“What is that?” I asked.
“It’s Christmas music.”
“That’s what I thought. I think I see a town ahead. Let’s walk there.”
“Ugh. Seriously?” Jezebel groused.
“Well, can you teleport us to it?” I asked.
Jezebel closed her eyes for a moment. She concentrated as hard as she could. Totally farted. “That wasn’t me.”
“Of course it wasn’t,” I said and began walking toward the warm glow of the mystery village.
“You should say excuse me,” Jez said as she sprinted to catch up with me.
“You’re working too hard to sell it,” I said, so we walked a mile or so in silence.
“Have you noticed something?” Jezebel asked.
“Did you toot again?” I chuckled. I couldn’t help myself.
“Ugh, you humans and your juvenile sense of humor. No. I’m talking about the weather.”
“It’s snowing,” I said.
“Yeah, but look at how you’re dressed.”
“It’s snowing, but it’s not that cold. I’m definitely not dressed for winter weather, but I don’t feel chilled.”
“My feet aren’t cold, either. This snow isn’t snow temperature.”
“Let’s just keep going. We’re almost to the town. I’m sure someone there can tell us what’s going on,” I said hopefully.
The closer we got to the village, the more I realized we were walking uphill. Jezebel seemed to handle it fine, but I was huffing and puffing by the time we stepped foot into the little town’s square.
“There’s nobody around,” Jezebel said. “Where is everyone? This place looks like a ghost town, but the lights are all on.”
“And that Christmas music is still playing,” I said. “Maybe everyone is still eating dinner, or they are asleep. We don’t have any idea what time it is.”
“Oh hey, do you have your phone?” Jez asked hopefully.
“Right! I completely forgot to check.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket, and my shoulders immediately fell in defeat.
“What is it? What does it say? Can you call?” Jezebel’s questions prodded me as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing.
“It says the time is purple,” I said and turned the phone toward my familiar.
“I’m a cat, lady. I can’t see in two dimensions.”
“You can also teleport, so I thought maybe you could see phone screens.”
“Well, I can’t teleport here.”
“Yeah, I know. Sorry. We should stop bickering and figure something out,’ I said.
“The bakery looks like it might be open. Let’s try going in there,” Jezebel said.
The building with a bakery sign was catty-corner to where we stood on the far edge of the square. Since the snow wasn’t cold, I decided to cut through the center.
About halfway across, the snow began to shake and something started to rise up out of it. I watched in morbid fascination as a fully formed snowman took shape before us.
The childish delight I felt took a frightening turn when the snowman’s smile revealed a row of jagged, icy teeth. “You guys stumbled into the wrong village,” it snarled at me.
The snow creature began to glide toward us on its round bottom.
“A freaking killer snowman. You’ve got to be kidding me!” Jezebel said, and to my surprise, she pounced on it.
“Jezebel, no.” I called out and lunged at the thing.
When I tackled it, the snowman poofed apart and fell into a pile of snow on the ground. I took a few steps back, and to my dismay, the abominable snowman began to reform.
“Oh jeez. This could go on all night,” Jezebel said.
“Well, what do we do?”
“Run,” she called, and I did.
I couldn’t help but ruminate on what he’d said about us picking the wrong town. It caused me to hesitate outside of the bakery’s door.
The scent of fresh cinnamon rolls permeated the air outside. I turned around, and Frosty the Killer Snowman was still making his way toward us. Only this time, his ice teeth were twice as big as before.
“Open the door!” Jezebel shouted.
So I did.
Chapter Three
Inside the bakery, the sounds of the Christmas music outside faded away, but they was replaced by the sound of a woman humming “Silent Night”.
I turned around and saw the snowman standing at the door, staring at me. My eyes scanned the room, looking for something I could use as a weapon against a rabid snowman.
“Don’t mind Larry.” A woman’s voice pricked my ears. “He’s just a weirdo, but I’m sure he’s harmless.
I watched as a large, older woman emerged from the back room of the bakery. She waved her hand at Larry, and his stick shoulders slumped as he turned and slid away.
“Come in. Come in.” The woman said. Her voice was warm like honey, and the sound of it was soothing.
“We should go,” Jezebel said flatly. “This place is wrong somehow.
I could see what she meant. The cards in front of the rows of baked goods were written in a strange, angular text. It didn’t look like any modern language, and yet the woman behind the counter spoke English.
“Oh, a talking kitty. May I hold her?” the woman said and reached her hands out across the counter. “Would you like a sugar cookie, sweet kitty?”
The sound of her voice was too saccharine. I finally noticed that her smile didn’t reach her eyes, and that her eyes looked less than human.
Until that moment, I’d wanted to stay. Even with the weird cards, I wanted to be there. The scent of cinnamon had needled its way inside of me, and I felt like melted butter.
“I think she’s skittish because of the thing outside,” I said and held Jezebel tighter. “I’m sorry, I’m going to hold her.”
“Well now; that won’t do,” the woman said and leaped onto the counter.
She sat there, crouched on the counter over us, looking down. It looked as though she was ready to pounce at any moment.
As a low growled emanated from the baker woman, the bakery door flung open behind me. I spun around and a woman stepped through the door. It took me a moment to figure out who she was because the woman was no longer a ghost.
“Abby!!” I exclaimed and almost dropped Jezebel.
“Come on. Get out of here before she catches you,” she said and held the door open.
When I turned around to look at the woman, she’d become a massive spider. But she wasn’t just any spider. Her head was red, her body was green fuzz, and her legs were long and silver, like tree tinsel.
After letting out a loud yelp, I ran out the door and into the street. My head swiveled around as I furiously searched for the ravenous snow man.
“He’s not here. The snowman. I tricked him into following me into a nearby stream. He can’t reform. It will take him hours to figure it out,” she said and motioned for us to follow her.
“Abby, you’re alive,” I said, stunned.
“Here, I am alive. I’m not sure exactly what is going on, but as long as I’ve been here, I’ve been a living person again.”
“What is this place?”
“I’m not sure yet,” Abby said. “I’ve only been here for a few days. I know it’s not good though. Everything looks warm and inviting, but there is something very wrong bubbling under the surface.”
“A few days? You’ve been gone at home for a lot longer than that. We had no idea what happened to you,” I said. “You just disappeared one day and didn’t come back.”
“I don’t remember exactly when it was, but one day while everyone was gone, there was a knock at the door,” Abby said. “Usually I hide when that happens, just in case someone peeks in the windows. But for some reason, the curiosity about that visitor was overwhelming.”
“What happened after that?” Jezebel asked.
“Well, I looked out the window and saw an old woman standing on the porch. She was weari
ng a tattered charcoal-colored coat and carried an old leather suitcase. Something about her drew me in, and when she looked at me and smiled, I went right out the window to her. The only problem was, when I passed through the glass, I was here.”
“You were home alone? Where was Jezebel?” I asked and looked at the cat.
“Hey, lady, sometimes I like to go out for a walk. I’m an interdimensional being that’s capable of teleportation; you can’t expect me to stay in the house licking my butt all day.”
I just stood there and stared down at her for a moment. Sometimes the things Jezebel said caught me so off guard that I didn’t know how to respond. Abby began to laugh and so did I.
“So, none of us knows what this place is or how to get out,” I said once we all quieted down.
“I’ve been exploring and watching as much as I could while I’ve been here. I think this is a magical village near the North Pole or something, but it’s been corrupted. I haven’t figured out by what. I think there is probably someone here who could send us back, but I can’t find them,” Abby said.
Chapter Four
“Do you have any idea where we should look first?” Jezebel asked.
“There’s a hair salon a couple of doors down from the bakery. I think I saw a pair of scissors laying on the stylist’s work bench that had a strange glow. We should get them,” Abby said.
“Why?” Jezebel asked.
“I’ve seen a few items around town that have that same weird glow. For some reason, it feels like they are the key,” Abby said.
“Okay. Are you sure you want to do this, Abby?” I asked. “You’re alive. How many people get the chance to be alive again?”
“What choice do we have, Lenny?” Abby asked bravely, but I could pick up the hint of sadness in her voice. “At least if we get out of here, I can go home. I’ll be with you guys again.”
“Let’s do this,” Jezebel said and wiggled so that I’d put her down.
My familiar took the lead and Abby and I followed her two doors down to the salon. “How do we get in?” I asked no one in particular.
“Just try the door,” Abby said. “This place is a small town too. I doubt too many people lock their doors, and I seriously doubt the creatures that have taken over this place thought to lock up.”
I tried the knob, and sure enough, the door opened with a quiet pop. When I stepped inside, the air around me felt cold for the first time since we’d arrived in the strange place.
The three of us stepped into the dark salon in a single file line with Jezebel still in the lead. “It’s cold in here,” Jez said.
“You guys stay by the door. I’ll grab the scissors. Don’t let the door close,” Abby said, and I wished we had time for me to ask her why we couldn’t close the door.
As soon as Abby picked up the shears from the bench, the temperature in the empty salon dropped even more. I could see my breath and felt my teeth begin to chatter.
“Oh no,” Jezebel said, and I looked up in time to see what had set her off.
It started with the salon chair in the back. Then, one at a time, all of the chairs began to spin in unison as if someone invisible stood behind each one and gave them a push.
The song “Here Comes Santa Claus” began to play, but there was something off about the music. It was too slow and the voice singing was low and had a strange metallic ting.
A huge, transparent penguin in a scarf and Santa hat emerged from the salon’s back room. I started to smile and my spirits lifted because, for a brief moment, I thought we’d stumbled across an ally. That was until I saw the huge kitchen knife in the friendly penguin’s hand.
I’m not sure how a ghost penguin could hold onto a real knife, but it had one. I wasn’t in a position to ask questions.
“Abby, we’ve got to get out of here,” I called, and she bolted toward the door.
We spilled out into the street and ran. I could hear the plop whoosh sound of the penguin waddle-chasing us. It would have been hilarious if not for the prospect of being stabbed to death in the world’s spookiest Christmas village.
Chapter Five
“Follow me,” Abby called. “I know where we can hide, and it’s the same place where can find the next object.”
I had my serious doubts about whether there was any place we could actually hide, but if we needed another object, I was on-board.
“A cemetery,” Jezebel snarked. “Really, Abby? After everything we’ve seen, you want us to go into a cemetery?”
“Well, there’s a wreath in there. It has that same glow. We need it,” she said as we all stood huddled at the graveyard entrance.
“A wreath in a cemetery? What?” I asked, mostly because I really didn’t want to go in.
“Yeah, it’s hanging on one of the graves. We have to get it. Try to stay as quiet as possible once we cross into the cemetery. Keep your eyes on that,” she said and pointed at a lone mausoleum at the back end of the graveyard.
I took a step onto the road in front of me. Once I was on the other side of the gates, the silence was oppressive. I’d moved no more than six inches, but the Christmas music you could hear throughout the town had disappeared.
There must have been a layer of leaves on the ground under the snow because when Abby stepped off the road, there was a slight crunching sound that reverberated through the air. With that one tiny sound, fog began to roll across the snow toward us. It came from somewhere behind the mausoleum, but at the same time, it seemed to come from nowhere.
“We have to stick to the road until we’re almost there,” Abby whispered as quietly as she could.
The sound of her voice brought the fog faster and heavier. It was understood at that point that silence was the only way for us to stay safe.
I’d say that the most disturbing thing about the fog was that parts of it sparkled and it smelled of sugar cookies. Well, it almost smelled of cookies. Something about it was too sweet. It was sickly.
We tiptoed to the middle of the cemetery. Abby pointed down a row of head stones, and I could see a small wreath hanging on one of those shepherd’s crooks next to a large black headstone. From our angle, I couldn’t see what was written on the stone, but I could tell it was written in those same weird scratches I’d seen on the cards in the bakery.
In fact, when I looked around, all of the headstones had that same strange writing. Some of the stones had circles etched in them, and inside of the circles were carvings of what looked like they could have been humanoid form.
I tried to use silencing magic to keep my footsteps quiet as I crossed the snow to gather the wreath. It appeared that none of my magic worked. I pointed and indicated that Abby and Jezebel should wait on the road. The fewer of us walking on the snow, the quieter it would be.
The first tendrils of the fog were about to reach me as I crept to my target. The sickeningly sweet smell was almost overpowering. I held my nose with one hand, but then I could taste the slimy flavor on my tongue when I breathed through my mouth. It helped a little when I pulled my shirt up over the lower half of my face.
We were halfway back to the cemetery gates, after I’d acquired the wreath, when I heard the voice. “Leaving so soon?”
I didn’t want to turn around, but I did. Behind us on the road was a large white bear with a razorback of longer white fur. Instead of speaking again, it opened its mouth and let out a deafening roar. The bear’s gaping maw was filled with several rows of shark-like teeth.
“That’s my wreath, little girls. Give it back and I’ll bake you into some cookies.” The bear chucked sinisterly when it realized its mistake. “Ooops. I mean, I’ll bake you some cookies. Christmas cheer all around. If. You’ll. Just. Give. Back. The. Wreath,” it snarled.
“Run,” I cried out and we crossed the threshold of the cemetery just before the bear caught us. I felt the puff of breeze its paw made when it took a swipe at the back of my head.
The bear sat down and watched us. Thankfully, it appeared to be trapped i
nside the confines of the graveyard. It waved at me when I turned around to look at it one last time.
“Can’t wait for you to meet Clarence,” it said. “He’ll have a good time with the likes of you three.”
Chapter Six
“We need one more item,” Abby said. “I saw one more thing glowing.”
“Are you sure there’s only one more?” Jezebel asked.
“I hope so,” Abby said, but she wasn’t confident.
“Well, where is it?” I asked. “Take us there. We’ve made it this far, and I’m ready to go home.”
“A few streets over, there’s an old mill. I saw the glow coming from inside, but I’m not sure what it is. You’ll see it from the window.”
As we made our way across the town, I began to get the feeling that hundreds of eyes were on us. Sometimes when I would look up at the windows, I thought I’d catch a flash of someone moving quickly away.
Whatever it was we were doing, we’d attracted the attention of the town. Yet none of them came out to offer us assistance. At first, I’d thought that everyone was evil, but in the quiet, I could sense their fear. The evil things we’d encountered were not the residents of the tiny village; they were the captors.
At the mill, we all lined up along one of the windows on the side of the building away from the road. I held Jezebel in my arms so she could peer inside as well.
It was easy to see that something deep inside the massive structure glowed, but I couldn’t tell what it was either.
“I guess we should just go in. What else can we do?” I asked. “Let’s find a door.”
We walked halfway around the building and found a rusted metal door that banged against the frame in the breeze. “What are these items going to do anyway?” Jezebel asked.
“I have no idea,” Abby said. “But they glow. I figured that had to be important. Plus, I’ve been here for days and it’s the only sign I have that we can do anything to get out of here.”
When we stepped inside, hundreds of strands of bright white Christmas lights switched on. They were strung everywhere from the ceiling and the walls. It was beautiful, but the light drowned out the glow from the object. My stomach churned with unease.
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