Holy stocking stuffer. Reindeer really do fly here.
Up in the sky, two deer crashed into each other, their antlers striking with such force sparks flickered from them. I could make out the bigger one, Blitzen, punching his hoof into Rudy’s stomach. A wet moan broke from Rudy, blood raining down.
“Rudolph!” I stopped, my heart twisting in my chest.
“Alice, come on.” Scrooge waved me on.
“No. Blitzen is going to kill him. He needs us.”
“We can’t.” Scrooge grabbled for my hand, but I pulled away, wanting to turn back.
“He’s up there because of us. He might be killed. We can’t just leave him.”
“We have to.” He tried to grab my arm again. “He knew what he was getting into. Now it’s too late.”
My mouth parted. “Too late? You selfish, asshole! Shit, you really are the epitome of Scrooge. You warned me you only watched out for yourself. If this is the way you treat friends, I can see why you don’t have many.”
“Oh no. Oh no.” Penguin squeaked at my response, covering his eyes with his flippers, still huddled tightly against Scrooge. Dee and Dum sucked in a harsh breath, their hands synchronously covering the other’s mouth in shock.
Scrooge stepped up to me. His stony expression locked up. Cold and unforgiving, his body loomed over mine. A shiver crawled up my legs to my neck. He took another step, forcing me back, his icy blue stare splicing me with vehemence.
“Do not presume to know anything about me, Ms. Liddell.” His voice vibrated with anger and violence. “You have only been here a moment. Live here for over a century and then we can talk.”
His rage pressed into me, flaming my body with the intensity of his anger. Fright spiked my body’s heat, tingling my skin with hunger. His regard moved over me, landing briefly on the curve of my bra, over the flesh pumping in and out, my chest forcing in whiffs of air. He watched it happen, my body betraying me as my nipples hardened under the thin bra, craving the very thing I shouldn’t. Savagery. Fierceness. Something my exes claimed and bragged about, but they never lived up to it.
Scrooge’s pupils dilated, his nose flared, and his abs contracted with each breath. A deep snarl shuddered up his throat, then he whipped around, stomping through the snow. Dee and Dum ran after him, leaving me puffing for oxygen. My muscles ached with need.
Christmas balls! That man could just look at me and turn me into pudding. I hated it. I didn’t want to be that girl. The silly, impulsive one who got her heart broken because she couldn’t decipher between love and lust.
“Wow.” Hare hopped next to me. “You really are trying to propel him over the ledge, aren’t you?”
“I don’t understand.” I shook my head, clearing it of whatever trance he seemed to put on me, hearing the battle rage between the reindeers. The flames from the house ignited them in a ruby glow; the hollering of soldiers sounded through the night.
“It’s reindeer code. Once they enter a fight…” Hare indicated at Blitzen and Rudy. “No one, and I mean no one, can come between them. It would be considered an enormous dishonor. Rudy understood what he was doing.”
“But—”
“That’s the ‘reindeer games.’ They enter a fight… to the death.” Hare’s mouth turned with sorrow, but he shrugged his shoulders. “He did this to give us a chance to escape. Don’t take it away from him. This is a pride thing.”
My gut wrenched as I peered back, thinking this might be the last time I saw Rudy. Blitzen was humongous. He would kill him.
“And don’t think this doesn’t devastate Scrooge. You think losing another person he cares about because of the Queen’s need to punish him doesn’t destroy the little humanity he’s got left? It does. If it was just him, he’d still be in there fighting, going down with Rudy. But he’s trying to keep the rest of us alive.” Hare bounced forward, staring back at me, a wicked grin growing on his face, waggling his eyebrows. “And possibly keep you in as little clothing as possible while doing it. Smart man.”
Hare bounded off, following the outlines in the distance, snickering.
Grumbling, I grabbed the buttonless shirt, wrapping it around my figure. I took a few steps, the cries from behind making me pause.
Rudy’s form dipped in the sky, his body slumping as Blitzen continued his attack while flames burned his home to the ground below him. Tears clogged my throat; I still wanted to run back and help somehow.
Like he could sense me, see me, a connection lay between us I couldn’t describe. It had been there since the moment I saw him outside the Santa’s Cottage. His head swung in my direction, his dark eyes reflecting red fire, his deer mouth parting.
“Go, Alice. Before it’s too late.” The words shot into my ears, the wind delivering them only to me.
My chest let out a heave as Blitzen tried to see who he was talking to. Rudy turned away from me. Blitzen’s hoof slammed into Rudy’s face, spinning him back. His body dropped from the sky into the flames. A small cry erupted from my throat, tears burning my eyes, but I forced myself to do what he wanted. What he sacrificed himself for.
I turned and ran, disappearing into the silent night.
Chapter 18
Scrooge moved us quickly, keeping to the shadows, his attention always flicking to the sky or behind us, making sure we weren’t being pursued. We followed the stream, trying to leave no tracks in our wake. Penguin hummed holiday tunes under his breath before falling asleep in Scrooge’s arms.
“Don’t worry, no one’s gonna bother following us where we’re going,” Hare grumbled, hopping from embankment to rock in the middle of the creek. “Why should they? What they couldn’t finish, this place will. Probably safer to turn back and face the wooden pecker brigade.”
“What do you mean?” I gulped, stumbling over hidden roots and rocks. My exposed feet were cut and bleeding, slowing me down to the last person. “Where are we going?”
“Mount Crumpit.” Hare winked back at me.
“Thanks.” I frowned. “I kind of grasped that part. But seriously, how much worse can it get than Tulgey Woods or the Queen’s palace?”
Scrooge glanced over his shoulder as Dee and Dum knocked together, giggling at my naïveté. Hare sniggered along with them.
“For fuck sake… this is supposed to be Christmasland.” I tossed out my arms, feeling my sanity slipping. Exhausted, bleeding, dirty, hungry, and barely dressed, I was hitting my limit. “Joy, fun, love, and innocence reigns. Where elves build toys, Santa delivers presents to good little children, reindeer play games like soccer, and Mrs. Claus makes fuckin’ cookies.”
“This is Winterland, Ms. Liddell.” Scrooge’s dark eyebrows lifted, his olive skin rippling down his torso, looking creamy in the moonlight. “And it’s just a part of Christmas. It’s not all of it. Good with the bad. Yin and yang. Except it hasn’t been equal in a long time.”
“Tell me where we are going,” I demanded, annoyance folding my arms over my stomach. “I’m sick of surprises right now.”
Scrooge walked to the edge of the tree line, twisting back to me.
“Why don’t you see for yourself?” He waved the arm not filled with a snoring bird and motioned for me to step out of the forest.
Nerves leaped around in my stomach as I ducked under a branch, walking past him. My gaze taking in the drastic change in landscape. Fields of treeless land covered in snow stretched out before me before dramatically rising into a sheer mountain face, the top of it so high I had to crane back my neck. The snowy top was a curved, twisted, and a scary horror version of the Matterhorn in Disneyland. Actually, it looked similar to the mountain where the Grinch lived.
Oh… no…
“Welcome to Mount Crumpit.” Hare bounded past me, nodding at the top. “Where your worst fears come to life.”
“Mount Crumpit was where the Grinch lived,” I muttered to myself, realizing why the name sounded familiar. The thick clouds weaved around the tip of the mountain like a forewarning.
&nb
sp; “You know about the Grinch?” Dee tilted her head, scratching a cut on her face that still wept with blood.
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “He’s very famous in my realm too. This one doesn’t happen to be the version who loves Christmas?” Hare, Dee, and Dum burst out laughing. I kind of figured it was wishful thinking.
“The Grinch is nasty, malevolent, vile, and an utter asshole.” Scrooge glared up at the mountain.
“Funny, a lot of people think the Grinch and Scrooge are very similar in character.” I bit back my smile, peering sideways at the man next to me.
His head rolled slowly to me, his lids lowering. “Watch yourself, Ms. Liddell.” He leaned in, his timbre scaling up my neck, low and suggestive. “I’m even more depraved.”
Tingles flared up my nerves, forcing me to suck in air through my nose as he took a step forward. A knowing grin tipped the side of his face.
Asshole. But he was right. He was so much more dangerous…
“Please tell me I heard Rudy wrong. Why are we going all the way up there?” Dee whined.
“Because.” Scrooge stepped next to Hare folding his arms, his answer ending there.
“Wait.” My hands went out. “W-We have to go up there?” Please say no, please say no. Climbing up that mountain was my worst fear come to life. I enjoyed working out. City, indoor-type of exercise. Yoga, boxing, even pole dancing. But mountaineering barefoot? Hell, no.
“Oh, sugarplum.” Hare’s pointy teeth showed when he snickered. “Not only do we have to go to the very tippy top, but the mountain and everything living in it is evil.”
“Mrs. Claus wasn’t evil enough? She doesn’t live there.”
“Up there has no side. They are loyal only to themselves.” Scrooge shuffled Penguin in his arms, the bird stirring awake. “Equal opportunists, they will attack anyone who encroaches on their territory.” He nodded to the mountain. “And they aren’t the PG, more pleasant, versions of bad. Most on that mountain will want to kill us.”
“As in eat us for dinner.” Hare shivered. “And no matter what the rumors say, I really don’t enjoy a stick going up my ass to be a rotisserie over the fire. I like to cook, not be cooked.”
“Yes! You are such a good cook, Mr. Hare.” Penguin clapped. “Maybe you can offer to make them your famous Yule log instead… or a scrumptious holiday feast.”
“Good idea, Pen. I’m sure they’ll stop to listen… especially if the main course is barbequed bird.” Hare wiggled his eyebrows. “Heard Penguin is really tasty… wine, olive oil, a little salt and pepper.” He kissed his paw. “Superb!”
“Ahhhh!” Penguin chirped, flapping his wings, hitting Scrooge in the face. “I don’t want to be roasted over an open fire.”
“Hare…” Scrooge rubbed his face where Penguin slapped him. “Don’t start this again.”
“Kidding, Pen.” Hare winked and shook his head, mouthing No, I’m not at me.
“I don’t want to go up there. It’s so far.” Dee pouted, appearing so much like a little girl instead of an ancient elf.
“Doesn’t look so bad from here.” Dum flipped upside down, his tiny feet in the air, staring at the mountain. “Only a straight walk ahead.”
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Looking at the mountain.” He tapped his elf shoes together. “See, sis, easy-peasy.”
She went into a headstand next to him, their bodies knocking together, but neither tipped over.
“You’re right!” She giggled with relief. “I was being so silly. We’re almost above it. Maybe we can sleigh down. How fun that will be.”
“Seriously?” I palmed my face; her logic made no sense.
“Sometimes looking at something from a different perspective changes everything,” Scrooge rebuked. “Makes a hard task look easy. You should try it, Ms. Liddell.”
“Who are you? Mary Poppins? Looking at the mountain upside down doesn’t change anything.”
“That’s because you are only seeing it from one point of view. Nothing here, especially that mountain, should be seen for what it is.”
“Huh?” The logical part of my brain fought with the part telling me to give up and go with it.
“We have no weapons for those creatures. And how do we fight the LSS or the pin—”
“We just do, Hare.” Scrooge cut him off, his jaw setting.
“What creatures? What are LSS?” My arms flung out, apprehension upping my voice.
“Nothing to worry about.” Scrooge shot Hare a look when he snorted. “Are you ready, Ms. Liddell?”
“No.” I waggled my head. “If this is so dangerous, why are we going up there anyway?”
Scrooge took a breath, his eyes going up to the top. “Our only chance to fight the Queen is up there.”
Hunger snapped and gnawed on the lining of my stomach, and every step up the trail made my legs grow heavier, causing me to stumble a few times. My brain kept tricking me into thinking I should be freezing. The wisps of snowy fog whipped around me, but the sweat trickling down my back countered the notion.
Penguin’s constant chatter and singing, no matter how many times Scrooge threatened him to shut up, actually helped keep me moving up the ravine.
“Can I ask why snow isn’t cold here… or it never seems to be daytime?” I dabbed at my brow, my legs aching as the climb up continued to steepen. Scrooge led us, holding Pen. Dum, Dee, Hare, and me scaled the thin trail in single file, the ground below making it easy to stumble over the ledge. “Was it always this way?”
Penguin switched to “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”
“Penguin,” Scrooge growled down at him in his arm. “Shut the fuck up.” He took a breath, pinching his nose when Pen hummed it instead. Just as loud.
“We do not feel weather as you do on Earth. It is always temperate to us. It’s why elves can wear only stockings in the North Pole and be perfectly warm.” Scrooge kept his quick pace, his head constantly on the lookout, his steps fast but precise. “As for the everlasting night, that is her doing. She prefers the dark. It emphasizes the lack of holiday lights she has made illegal. Her blood-red lanterns are the only hue allowed.”
“If she hates Christmas so much, why is she still here?”
“She can’t leave, Ms. Liddell.” He glanced back at me. “Doesn’t have the power to leave this realm.”
“But Rudy can—”
“He was the chosen one. Special. Santa’s lead reindeer.” Scrooge stopped for a moment, staring out over the vastness spread out below us. “Why Blitzen and some of the other reindeer were so jealous of him. He is the only one who could come and go anytime. The others were only allowed that one night a year. The power to leave is only given by the one. Mrs. Claus was never allowed to leave. Something which only fuels her hate.”
There had been a question since meeting Mrs. Claus that stirred in my mind, but running for our lives seemed to take priority.
“What happened to him? To Santa Claus.”
Dum sniffed, while Dee started to cry, almost telling me all I needed to know.
“She tortured him until he no longer believed in himself.” Dee let out a louder sob at Scrooge’s explanation. “Santa no longer exists.” I kind of sensed the answer, but hearing it made my head shake with denial. Santa Claus couldn’t die. He was eternal, a belief in your heart.
“That can’t be.”
“Once we reach there…” Scrooge turned forward again, pointing up the trail, cutting me off. “Don’t let down your guard for a second. If the creatures don’t find us, the land surely will.”
A few yards away, the steep, narrow trail leveled out. Pine trees sprouted tall and thick, the foggy mist prodding their limbs like the wiggling balloon figures you saw at a sale.
“What?” My feet stumbled. “The land?”
“The trees aren’t the only thing alive in this place.” Hare sniggered behind me as we reached the crest.
“What does that mean?”
“You looking to die, twigs?” a
crackly voice boomed overhead. With a scream, I jumped back, a limb swiping for me.
At least eight to ten stories high, bright honey yellow eyes glared down at me; a mouth snarled at me. Similar to a shark’s mouth, wooden daggers snarled and spit at me from a hole in the trunk of the tree. A lump of yellow gooey sap hit the snow next to my foot, the ice sizzling and melting from the substance.
“Holy shit!” I leaped out of the way.
“Don’t let it touch you.” Hare nodded at the goo. “It will melt your skin off.”
“Seriously?” I exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Hare winked at me, darting as tree limbs smacked the ground, trying to hit us like a game of whack-a-mole.
Every pine tree came to life, like they had been woken from a slumber, the yellow eyes gleaming with hate, teeth snapping.
“We will no longer be cut down without a fight, you four-limbed insects.”
A gasp from the pines, their eyes widening with shock, told me this was a grave insult.
“Our sap will turn you into mulch.” The first pine swatted for me again. Shooting out a chunk of sap. I rolled, missing the glop by a hair. It melted through the snow with a crackle. “You are only good as nutrients.”
These trees were much different than the ones I first encountered. The other ones felt like animals at the zoo—domesticated. These were trees in the wild.
I couldn’t help but snigger at the idea of a TV show: Trees Gone Wild!
“Ms. Liddell, hurry up. Run!” Scrooge pointed through the trees where the trail weaved through the dense congregation of pines like a meandering river.
“Are you kidding me?” I screamed back, flattening to the ground as a branch swung over me from a pine behind me. “There is no other way?”
“The only way in life is forward.” Scrooge shrugged at me while darting around, getting away from the pines grabbing for him.
“Holy Christmas wreaths… even now you’re getting philosophical on me?”
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