by Lyndon, Sue
Chapter Three
If there was any way that Alise could crawl into the cushions at her back and hide, she would. How could she explain being in the woman’s home?
“I...uh...wanted to ask you something and...uh...I watched your...thing while I was waiting.” It sounded pathetic even to her ears.
“You know where you can find me,” Becky said, tugging her robe tighter about her. “What’s this all about Alise? First the closet and now I find you here...and don’t make me go to Kri...your boss about this.”
A chill ran down Alise’s spine. She might be able to fib to the woman, but if this got to Santa... “I wanted to know more about you,” she said. There. That wasn’t completely untrue.
Becky sat down across from her and stared at her from beneath disheveled purple hair. “Hmm...that would explain you here but I had nothing to do with the sucky sucky in the closet or why you’re watching my porn.”
“What’s porn?” Alise asked.
A plaintive wail came from the thing behind Becky. She jerked her thumb behind her. “That,” she said. “Stop trying to change the subject.”
“I’m not,” Alise protested.
“Then do you want to explain to me about the closet? I didn’t think you elves even did that,” Becky said.
“Did what?” Alise asked, confused.
“Suck cock,” Becky said and waved her hands as if to emphasize what she said.
“Cock?”
“Dick? Penis? The salami stallion?” Becky explained and paused for a moment. A light seemed to come on in her eyes. “You had no idea what you were doing, did you?” she asked.
“Of course I did!” Alise said. Another fib. She had no idea why, but Becky’s insinuation that she was ignorant rankled her.
“Then you can tell me what the people on the TV are doing,” Becky told her, indicating the screen behind her again.
“TV?” Alise asked.
Becky sighed. “Again, please stop trying to dodge the question,” she said. “The screen. The box.”
“Um.” Alise tried to think of something. “They’re...playing.” It was the wrong answer and she knew it.
Becky laughed and Alise could feel her annoyance rise. She was going to be mocked.
“Well, that’s one damn sure-fire way of looking at it,” Becky said with a mischievous smirk. “Fucking...oops. Sorry. I know I promised Kris that I’d watch my language...Sex is a lot of things to different people.”
Alise’s confusion must have been evident because Becky stopped grinning and her face took on a serious expression. “Alise, when was the last time there was a new elf?” she asked.
“New elf?” Alise said. “It’s always been us.”
“So no elf has ever...um...made another elf?” Becky asked.
Alise stared at her. Now who was being ignorant?
Her silence seemed to answer Becky’s question.
“Okay. Hang on. Give me a few minutes here,” Becky said, got up, and paced the floor.
Alise watched her, struck with the way Becky’s mannerisms mimicked hers when she was thinking hard on something. Becky grimaced briefly and then replaced it with a wry grin that faded just as quickly before she sat down across from Alise.
“You’ve been watching Kris...Santa and me haven’t you?” she asked.
“What? No!” Alise cried.
“Really?” Becky asked, cocking an eyebrow. “So all you elves have been totally ignorant of sex for...well, however long...and now, only after I show up, you’ve suddenly decided to get all nasty and knocking pointy-toed shoes? Oh yeah, totally buying that. Alise, the only common thing here is you and me.”
Alise found herself taken aback by Becky’s honesty and—if she wasn’t mistaken by the tone in her voice— sympathy. It still wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have.
“Honest.” She tried again. “I...thought of it on my own.”
Becky smirked at her again but her eyes held warmth. “Alise, as smart as I know you are, sex is natural, not something you think up.” She laughed. “I should probably have phrased that better but still...”
“I really should be getting back,” Alise said.
“I’ll give you a pass, but we’ll talk later about all this and next time you need to be straight with me.” Becky said.
Alise scrambled down off her suddenly uncomfortable perch and hurried across to the door.
“And Alise?” Becky’s voice behind her made her visibly cringe. “Please don’t talk about this or...experiment...anymore on this until we’ve talked. Sex is a wonderful...and fun thing but not something you want to go bumbling into.”
Alise turned the doorknob.
Becky’s voice called out behind her. “This will be our secret. Trust me on this. Don’t make your first time as awkward as mine.”
Alise ducked through the doorway and quickly pulled it shut behind her as she breathed in the comfortable surroundings of the workshop. That had been too close for comfort. She made her way to her small bunk and climbed the ladder to the top as Melira, her bunkmate, snored away beneath her. She stared at the ceiling but Becky’s words kept resonating in her head and sleep eluded her. What had she meant when she said her first time was awkward? Had Becky let her into a bit of her confidence? The idea was both frightening and intriguing.
She’d been lucky. Becky could have gone to Santa with her knowledge of Alise’s activities but she didn’t. Instead, Becky seemed sincere in wanting to help Alise understand this sex thing and to avoid some disaster that she’d suffered. Alise frowned. Perhaps she’d been too hasty in judging the woman and was wrong. Perhaps Becky really did not have some sinister plan and her attempts to be friendly were just that. If it was true, and her thinking was quickly coming around to that conclusion, she owed Becky an apology.
Alise sighed and rolled over, cuddling the pillow between her forearms and head. Her eyes snapped open and she quickly tossed the pillow to the side. It was gone! The magic-detector she’d hidden there was missing!
Alise made a mental note to try to not be shocked by anything Becky did but it was difficult when she went back through the door to Becky’s home and saw the muscular man in the living room without clothes. Alise blinked. She had only been gone for an hour at most.
He was posing and rigid. She cleared her throat.
“Oh, hello Alise.” Becky smiled from behind her drawing board. “Back so soon?”
Alise frowned as the man took notice of her and deflated. Somehow she felt like she should be insulted.
“This is Captain Superior,” Becky said. “He’s posing for my latest job.”
“You draw people without clothes?” Alise asked.
“Superheroes.” Becky corrected her and set down her pencil. “But close enough. What’s up?”
“Did you...um...” Alise felt flustered. There was no good way to ask what she needed to. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and blurted it out. “Did you take anything from my room?”
“No,” Becky said without rancor and Alise opened her eyes. “Is something missing?” Concern laced her voice.
“Yes, uh...” Alise looked over at Becky’s model.
“Goodbye, Captain,” Becky said.
“But we were—” the man started to object but disappeared.
Alise stood staring at the spot where he had been, dumbfounded. “How’d—”
“We all have our secrets.” Becky smiled and Alise took a step backwards. “Oh for fuck’s sake,” Becky said. “I’m not going to poof you into nothingness. All I did was send him away until I need him again.”
Alise stood rooted to the spot.
“Dammit, Alise,” Becky said. “I like you. I want to help you. What’s missing?”<
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“I took a magic-detector from Santa,” Alise said and stared at the floor. “Now it’s gone from where I hid it.”
“Outside of you taking it, is that a bad thing?” Becky asked.
“It’s a Krampus device,” Alice said, once again amazed at how little Becky knew. “If it fell into enemy hands—”
“Kris has enemies?” Beck asked.
“Oh yes and, if they manage to deconstruct it, they could use that knowledge to make powerful magic weapons. Destroying Christmas would be the least of what they could do.”
“Hold on,” Becky said. “Before we start freaking out, are you sure that one of the other elves or Kris didn’t find it and put it back?”
“I didn’t look,” Alise admitted. “But, if it was an elf, they’re breaking the rules by not saying something and, if it was Santa, I’d be on wetting baby doll duty for eternity by now.”
“Well, there’s no reason to lose our heads yet. Let’s go look,” Becky said. “Why’d you take it in the first place, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I used it on you,” Alise said. She felt comfortable talking to Becky and tamped down a rising sense of shame at having distrusted her in the past. Becky was willing to help her and not get her in trouble. That trumped an extra chocolate cookie any time.
Becky grinned. “And?”
Alise shrugged. “You read the same as any of us.”
“Alise, I’m normal,” Becky said and stopped. “I shouldn’t show up at all.”
“You made someone disappear,” Alise corrected her. “I think you’re more powerful than the Krampus thinks you are. You have some kind of different magic that it can’t deal with completely.”
“That’s reassuring,” Becky said.
“No, it’s fascinating,” Alise told her. “Can I study you?”
“Even more than playing Peeping Tom?”
“Peeping what?”
“You were watching Kris and me in bed.”
“All right, I’ll admit it. I owe you that much.”
Her glibness and willing admission of what she had done surprised her as did Becky’s acceptance of it.
“You’re not mad at me?” Alise asked.
“No. In some way it makes it kinkier.”
“What?”
“Never mind.”
Chapter Four
The magic-detector was not where it should be, nor was it simply misplaced amongst all the other items in the Krampus Room.
“Are you sure you haven’t just mislaid it?” Becky asked. “I do that all the time.”
“I’m positive,” Alise answered. “A pair of stockings, maybe, but I’m certainly not absent-minded enough to leave a Krampus device laying about anywhere.”
“Let’s give your room another look so we can rule out anything normal,” Becky suggested and Alise nodded. She was certain that it was not in her room but it wouldn’t hurt to have another person look.
It wasn’t in her room.
Alise threw her blankets back onto her bed and nearly jumped as a loud woof erupted behind her. She whirled around to see Becky and a hound with droopy jowls, wearing a deerstalker cap. “I wish you’d warn me before you do that,” she said with a loud exhalation. “Let me guess, you can make things as well as make things go away?”
“Sorry and, yeah, sorta,” Becky said as she dangled Alise’s pillowcase in front of the animal’s snuffling nose. “Here you go, boy, get a good scent.”
The dog immediately walked over to Alise, sat down on its haunches and let go with a braying howl.
“No. Try again,” Becky said and held the pillowcase out again.
Alise was glad that Melira wasn’t here to see this or she might have died from embarrassment. The dog sniffed her linen again and woofed before putting its nose to the floor. It would have been comical to watch the dog’s wobbly gait, Alise thought. If the consequences were not so high.
They wandered through the workshop and Alise tried to ignore the odd stares they got. Becky smiled at everyone, pausing in their search a few times to allow several elves to pet the dog. She began to understand how Becky managed to ingratiate herself into the workshop. She was unassuming and everyone was her friend. However, Alise had the growing suspicion that someone in the workshop wasn’t her friend.
The wrinkled canine plopped his rear down in front of the door which led to Becky’s home and whined. Alise and Becky shared an incredulous look. “Don’t look at me,” Becky said. “Why in the hell would I take it in the first place and then lead you back to it? That’d be fuc...oops...I forget where I am...stupid.”
“I trust you,” Alisa said and, with a start, realized she meant it. “You have to admit it would make the perfect hiding place though. You’re only there some of the time, the place is a disaster area, and no elf would go in.”
“Present company excluded,” Becky said.
“I’m not proud of it.”
“Alise, you’re more than welcome to visit me any time you want,” Becky said. “In fact, I hope you do but, for now, let’s go see if ol’ eagle-nose is right.” She opened the door and they walked through.
Becky’s home was as messy as it was the last time. Books and papers littered the area with the box she watched last time. Alise doubted the rest of her domicile fared any better. Unlike her, Becky seemed to thrive on chaos. It drove Alise crazy and she felt the itch to clean and organize. Surely there was a broom and mop about somewhere…
The dog was already nosing around and Alise felt silly standing about watching, but she knew the bloodhound would do a better job than the two of them searching willy-nilly. Becky looked glum. “It could be anywhere in here and I don’t even know what it looks like,” she said.
“It’s shaped like a snowflake and is made out of a black metal,” Alise explained. “A meteorite ore, if you believe our engineers, which would also explain its magical properties.”
The dog padded down the hallway into Becky’s bedroom and then came back again before sitting down in front of a shelf of DVDs. Alise tried to ignore some of the covers as Becky swept the shelves clean, plastic cases raining down onto the floor. A snowflake fell to the floor with a thump.
“Is that it?” Becky asked as Alise snatched it up. The feeling of warmth flowing through her at its touch confirmed it.
“Yes!” Alise cried and clutched it against her chest.
“That’s a relief,” Becky said and turned her attention to the dog. “Goodbye, Toby.”
The dog, like the man without clothes before him, disappeared.
“I’m never going to get used to seeing that,” Alise said.
“It isn’t like I’m killing them. I’m just putting them away until I need them again. If I did the same thing with you, you’d just pop back into the workshop.”
“It’s still weird,” Alise said and tried to change the topic. “Let me at least help you clean this mess up.”
“So now what?” Becky asked, after Alise helped her put the cases back.
“I’ll put the magic-detector back where it should have been in the first place,” Alise said.
“Go ahead and then come back here. Something is going on. We need to talk about this.”
Alise returned within ten minutes to find Becky talking to a man in a dark suit and hat. —“Makes sense to me,” she said. “Goodbye, Sam.”
“Here’s lookin’ at you, kid,” he said and disappeared.
“What was that all about?” Alise asked.
“I’m getting suggestions on where to go from here.”
“And?”
“We lay a trap,” Becky said. “You wouldn’t hide something if you weren’t coming back for it.”
“That sounds rea
sonable,” Alise said, “but we’re only two girls.”
“I’ve got just the man for both jobs,” Becky said with a grin. “You’ll need to change first though. Can you change your appearance?” she asked.
“Sure,” Alise said. “If I need to. How else do you think Santa compiles his naughty and nice lists? We’re pretty good spies, if I do say so myself.” Alise concentrated and her features blurred into that of a little girl with blonde pigtails. Her spectacles and freckles still remained. “How’s this?”
“That’d work for some, but I was thinking something a bit bigger, like my size.”
Alise took off her top.
“What are you doing?” Becky asked. “Geez, girl, where’s your chest?”
Alise glared at Becky but decided to take the higher moral ground. “Clothes don’t change with us when we get bigger,” Alise explained, cocking her head and then adding in her own shot. “You don’t do this a lot do you?”
“I can’t change myself.”
“Well that’s no fun.”
Alise removed her tights and shoes and concentrated again, her body growing taller and elongating. “There.”
Becky frowned at her. “Make your tits bigger.”
“What?”
“Your breasts, make them bigger.”
“Um...okay.”
“Bring your waist in a bit and make your ass...rear...rounder.”
“All right. I don’t see what the point of all of this is. Do you want me to change anything else?”
“No. The glasses and freckles make you cuter.”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
“I’m going to take care of two birds with one stone.”
Alise watched as Becky undressed. This was all really weird.
“Why are you taking your clothes off? You said you can’t change.”
“I can’t, but let’s say I want to make Richard agreeable to helping us.”