Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

The first thing Justin realized was that he wasn't dead.

The second was that he wished he was.

He raised his head out of the snow with a quiet moan of pain. A wind as sharp and cold as a knife immediately slapped him in the face. He squinted, trying to make out his surroundings. His head was spinning and throbbing at the same time. Where was he? How had he gotten here? And why did every inch of his body hurt?

It was dark, and the incessant wind forced him to keep wiping snow off of his face, but Justin could just barely make out some details about where he was. And what he saw…

Was nothing.

An icy, arctic wasteland stretched as far as his eyes could see. A glance upwards revealed nothing but a pitch black sky above him. No moon. No stars. No…

What else would there be? he thought. There was supposed to be something else up there…for a moment, his half-frozen mind whispered something about colors…but then, like a dream chased away by an alarm clock, it was gone.

I was…fired, he remembered, his mind having trouble forming coherent thoughts. Because…why was I fired?

He took a couple of steps forward. The snow crunched beneath his feet, barely audible under the howling winds.

It was because I killed someone, he thought, bits and pieces of memories coming back to him at random. It was Black Friday, and I…drove a truck into someone…straight into a freezer…

This must be where people who didn't have jobs went. Or was it where murderers were sent?

Maybe this is my new job, he thought deliriously. I'm an…an ice taster…tasting all the ice before…we sell it…

Justin stumbled forward another few steps. He had no idea where he was going. He was barely aware of the fact that he was moving at all. But if this was where he worked, that meant he needed to move. You weren't supposed to stand around doing nothing at—

Something caught his ankle, and he collapsed face first into the snow.

“My fault,” he mumbled. “Didn't put out a wet floor sign.”

Slowly, he picked himself up and looked back to see what had tripped him. Something was sticking up out of the snow—two somethings, in fact. They were both about two and a half feet tall, with short, spiky branches growing out of them. Were they some kind of leafless trees?

Justin's head pulsed with pain as a memory struggled to resurface. Something about those…whatever they were…was familiar. He leaned closer, squinting at them. Were his eyes playing tricks on him, or did they look kind of like…

Antlers?

Justin gasped as everything came back to him in a flash. The air courier job. Val Luminara. Lucas and Lena. All leading up to the encounter between him and…

“Tornado!”

Dropping to his knees, he furiously began digging in the snow. The larger buck was completely buried. If his antlers hadn't jutted from the top of the snow, Justin would have walked right over him without ever realizing it.

“Come on, come on!” Justin urged himself. He was having trouble moving his hands, making it difficult to scoop the snow away.

What do you expect to find? the cynical voice in his head asked. He fell from thousands of feet in the air!

So did I, he thought stubbornly.

Who knows how long he's been buried down there?

He shook his head. We're both reindeer. We were made for these conditions!

Why would you want to save him anyway?

Justin didn't have an answer for that, so he just kept digging. It took close to ten minutes, slowed down like he was by his frozen fingers. The wind also kept blowing more snow onto Tornado, as if the North Pole was doing its best to swallow him entirely. But eventually, Justin had enough of him uncovered that he was able to slide his hands beneath him and hoist Tornado up off the ground.

He immediately collapsed again under his weight.

“Come on, you stupid wall of meat!” Justin growled, fighting to get back to his feet again. “For once in your life, help me out a little!”

He wasn't entirely sure how, but after minutes of struggling to make his tortured limbs obey, Justin managed to stand up. He carried Tornado on his back, the bigger buck's legs dragging uselessly in the snow behind him. Tornado didn't move or make any noise, but at least he wasn't frozen solid like he had been when he'd gone through the portal. Nothing seemed broken. Maybe reindeer had some kind of instinct to keep from falling to their deaths, even if they were unconscious.

But now wasn't the time to think about things like that. Justin raised his head and looked around. They needed shelter, and they needed it fast. Even if Tornado was still alive by some miracle, neither of them would last much longer out here in the open.

You won't last much longer anyway, his cynical side sneered at him. You may as well just lay down in the snow and let it happen.

In desperation, Justin looked up. If they were still beneath the portal, maybe he could fly through it and…

No. There was no sign of the portal, only dark, empty skies. Not that he expected any different. If the doorway to Santa's home were visible to the naked eye, he would hardly have been so legendary.

And, Justin had to admit, it wasn't like he was in any condition to fly anywhere right now. Especially not with three hundred pounds of idiot on his back.

He lowered his head, and let out a gasp when he spotted something in the distance. Tall, wide, and white, it was almost completely camouflaged with the landscape around it. A mountain of ice jutting up from the ground. And even from this distance, Justin could see dark black cracks in its walls.

Caves.

Shelter!

Summoning what little energy he had left, Justin bent his mind toward putting one hoof in front of the other. Right. Left. Right. Left. Though the wind battered him, and his body heat melted the snow to soak his fur, only to freeze again seconds later, he trudged slowly, solemnly onwards. The mountain drew nearer with each step. Deep down, Justin knew that whatever relief the cave offered would be scant. He and Tornado were still doomed, if indeed the bigger reindeer was still alive at all. But he pushed those thoughts away. Everything would be okay if he made it to the cave. There, he could rest and think of what to do next. He and Tornado would be back on Val Luminara before—

A high pitched shriek tore through the night, making the fur on Justin's spine stand up. He turned around…

Just as a pair of eyes, bright yellow and impossibly big, opened in the distance.

Justin watched in horror as what he had assumed to be part of the night sky began to stalk toward him. Four paws padded across the freshly fallen snow, making no noise and leaving no footprints. Those eyes, the eyes of a predator, were fixed squarely on Justin and Tornado. Two rows of blinding white fangs as big as daggers appeared as it opened its mouth, letting out a “rrrrroooOOOOOOWWWWR” loud enough to shake the ground beneath Justin’s hooves.

Over the past three weeks, so much of what Justin had believed was impossible had become commonplace to him. This, though, was too much. His brain frozen, his body battered, his soul exhausted, there was nothing he could do but let out a scream of terror and turn tail, dashing toward the cave as fast as his wobbly legs could carry him.

Pitch darkness engulfed Justin as the creature soared above his head, blotting out what little light there was. Its landing was unnaturally silent, and it spun around, blocking Justin’s path to the cave. With the gigantic mound of ice providing contrast to its midnight black fur, he was finally able to make out exactly what it was.

It was a cat. A housecat.

A housecat bigger than any house.

It hissed at him, its breath fogging the air in front of it, and raised one of its massive paws. Obsidian claws as long and as sharp as scimitars glistened in the night air. Justin whimpered, imagining all too clearly just how easily those things would be able to slice him into itty bitty, bite-sized pieces. Not that he wasn’t already bite-sized to this unfathomable horror.

The cat struck, and adrenaline surged through Justin’s veins. He didn’t have much energy left, but his body took what it had and channeled it into one desperate jump. Justin shot upwards, the cat’s paw passing narrowly below him. Instinct took over, and he propelled himself forward. He didn’t have it in him to fly, but he could at least control where he fell. If he could just land behind the cat, he might be able to make it to the cave after all!

Unfortunately, Tornado’s added weight caused him to plummet back down faster than he anticipated, and instead of landing behind the cat, Justin found himself landing right on top of its head!

The cat shrieked in rage, its voice drilling into Justin’s eardrums and making his vision blur. It reared back on its hind legs, and Justin lost his balance, sending him and Tornado rolling and sliding down its back until they hit the snow again.

Up! Justin yelled at himself, but his body refused to listen. So cold. So tired. There was no escape. Why shouldn’t he just lay here and wait for the giant cat to kill him? Like so many other questions his cynical side kept asking him, he didn’t have an answer to that.

“No matter what happens,” a familiar voice whispered in his mind, your light has to stay shining.”

Justin gasped, some of the feeling returning to his body.

Lena…

Lucas…

If he died here, he would never see them again!

“Never give in, Justin. Never lose hope.”

With what felt like the greatest effort he had ever made, Justin hauled himself up off the ground. The cat loomed over him, watching with the level of disdain only a housecat could ever achieve. When it saw that Justin was still moving, it raised its paw to strike at him again.

Move, move, move! he told his tired, battered body as he bent over to grab Tornado by his antlers. The ice cliff was just a few feet away. The nearest cave was only a couple feet wide. He would fit, but it would be a tight squeeze—if he could get there in the first place!

Justin yanked on Tornado's antlers, dragging him through the deep, heavy snow. He pulled again, and his shoulders brushed the sides of the cave. Another pull…

“Nngh,” the bigger reindeer moaned.

Justin froze, his ears perking up at the unexpected sign of life—and that proved to be the worst mistake he could have made.

The cat swung its gargantuan paw, and Justin was forced to leap backwards to avoid being sliced to ribbons. He wasn't quite fast enough, though, and pain flashed through him, burning hot against the freezing cold. He was sent flying backwards, further into the cave, where he collided with an icy wall and slumped to the ground. Blood soaked the fur on his chest, his shirt and jacket in tatters.

Then the cat sank its claws into Tornado's leg. The bully moaned in pain again, but his eyes still didn't open. Then, slowly, the cat began to drag him back out of the cave.

“No!” Justin yelled, getting to his hooves and diving across the cave.

As he did so, something fell from what remained of his jacket.

He landed face down in the snow, his fists wrapping around Tornado's ankles. The cat growled in annoyance, Justin's weight doing nothing to stop it from towing Tornado back out into the open.

It gave one last yank, and Tornado slipped free of Justin's grip.

Given no other choice, Justin scrambled back into what little safety the cave offered before the cat could decide it wanted some more lively prey to toy with. As he did, crawling backwards crab-style, his hand came down on something, squashing it. He looked down at it, and a gasp escaped his lips.

Lucas and Lena's present, he realized. The box had been flattened, but its shiny red wrapping paper and bright green bow still stood out vividly in the cold darkness.

Slowly, Justin picked it up, and a thin silver chain spilled out of it. A necklace, he realized, and on it hung a small locket. With frozen, half dead hands, Justin fumbled with it, eventually managing to pry it open.

Inside was a photo of three people. In the center was Lucas, grinning like an idiot. On his left was Lena, the reindeer's arm around her neck, looking like she was about to murder him. And on his right…

Justin's ears drooped.

It was him. He had a stupid look on his face, caught completely off guard by Lucas’ sudden neck-hug. But despite the surprise on his face, when Justin looked into his own eyes, he could see happiness in them.

Happiness he would never feel again.

Words had been etched into the opposite side of the locket. Though it was dark in the cave, just enough light filtered in for him to make out what it said.

Dear DEER Justin,

Justin couldn't help but smirk at the way Lucas had scratched out dear, vandalizing the gift for the sake of a pun.

We know things are hard right now. You're scared, confused, and surrounded by strange people.NAMEDLENABut in the short time we've known each other, you have become one of the closest, most loyal friends either of us have ever had. We're glad we had the chance to know you, and we hope you feel the same way. Merry Christmas!

You're not alone, Justin. We will always be with you.

Love,

Your friends, Lena and Lucas AND LENA.

Something sprang to life in Justin's heart. Something wonderful, but terrible at the same time. Emotions he didn't want to feel boiled up inside him. Tears welled up in his eyes, spilling down his cheeks just to freeze a moment later.

“I've been such an idiot,” he whispered, clutching the locket in both hands.

Not because he hadn't recognized their friendship, because he had.

Not because he was lost and freezing to death in the North Pole, because part of him still believed this was exactly where he belonged.

Not even because he was currently trapped in a cave while a housecat the size of a school bus tortured his—most likely dead—rival.

It was because, looking down at that locket in his numb, trembling hands, he suddenly understood what he had so stubbornly refused to see before.

“This,” he whispered, “is Christmas.”

The shopping. The commercialism. The animalistic greed that drove people to sacrifice innocent retail workers to plastic semi-trucks. They were all horrible, no doubt about it. A shadow had been cast over the season, corrupting people's hearts and pulling them away from the Light. But that wasn't what Christmas was.

This burning, aching feeling of belonging in his heart.

That was Christmas.

The friends he had back home, the people who laughed with him, and made him laugh in return, whose love for him made even the darkest day a little bit brighter.

That was Christmas.

The intense, almost insane, need to do whatever it took to be with those friends again.

That was Christmas.

A soft blue light filled up the cave, letting him see the picture even more clearly. Justin suddenly looked up. The cat was still toying with Tornado.

Almost without realizing it, he stood up and stepped back out into the open.

What are you doing? the cynical voice in his head demanded. You're insane!

He couldn't deny that. But maybe, he realized, Christmas was a little bit insane.

In a world as dark and miserable as this, where people worked harder to ruin the lives of those around them just to line their pockets with money and cheap material possessions, you would have to be insane to believe something like Christmas meant anything.

I'm running straight toward Catzilla, he thought, with absolutely no plan, knowing it can—and will—chop me into sushi and eat me. All to save someone who hates me so much he just tried to murder me. So yeah, I'm clearly insane. And…

“I believe in Christmas,” he said.

And with that, the feeling that had been building in his chest rose up through his neck, to his face, making his antlers blaze with beautiful blue light. Then a beam of that light as big around as his arm exploded from the tip of his snout, shooting across the distance between him and the cat to strike it square in the face.

Justin's eyes widened. Did…I do that?

The cat yowled in pain, retreating from Tornado's prone form. The light had burned a patch of its fur away, but other than that it seemed unharmed.

And now Justin had its full attention.

It watched him warily, evaluating him. Justin had managed to hurt it, but not much. Was that all he was capable of, it was wondering? Or was he waiting to unleash an even more powerful attack?

Justin wished he knew.

What in the name of Kris Kringle am I doing? he wondered, limping forward until he was standing between it and Tornado. The cat finally made up its mind, baring its teeth and charging at him. Justin's antlers were still shining like a blue sun, and his head was still spinning with confusion.

Am I seriously going to fight a giant cat with a magical nose I don't even know how to use—to protect THIS GUY?

Try as he might, he couldn't get that beam of light to appear a second time. Even the light in his antlers was fading, leaving him in the cold and dark again.

The cat pounced again, its gargantuan-yet-sleek frame cutting through the frigid air like a spear. Justin could only watch as death came flying to meet him.

Then another voice whispered into his mind—and it wasn't the one he expected to hear.

“What is Christmas,” asked Vixen, “if not the season of forgiveness?”

Suddenly, Justin knew what he had to do. Standing tall and defiant against his foe, clenching his fists by his sides, he spoke.

But not to the cat.

“Tornado,” he said in a low voice, “I forgive you.”

In an instant, his antlers burst into light again! He could feel the power traveling through his body, concentrating at the tip of his snout, and…

It burst forth again, even more powerful than the first time. It struck the cat an instant before it landed on him. The smell of burning hair filled the air, and the cat was launched back the way it had come.

The power dwindled, and the light in his antlers faded. Justin collapsed to his knees, exhausted.

Fifty feet away, the cat crashed to the ground, kicking a mushroom cloud of snow into the air.

Just knelt in front of Tornado, gasping for breath, fighting to stay conscious. He felt like a dead battery, all his energy sucked out of him by that one explosive attack. But at least it was over now. If he could get Tornado back to the cave, he could come up with a way to—

The cat stood up.

“No,” Justin gasped, despair clawing at his heart.

The feline horror shrieked in rage, baring its teeth and charging straight for him.

“No, that's not how this is supposed to work!”

There was nothing more Justin could do. No energy left to fight. Nowhere left to run. He could only watch as the unkillable beast came for him, and hope that his death was as painless as it was inevitable.

Suddenly, the night lit up as bright as day. Justin flung an arm in front of his face, the sudden light too painful to look at. Warmth washed over him, and he opened his eyes a crack to see several more beams of magic just like his own, in every color, streaking down out of the sky.

Eight of them.

The cat shrieked in pain as each beam struck it simultaneously, forcing it away from Justin and Tornado. It tried to push back, its jaws frantically biting the empty air in front of it, but Justin could see it sliding backwards.

“Begone, Jólakötturinn!” a familiar voice commanded. “Return to your master!”

The cat howled its defiance one last time, and was finally swept off its feet and cast out into the darkness.

The lights faded. Justin stared, wide eyed and mouth agape, at the spot where the beast had just been. Who…how…

Nine figures, eight of them wearing red robes landed in the snow, surrounding him.

“Justin!” a feminine voice called out. A small shadow came racing up to him.

“I can't believe we found you!” said another voice. A second shadow was standing in front of him now. “Are you okay?”

“Justin, can you hear us?” the first voice asked. “Say something!”

Who were these two? Justin was sure he recognized them, but it was so…hard to…think…

He fainted.