Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Justin knew the moment he woke up, and his antlers punctured his pillow, that the previous night hadn’t been a dream.

He got out of bed with a sigh, his hooves clicking on the hard wooden floor. Somewhere in the distance, a bell was ringing. Lucas had told him that bell was the signal for the fliers in training to wake up and prepare for lessons. Breakfast was being served in the mess hall, and anyone who slept in wouldn’t find a scrap of food to eat until lunch. After breakfast, the trainees would divide up into their units, each of which was headed by one of the Council of Eight, and training would begin for the day.

He had been told all of this in a thirty second run-on sentence, and Lucas had rocketed away the moment he was finished, as if just being near Justin was enough to dampen his Christmas spirit.

Justin had been too exhausted, both physically and mentally, to care, so now he took a moment to inspect his new living space. Beside his bed, there was a writing desk and chair next to a small bookshelf. A few books sat waiting on the shelves, and when he took a closer look Justin realized they were all textbooks on things like flying and aerodynamics. On the far side of the room, there was a closet, as well a bathroom with a shower, looking oddly modern compared to the almost-medieval aesthetic of everything else.

The room was surprisingly large for just one person, but Justin noted that there was an empty bed a few feet away from his. Had they given him his own room because that was the only one available on short notice, he wondered? Or was this their way of isolating him from the others so that he didn’t…how did they put it?...poison their ears and hearts?

Going to his closet, Justin wasn’t surprised to find it already filled with clothes. After everything else that had happened, a full wardrobe with his exact measurements appearing overnight was practically mundane at this point. He put on a new pair of dark green pants, struggling for a few seconds to get his inflexible hooves through the legs, a white undershirt, and a festive red jacket. On the back of the jacket, there was a green emblem in the shape of a fox’s head. Lucas hadn’t mentioned this, but Justin assumed it was to identify the trainees in Vixen’s unit. After buttoning it up, Justin made his way to the door, but then hesitated.

What am I going to do? he thought, dread rising up inside his heart like an overflowing toilet. The council already thinks I work for their enemy, whoever that is. There’s no way they’re going to treat me like any other student.

His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast the day before. He didn’t fully understand how the time of day here in Val Luminara related to the time back home, but he did know he’d missed at least two meals. As much as he wanted to pretend that none of this was really happening, he couldn’t just hide here in his room.

Well, I guess I could, he admitted, but maybe I should wait and see how things go before resigning myself to starvation.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed open the door and stepped into the hallway. The corridor was bustling with other bucks hurrying to get to the mess hall. Justin’s heart immediately shot into his throat, but when none of them stopped to confront him for his sins against Christmas, he calmed down a little. His mind was buzzing from being around so many of these things at the same time—he still hadn’t come to terms with the fact that he was one of those things yet—but to his credit, he did manage not to panic. Keeping his head down, Justin followed the crowd, doing his best not to attract any attention.

He failed.

“Hey, that’s him,” someone whispered. “The lightless one!”

Justin’s ears twitched involuntarily, but he managed not to look at whoever was talking.

“Him? Really?”

“Yeah, they’re saying he showed up in the middle of the night and told the council that he wanted to destroy Christmas!”

“That’s crazy! They’d never make him a flier if he said something like that.”

“No, it’s true!” someone else added. “He tried to use one of the chandeliers to set Celebration Hall on fire! If Dasher hadn’t caught him—”

“Be quiet! Who knows what he’ll do if he hears us talking about him?”

Justin fixed his eyes on the ground and kept walking, desperately hoping his fur was thick enough that nobody could see how hard he was blushing.

The Aviary sat on the eastern edge of Laetitia, and was definitely the strangest thing he had seen yet. Well, the strangest nonliving thing, at any rate. From the outside, it looked like a colossal barn, its walls painted bright red, with a sloped black roof. On one end of the building, what looked like a giant iron birdcage rose from the roof, tall and narrow, like the steeple on a church.

Justin didn’t have any clue what Aviary’s measurements were, but he could tell it was even bigger than the Elder Stables. It must have been at least a thousand times bigger than any barn built in the human world. It would have to be, since Laetitia's entire reindeer population lived within it. From his vague understanding of how things worked here, the lower floors were for fliers in training, and consisted mainly of small, utilitarian dorm rooms. Higher up, the reindeer who had graduated and become full fledged fliers lived in roomier, more luxurious apartments.

The dorms were separated between does and bucks, with the mess hall sandwiched between them. The balconies overlooking the mess halls didn’t have railings, allowing the other deer to simply walk over the edge and float down to the ground floor. Just like at the Stables, stairs seemed to be a form of technology that hadn’t been invented yet, but there were ladders to climb up and fireman’s poles to slide down for the deer like Justin who hadn't learned how to fly yet.

Since Justin’s room was on the eighteenth floor—not even a quarter of the way up the building—the thought of sliding all the way down on a brass pole was about as appealing as simply jumping over the edge.

Just do it, he thought, cold sweat running down his brow. People are staring at you. Just grab the stupid pole and go!

From a floor even higher up, a spotted fawn that couldn’t have been older than five zipped down the pole at lightning speed.

There, see? It’s nothing! You’re a bigger baby than a literal baby! Do you want to go through your first day of training on an empty stomach? GO ALREADY!

It took nearly ten minutes of encouragement, but he finally managed to wrap his arms and legs around the pole and, with his eyes clenched shut the entire time, slide down with an earsplitting squeeeeaaaaaaaak! For every floor he passed, he was greeted by snickers and chuckles, and by the time he got to the bottom his face was burning so hot he was surprised his fur hadn’t caught fire.

Maybe I should go back and jump after all, he thought as he got into the breakfast line.

A few minutes later, he was sitting at the emptiest table he could find, a tray of hashbrowns, fresh baked biscuits, and pancakes drenched in butter and syrup steaming in front of him. Not a single piece of meat, he realized, though he wasn’t sure why that surprised him. He was a deer now, after all. Reindeer weren’t exactly known for their deep rooted love for bacon and sausage.

In fact, now that he thought about it, Justin didn’t find the idea of eating meat the least bit appetizing anymore. It made a strange juxtaposition to his other memories. Just yesterday he had eaten a plate of bacon and eggs for breakfast, and enjoyed every bite. The memory of liking meat was still there, but he also knew that if he put a piece of meat in his mouth now, today, that it would make him violently sick—even more so if he managed to swallow it.

Well, at least what I can eat is still good,” he thought, munching his way through the hashbrowns.

“Goooood morning, recruit!”

Another tray was slammed down onto the table across from him, and Justin jumped so hard that he began to float away.

“Oh crap, not again!” he exclaimed, desperately clinging to the table. Luckily, he only got a couple of inches into the air before the magic wore off this time, but he still grunted in pain when he collapsed back down onto his seat.

Mocking laughter echoed through the mess hall, and Justin pushed his tray aside so he could bury his face in his arms.

The person sitting across from him chuckled too, but not in an unfriendly way. “Sorry about that. I forgot how jumpy you are.”

Justin looked up to see that it was none other than Lucas.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

Lucas grinned at him before tucking into his own breakfast. “I saw you sitting alone and thought to myself, nobody should ever have to feel lonely in Santa’s village!” he said with his mouth full of pancake. “And since it’s your first day in training, I figured you’d probably need someone to show you where you where to go, what to do, stuff like that. I guess that makes me your own personal senpai! Aren’t you lucky?”

Just like last night, Lucas’ words sounded cheerful, but Justin could see straight through the fake grin on his face. The way his mouth twitched when he smiled, his laughter just a little too enthusiastic, how his eyes slid back and forth like he was worried about who might be looking at them, it all said more to Justin than words ever could.

“Lucas, you don’t have to do this,” he said quietly, his ears drooping. “If being around me embarrasses you this much, then just go. I understand.”

The smile faded a little from Lucas’ face, and he looked down at his half-eaten breakfast for a long minute.

“I wish I could,” he finally admitted, “but unfortunately, I can’t. I’m the one who pulled you out of the sky yesterday. That makes it my responsibility to help you get settled here, learn the ropes, all that fun stuff. It’s not an official rule or anything, but it’d still make me look bad if I didn’t do it. So it looks like we’re stuck with each other for the time being.”

“Even if the guy you’re helping is the lightless one?” Justin asked more sharply than he meant to.

Lucas looked up at him. “Okay, I know what you’re thinking. No, I’m not the one who started those rumors. I don’t know who’s running around telling stories about what happened at Celebration Hall last night, but I swear it isn’t me.”

“This isn’t going to get any better, is it?” Justin asked with a sigh.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows?” Lucas shrugged, a forkful of hashbrowns halfway to his mouth. “Maybe you’ll turn out to be such a good flier that everyone will forget what the council said. Maybe you’ll do so well on the big night that you’ll get your own Christmas carol! There are a million different ways things could turn out all right, so think positively and just do your best out there!”

“You don’t actually believe things will work out, do you?”

Lucas stopped chewing, but didn’t answer.

“I’m serious,” Justin insisted. “Don’t torture yourself for my sake. If being around me bothers you this much, then you can go. I’m pretty sure everyone will understand.”

Lucas gave an uncomfortable chuckle. “If only it were that simple. See, I got some special orders straight from the Council of Eight this morning. Since I’m the one who saved you, and we’re both in Vixen’s unit…”

Justin blinked in surprise, then looked at Lucas’ jacket. It was the same red color as his own. He’d been so wrapped up in his misery that he hadn’t even noticed.

“...they decided that I’m in the perfect position to keep an eye on you.” Lucas turned away, too embarrassed to meet Justin’s eyes. “And if it looks like you’re doing anything to douse the others’ lights, I’m supposed to report straight to Vixen about it.”

And with that, the bottom of Justin’s heart dropped out, plunging what little optimism he still had down into the dark, bottomless void of despair.

The bell began to ring again. Immediately, the other deer stood up and sprang into motion, some walking, some flying, all of them clearly in a hurry.

“That means training is about to start,” Lucas said, leaping to his hooves, clearly glad for the distraction. “We’d better get going.”

Justin didn’t move.

Lucas sighed, kneeling down next to him and putting his hand on his shoulder. “Okay, look, I don’t know what’s going to happen out there. I don’t know if things are going to work out for you or not. But I do know that bad moods are a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you tell yourself everything is going to be a disaster, then it will be a disaster. So stand up, toughen up, and never, ever give up.”

Justin raised his head to look at the other deer, and Lucas held out his hand.

“Come on,” he said with a genuine grin, “let’s go learn how to fly!”