need to keep your feelings for her from going too far.”

Lucas’ ears shot up in surprise. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“If it means nothing to you, then I meant nothing by it,” she said, then fixed him with a grave look. “Just remember: once this is over, we’ll have to go back to Val Luminara.”

A pit formed in Lucas’ stomach when he realized what she was hinting at.

“And she won’t be able to come with us.”