Page 21 of Scary & Bright
With another breath, the Spirit recalled the events in the South Pole. How he was compelled to stay to make sure things went according to plan, what with it being his first time making the trip alone, and then how he’d witnessed with his own eyes Krampus offering the girl a warm, safe space rather than offing her when he had the chance.
“Krampus has taken some time to perform his duties in the past,” Santa said as he twirled a length of his beard between two fingers. “But this feels especially unusual. What else did you see? Anything to suggest this might be a game he’s playing with his prey?”
“I suppose it could be a game, but that is not the impression I had.” The Spirit shrugged. “When he saw the girl I selected, he seemed almost… shaken? Taken aback? Like he was more scared of her than she was of him somehow.”
“Oh, son of a nutcracker,” Santa spat, slamming one of his fists hard on his desk’s surface. “He hasn’t pulled a stunt like this in… in quite some time. At least since before the Workshop was built.”
So, there was some precedent, even though it had been some time, the Spirit realized. The good news was that Santa Claus didn’t appear to be blaming him for the creature’s strange behavior, but there was no way they were out of the woods yet.
“I could go back?” the Spirit suggested, trying his best to be helpful. “I can make myself scarce and keep an eye on things. Perhaps take notes and report back every so often unless you think we should take further immediate action?”
Santa leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk. He began to massage his temples with his first two fingers, doing his best to prevent what the Spirit had to assume was a throbbing headache. The Spirit knew this news came at the cost of Santa’s physical and mental well-being and also sympathized that this news was coming at what was likely the least convenient time. Not only was it drawing close to Christmas, but it was cutting into his sleep, the holiest part of Santa’s day, save for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner time.
“That is probably our best option as it stands.” Santa sighed with his eyes closed. “Frankly, I am hoping this might be one of his antics or a means to satisfy his boredom, or… I don’t know, something like that. I’m too exhausted to imagine it’s anything else, at least until we know for certain one way or another.”
“So, you do want me to go back?” the Spirit asked again for clarity. “Or no?”
“Yes, I want you to go back,” Santa snapped with a venomous tone. “Keep an eye on the situation and report back when you’re able or as soon as you know what is actually going on down there.”
“Absolutely.” The Spirit nodded. “Hopefully, this situation solves itself, but I’ll be sure to return with enough time to take alternative action if needed.”
“You would need to,” Santa said, his voice still on the edge of brutal frustration. “I would need enough time to assemble the necessary numbers and travel down there to steer him in the proper direction. Force him if necessary.”
“I understand,” the Spirit said meekly, adjusting his nightcap over his ears.
“I certainly hope you do, Spirit,” Santa said after a concentrated exhale. “I cannot explain to you just how much is at stake if this process isn’t seen through until the end.”
But the Spirit certainly did know what was at stake. It was a reality that had been made abundantly clear to all the North Pole employees. Santa Claus chose to remain transparent with his team rather than hide away the dark underside of the Christmas magic. It had always been spun the same way.
“There is a balance between Naughty and Nice that is as old as good and evil,” Santa would explain. “Maintaining that balance is what allows us to harness the power necessary to make Christmas such a wonderfully enchanting, magical time for children all over the world. If the balance is disrupted, then Christmas is no more. The Workshop would go dark. The reindeer would not fly, and the List would go blank.”
It was truly a fate worse than death for anyone in the North Pole. So, for centuries upon centuries, and as long as Santa Claus himself was in his position of power, the balance was kept, and the means were rarely, if ever, openly discussed. Everyone knew about Krampus—the horrifying beast in the South Pole—and how he represented all that the North Pole wasn’t.
But that evening, as the Christmas Spirit concentrated his efforts to travel through time and space to reappear in the South Pole once more, he wondered if anyone had ever thought to ask Krampus how he felt about the whole thing. Because, if the Spirit were being honest with himself, the creature he’d watched observe the tiny blond girl in the basement cell certainly didn’t appear as evil and terrible as he’d been described.
10
HOLLY
Starlight made good on her promise and came to visit me later that same day. Or night. Or the next day? Without any clocks or windows, keeping track of anything time-related was an impossible task.
“Hello!?” she exclaimed as she rocked herself into the door with a steady thump, thump, thump.
I had buried myself under the covers and fallen asleep for an unknown amount of time. The sound of her unnaturally chipper voice at a surprising octave pulled me from the slumber I’d fallen into.
“Holly!” she continued. “Are you sleeping?”
“Well, I was,” I said as I threw the comforter off from over my head and forced myself to my feet to see what the wooden horse could possibly want. My head felt groggy as I stumbled to the door, still half-asleep, and pushed the dresser barricade away from the entrance, giving me enough room to pull open the door.
“Whoopsie!” Starlight chirped. “I am sorry for waking you up. I knocked, and knocked again, then called for you, and called for you again, but you didn’t answer, so I panicked a little, and then I tried to get one of the stuffed monkeys to help me get the door open, but we couldn’t push the door open! So, I got worried!”
“Why did you…” I began to ask why she would panic, but then I remembered whose castle this was that we were all living in. “Oh.” I stepped to the side, inviting Starlight into the room.
“That got dark, and I definitely didn’t mean for it to get so dark,” Starlight said in return, her high-pitched voice rambling as she made her entrance. “I actually only came up here because it’s been a lot of hours, and I thought you might be hungry, or maybe even bored or lonely, so I thought I would come visit you… but then your door was locked, and now I’m realizing I already told you that last part!” She inhaled loudly and sharply to compensate for the breath she lost getting her entire speech out in one exhale. “So, you wanna go get some food? Check out the kitchen? Use all those fancy appliances you saw earlier? Eh?” She wiggled her eyebrows, trying to convince me.
On the one hand, I was hungry. Very hungry. And thirsty. I had totally abandoned Mister Bear’s offering, and it occurred to me that I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since my lunch break at work, which felt like an entire lifetime ago.
On the other hand, though, I felt safe in my room, and the thought of leaving it and having my back exposed to the rest of the castle felt like a risk I wasn’t quite ready to take. However, the risk was going to be necessary if I had any real chance of escaping this place. I would need to make a break for it at some point and hanging out with Starlight in the kitchen would give me the chance to poke around for some kind of weapon—a kitchen knife would certainly be better than nothing. It would also give me another chance to scope out the castle, ask about the layout, and ask if there were any nearby towns. Without Tuff around to monitor the wooden horse’s language, she might slip me more information than she otherwise wouldn’t.