Page 20 of Naughty Elf: Aster
We ate breakfast as a family, and then made Christmas decorations with far too much glitter. Not really, there could never be enough glitter in my opinion. My mate would disagree.
When Noel asked to go to the library, his father reminded him that they were closed for the holidays. He asked me to read him a story.
“I’d love nothing more.” I looked on his shelf to find the perfect book when my fingers started tingling again. I reached for a book and suddenly, it was the exact one I had been wanting but one I didn’t see on his shelf. I had brought my copy from home via my magic. It was far stronger than the other day, that was for sure.
“What story is it?” Noel plopped on his bean bag chair.
“It’s the story of someone who stole a cookie.”
It had been heavily tweaked but was based on my friend Ernie and his friend Krampus. Only in this story, Krampus was not at all scary, and he found new friends. The real story was more that he found his happy ever after, but this book was adorable—and one that Ernie had written. I loved it.
As I was reading it, a lot of what Ernie had done to me made even more sense. I wasn’t the first person he played matchmaker only to have things go wrong. But just like with last time, his heart was in the right place. I half wondered if there were others out there.
Though, did it really go wrong for Krampus? I wasn’t so sure because his mate had been born in a different time. They’d have missed each other completely. And by that standard, had he really messed up with me?
In either case, Ernie did it for me because he cared, and he probably sensed that Wolfe was my mate that day when he disappeared from the store. It was impossible to be mad at Ernie.
“The end.”
“That was the best story ever. Is Krampus real?”
I nodded.
“Can I meet him?”
“Maybe one day, but let’s not have your meeting because you don’t know how to behave, okay?” I stood up and went to replace the book on the shelf.
Noel opted to stay in his room and color and I went to find his father.
Snowball was waiting at the door and I cracked the door open a little and let him go in. If Snowball wanted to chill with Noel, then who was I to get in the way.
My tingling started getting more like a current, and I wondered if I had my magic back fully. It felt like it. But last time, when I used a little bit of magic, that was all I had left, and I was back to nothing again.
“Aster, what’s wrong?” Wolfe asked.
“I think I need to go.” I didn’t want to, but I needed answers and this might be my only opportunity.
“What do you mean, you have to go?” He stood up and crossed to me.
“Not forever, but I think I need to go back home for a few hours.” At least I hoped that would be all the time I needed.
“You can do that now?” He took my hand in his, probably trying to feel the magic I had told him felt tingly. He wouldn’t be able to. Not to my knowledge anyway.
“I can, and I need to find out why a lot of things are happening. But I’ll be back. You can’t keep me away.”
“What if you don’t have magic when you get there?” He expressed my biggest worry.
“Then I’m hitching a ride with Santa on Christmas Eve. Don’t worry, I’ll be back.” I’d do it too. I had no shame when it came to love.
I gave him a kiss and hugged him. I made a promise to assure Noel that I was definitely coming back before Christmas if by some reason I wasn’t back before dinner. I hoped it would be this afternoon or tonight at the latest, but we would see. I stepped into the other room, called forth my magic, and ended up back at the North Pole in a wink.
I needed to find out how much of what I could do that my mate was allowed to see and how much I could use outside of the North Pole without it depleting. There was a lot to talk about.
When I got there, Santa was right where I landed, in front of my house.
“You gave me my magic so I’d come back here?” I asked.
“Ho ho ho, of course I did. I figured you needed to talk. Take me inside. I brought cookies, but they’re not as good as yours. They’re not as bad as the ones you made, but you really are the best.”