Christmas Chaos (Christmas Magic Book 2)

by Alexandra Moody

  “We need to find somewhere safe for you to sleep this off,” he added. “I don’t seem to have been affected as badly as you.”

  “I’m sure there are plenty of beds in the village above,” I suggested.

  “No,” Dash immediately replied. “I don’t want you up there if you’re even slightly impaired. We don’t know what magical creatures are in the trees, and you can’t take care of yourself when you’re like this. The village is too dangerous.”

  He placed a hand on the leaves in front of us and brushed them back as he looked out and checked the trail beyond. “Come on, the way is clear now. We’ll go find somewhere to rest for the night and come back to the village tomorrow and scope it out once we’re more ourselves.”

  I still thought that Dash was overreacting, but if he wanted to find somewhere a little more secluded, I was hardly going to complain. Dash stepped from our hiding place first, and I quickly went after him, not liking the amount of distance between us. I stumbled out of the bushes as I followed.

  The moment we both stepped onto the trail, a voice sounded behind us. “Well, well, well, what have we here?”

  Chapter Eleven

  Dash and I both spun around to find an elderly elf standing behind us. She smelled like candy, and her hair was gray with age, which meant she must have been ancient. All magical beings aged at an extraordinarily slow rate, so this one must have been hundreds of years old.

  She was wearing a long, woven gown and was using a wooden cane to help prop her up. There was a knowing look in her eyes as she looked us up and down. I found it hard to focus on her too much as the ground kept lurching beneath me. I felt a little like I was standing on a boat, only we weren’t at sea.

  “It’s been a long time since any of your lot have found their way in here,” the elf remarked. “I can’t remember the last time I saw a light being, let alone two.”

  My thoughts were foggy as I tried to make out what she was saying, and I knew I wasn’t nearly as lucid as I should be. It probably should have worried me that a dark being knew we didn’t belong here, but for some reason, I wasn’t bothered.

  Dash touched my elbow, and I glanced up at him. “You’re swaying,” he murmured.

  I wrenched my arm out of his grasp and shook my head. “I certainly am not.” I probably spoke too loudly, because I now had the elf’s full attention.

  The woman’s eyes narrowed on me, and she started tutting. “And this one has had far too much fairy dust. You both better come with me before she completely loses it.”

  Dash didn’t move to follow the woman, and I stayed firmly at his side. “How do we know we can trust you?” he asked.

  “Because Sitzie told me you were here,” the woman responded. “She wasn’t too concerned about what happened to the claus, but she did seem rather worried about the light shifter.”

  “Who’s Sitzie?” I asked.

  “The fairy we brought back,” Dash answered.

  I nodded. With a stupid name like that, I should have assumed it was the fairy.

  “That still doesn’t give us a good reason to trust you,” Dash continued.

  “Well, it’s up to you. Come or don’t come, I don’t care either way,” she replied. “But that claus needs help, and I’m sure neither one of you will like this forest much once night descends. There’s a reason we all live in the trees.”

  “Can you give us a moment?” Dash pulled me aside. He kept looking over his shoulder at the elf as he went to speak to me. “Do you think we should go with her?” Dash murmured.

  “Sure, she seems great.”

  He frowned, apparently not agreeing with my assessment of the situation. “Remind me not to ask you anything when you’re high on fairy dust.”

  “I’m not high on fairy dust.” I giggled at the end of my sentence, which earned me another disapproving look. I wasn’t doing a very good job of convincing Dash I was fine, but I couldn’t help that he looked so funny when he was scowling at me.

  He looked off into the distance as another howl echoed through the air. It was the same creature we’d heard before, and the sound made Dash’s jaw go tense. His grasp on my arm also grew tighter as he looked back at me.

  “Seems like I don’t have much choice but to give the elf the benefit of the doubt then,” Dash muttered. “I don’t like the sound of whatever’s out there, and I don’t think I can take you anywhere.”

  He let out a long breath, as if he were stealing himself for what was to come, before he turned and gently guided me back toward the elf. “Thank you, we’ll come with you,” Dash said, when we reached her. “My name is Dash, and this is Clio.”

  “Agatha,” the elf replied. “We need to go this way.” She turned and started following the narrow path that was trampled through the forest.

  Dash hesitated though. He looked at the elf, who was now walking away, before focusing on me. His mouth was crinkled like he still hadn’t made up his mind. Alfie had said the dust could cause paranoia, and I wondered if maybe Dash was the one who was high on fairy dust. I’d never seen him looking so anxious before.

  Agatha paused up ahead and peered over her shoulder at us. “Are you coming?”.

  Dash nodded and took hold of my hand. “I hope we don’t regret this,” Dash said under his breath.

  “She’s an old elf who’s offered to help us, and you’re a kickass reindeer dude. Stop being such a worrier.”

  Dash let out a long breath, and I suspected my attempted words of encouragement hadn’t helped. That was just fine by me; he could worry for the two of us.

  We followed the elf for several minutes before she turned off the pathway and headed into the thicker undergrowth that grew along the side of the path. The forest seemed to get increasingly denser as we walked, but it didn’t slow the old elf. Despite walking with a cane, she set a quick pace, moving through the trees and undergrowth as though she had memorized every step. I would never have been able to keep up if Dash hadn’t been dragging me along by my arm. Finally, we pushed through some bushes and stepped into a small clearing, but I immediately stopped in my tracks when I saw what the elf had led us to.

  “Huh, maybe I am high,” I said, as my eyes grew wide with awe. Before us was a whirling vortex in the base of a tree trunk. The magic was deep blue in color and sparkled brightly in a mesmerizing pattern that continually coiled inward. I’d never seen anything like it before, and I was tempted to blame the fairy dust. Was I experiencing some sort of delirium-induced vision?

  “You’re not seeing the door because you’re high, child. Fairy dust doesn’t make you hallucinate. It’s really there,” the elf said with a shake of her head. “This is how we get to the village.”

  “Cool.” I took a step toward it. “Can I go first?”

  The elf nodded, but Dash immediately took my hand and pulled me back. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. This thing could lead anywhere.”

  “Stop stressing, Dash, I’m sure it’s fine.” I shook his hand off and stepped into the swirling blue magic before he could stop me.

  The moment I entered the vortex, I gasped as my body was catapulted upward. I felt like I’d just been launched out of a cannon, and I squinted as I ascended. I’d expected a kind of tugging feeling, similar to the experience of using the sleigh lines, but this was far more brisk and harsh. It all came to a stop as suddenly as it started, and I staggered forward, trying very hard not to throw up. I crouched over, bracing myself against my knees, as I tried to overcome my queasiness.

  “Are you crazy?” Dash asked, coming up beside me. Apparently, he’d decided to come right after me. I kind of wish he hadn’t because he sounded angry. “Didn’t you ever learn not to use strange magic?”

  “Guess not.” I slowly stood tall once more, but I didn’t look at Dash. I was in awe of the village that stretched out through the treetops in front of me.

  We were standing at the top of a very tall tree, and a wooden deck circled the trunk with at least ten bridges heading off i
n different directions. Twinkling orbs of light hovered through the air around us, and the floor of the forest looked like a dark and glittering carpet from our vantage point. We were up seriously high, and although I usually wasn’t great with heights, right now, I relished in the open air surrounding us.

  I became distracted from the long drop below us as one of the small glowing lights floated toward me. I’d seen them from the ground but hadn’t been able to figure out what they were. I tilted my head as I looked at the light. It was a spherical plant, somewhat like a dandelion. A thousand tiny stems grew out of the center bulb, and each one of them glowed with a soft yellow light. I reached out to touch it, but the tiny orb wafted away on a breeze.

  “Clio?” Dash said.

  I slowly turned to him, not in any hurry to look away from the beauty before me. His body was tense, and I was glad to find there was no anger in his eyes. Instead, they held the same paranoid concern that had been there down on the forest floor.

  I patted him on the cheek. “Everything will be fine,” I said. “You’ll see.”

  The old elf appeared out of the whirling blue vortex behind Dash and started toward one of the long, suspended bridges. She waved for us to follow her, and I went without complaint. With every moment that passed, I was feeling lighter and happier. I loved the magic of this place, and it made me sad that our people in the Northern Realm were denied from experiencing it.

  From the ground, it had looked like the tree houses that made up the suspended village were all on one level, but as we walked, I could see I’d been mistaken. The houses formed an upward spiral around each of the tree trunks. Each home had its own level in the spiral, and they were all spaced far enough apart that their occupants had privacy.

  Agatha led us along the network of paths. We went from tree to tree before she veered away from the bridges and made her way toward a large opening in one of the tree trunks that looked like a doorway. She walked beneath the carved arch and entered the tree, starting down a set of stairs that ran down the inside of the trunk. There were landings, every ten steps or so, that housed doors leading from the tree, which I assumed would open into the treetop homes.

  As I descended the stairs, I started to feel unsteady. My stomach was rolling, and my chest stirred with queasiness. I placed my hand against the walls as I walked, and my steps slowed as I tried taking several deep breaths to make myself feel better. I had been so happy only moments before, but I suddenly wasn’t feeling so optimistic.

  Agatha eventually stopped by one of the doors and opened it, beckoning us to step through the entrance. I followed her inside the house, a headache taking root in my temples as I looked around the main room. I wanted nothing more than to find a bed in a dark place, but instead, I was staring at a large living room that was about the size of my entire apartment back in Bramblewood. There were two doors leading out of the room and a floor-to-ceiling window against the far wall that looked onto the forest beyond.

  I couldn’t focus on any of that though. My headache was getting worse, and I started to feel dizzy. I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see if Dash had entered the room after me, but the sudden movement left my head spinning. I reached out and rested a hand against the doorway.

  “I don’t feel so good,” I murmured.

  Dash was at my side before I’d finished getting the words out. He hooked his arm around my back and led me deeper into the house. He stopped in front of a couch that sat near the huge window, and I collapsed onto it, wishing that my head would go back to normal.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Dash asked.

  I felt a cool hand under my chin, and my face was lifted so I was looking into Agatha’s eyes. “She’s having a bad reaction to the dust,” she replied before letting go of my chin. She eased me back onto the sofa so that I was lying down with my head propped on one of the pillows.

  “The kitchen’s through there,” she said to Dash, pointing to one of the doors. “Bring me a cup of water.”

  Dash nodded and disappeared. I watched through hazed eyes as Agatha went over to the window. She opened it and then reached out a hand and grabbed hold of one of the glowing dandelions that were floating through the air. She brought the plant inside and started grinding it between her palms, smashing it up. Despite being crushed, the plant still glowed, and Agatha’s hands started shimmering where they were covered in the plant’s juices.

  “Here’s the water,” Dash said, passing Agatha the glass. She placed a finger in it, and her dark green magic swirled inside the glass until steam started to rise out of it.

  “What are you doing to the water?” Dash asked.

  “Making it boil.” She dropped the plant into the cup. “This is an old medicine they used to use on fairy dust overdoses. Hopefully, it should help her.”

  Dash nodded, flicking a worried glance in my direction.

  “Here,” Agatha said, kneeling at my side. “Drink this.” She lifted the cup to my lips and started to pour the drink into my mouth. It was burning hot, and the water tasted sweet, a little like honey, but it made my tongue tingle. “You need to rest.” Agatha lowered the cup from my lips.

  I tried to nod, but the movement only made my head spin more violently. “I’ll try,” I responded, the words sounding surprisingly drowsy.

  Agatha nodded and stepped away to talk with Dash.

  “Do you think she’s going to recover?” he asked.

  I didn’t hear her response, because I closed my eyes and fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

  I woke to a dry throat and a pounding head. I groaned, pressing a hand against my forehead.

  “Clio?” Dash’s voice came from close by, and as I opened my eyes to look for him, I had to push down another moan. My head swirled and my stomach lurched as I blinked open my eyes.

  “Clio, are you feeling okay?” Dash was lying on the floor beside me, and he scrambled to his knees to check me over.

  “I’ve certainly felt better.” I slowly sat up and looked around the room we were in. It was early morning, and I’d woken in a tree house, which I vaguely remembered entering the afternoon before. My memories were foggy though. “What happened?”

  “The fairy dust happened,” Dash said. “You had a bad reaction.”

  I immediately sat up straight. “That’s not good, right? Alfie said you could lose your mind if you react badly to it. Am I going crazy, Dash?”

  He chuckled under his breath. “No more than usual. Agatha gave you some medicine and said you just needed to sleep it off.”

  I tried to recall taking the medicine, but I was drawing a blank. Whatever I’d been given couldn’t have been that miraculous considering how horrible I still felt.

  “How come you weren’t so badly affected?” I asked. Dash didn’t look nearly as deathly ill as I felt, and he seemed to remember the events of yesterday just fine.

  “Agatha told me that shifters metabolize the dust differently. It affected me, but only for a short while, and it wasn’t nearly as bad.” I could have sworn he started to blush, and I suddenly remembered how I’d attacked him in the bushes.

  “I kissed you.” My voice betrayed the horror I felt as I recounted my behavior the previous day. My cheeks were now flaming too, and I suddenly wished the effects of the fairy dust overdose also included total memory loss. Unfortunately, I could remember those actions in explicit detail. The more I remembered it, the more I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It had been some kiss.

  I’d been attracted to Dash since the moment I saw him. Sure, I’d imagined what it might be like to kiss him, but I’d never thought it would happen like that—certainly not under the influence of fairy dust. I chewed on my lower lip as I considered that Dash might not have wanted the kiss. He’d kissed me back, but it might have only been because he was affected too.

  “Crap,” I muttered. I was far too hungover to be trying to figure this out.

  “It’s okay, Clio, I kissed you too.” It sounded like he was just trying to make
me feel less awkward, but it was having the opposite effect.

  “Can we please just not talk about it?”

  Dash shook his head. “I think we should…”

  I could see he was trying to let me down gently, so I bounced off the couch and stood up. I immediately regretted moving so quickly, as my head started spinning and I felt bile rise in my throat. I really didn’t want to hear Dash’s thoughts on the kiss though.

  “No, it’s fine. I’d rather just forget it happened.”

  Dash frowned. “If you’re sure…”

  “I’m sure.” I didn’t want to create any more awkwardness between us than there already was. I had a favor to fulfill, one that we both had to focus on. It seemed like a much better plan to just pretend the best kiss of my life had never happened, rather than have Dash reject me, leaving us stuck in the forest together until we found the chest.

  “Ah, you’re both awake,” Agatha said as she entered the room.

  “Yes, and Clio seems to be back to her normal self,” Dash replied bluntly. He’d said the words so flatly and without emotion, and it left me confused about what he meant. I would have thought it was a good thing I was back to my normal self, but he made me feel like it wasn’t. I got the impression he was unhappy because I’d refused to talk about the kiss.

  I wanted to try to work out what could have made him so grumpy, but I felt too awkward to look at him directly. So, I focused on the elf instead and smiled at her. “He’s right, I’m feeling much better thanks to you,” I agreed. “I’m not sure I would have enjoyed passing out on the forest floor.”

  The elf nodded. “It’s certainly not a pleasant place out there at night. Now, are you both hungry? I’ve made breakfast.”

  My stomach decided to rumble in response. I laughed at the loud noise it made and nodded. “Starved, thanks.”

  I followed Agatha into the kitchen, and Dash trailed closely behind me. It was a small room that was cluttered with pots and pans and had a tiny circular window that looked onto the forest. With the three of us standing in there, it felt extremely cramped, but I wasn’t so concerned about personal space when I realized what was waiting in there for us. My eyes lit up as I saw a batch of fresh mince pies on the table. Agatha must have noticed my excitement because she smiled and nodded toward them. “Help yourselves.”