The Alien Reindeer's Christmas Miracle

by Zara Zenia

  I smiled. “I will, Father.”

  Chapter Five

  Janice

  My alarm blared from my phone and I quickly grabbed it, turned it off and fell back against the pillow, my head pounding. I felt like death warmed over and I knew it had to be from all the alcohol I’d had the night before. While it had been fun, I was now regretting it. I had so much work to do, and now I felt like crap. I just wanted to curl up in the bed and go back to sleep, but I knew I couldn’t. For more than one reason. The room was starting to get a bit chilly, so I would need to restoke the fires, and if I didn’t eat, this headache wasn’t going to go away, and I had scheduled a trip to the local library with the others for today, so if I didn’t get my butt our of bed and get moving, they would be pounding on the door anyway, disturbing me.

  Grumbling about handsome Finnish men bearing mugs of mead, I climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom. I trudged back to my room and saw to the fire before getting dressed for the day. I chose a pair of jeans, a long pink sweater, and knee high boots, then did my hair, putting it in a ponytail and then braiding it. I headed into the living room and fixed up that fire while Smoochy wove in between my legs happily.

  “Morning, Smooch, ready for breakfast?” I asked him with a yawn.

  I set the coffee pot up and while I waited for the caffeine infused drink to be ready, I fixed Smoochy’s breakfast and got him some fresh water. Then I set my bagels in the toaster and poured the coffee as soon as it was ready. Taking a cautious sip, I groaned at how good it was, even if it was a little too hot to gulp down yet. When the toaster dinged, I spread some cream cheese on my bagel and took a bite.

  With my breakfast in hand, I headed over to the computer and pulled up my files. I still needed to visit the tavern and get my notebook back, if they still had it. “I really hope they didn’t throw it away,” I said to Smoochy.

  I worked as I ate, recording the story about the Revontulet that Oskar had told us, even though it wasn’t technically a Christmas story, it was still interesting, and I might be able to include it as folklore. Then I pulled up what I had on the Joulupukki, the figure, not the town and added to my notes. I noted down the things that I wanted to look into at the library and hoped that they had some local books on the subject, things I wouldn’t be able to get back home.

  Once I finished my breakfast, I cleaned up my dishes, closed my computer back down, and then gathered up everything I’d need for the library trip. Looking outside, I could see it was snowing and shivered. It looked colder out there than it had been the day before. Sighing, I pulled on my coat, put on my gloves and pulled the hood up, snapping it under my chin. I went back to the bedroom and grabbed my scarf from my drawer and wrapped it around my neck and over my nose and mouth. I shoved my notebook and pens in my purse. “Be a good kitty, Smooches, I’ll be back later.” I glanced at the fireplace and made sure that he’d be good for a while, and then headed outside. The wind was stronger than it was the night before and the snow was blowing like crazy. I knocked on Dee’s door and stamped my feet, trying to keep my muscles warm.

  “Hey,” she said hurrying out the door. “Want me to go start the car and warm it up?”

  “Oh, yeah, good idea.” I gave her the keys.

  She nodded and headed to the SUV.

  I moved over and knocked on Carl’s door.

  He answered bleary eyed. “What? Oh. Come in.”

  I went in and he shut the door. “Aren’t you ready?”

  “For what? What time is it? Is it even morning yet?”

  “It’s after ten a.m., Carl, we’re supposed to go to the library, remember?”

  “Right.” He nodded. “I’ll… give me a few minutes.”

  “Fine, I’ll go get the others, but if you aren’t out by the time everyone else is, I’m leaving you here.”

  “Promise?” he muttered.

  Shaking my head, I left and headed the other direction, knocking on Mary’s door. I rubbed my gloved hands over my arms, trying to stay warm in the bitter cold. “Hey Mary, are you ready?”

  She nodded. I could barely see her through the layers of clothes she was wearing. She’d wrapped a scarf around so much of her face, that the only thing I could see was her eyes. She mumbled something, but I couldn’t make it out.

  “What?”

  “Is the car on?” she said a little louder.

  “Oh, yeah, Dee is warming it up.”

  She nodded and headed over there.

  I moved to the next door and could hear Mike and Erin arguing inside. I knocked on the door, but they didn’t answer, so I pulled my glove off and knocked again, louder this time.

  Mike yanked the door open, still yelling at Erin. “Get your coat on damn it! You’re going to make us late!”

  “I told you I’m not going out there, Mike! It’s too damn cold and it’s snowing!”

  “You’re being a child!”

  “There is no reason I need to go! This is your project — wait! I take that back! It’s not your project! It’s Janice’s project and you are just trying to beat her at it! If anyone is being childish, it’s you! I can’t believe I let you drag me on this stupid trip!”

  “Fine! Then don’t go! I thought it would be romantic to have you here! God forbid I wanted to do something romantic! I won’t even try next time!”

  “Good! Because you weren’t doing this for me anyway! This was for you! To stroke your damn ego!”

  “Maybe I should just—” I started to say.

  “No! I’m coming!” Mike shouted petulantly. “I’m as invested in this project as you!”

  “Okay—”

  “Oh come off it, Mike! You aren’t fooling anyone but yourself! You delusional asshole!”

  “Erin, I swear to God!”

  “Just shut up, Mike, and go! I’m staying here where I’m at least somewhat warm!”

  “Whatever! God! Come on,” Mike said yanking the door open again and stomping out.

  I followed him and called, “Bye, Erin. We’ll be back later,” and then shut the door.

  I headed for the driver’s seat and climbed in. “Everyone ready?”

  “Where’s Carl?” Dee asked.

  “I told him to be out here ready to go, or he wasn’t going.”

  “That was an option?” Dee asked, arching a brow.

  I laughed. “Not for you. For Carl?” I shrugged. “It’s not his dissertation.”

  “True.” She grinned.

  “I have to stop by the tavern. I left my notebook there last night.” I backed out and drove around to the tavern and parked. “Be right back.”

  I hurried to the door, but when I pulled on it, it wouldn’t open. I stepped back and noticed a sign that listed business hours. “Crap.” I headed back to the car.

  “Not open?” Dee asked.

  “Not until after eleven.” I sighed. “I’ll have to try later.”

  I drove us to the small library, which was really tiny. It sat right next door to the Veterinarian building and across the street from the grocery. I hurried inside, ducking my head, hoping I wouldn’t see Oskar. The man was too distracting, and I couldn’t afford to be distracted again.

  “Hei, tervetuloa kirjastoon,” a woman behind a wooden desk greeted us.

  “Hello,” I smiled, “do you speak English?”

  She nodded. “Joo. You are the Americans, I take it?”

  “We are,” I replied.

  “I believe you are researching Finnish folklore, joo? Oskar stopped in this morning and told me I might be seeing you.” She smiled. “I’m Lotta, Joulupukki’s librarian.”

  “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Janice, this is Dee, Mary and Mike.” I nodded to each of them and they gave her a little wave in greeting.

  “Well, come on in and get settled. I’ve pulled what we have on Finnish Christmas folklore, and I went ahead and pulled everything we have about our local area and some local folklore books as well. As you can imagine, we have quite a bit on the Joulupukki.” She smil
ed, her gray eyes lighting up.

  “Oh, thank you so much,” I said as we followed her to a large table where she had put the books down.

  “Well, I’ll leave you to it. If you have questions, feel free to ask.”

  “We will, thank you for pulling these for us.” I took off my coat and pulled what I needed out of my purse, setting it on the table in front of me.

  “Damn it,” Mike muttered.

  “What’s wrong now?” I arched a brow at him.

  “I was so mad at Erin I forgot to grab my computer.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Here.” I shoved a few pages of paper and a pen at him.

  We each took a book and got started.

  Chapter Six

  Oskar

  I’d spent every night of the last week bringing different groups of Reilendeers to the tavern to help bring cheer and joy to the Americans and the other Humans here in Joulupukki. The only problem was, Janice, the one Human I really wanted to spend time with and get to know, had avoided joining us all at the tavern.

  Tonight, my cousins and I had brought four other Reilendeers who’d never been topside before and they were meshing with the Humans really well. They even had English and American slang down, thanks to the televisions we’d brought down to our homes in the Luosto Fell. We’d been able to adapt our own technology to theirs to make them work. We’d attached a satellite antenna to the weather radar ball they built at the summit of Luosto Fell. It was small, and didn’t interfere with the Human tech, and it was cloaked like the door in the Fell to our home, so it wouldn’t be noticed by the Humans. With the antenna, and our tech, we were able to pick up TV and radio channels all over the world.

  “Oskar, you aren’t looking very cheerful, what’s wrong?” Mika, my fourth oldest cousin asked.

  I smiled ruefully. “Janice hasn’t come to the tavern all week.”

  “Who’s that?” Sakari, one of the others asked.

  “Janice is probably still working in her cabin,” Mike interjected.

  “Still?” I frowned.

  “She’s a workaholic. I swear she never stops!” Mike snorted.

  “She loves her work and is passionate about it,” Erin shared. “It’s not a competition, Mike.”

  “What is she working on?” Mika asked.

  “We’re researching Christmas folklore. She is chasing down some lore about flying reindeer right now.” Mike shook his head. “I don’t know why she’s so into all this stuff.”

  “She loves Christmas. She thinks that the legend of Santa originated here in Finland. It’s the whole reason we’re here, Mike,” Dee put in.

  “Well, I wish she could have chosen a warmer time for us all to come here. I could be with my family in California right now! I could be laying on the beach enjoying the sun!” Erin exclaimed.

  Mike snorted again. “She chose this time of year because she doesn’t have a life, no boyfriend, nobody but that damn cat of hers that she spoils.”

  “She has family, I know her dad still lives in Indy—” Mary said quietly.

  “She doesn’t speak to him,” Dee shared. “He got married a few years ago and started a new family. They barely spoke before that, but when he married that woman who was only a year older than Janice, she’d had it. She hasn’t spoken to him since, or even met her two little brothers.”

  “She’s got major daddy issues,” Mike stated, downing his mead.

  Oskar listened, taking in the little details that her friends and colleagues shared about her. He’d hoped that she was single, and when he’d read her with his empathic abilities, he’d felt that she’d only had love for a cat and a close woman friend, which by now he’d learned was Dee, but still he could have been mistaken, so it was nice to have confirmation about it.

  Still that didn’t help him with the whole her not being here and joining in the fun part. It did worry him just a little that she was following a legend of the flying reindeer. What would she do if she found out they existed, but were aliens from a different planet? Could she discover that? He hoped it wasn’t written down anywhere, well anywhere other than in the Night Before Christmas story.

  Mika, Torben, and Henri ordered another round of drinks for the Americans and then started a loud discussion about a tv series they liked to watch, Big Bang Theory. Mike, Erin and Dee joined in, along with Sakari and Hanes, my second oldest cousin. Hanes and Torben were brothers, but Hanes was born second. Torben was my first oldest cousin. Alek, who was also here was my third oldest cousin. We had all been born about five to ten years apart, so technically we were all around two hundred, but looked between twenty-five and thirty. I claimed I was thirty in the Human world.

  Elias moved over next to me. “You like this Human? This Janice?” he said quietly.

  I nodded. “There is something there. I felt it when I touched her hand.”

  “Did she not feel it?” he asked, keeping his voice soft.

  Shaking my head, I said, “I don’t know. Humans are different. They don’t usually believe in one true mate.”

  Elias smiled. “Are you sure about that? I see all those Human shows on Hallmark, and those romance novels they read, there are those that believe.”

  “Those are just fiction. Fantasy stories they tell for entertainment,” I say with a laugh. “They don’t believe it. Most don’t believe in magic of any kind.”

  “Maybe this one is different? If she’s searching for the Santa Claus legend, researching to find exactly where some of these legends originated, maybe there is a reason. Maybe it’s because she does believe.”

  “Hmmm. Maybe.”

  “Why don’t you go find out?” Elias suggested.

  “How am I supposed to do that?” I frowned.

  “You know where she is. Take her dinner. If she’s a workaholic, maybe she forgot to eat.”

  I grinned. “I could do that. Would be the friendly thing to do, wouldn’t it?”

  “I think so.” Elias grinned back. “Go order her something. We’ll keep these Americans in a cheery and joyful mood and occupied for the foreseeable future.”

  I nodded and waved down a waiter to place an order.

  Chapter Seven

  Janice

  I had been avoiding the tavern and the revelry there for a week now. I’d claimed I had too much to do, too much research that I needed to accomplish, but mostly I was avoiding Oskar. The man was distracting. Just something about him that drew me to him, and I feared if I got my hopes up, he’d turn into a jerk just like all the others. So, I’d kept my distance. Most nights, I had ordered food from the restaurant and brought it back to the cabin, but tonight I’d forgotten. I figured if I got hungry, I could make a sandwich.

  I had some music playing on my phone, while I transcribed my notes from my notebook to the computer. I thought I had tracked down a lead on the origins of the flying reindeer, but it had been a dead end. I’ll have to try another source, I thought.

  A knock sounded on the door and I frowned. I wasn’t expecting anyone, and a glance at my phone told me it was after nine. Surely it wasn’t Dee or… “God it better not be Mike,” I muttered as I got up. He’d been a pain in the ass for the last couple of days. Complaining about everything and everyone. I didn’t know how Erin put up with him, and from what I’d seen this week, I was expecting her to dump him at the first opportunity. That was probably why he was being so bitchy.

  I opened the door to see Oskar standing before me, a brown bag in hand. “Oh, uh, hello.”

  “Hyvää iltaa, kultaseni,” he said in the deep husky voice that made my toes curl. “I brought you dinner.”

  “Dinner?” I said as I welcomed him in so I could shut the cold out.

  “Joo. You haven’t eaten have you?” He arched a blond brow and his blue eyes twinkled at me.

  “Well, no, I haven’t.” I frowned, and then sniffed the air, whatever he’d brought smelled really, really good. “What did you bring me? It smells good.”

  “Karjalanpaisti—” He looked u
p and then translated, “Errr, hot pot, I think you call it. Kind of a stew? It’s got beef, pork, and lamb in a broth with carrots and onions and other good for you things. Also mashed potatoes with lingonberry jam. You’ll like it.” He handed the bag to me.

  “Um, okay. It sounds delicious. Did you… did you bring enough for both of us?” I asked, wondering if I was now supposed to eat with him there, or if he was just delivering. I peered up at him and had to push my glasses back up to see him properly.

  He smiled. “I’ve already eaten.” He shoved his hands in his pockets.

  “Oh, okay, well thanks.”

  “You haven’t been by the tavern.”

  I nodded awkwardly. “I know, I’ve been really busy.”

  He smiled again and I about melted. “That is what your friends said. Are you still working?” He looked over at my computer.

  “Yeah, actually.”

  “Oh, well, I can leave you to it,” he said, and he gave me a smile, but it seemed almost sad.

  “I really should finish transcribing my notes,” I answered, hesitantly.

  “Very well, kultaseni. Nähdään pian,” he said and leaned toward me hesitantly, as if gauging my reaction, and then kissed my cheek. He smiled that heart melting smile again and pulled the door open. “Enjoy the hot pot while it’s still warm.”

  “I will, thank you.” I smiled, feeling a bit breathless. I could still feel where his lips touched my cheek and it made my heart beat wildly in my chest.

  He gave me a little wave and I shut the door.

  For the rest of the week, I ran into Oskar off and on, even though I was trying to avoid the distracting and handsome man who warmed my insides. He was a walking temptation and I just wanted to spend every waking moment around him, but I forced myself to stay on task and keep him at arm’s length. I had too much to do to start dating delicious Finland men, or more to the point, one particular delicious Finland man. At the moment, I was watching him saunter out of the library doors after having stopped in for something to read, or so he said. It was his fourth trip to the library in as many days.