Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

The sun rose bright and vibrant over Val Luminara.

Justin immediately noticed the excitement in the air as he leaped over the Aviary’s balcony. As he plummeted the eighteen floors to the mess hall below, slowing his descent a dozen or so feet before he touched the ground, he noticed that it wasn’t just the trainees who were out and about early this morning. What seemed like every reindeer old enough to fly was packed in at the tables, hurriedly scarfing down their breakfasts.

Not only was the mess hall more crowded than usual, but it seemed oddly segregated as well. While the various units normally had nothing against intermingling, today each jacket color was firmly relegated to its own section of the cafeteria. Not in an unfriendly way, Justin was surprised to find. None of the units were giving the others dirty looks, and no insults were being slung. Today was simply a big day for all of them, and they wanted as much time to prepare with their teammates as possible.

Scanning the massive room, Justin was able to identify each of the eight units just by the colors of their jackets and the emblem printed on the back. Of course, there was Vixen’s, with red jackets and green foxes. But Dasher’s unit wore the exact opposite, green jackets with red emblems of winged sandals on their backs. Dancer’s unit wore orange, with blue music notes on their backs. Prancer’s had yellow jackets with purple horseshoes, Comet was blue with a yellow shooting star, and Cupid was bright pink with an orange heart with an arrow through it. Donner and Blitzen’s units, like the two brothers themselves, were always close together. Donner’s fliers wore purple jackets with white tornados on the back, and Blitzen’s wore white jackets decorated with black bolts of lightning.

Getting his food, Justin wondered briefly how he was going to find somewhere to sit…but then realized that wouldn’t be a problem when he saw that one of Vixen’s tables was abandoned except for Lucas.

I guess some things never change, he thought, sitting down across from his friend.

“Morning, Justin!” Lucas greeted him, spraying biscuit crumbs across the table. “I am so pumped for today! Are you pumped? Because I am freaking pumped!”

“I guess so,” Justin said, blowing on his hash browns before taking a bite. “But I still have no idea what’s going on. What exactly are these Reindeer Games?”

Lucas slammed his fork down on the table so hard that people turned to look at them. “Okay, so you know that game we were playing yesterday during flying lessons? It’s that but, like, a thousand times bigger!”

Justin couldn’t help but sigh. “So I can expect Tornado to be on my butt all day again?”

To his surprise, Lucas shook his head. “No! The two of you are going to be working…okay, well, maybe not together, but you and him are at least going to be on the same side today. That means he won’t have any reason to go after you when the other units are going to be much more enticing targets.”

“Wait, so we’ll be playing against all the other units?” Justin asked, looking around. There had to be hundreds of other reindeer. The thought of all of them fighting over a single bell would have been funny if he couldn’t vividly see himself being crushed in the inevitable dogpile.

“Yeah, but I told you it was going to be bigger, didn’t I?” Lucas paused while he crammed an entire pancake into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed it. “The playing field is going to consist of all of Val Luminara. Everything from one mountain range to the other is fair game. There’s going to be a hundred bells, and a hundred rings. Remember yesterday? Once Willow put the bell into the ring, they both disappeared. The game keeps going until every bell and ring are gone. Whichever unit scores the most points wins.”

“Okay, so—”

“Oh!” Lucas’ ears perked up as he remembered something. “I almost forgot. Speaking of Willow…”

He leaned over and started waving.

“Willow! Hey, over here!”

Justin frowned in confusion, but then he saw the doe he had been playing against the day before get up from one of the other tables. He could hear the other trainees muttering as she walked over to his table and sat down.

“Willow is going to be on our squad,” Lucas said with a grin. “Do you see how great this is? Even before Tornado interfered, she almost had you yesterday! Between you, me, and her, we’ll have the best squad in Vixen’s unit!”

Willow looked at Justin, frowned, and then lowered her eyes.

Great, Justin thought. Am I ever going to have any friends that aren’t required to be around me?

“Hey, uh, Willow?” he said out loud. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“Oh, good,” Lucas muttered, rolling his eyes. “He’s doing this again.”

“Don’t get me wrong, you’re a great flier!” Justin reassured her. “But I know better than anyone that I’m not really…popular right now. But Lucas and I can take care of ourselves, so if there’s another squad you want to be a part of—”

“I volunteered,” she cut him off, her voice soft.

Justin blinked in surprise. “You…what? But why would you do something like that?”

“Because I saw the way you flew yesterday,” she admitted, "and I’ve been up all night wondering.”

“Wondering what?”

“Whether I, and everyone else, have been wrong about you.” She raised her eyes to look at him, and Justin was shocked to see real, genuine respect in them. “I can’t bring myself to believe someone whose light went out could fly the way you did. That took creativity and determination, neither of which are things lightless people are supposed to have.”

“O- Oh,” Justin said, blushing beneath his fur. “I…um, thank you.”

Willow nodded as if that settled it. “Consider this your chance to prove that you’re not what everyone else has been saying you are.”

“Besides,” Lucas butted in, “we kinda need her. A squad can have as many as six reindeer in it, and no fewer than three. So if she took you up on your oh so noble offer…”

“Lucas,” Justin said warningly.

“...then we wouldn’t be able to play.” Lucas leaned across the table toward him. “And I am going to play today!”

Before Justin could respond, the bell began to ring. Almost in perfect unison, the other reindeer got to their hooves, the mess hall silent except for the clanging of the bell. Leaving his breakfast half eaten, Justin got up as well. Beside him, Lucas was glaring dramatically into the distance, his fist clenched.

“TO YOUR STATIONS, FLIERS!” a booming voice echoed from seemingly everywhere and nowhere.

Justin leaped into the air alongside Lucas and Willow, the rest of the army of reindeer doing the same, and launched himself straight upwards. A cheer rang out from the deer who weren’t participating—barely a sliver of the full population, but still a large number—as Justin rocketed farther and farther up the Aviary, to where the barn transitioned into the birdcage steeple. He knew they weren’t cheering for him, but something about it still lit a fire in his veins. Slipping in between one of the massive squares in the cage, he was soon flying over Val Luminara’s forest.

A couple minutes later, he touched down in the clearing where Vixen’s unit met for flying lessons. Lucas and Willow landed beside him a few seconds later.

“Save some of that energy for the Games, champ!” Lucas admonished him, but he was still grinning, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

Soon, the entire unit was gathered around the wooden stage. The bell had stopped ringing, leaving the woods eerily quiet as everyone waited for whatever was going to happen next. Justin spotted Tornado on the other side of the clearing, surrounded by five other reindeer. Tornado scowled at him, clenching his fist, and Justin quickly averted his eyes.

A minute later, the elves arrived. Sprinting into the clearing at full speed, each Rider quickly located their deer.

“How are you feeling?” Lena asked, already putting Justin’s saddle on him.

“Fine,” Justin responded. “A little nervous, I guess, but—”

“Don’t be,” she interrupted him. “You’ve been here less than a month, and you can already fly rings around most of these rejects.”

“Hey!” Lucas objected.

“Especially him,” Lena said without looking up. “He’s about as aerodynamic as a yule log.”

To Justin’s surprise, Willow actually burst out laughing at that, which only made Lucas scowl even harder.

As Lena tied the saddle in place, she gave a firm tug on one of the strings, and it snapped. The saddle immediately went loose, falling to the ground, and Lena said a word that should never appear in a Christmas story about Santa Claus and his flying reindeer.

“Whoa!” Lucas exclaimed. “Someone’s having soap for Christmas dinner!”

“Um, Lena?” Justin asked hesitantly as she procured another string and hastily began relacing the saddle. “Are you okay?”

“Of course I’m fine!” she snapped. “Look at me, I’m perfectly fine! Why wouldn’t I be fine, you stupid porcupine?”

Everyone froze.

Lena paused, looking around at the others’ faces, her cheeks reddening.

“Okay, fine,” she admitted. “I’m a little on edge, okay? This is a big day for us both!”

“People here really care about these Games, don’t they?” Justin asked.

“You have no idea,” Lucas agreed. “They’ve shut down the toy factories for this. Everybody is going to be…”

He paused, and Justin turned to see what was wrong. Lena didn’t see it, but Lucas was giving her a strange look.

“What?” he asked.

“Lena, weren’t you in the Reindeer Games a few years ago?” Lucas asked after a moment’s hesitation.

Lena stopped what she was doing, her face turning pale.

“In fact,” he went on, furrowing his brow as he thought, “wasn’t that when you—”

“SHUT UP!”

Justin took a step back in surprise. The saddle had been fully fastened in place, but Lena’s hands stayed where they were, hanging in midair, like she’d been frozen in the act of tying it. Her jaw was clenched, her eyes wide open, and Justin realized she was shaking.

“Lena,” he said, reaching for her, “are you—”

“Don’t talk about it!” she gasped, slapping his hand away. “I’m fine! Everything is fine! It won’t happen again, not today or any other day! I swear it!”

“Lena…”

Lena blinked, as if she hadn’t realized what she was saying. Looking around to see everyone staring at her, she quickly shook herself out of whatever had just happened, and leaped into her customary spot on Justin’s back.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Justin whispered.

“I’m fine,” she insisted again.

“If you need to talk…”

“Justin,” she snapped, “you just focus on flying. Nobody needs to worry about me but me!”

Justin looked at Lucas and Willow. Neither said anything, but when Lucas’ elf finished tying his saddle and hopped on board, Lucas gave him a shrug.

“All right, I guess,” he said hesitantly.

The rest of the class was gathering on the stage. At a nod from his squadmates, Justin floated over to join them.

“By the way,” Lucas said, pointing his thumb at the elf on his back, “I never did introduce you, did I? Justin, this is my Rider, Tanraak He-Sang-Before-He-Spoke.”

“Nice to meet you,” Justin said, nodding toward the dark haired elf.

“Same to you,” Tanraak said, and Justin was surprised to find that he believed him. “Lucas has been bragging about how good of a flier you are to all his friends. After what I saw yesterday, I finally believe him.”

Justin blinked. “Oh, thanks. Does that mean you don’t think—”

“This may not be the best time for that conversation,” Lucas cut him off.

Tanraak shrugged. “I haven’t decided. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

“This is Moryta She-Dances-Like-Fire,” said Willow, motioning toward the elf on her own back. Appropriately enough, her Rider had hair as red as flame, and enough freckles to fill twenty connect-the-dots puzzle books.

Moryta just gave Justin a curt nod.

Baby steps, Justin thought. We’ll get there eventually.

The bell began to toll again, and the class started muttering in anticipation. A shadow fell over them, and Justin looked up to see Vixen swiftly descending toward the stage.

“The Games will begin in five minutes!” she shouted as soon as her hooves touched the floor. “Is everything ready? Does anyone need anything?”

She walked up and down the stage, nodding as she looked at the various squads and their preparations, and answering questions.

She paused when she passed Justin’s squad.

“Willow,” she said, “are you sure you want to be in this squad? You are one of this class’ top fliers, and I would hate to see your talent go to waste today. Maria only has four deer in her squad. If you asked to switch, I’m sure they would accept you.”

“You can’t do that!” Lucas snapped. “That would mean Justin and I couldn’t—”

Vixen gave him a glare, and he fell silent.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Willow said, bowing her head in deference. “But I’ve made my choice. I’ll stay in this squad.”

Vixen’s expression soured, and she scowled at Justin. He knew exactly what was going through her mind. Have you poisoned one of my most promising students, lightless one? Are you trying to make her lightless too?

Finally, though, she turned and stalked away, and Justin let out the breath he’d been holding.

“I was sure she was going to murder me that time,” he muttered, watching her make her way through the rest of the crowd.

Nobody contradicted him, which made him even more nervous.

Finally, once all the last minute preparations were made, Vixen went to stand in the middle of the stage. There, her antlers began to glow with bright green light. She tilted her head back, and the light shot from the tip of her snout. It went straight into the air, forming a ball a few feet above everyone’s heads. Then it burst, showering the stage with tiny green comets.

The wood beneath Justin’s hooves trembled for a few seconds, and then the entire stage lifted into the air. It rose higher and higher, until it was above the trees. Justin could see Laetitia a couple of miles in the distance, the tree Santa had grown towering over everything else—except for what looked like an enormous glass jar that hovered just above it. Even from here, he could see the gold glimmering inside it. Shining, glittering bells, just like what he and Willow had fought over yesterday, filled the massive jar all the way to its brim.

Like a flying saucer, the wooden platform began to fly away from town.

“What’s going on?” Justin whispered.

“Each unit starts at the very edge of Val Luminara,” Lucas answered, practically bouncing on his hooves with excitement. “We race each other back to Aurora Square to get to the bells. Then we have to fly around the valley, find the rings, and score as many points as we can!”

“Yeah, I figured that much out on my own,” Justin replied. “I was talking about…whatever it was Vixen just did.”

“That’s reindeer magic,” Lena said. “She channeled her light and infused it with the stage we’re standing on. It’s extremely difficult. Your light has to shine bright enough that it’s able to burst out of your body, not to mention the skill it takes to control it. Only a handful of deer outside the Council of Eight can do it.”

“In other words, I shouldn’t even try it?”

“I didn’t say that!” she snapped. “But…you should still probably focus your efforts somewhere else for now.”

Justin watched as the stage whisked them farther and farther away from Laetitia. He had never been this far away from town before. Here, the mountains were tall and imposing, and cast long, ominous shadows across the valley. A cold wind blew from their snowcapped peaks. Turning back toward town, the only part of Laetitia he could still make out was the tree itself, though from here even that was just an indistinct green triangle.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Lucas said suddenly. “Did you bring it?”

Justin turned to him. “Bring what?”

“Yeah, I’ve got it,” Lena said. He felt her shuffling around on his back for a moment, and then her hand appeared, holding a small box wrapped in bright red paper. A green bow adorned the top, and a little tag with the words For Justin written on it. hung from the side “Here.”

Slowly, Justin reached up and took it from her. It was small enough to fit in his palm, but he could feel something rattling inside. He looked from it to Lucas, and then craned his head around to look at Lena. “This is…for me?”

“Ready yourselves!” Vixen shouted. “I expect good, clean sportsmanship from each and every one of you!”

Justin didn’t look, but he could feel her eyes on him.

“Don’t open it until the game is over,” Lena said. “Why Lucas insisted we give it to you now instead of later, I have no idea.”

“Fly fast, fight hard, and always support your squadmates!” Vixen called.

“The best part of getting a present is wondering what’s inside it!” Lucas said with a grin. “Now he’ll have a few hours to agonize over it before he opens it!”

“And distract him from the game!” Lena snapped, then shook her head. “Whatever. Justin, put it in your pocket and forget about it for now.”

“O- Okay,” Justin said, fumbling to slide the box into the inside pocket of his jacket. He’d have to fly carefully to avoid getting it smashed. “But I didn’t get you two any—”

In the distance, a streak of light shot into the air above the great tree and exploded into a dazzling ball of colors.

“GO!” yelled Vixen.

Lena thrust forward on his antlers, and Justin immediately forgot about it. With his friends by his side, he charged forward and leaped off of the stage.