by Tegan Maher
Kris scowled at her. "I tried. I can feel it, but it's weak."
"It's because you've lost your Christmas spirit," I said.
Jolene stepped forward. "I'm not magic, but maybe this will help."
She hummed a couple bars of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," then broke into the first line of lyrics. Lola and Dimitri joined, then the rest of us did, though I have to admit to missing a few words. Shivers raced down my spine as I felt a trickle of power flow from Kris. It wasn't much though. Not nearly enough.
"Sing with us!" I barked at Kris. "From your heart. The magic's there. Do it for Carol. Do it for all the elves in your care. Do it for people everywhere!"
He pulled in a deep breath and joined in. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, soooon the bells will start. And the thing that will make them ring, is the carol that you sing, right withiiiin your heart!"
Warmth flowed through me, followed by a rush of peppermint-scented magic that nearly sent me to my knees. I closed my eyes, recognizing the feeling that accompanied impending teleportation. In an instant, the temperature dropped from balmy summer weather to a cold that sent a chill clear to my bones. I shivered and opened my eyes to find I was sitting in a stall and there was a big-eyed reindeer staring down at me, hay hanging from either side of his mouth.
I crab-walked backward until I hit a wall, then jumped to my feet.
The reindeer gave me the hairy eyeball, then sidestepped to the opposite side of the stall and gave a couple good chews on his hay.
Kris laughed from outside the stall. "It's okay, Blitzen. She's with me."
I stepped into the aisle of a giant barn and caught motion from the corner of my eye. Three sets of eyes peered at me from around a corner, but shot back out of sight when I made eye contact.
Kris, whose beard had already grown a good three inches, gave a belly laugh. It wasn't quite a ho-ho-ho, but it was getting there. "Jingle, Snow, Candy, come on out. These are friends of mine, come to help."
I've not made any secret about being a huge Christmas fan, and I run into movie stars and famous people all the time at the resort, but when three honest-to-Christmas elves shuffled from their hiding spot and stared shyly up at me, their arms tucked behind their little backs, I was star struck.
"It's been terrible, Santa," one of them—Candy according to her nametag—said. "Winter has Mrs. Claus locked in the kitchens, and most of the other elves are in the basement. We'd been out gathering snow to turn into glitter when he rounded everybody up, so we ran back out here, and this is where we've been." She tucked her head down in shame. "We wanted to help, but our magic wouldn't work."
Kris bent down on one knee and put a knuckle under her pointy chin to tilt her face back up. "You did the right thing," he said. "This is all my fault, you hear? You did the best you could. And because you hid, we now have help. Give your magic a shot."
She rushed to the door and scooped up a handful of snow, then swirled her finger at it. It sparkled a little, but the spell fizzled out before she could turn it into glitter. Or at least I assumed that had been her intention.
"I'm sorry," she sighed, tears forming in her soft brown eyes. "Maybe I need to try harder."
I gave Kris the side-eye. "No, Candy, I don't think you're the one who needs to try harder."
Before I could say anything else, something much more important caught my eye. From the angle we were standing, a castle that looked like a giant gingerbread house on steroids was visible through the barn doors behind him. Except the icicles that had blinked merrily with the thousands of colorful lights shining through from behind them went dark. The ice took on a black, sinister cast, and the lights in the upper half of the castle winked out. A candy-cane striped shutter fell off one of its hinges and swung a few times from the other before coming to a stop askew.
"Candy, Jingle, Snow, did more of you escape?" Colin asked, his tone gentle.
One of the others, a little blonde with big blue eyes nodded. "They're hiding in the sleigh room. They almost got caught because Winter went in there and tried to fire up the sleigh. Thank cocoa it wouldn't work."
"Can you go get them?" Tempest asked. "I can go with you if you want."
Candy's eyes lit with delight, and I when I tried to see Tempest as she must have, it made me smile. Despite all Tempest’s snark, she was adorable. Snowy fur except for the black stripe that ran from her nose to the tip of her tail, and black tips on her ears and toes. Her green eyes were huge and luminescent. Twenty-five pounds of attitude and sass wrapped in the cutest package ever. Lucky for me, there was also a huge dose of loyalty in there, too.
Candy nodded, then motioned for Tempest to follow her.
"Now what?" I asked, turning to Dimitri, Colin, and Kris.
"Now we wait for them to get back, then we storm the castle," Dimitri said, green streaks of magic jumping between his fingers. Though his everyday magic was limited to acts of good only, faeries were warriors deep down. They hadn't survived as a species by being weak, and when push came to shove, they were single-minded and ruthless.
"We have to be careful, though," Kris said. "There are a lot of innocents in there, though I think you're gonna be surprised to find just how vindictive elves can be when somebody threatens their home and loved ones. If I hadn't fallen down on the job, they would have never let this happen."
Before I knew it, Candy and Tempest were back, followed by a dozen or so other elves. I looked at them, trying not to let my misgivings show. "How many elves does Winter have on his side?" I asked, afraid to hear the answer.
"Only a hundred or so," Jingle said. "Easy peasy now that we have our magic back." She tried to imitate Dimitri, but her magic crackled and then fizzled. She cast a questioning look at Kris. "Santa?"
Colin looked at me and winked. "Don't worry—I think we have the answer, right Destiny?"
Then it occurred to me. "Yes, we do," I said, then explained to them how singing a carol had boosted his magic.
"It's not the carol, per se," Candy replied, assessing first me then Colin. "It was the Christmas spirit inside of you two and your friends, I suspect. But don't worry. We've got plenty to jump start Santa."
"Then let's do this," I said.
Kris swallowed and gave a sharp nod. "Follow me."
We did, and when we were nearly to the castle, Jingle started singing and the other elves jumped in, stomping their feet so that the bells on their shoes jingled and set the tempo. "Oh, he’s makin’ a list, he’s checkin’ it twice, he’s gonna find out who’s naughty and nice! Santa Claus is coming ... to TOWN!!"
Colin, Dimitri, and I added our voices, but I have to say, there was a lot more aggression in the song than I'd ever heard before. It was almost a battle cry, and my whole body tingled as old, powerful magic began to swirl around me. As we continued the song, Santa pushed out with his hands and a gust of magic blew the double doors to the castle open.
A flurry of activity broke out around us, with elves rushing everywhere. It wasn't hard to tell who the good ones were because they were singing, too.
Two doors burst open from the other side of the room and Carol strode in, her grey hair flying loose from its bun. She stopped a few yards in and began slinging her arms. Magic shot from her fingers, winding in tendrils that looked like red-vine candy around the bad elves, restraining them. Kris was doing the same, and good elves were jumping on bad ones.
I zapped a couple who tried to get her from behind, but Santa hadn’t been kidding when he said his elves were not the folks to mess with. They’d formed tight battle formation that protected Mrs. Claus’s flank while cleaning house in all directions. Between them and Carol, the whole thing was over in less than five minutes.
Dimitri engaged an elf who'd been sitting on Santa's throne, dressed all in black from the tip of his hat to the toes of his curled shoes. Though he was obviously powerful, he was no match for Dimitri. I drew back my hands to assist, but Kris stayed my hand. "He's mine."
He exchanged a look with Dimitri, who stood down while Kris finished the elf off.
And no, I don't mean he killed him. This is a Christmas story—nobody, not even an evil elf, dies in Christmas stories.
No, Santa did worse than that. He locked gazes with him and started humming a tune that sounded almost like a lullaby. I didn't recognize it, but somewhere deep inside me, my magic stirred in response.
The fight drained out of Winter and he dropped his arms to his side. Carol linked hands with Kris and joined him in the eerie tune, and the elf's eyes went blank. He fell to his knees, still.
It was seriously the creepiest thing I'd ever seen.
Two elves rushed forward to drag him off.
"Don't you need to tie him up?" Tempest asked from my shoulder.
Candy, who'd battled from beside me the entire time, shook her head, and a lone tear slid down her cheek. "No. He's not going anywhere and he's not going to put up a fight. Ever again."
My gaze shot toward her. "Why not?"
"Because they took his magic and his Christmas spirit. All of it. Forever." She shuddered. "To a North Pole elf, that's a fate worse than death."
Tempest snorted. "It's no more than he deserved."
“Maybe,” Candy said, not taking her eyes off the dazed elf. “But it’s still a thing worth mourning.”
"Is that what will happen to the elves back at the tiki? And to all the elves here that rebelled?" Colin asked.
She shook her head. "I doubt it. Santa and Carol tend to be lenient. That's the first time in hundreds of years they've had to do that—since Winter's father tried to take over, in fact. They'll probably be relegated to cleaning the stables and clearing the snow from the roof, and doing other chores that nobody else wants to do. But most of them aren’t bad elves, and now that Santa and Carol made an example of Winter, I doubt they’ll step so much as a toe out of line."
"No more EOS positions for them, though?" I asked.
Pepper, who'd engaged fully in the battle, rejoined us in time to hear my question.
"No," he said. "As a matter of fact, I'm considering dismantling the program altogether."
A collective gasp went up around us. Personally, as I've said, I thought the program was creepy, but I knew a lot of families who used it as a means to keep their kids in check. Plus, it was a tradition that parents and kids participated in together.
"Isn't that sort of throwing the reindeer out with the bathwater?" I asked, and several elves nodded.
"It's a great program, Pepper," one of them, an elf dressed in a green tunic and candy-cane hose, said. "It brings families together and helps build Christmas spirit. Plus it really has helped out the folks in the control room and Santa, too. We need eyes out there. They've only been gone for an evening. Surely we can get them back to their posts before many people notice."
Pepper pinched his lips together. "Maybe you're right. But until I can get a proper screening procedure in place for next year, we're tabling it. Where all the elves on shelves suddenly went will just have to remain a mystery to the humans."
It didn't take long for the good elves to remove the bad elves to what Snow described as a temporary jail-type place. According to her, it was torture. They were only allowed cocoa and cookies twice a day, and they'd have to serve the rest of the elf population in one way or another once Santa had time to convene a jury.
That didn't sound much different from my life, minus the cocoa. Even with my witchy metabolism, if I started drinking it and eating cookies twice a day, my butt would be bigger than Rudolph's in no time.
Once things settled down, Kris and Carol gave us the tour. They offered to give us a room for the night, but we declined. I had no doubt we had hours of work ahead of us if we were to set the tiki to rights before folks started showing up for lunch the next day. Plus, I had children's holiday activities to plan.
"Suit yourself," he said. "I'll send Patches, my lead security elf, and his team along with you to collect the EOSs still at the bar. He'll help you clean up, too."
"Thanks," I said. "You two come visit when the season's over. After you do what you gotta do to get through December."
He nodded and held his arms open for a hug. "And Destiny?" he said into my hair.
"Yeah, Kris?" I asked, inhaling the heady scent of cocoa, Christmas trees, and cheer.
"Thank you for having faith when I thought all was lost. You've earned a permanent VIP pass to the nice list."
My cheeks grew hot at the compliment, but I shook my head. "No, thank you. If it's all the same, I'd rather keep earning my spot."
He gave a true Santa laugh, and his belly did, indeed, jiggle like a bowl full of jelly.
Santa was back, and peace and goodwill were restored.
It would be the merriest Christmas ever.
<<<<>>>>
Thank you for taking the time to read The Christmas Crisis. The story takes place in my Enchanted Coast world, where the mysteries are as magical as the creatures who vacation there. If you'd like to read more in the series, I invite you to start with The Deadly Daiquiri, book one in the series.
If this much fantasy isn't quite up your alley but you still love a good witchy mystery, give Sweet Murder, the first book in my Witches of Keyhole Lake series, a try. It's chock full of Southern sass and good old-fashioned fun, family, and murder.
Until next time, may the joy and magic of the holidays fill your home and heart!
-Tegan :)
About the Author
I was born and raised in the South and even hung my motorcycle helmet in Colorado for a few months. I've always had a touch of wanderlust and have never feared just packing up and going on new adventures, whether in real life or via the pages of a great book.
I didn't want to grow up to be a writer--I wanted to raise unicorns and be a superhero. When those gigs fell through, I chose the next best thing: creating my own magical lands filled with adventure, magic, and humor.
I live in Florida with my two dogs and when I'm not writing or reading, I'm racing motorcycles, hanging out at the beach, or binge watching anything magical on Netflix.
Follow Tegan Maher online at:
Teganmaherbooks.com
Twelve Spells of Christmas
Samantha Silver
Twelve Spells of Christmas
The holiday season has arrived in Western Woods, and with it the unveiling of the Christmas tree. However, when the orb that tops the tree – rumored to give good luck to whoever is in possession of it – disappears, questions begin to arise.
With Tina’s best friend one of the main suspects, Tina and her friends quickly jump into action. They have to figure out who stole the orb, and get it back to the Christmas tree before Tina spends Christmas morning visiting her friend in jail.
Will Tina and her friends manage to find the orb and clear Sara’s name in time for Christmas?
Chapter One
Well, this was it. The most insane Christmas tree I had ever seen in my life.
Ok, so I had never been to New York, to see the famous tree at Rockefeller Center. But there was no way it matched this one. Absolutely no way.
“Are you ok, Tina?” my friend Ellie asked from next to me. “Isn’t it awesome?”
“Yeah, awe definitely describes what I’m feeling right now,” I replied. “I’m just overwhelmed.”
Standing in the middle of the main square in town was a huge fir that had to be at least a hundred feet tall. It had taken ten witches and wizards to go into the forest, find the right tree, cut it down and fly it back over to town to set up for the holiday.
The giant tree now towered over the town’s buildings. Thousands upon thousands of tiny, magical lights danced around the tree, moving between the branches and all around the trunk, giving the tree a real ethereal look. Hundreds of ornaments hung from branches, all of them brought to life through magic. Tiny life-like owls hooted away as they perched on branches, fake snow fell endlessly in clear balls, tiny bells chimed every few sec
onds and candy canes spun around like barber’s poles back in the human world.
And on top of that, snow fell from the sky in big, thick flakes, landing on the tree and the rest of the town while young paranormals ran around, making snowballs and throwing them at each other. One particularly adept young witch was using her wand to create snowballs and using magic to have them follow their targets like ballistic missiles. I laughed as one young wizard shouted out in terror as about six or seven snowballs followed after him, eventually hitting him in the back and causing him to fall to the ground in a heap of snow and giggles.
I looked up at the sky as snowflakes fell onto my face.
“Looks like your first Christmas in the paranormal world is going to be a white one,” my friend Amy said to me with a smile. I shot her one back.
“Yes, it’s absolutely perfect. I’ve never seen a tree like this before.”
“Oh, this is nothing. One day we’ll take you to one of the bigger cities. You should see the way they enchant them over there,” Ellie said, taking me by the arm and leading me towards a small cart serving hot chocolate from Hexpresso Bean, the local café. A large cauldron sat on top of the cart, with a ladle stirring the rich, thick mixture inside by itself. A fairy fluttered up and down at the counter, rubbing her hands together. A sign next to the cauldron advertised ‘Tonight only: hot chocolate from Phoenix Chocolates.’ I was looking forward to it; I knew Phoenix Chocolates from nearby Pacific Cove and they were mind-blowingly good.
“Could we please get three hot chocolates?” Ellie asked, handing over a handful of abracadollars. The fairy smiled, took the money, then picked up the ladle and poured out the drinks. Ellie and I took one each, and I brought the last one back over to Amy.