Ascending From Madness

by Stacey Marie Brown

  The spot was empty. The snowman was absent. I had no idea when he slipped away, but he was gone now.

  “Fuck.” Scrooge glanced around. “The coward probably slipped out with his mistress.”

  “If he comes near us again. I’ll turn his white snow yellow.” Hare padded his foot on the ground with frustration.

  “That will sure get him,” I replied dryly.

  “Rabbit piss is full of acidy goodness. Melt his ass for good.”

  “Then bring on the golden shower.”

  “The golden what?” Hare eyed me.

  “Oh, a golden shower sounds so pretty.” Pen chirped. “Like tinsel pouring down on you.”

  “Yeah.” I cringed as Scrooge snorted. “Exactly like that.”

  Shaking my head, I glanced over at Rudy, who had been utterly silent.

  “Hey? You okay?”

  Rudy took a step forward, still hinged on where the group had disappeared, an animalistic noise coming from his chest.

  “I let her go.”

  “You couldn’t have done anything.”

  “Yes, I could have!” His voice rose, anger flooding his expression, which was startling to witness since he was always calm and even. “I could have fought. I could have done something. But no… once again, I let Blitzen walk away with someone I care about.” He punched at his chest. “I’m nothing but a spineless coward like Clarice said I was.”

  “No, you are not.” I grabbed his hands. “You are dedicated, loving, and will do anything for those you care about. You didn’t even know me, but you risked your life to save mine.” I clutched his face, pulling it up, forcing him to look at me. “It was not the moment to fight Blitzen. She knew that. I don’t know her, but she seems strong and clever.”

  “The smartest out of all of us. And the top fighter.” His idolization of her was obvious. If they were just friends or something more could be brewing between them, he respected her.

  “Then she knew she was the best to go.”

  “He picked her because of me.”

  “We will get her back. Okay?” I dropped my hands away, nodding until he joined me. “We will get them both back.”

  “Yeah, without guns or bullets or bows,” Hare grumbled. “What the hell do we do now?”

  “I have no idea.” Scrooge blew out, scouring his forehead.

  “Just got back from a lovely trip.” Pen started to sing, still standing behind Scrooge, flicking at the snow. “Silly Santa. He knows the lyric is along the Milky Way… not behind. And you don’t take the sleigh down… that makes no sense. He never gets song lyrics wrong. We sing them all the time together.”

  Usually I wouldn’t think twice about Pen’s musings or the curious things Santa said. But he specifically stressed that word, as if he were trying to tell us something.

  Behind the Milky Ways…

  Take the sleigh down.

  “Sweet potato pie.” My mouth opened, my head snapping to Scrooge’s, my mind latching on to Santa’s strange comment.

  “Take the sleigh down…” Scrooge’s eyes widened, the same idea connecting for him.

  “Behind the Milky Ways,” I finished. Plural.

  Santa wasn’t talking about taking the sleigh through the constellation in the sky… but down to the candy. A box of them.

  Chapter 38

  “He wants us to take a sleigh ride in that piece of crap?” Hare scratched behind his ear, staring at the dilapidated sled. “Wait. Are those butt cheek marks on it?”

  “Wow, okay.” I pinned my mouth together, stepping inside it. “We shouldn’t waste time.”

  Scrooge tried to hold back his amusement, his gaze landing on me with heaviness, feeling like his hands were sliding over my curves.

  Hare bounced inside the sleigh, pitching it to the side. “This thing is a piece of junk. It doesn’t look like it can go up in the sky.”

  “It’s not going up.” Scrooge stepped in, his form rubbing up against the back of me, his hands gripping my waist in the tight space. “It’s going down,” he said, his fingers slipping around the band of my sweats, creating shivers to run over my skin. The memories of what we did here a little while ago were still blasting through my mind, my body craving a reenactment.

  “Down?” Hare peered at us with confusion, jumping back onto the bench. He had followed us here, not wanting to be left behind this time, while Rudy and Dee tried to settle everyone and bring them up to speed on what was going on. “Why is this seat sticky?”

  “Probably don’t want to sit there.” Scrooge lifted an eyebrow at him.

  “Nut to my cracker!” Hare leaped up, leaning on the dashboard away from the seat. “Are you kidding me? You let me sit in your jingle juice.”

  “If you’re afraid of that, probably shouldn’t touch that either.”

  “Oh, deck my balls, I don’t know if I’m really proud or I want to throw up.” Hare patted at his stomach. “The sensation feels the same to me.”

  “Do you remember what you pushed?” Scrooge’s question skidded down the back of my neck, my nipples instantly reacting to his deep voice.

  “Ummm.” I stabbed at buttons on the dash to no avail. “Not really. I wasn’t exactly in a coherent frame of mind right then.”

  “Do you need me to help you recall?” Scrooge’s fingers dug into my hips, twirling me around to face him before he chucked me on top of the console.

  “Uh. Innocent bunny in the room.”

  “Please. You screwed your cousin.” I rolled my eyes at Hare.

  “Rabbit here.” Hare motioned to himself. “I’m in some way related to every hare in Winterland. I have hundreds of siblings, so cousins become a gray area.”

  “Let’s get back to why we’re here.” Scrooge shook his head.

  “Yeah, okay…” Hare grumbled. “Like your time period was so black and white on cousins. At least we don’t marry them.”

  “Yeah. Let’s definitely stop this conversation now.” I stared up at Scrooge, his body between my legs, settling me in the exact position he had me in before.

  “I could get rid of Hare and really make you remember.” Scrooge leaned over, his teeth scraping my throat, his breath curling between my breasts, his hands gripping my thighs. Lust sparked down my spine, my fingers curling with need.

  Click.

  “Holy shit!” Hare reacted as the sleigh jerked, the floor opening below us as we started to lower.

  Scrooge stood up, a smug expression on his face, knowing exactly how to get a reaction from me.

  Hare was astounded the whole trek down and through the corridor to the bunker.

  “Just wait.” I opened the door, the light from the room blazing down on us.

  “Butter my balled biscuits…” Hare gaped as we stepped into the room, blinking in awe as we trekked down the steps to the ground. Hare hopped past me, his mouth opening as he took in Santa’s hiding place. “Am I dreaming?” Like a magnet, he went straight to the gourmet kitchen, stroking the brand new, unused stove as if it were his lover.

  “Santa Baby…” A whimper came from him, his cheek pressed against it, his paw gliding over the oven door. “Slip a fully stocked gourmet kitchen under the tree for me… I’ve been an awful good bunny.”

  “Just wait until he sees the other wall.” Scrooge chuckled, heading over to where the bar was, going around the pool table.

  “Still can’t get over the laundry and hot shower.” I trailed after him, snarling at the memory of me screaming under the icy water or scrubbing the clothes until my hands were raw. “Total asshoozel.”

  “I will be back, sweetheart.” Hare kissed the stove. “Don’t worry, my love, I will not leave you. Our love is already too strong and pure.” He stroked it again before tearing himself away. He whined, spotting all the gadgets and pristine cooking accessories stocked in the open kitchen. “Oh. My. Claus! He does have a quiche pan. That’s it! Santa is off my Christmas card list.”

  Scrooge shook his head, stopping near the shelf full of mead bo
ttles and candy bars, me right next to him.

  I could hear Hare bounding over. A little gasp came from him, twisting my head over my shoulder.

  Hare stared up at the shelf full of mead in reverence. His eyes wide, his mouth opening and shutting like he was trying to say something.

  “Hare, are you okay?”

  “I-I-I…” He sputtered, before he fell face-first onto the floor.

  “Holy holly,” I squeaked as he thumped on the ground, out cold.

  “Poor guy. The kitchen and mead were just too much. We should have eased him into it.” Scrooge shrugged his shoulders, turning back to the shelf.

  “Nice concerned friend.”

  “He’s fine.” Scrooge grabbed at the Milky Way box, shaking it. “Probably dreaming about drinking mead as his sugar plums bake in the oven.” He dumped the candy bars on the counter, flipping around the box, before chucking it across the room. “There’s nothing here.”

  “You sure?” I fumbled through the candies, peering at the empty place on the shelf the box used to sit.

  “If we need a sugar rush, sure, we’re covered.” Scrooge ran his hand through his hair, pacing beside me. “What did we think? Santa is a few gingerbread men short of a village right now. And we have no idea what he even wants us to find? What could possibly help us fight the queen down here?”

  “Hare could bake her some poisonous Yule logs?” I countered, my hand feeling along the glass shelf, following up the rustic multi-colored feature wood wall behind, the boards rough against my fingertips. Feeling nothing unusual, I sighed, my last strings of hope being cut. Nothing was there. We either mistook him or he was talking nonsense. “Dammit.” I hit my fist into the wall.

  Clunk!

  The sound of a metal latch releasing its hold rung in the air, and part of the wood panel wall next to the shelf cracked open. A door stood seamlessly concealed in the uneven paneling of the wood.

  “Oh, my twinkle tarts,” I gasped.

  “What did you hit?” Scrooge peered over at me. “Damn, Ms. Liddell, it’s you with the magic fingers.”

  No, that was most unequivocally him.

  I looked back at the spot. Nothing stood out, but I had hit the spot that had been right behind the Milky Way box. “Santa sack… he wasn’t crazy.”

  “Don’t ever talk about Santa’s sack again, please.” Scrooge’s eye twitched as he reached out for the partly opened door. Cautiously, he drew the door open, peering into the dark space beyond. “I can’t see a thing.” He took a step inside, lights flickering on the moment they sensed motion. A bluish light made the walls glow like the hallway we came down to get here, igniting the room.

  “Holy…” Scrooge took another step in the room and stopped in disbelief, his lids blinking frantically, making sure he wasn’t hallucinating. “Tinkering. Elf. Balls.”

  My chest pressed in on my lungs as they filled with shock and horror, my brain taking in what my eyes saw. The room was the size of the bedroom, but this one wasn’t filled with fluffy pillows and a comfy bed.

  No, this one looked like a doomsday shelter, stockpiled with hundreds of weapons. And not the edible kind. All earth-bound weapons: military-grade rifles, hand guns, grenades, and knives, lined the walls, shelves, or in trunks.

  Santa was well supplied for a war.

  I licked my lips, folding my arms, a twisted smile forming on my face.

  “Yippee ki-yay motherfucker…”

  “I hate you!” Hare slumped back in the sleigh as we headed back up to the surface.

  “You have three bottles of mead and a rifle.” Scrooge stepped off once the doors below the sleigh closed. “You should be worshipping me.”

  “But I had to leave my love. She did not take it well.”

  “Somehow she will survive.” Scrooge hooked the strap of the rife higher on his shoulder, waiting for us to catch up.

  “She wants to be used. Get dirty. Turned on… get covered in flour and chocolate. She’s begging me to heat her up. Get those flames burning.”

  “Oh, the kitchen’s already gotten dirty. You didn’t see the ass prints there too?” Scrooge grinned wickedly. I dropped my head, groaning

  “Wha-wha-what-no-you-no…” He shook his head, pleading. “Y-you wouldn’t. You couldn’t do that to me. To her! She was so pure. So uncontaminated.” Hare sputtered, dismay widening his eyes, his lips and nose quivering.

  “Scrooge.” I glowered at him, readjusting the two rifles I was carrying. I also had a handgun and a few knives I added to my boots. “Don’t be mean. We didn’t touch your kitchen, Hare.”

  We so did. I saw Scrooge mouth to Hare, causing the bunny to whimper.

  “You’re an asshole.” I knocked into Scrooge’s shoulder, stepping out of the sled, heading for the door.

  “So you don’t want me to fuck you against it?” He growled in my ear, hitching my breath, my cheeks flushing with the idea. “That’s what I thought. Just preparing him for what will happen in the future.” Scrooge winked at me, opening the barn door to the outside. My body collided with his as he stopped dead in his tracks.

  “What the…?” I glanced around him and saw the reason for his sudden cease.

  Frosty.

  A rumble came from Scrooge, his physique shifting into a threatening stature.

  “Now before—” Frosty held up his arms.

  He didn’t get more than two words out before Scrooge lunged for him. Frosty skated back, missing Scrooge’s swing by inches.

  “You traitor,” he bellowed, jumping for him again. “You have a lot of gall to come back here.”

  “I never left. I just hid until she was gone.” Frosty darted and moved out of his reach. “I didn’t have anything to do with the queen finding you here. I swear!”

  “Your word means nothing to me.” Scrooge huffed, his eyes glowing with hate.

  “I promise. I didn’t lead her here.”

  “Why did you hide then?”

  “Because… I have betrayed her the most. Do you think she would have walked away if she saw me? She would have me melted right there.”

  “You’re not just a turncoat, but a coward as well?”

  “Shrewd is not the same as a coward. Her finding me here will help no one.”

  “Except it would have been a pleasure for me to see you liquified.” Scrooge snapped his teeth, swinging the rifle like a sword for Frosty’s head.

  “Scrooge!” Rudy’s voice thundered over the night, yanking my attention to his outline on the porch. “Stop.”

  “Why?” Scrooge seethed, still not backing down. “We can’t trust anything this two-faced popsicle says.”

  “I believe him.” Rudy traveled to us, inserting himself between Frosty and Scrooge. “He could have let you die. All of you. But he didn’t.”

  Frosty’s coal smile widened with smugness at Rudy’s defense.

  “That’s what traitors do. They get you on their side. Make you believe they are helping you, when all along they are setting you up.”

  “There’s no reason to set you up anymore,” Frosty spoke, still staying behind Rudy. “She has what she wants. With Santa she can close the door. Game over for all of us. I’m as dead as the rest of you. It’s not like she is taking me through the door, nor would I survive in earth’s realm. Too hot there now. So, what would be the reason for me tricking you?”

  He had a point, but I was still with Scrooge, not wholly believing Frosty’s declaration.

  “Who knows why you have done anything.”

  “It wasn’t me who betrayed you, Scrooge, though how fast you turned your back on me. Not once ever giving me the benefit of the doubt. I was your villain. You never doubted it for a moment.”

  “Because the one person you truly care about is yourself.”

  “It’s important to love oneself.”

  Scrooge moved forward, ready to tear into the snowman again. “Leave. I say whatever debt I may have with you, in saving my life, is repaid. But go right now before I change my mind.�
��

  “Willing to burn down your own house, just to use the kindling on me?” Frosty’s pipe moved to the other side. “What if I know something that might help you?”

  Scrooge’s muscles tightened around his ears, his pulse pounding in his neck, but he took in a deep breath. “What?”

  “You think I just give knowledge away?” Frosty’s smiled. “If I help, I get to stay. No more threats of melting me into soup.”

  Scrooge’s chest puffed.

  “Sounds fair.” Rudy shot his friend a look. “Right, Scrooge?”

  Scrooge glared at the ice cream for a bit, his jaw rolling, before he muttered. “Only if his help is actually helpful.”

  Frosty’s grin reached up to his eyes. “Value can be always be found, but the significance of the value sometimes needs a key to unlock it.”

  “You’re already making me regret this.” Scrooge pinched his nose.

  “Let’s say being a spy in her world, I uncovered a door in the castle.”

  “Hare, you want to start cooking on that new stove of yours?”

  “Fuck, yeah. Corn pipe soup.”

  “You have the key to open a door and walk through.” Frosty tipped his hat to me. “You just need another one to step into.”

  “That’s it. You’re done.” Scrooge started to move forward, but my hand slapped down on his forearm, halting him in place, his eyebrows furrowing as he stared at me, but my gaze was on Frosty.

  The snowman’s grin doubled in size. “Ms. Alice understands me. Don’t you?”

  “Frighteningly, I do.”

  “Understand what?” Hare still gripping onto his mead, inching closer to me.

  “Frosty knows where the queen has a mirror.” I continued to keep my attention on him. “That could be how we can win this war. We sneak in that way. Take them by surprise.”

  “O-kay… but don’t you need a mirror to go into to do that?” Hare asked. “Unless you’re talking about going to the Land of Mirrors, which I will say a big fat hell no to right now. Mirrors have always been forbidden here. No one has one.”

  Scrooge groaned next to me, his head dropping back, understanding hitting him.