Hermie tunnels through the ground for what seems like hours, Talbot and me following at his heels. Suddenly he stops and sits up on his hind paws.
“Hermie?” I ask.
“Uh,” he says, apprehension in his voice, “I think I should’ve taken that left turn at Albuquerque!”
The floor gives way beneath our feet and we go tumbling downward through the air. I look down and, with surprise, I see I’m about to land directly on top of Bugsy where he’s perched amid the herd for assembly.
He’s just as shocked.
I land on him and we go tumbling off the pedestal into the herd. Talbot and Hermie crash directly beside us.
Somehow, I’m able to get an arm around Bugsy’s neck before he can recover from the fall.
“Freeze,” I yell at the heard, “or your boss is a popsicle!”
The Cottontails start to creep forward. “Tell them to back off!” I say.
“You must be joking?” Bugsy replies.
I squeeze him tighter.
“Do I look like a clown to you?”
“Halt!” Bugsy screams.
“Wise decision. Now tell them to allow us passage.”
“But—!”
I tighten my grip yet again.
“Allow them passage!” Bugsy shouts.
“All the way to the surface.”
“All the way to the surface!”
Reluctantly, the rabbits move aside. We back slowly through them and enter the exit tunnels. We walk until we reach a turn that I recognize.
“Think you can get away on your own from here, Hermie?”
I don’t have to ask the mole twice. I turn and see his hind-end disappear down a freshly dug tunnel.
“Well, uh, thanks—”
“Don’t mention it,” Hermie’s voice echoes back down the tunnel.
I square my jaw and form two blocks of ice around Bugsy’s hind paws so he can’t follow. He cries out in surprise and outrage.
“You’ll never get away with this, Frost.” He says, his voice trembling with anger and cold, “I’ll make sure of it!”
“Yeah, yeah. Take a number.”
I grab Talbot by his arm.
“Come on. Let’s go.”
Moments later, we exit the tunnel through which I came in. Fresh air never smelled so good! But I don’t allow myself time to savor it. I turn and, without saying a word, imprison Talbot’s left foot in a block of ice.
“Hey!” he shouts. “That’s cold!”
“Where’s Pop?”
“Really, Frost! We just faced down the Cottontails together. I thought you and I were pack now!”
“We’re not pack! We had a deal—I get you to the surface, you tell me where Pop is. Now, talk!”
“Alright! Alright! I’ll tell you where you’re precious jolly fat man is! He’s—”
Talbot’s eyes roll back in his head and he collapses to the ground to reveal a troop of feds firing sleep spells at me from the ends of their wands.
“Nutcrackers!”
I turn to run. Before I can go dim, I feel a spell connect between my shoulder blades. The last thing I see is the ground rushing up to meet my face.
Jack Frost awoke in a cell with his old enemy.
“Talbot!” Jack said, “You’ve been no friend to me!
“Where is Santa Claus? Tell me right now!”
“Take it easy,” Talbot said. “Don’t have a cow!”
“Now listen, Talbot,” Jack said, “I’m not playing!
“Take me to my pop or your prayers you’ll be saying!”
“Haha,” Talbot laughed, “You’re such a loon.
“I’ve been played for a sap, and you for a buffoon!”
“When we escape,” Jack said, “you’ll sing a new song.
“I’ve had things under control all along!”
“I don’t see,” Talbot said, “how we can get out.
“No matter how loud and how much you scream and shout.”
“I’ve got my ways,” Jack said with a wink.
“I come through in a clutch, perform best on the brink!”
“If you get us topside,” Talbot said, “I’ll go quietly.
“They’ve been keeping me here daily and nightly!”
The two of them escaped with the help of a mole.
They tunneled to the surface. Such was their goal.
But before Jack could take Talbot on to jail,
They were both put to sleep by the zap of a spell!
Chapter 18
I awake from another nightmare, the leftover echo of Pop’s pleading screams in my ears.
I’m in jail.
Again.
Talbot beside me.
Again.
“Talbot,” I say as I sit up on the cell’s lone piece of furniture, a bench.
He ignores me and just rocks back and forth where he sits, a glazed look in his eyes.
“Talbot!” I demand.
Finally, he looks at me.
“I can count to ten!” he says with unbound glee. “One. Two. Apple. Ten!”
“Uh,” I say, “I think you skipped a few there, pal.”
“There was an unfortunate mishap during Mr. Talbot’s interrogation.”
I turn and see Father Time standing in front of our cell, Romeo and Jasmine, healthy and whole, at his side.
“It appears the Guardsman conducting the questioning used an improper spell. Rest assured he will be reprimanded. However, not to worry. Mr. Talbot should be right as rain in a millennia or two.”
Father Time turns his attention from Talbot to me.
“We’re hoping you’ll come clean, son. And spare us all the potential for any further accidents.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, bewildered.
“Please, son. Don’t play coy. Just tell us where your father is so we can go get him and get things back to normal.”
I jump to my feet.
“You think I kidnapped Santa Claus?”
“The need for subterfuge has passed, Jack,” Father Time says, “Before things went awry in Talbot’s interrogation, he confessed you and he were in on this together from the beginning.
“He told us how you played the loving son all these years merely so you could one day usurp Santa’s place of power. When you saw that day wasn’t going to come fast enough, you took matters into your own hands.
“I guess the cube doesn’t fall far from the iceberg.”
“Liar!”
I leap at him, reaching between the cell bars to grab his robes. A few quick stunner zaps from Jasmine and Romeo knock me to the floor.
I lie there, knowing.
I curse myself for being so stupid and not putting it all together sooner.
Father Time turns to his officers. “Shut the door.”
Romeo complies and closes the door to the room, shutting the five of us off from any eyes and ears that might be pass outside in the hallway.
I rise into a sitting position, still trying to fight off the pain from the stunners.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask. “What have you done with Santa?”
Father Time squats, using his staff as a prop, so that he faces me at eye level.
“If you’re so smart, Jack,” he whispers as he smiles. “You tell me!”
I look at him and shake my head.
“Your wife. Your son. How could you do this to your own son?”
“Quit babbling, boy!” Father Time says. “If you’ve got something to say, spit it out!
“Please, entertain us. Show us those supposedly great powers of deductive reasoning you’re so famous for.”
I sigh, wishing I had some eggnog to drink or a peppermint stick to gnaw on.
“Who benefits?” I say. “Who benefits from all this? That’s the question you always have to ask.”
I look Father Time dead in the eye.
“The answer is, you.”
“You wanted people to believe this was all about Santa, didn’t you?
You wanted us to believe that the November folk, in their unbound jealousy, kidnapped Santa Claus to stop Christmas and put Thanksgiving at the top of the holiday list.
“But that’s only the smallest part of it, isn’t it? Santa’s kidnapping is just a convenient smokescreen that both accomplishes and hides your real objective.”
“I’m impressed!” Father Time says, smiling mischievously. “Please, do go on.”
“You enlist Old Man Winter’s help to cover the kidnapping—ask him to brew a up blizzard that will cover the real perps’ tracks—Talbot for one.
“But I’m guessing these two thugs here at your side also, considering you’re letting them listen in on all this.”
I point at Talbot. “Take a look guys. This is what happens to those who serve your boss!”
Jasmine and Romeo take a step toward the cell but Father Time calls them off. He’s enjoying this little explain all. He wants someone to appreciate how clever he is.
What a Grinch!
“I guess it was the promise of a cut of H-Town business that got the Old Man to agree to help you. Income from the capital city would more than make up for any losses he might suffer from Santa’s absence at the Pole.”
Father Time nods. “Very perceptive of you!”
“It would have been easy enough for your boys to get their hands on turkey feathers to toss around the crime scene for the frame up. Of course, everyone would immediately assume it was Frankie the Gobbler. He’s been the most vocal of the Thanksgiving bosses in his contempt of Christmas.”
“Really, Jack,” Father Time nods, “You do astound me! So much so, one has to ask why would I want to call in such a bright boy as yourself on the case?”
“Are you kidding me?” I ask. “As you said way back, my rep’s well known. And with my own father being the one kidnapped, it would’ve looked odd—suspicious even—if you hadn’t asked for my help.”
Father Time grins, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.
“Of course, of course. Nothing slips by you!”
“Talbot’s assassination attempt on you was staged, as well. Like with bringing me in on the case, it was all an elaborate ploy to further cast suspicion away from you and onto the Gobbler and his crew. Romeo’s attempt at capturing Talbot just made the whole thing all the more believable.”
Father Time’s grin fades into a scowl.
“But then, enter the bright and shining knight of ice crystal!”
“Yeah, exactly.” I say. “What you didn’t count on was my going after Talbot, much less coming back with evidence. He was supposed to make a clean get away.”
“Touché!” Father Time says, his tone mocking.
“I guess you’ve got City Hall and the area around it bugged. That’s how you overheard me say I was going to the October Country.
“You must have immediately gotten word to Talbot so that he and his pack could lie in wait for me.
“You probably reached him through Samhain, the being who hooked you up with Talbot in the first place.
“Like Old Man Winter, I guess you also lured the Halloween crime boss into this caper with the promise of a piece of the H-Town underworld.”
“That’s certainly one way to skin a cat,” Father Time says, “Or, in this case, melt an ice man!”
“Your plan stalled again when the Count gave me Talbot’s name. You didn’t factor in one of Samhain’s lieutenants having ambitions beyond those his master allows him, much less making a move on them.”
“So that’s how you found out who Larry was!” Father Time exclaims.
“Yep. But I should’ve figured out it was you behind all this before then, back in the OctoberCounty, when Talbot and his boys jumped me.”
Father Time leans in, genuinely interested.
“How so?”
“Let me back up a second.
“First of all, realizing that the crime scene was staged, that was a no-brainer. That Old Man Winter and Samhain had a hand in this, well, that was obvious too. But I couldn’t wrap my head around why.
“I should’ve realized it was for the only reason that either of them do anything—profit. Then I should’ve asked myself who in the Holiday worlds could’ve supplied them with enough income to risk their regular cash cows. That should’ve immediately led me to finger you, the man with all the wealth of H-Town under his thumb.”
“Good points all,” Father Time says. “But I don’t understand. What do any of them have to do with Talbot’s October Country ambush being your tip off?”
“Like I said, Talbot was there waiting on me.
“He knew.
“Someone—someone who had to be at City Hall—tipped him off. With all other roads already leading to you, that should’ve been the star on the Christmas tree.”
“All this impressive deduction,” Father Time says, “But you still haven’t answered the million dollar question, boy: Why?
“Why did I do all this? Why did I kidnap Santa Claus?”
I slowly rise to my feet. Father Time rises to his own so that we’re once again face to face.
“Because, you Grinch, the same reason your kind do anything. To gain power. And to keep it.
“Your one year of glory—of being mayor of the holiday worlds—it just wasn’t enough for you. You couldn’t bear the thought of Baby New Year’s arrival.
“Unlike your dignified forefathers, the years before you, you didn’t want to give up the throne and pass on. You wanted to be Father Time for all eternity!”
“And what’s so wrong with that?” Father Time screams.
He loses his cool, shoving his underlings out of his way so he can pace angrily around the room. Finally he comes back to face me.
“What’s so wrong with wanting to live a little longer? To enjoy a little more of life?”
“Nothing,” I say, “for anyone else but you. You have power over time—of your year and all those that came before you. That is near absolute power. It is a blessing. But for any one being to wield it longer than your kind do is wrong.”
For all it’s worth, I give Father Time the Eye.
“You waited until Santa Claus had cast the spell of eternal night. Then you kidnapped him to make sure he could never deliver Christmas presents to the boys and girls of the human world and undo the spell.
“You did this so that no more days would pass, ensuring your position as Father Time forever, with no thought of the cost to your family or the known worlds.
“In this act of ultimate selfishness, you’ve corrupted the natural course of things and brought shame to all the Father Times who came before you!”
“Silence!” Father Time screams.
He lowers his staff and, well, I freeze—freeze in time that is. Like an ice sculpture.
After a moment, Father Time seems to gather himself. His grin and happy demeanor return.
“I know you can hear me, Frost. And I say to you, Bravo!”
He does a prim golf clap on my behalf.
“For the most part, your logic has brought you to the heart of things.
“Yes! I had Santa Claus kidnapped. Yes! It was to ensure he could never deliver Christmas presents to the boys and girls of the human world and undo the spell of eternal night.
“And, lastly, yes, it was all to prevent the birth of my son, Baby New Year, and keep myself in power for all eternity!
“There! You have my confession in full—for all the good it will do you.
“You really should have considered my offer to take the heat.”
“It wouldn’t have brought Pop back. Something would’ve conveniently happened to me in lock up before I made any contrived statement about his whereabouts.”
“Astute as always.” Father Time turns to Jasmine. “Prepare the mind-wipe spell.”
Jasmine and Romeo turn to one another. Twin streams of ominous, silvery mist being to snake out of their wands and weave in the air.
My frosty heart hammers in my chest. I’ve got to get out of here. I’v
e got to break free of Father Time’s spell. I’ve got to find Pop and stop this madman!
“Oh!” Father Time says as he uses his free hand to steady his staff. “Why Jack, you are the strong one, aren’t you, my boy! I feel you struggling against my time-dampening spell. Do you have something you’d like to say before your IQ drops to that of a brick?
Suddenly, I feel his spell’s hold on my mouth disappear. Unfortunately, it remains very much intact over the rest of my body.
“What have you done with my father?” I demand.
“Yes,” Father Time says as he strokes his beard in consideration.
He turns to Jasmine and Romeo.
“Belay the spell. I’ve got a much better idea for Mr. Frost, here.”
Father Time returns his attention to me.
“Good news, Jack, old boy! I’ve decided to let you see your father.” Father Time’s mirthless grin spreads wide across his face. “And I promise you, it will be the last thing you ever see!”
Father Time gestures to Romeo. “Zap him with a sleeper.”
“No wait—!” I yell. But it’s too late. Romeo raises his wand and the all-too-familiar blackness covers my field of vision.
Jack found himself in an H-Town jail.
“Just like old times. Yeah, just real swell!”
The wolf was beside him, drool hanging from his chin.
“Snap out of it, Talbot! Trouble we’re both in!”
“I’m afraid,” Father Time said, “there’s been a mistake.
“The interrogation spell was more than he could take.
“Why don’t you fess up, Jack? Why don’t you come clean?
“We know you’re the perp, working from behind the scenes.”
In that moment, Jack Frost’s cold heart fell.
He knew what his subconscious had been trying to tell.
The answer had always been there, circling in his mind.
“You kidnapped Santa Claus! It was you, Father Time!”
Father Time turned to his guards and said, “Shut the door.
“Such a bright boy, Jack. Please, tell me more!
Long Silent Night Page 9