by Susan Harper
“We are a unique pair,” Mona said.
“I can’t help but to notice that you’re more into the black and coffee shop look,” Brian said, smirking.
“Coffee shop look?” she asked.
“You know…a little hipster-y,” he said.
Mona had no idea what a hipster was, but she had a sinking feeling it was an insult. “Oh, well, excuse me,” Mona huffed. “I guess you prefer a bubbly sort with space between her ears?”
“I wasn’t really trying to make a comment about my preferences,” Brian said, then looked at her with a peculiar expression. “Are you saying that Monica has space between her ears?”
“No!” Mona snapped. “Are you?”
“No!” Brian exclaimed, and she could tell the man was absolutely thrown off by her dreary attitude.
Mona sighed. “Sorry. I admittedly can be a bit stiff and short with people.”
Brian smiled. “It’s okay. I mean, it’s kind of funny, really. I’ve gotten to know your sister fairly well, and you two are just so…different…”
“We have always been that way,” Mona said, stuffing her chilly hands into her black coat. She caught a glimpse of herself in a shop mirror. She looked a bit frightening when held up in contrast to all the lights and color around them. Maybe I could stand to add a bit more color to my wardrobe, she pondered as she looked at her tall black boots, black leggings, black skirt, black coat, and dark gray and black striped scarf. She played with her long, black hair for a moment that shimmered slightly purple in certain lightings. The only bit of true color on her was the bright violet of her eyes.
“I like it,” Brian said. “You two seem like you must balance each other out a bit. I like the goth girl look on you.”
“Goth girl?” Mona replied. She was keeping a mental note of everything she was going to have to look up later.
“It’s cute,” Brian said. “You pull it off really nice. Not that my opinion matters, I suppose. I saw your pet raven earlier at the shop. Interesting choice in pet, by the way.”
“Oh…yes…” Mona said under her breath, recalling why she had left Lenore at the shop in the first place, and here they were talking about her. “She’s well trained for a bird.”
“What’s her name?” Brian asked as they continued their walk.
“Lenore,” Mona said.
“Lenore…” Brian said and laughed. “That’s really clever.”
“What?” Mona questioned.
“It’s a reference to the poem by Poe, right? The Raven?” Brian asked.
A slight smile appeared on Mona’s face. “Yes, as a matter of fact. Most people don’t get that,” she said.
“I know I’m not much of a reader, as I’m sure Monica has told you, but I know a little bit of Edgar Allan Poe,” he said.
Mona stared at him for a moment. “You are trying very hard to impress me, and I must tell you that it is not entirely necessary,” Mona said, and this seemed to throw Brian for a loop for a moment.
“I mean, I would like for Monica’s sister to like me, honestly,” he admitted. “You just seem like you don’t really care for me too much.”
“That’s probably because I don’t,” Mona said and continued walking despite the fact that the man had stopped completely. She had always been a rather blunt woman, but that was fairly normal in the world of the mystics. He was so taken back by it that Mona felt that she needed to counter it a bit. “I mean, I don’t know you, is all,” she said, glancing back at him and giving him a chance to catch up.
“I see,” Brian said somewhat bitterly as they entered a shop, mostly to get out of the cold.
The shop was a sort of knickknack store with a few antiques thrown in, and it was all decked out for Christmas. “Brian! Always a pleasure,” a man called from behind the counter. “Hello, Monica,” the man said.
“Lou, this is Monica’s sister, Mona,” Brian corrected, and Lou had to do a double- take.
“For crying out loud,” he muttered and laughed. “You two look a lot alike. Your hair is black as night, and I still thought you were Monica for a second there.”
Mona smirked and proceeded to look around the shop at all the colorful Christmas items up for sale while Brian talked to Lou about potential gift ideas for Monica. “What are you getting your girl this year, Lou?” Brian asked.
“Ooh, do tell?” A woman appeared from behind a curtain from the backroom.
“Don’t even think about it, Chloe,” Lou said, laughing.
A younger woman had followed her out, and she rolled her eyes slightly as the man puckered up and kissed the woman his age. “Dad, Chloe, seriously?” the younger woman said.
“Hey, Penny,” Brian said, laughing. “You still giving your dad and Chloe a hard time?”
“Always,” Penny said. She was carrying a box of merchandise, which she brought out to the shop’s main floor and began putting out bobblehead Santas on display.
Mona smirked at the bobbleheads, feelings slightly amused. She picked one up and flicked it in the face before putting it back on a shelf for it to shake and wobble. Penny seemed to be about twenty or so, and she didn’t look too thrilled to be working in her father’s shop. Mona felt sorry for the girl who kept looking at Lou, her father, and the man’s girlfriend Chloe with a look of dissatisfaction.
Eventually, Brian and Mona left this shop as well, but on their way out, they spotted a man peeking in through the shop window. “What are you doing, Justin?” Brian asked.
“Do you know everyone in this town?” Mona asked, and Brian shrugged.
“Nothing much,” Justin responded, still peering through the window.
Suddenly, Lou was standing in the doorway, a broom in his hands. “I swear, Justin, you even think about coming in here to check my prices again, and I’ll smack you so hard in the head you’ll be knocked out until New Years.”
Justin held up both hands in defense. “Easy there, Lou,” he said. “Going back on my turf, I swear,” Justin said, laughing slightly. “And, really, Lou? Threatening me in front of a cop? Not wise, my friend. Not wise.” Justin scurried across the street, and Mona watched as he entered into a shop that, based off what was displayed in the shop window, looked to be very similar merchandise to what Lou sold.
“You two still going at it, huh?” Brian asked, chuckling.
“He comes in here every other week to see whether or not he should lower his prices, and I’m getting tired of it,” Lou said. “One of these days, I’m going to sock him in the nose!”
“Maybe don’t tell me that,” Brian suggested, and the two men laughed before he and Mona headed on their way. They went into a few more shops before Brian at last seemed to get some sort of an idea. “You know what, Monica really loves that bike of hers,” he said. “I could get her some gear for it. I notice she doesn’t wear a helmet, so maybe I could get her a nice one? And maybe a chain for her bike. Someone is going to wind up stealing it someday. A matching basket, the one on there now has got a bit of a tear in it… Maybe a new seat too? Just a whole set kind of thing.”
“That’s actually a really good idea,” Mona said with a smile. She knew good and well that the bike was actually her broomstick, but it was still a very fine gesture. Her sister adored her broom, especially now that Mona had put a spell on it to help it to shapeshift. She wondered how her sister was handling it now that she had expanded its abilities to where it could also shift into a motorcycle.
“You really think so?” Brian asked.
“Are you kidding?” Mona said. “She loves that bro—bike. That bike.”
They had reached the end of Main Street and had crossed the road to start going back in the way that they had come, enjoying the shops on the other side of the road as they walked. Mona didn’t mind that Brian still wanted to window shop. She was growing used to his peppy attitude by now. As they came further up the road closer to where Brian had parked at the start of their evening, Mona began to smell smoke.
Looking up ahead,
she could see a thick cloud forming over some shops not too far away. “Brian, one of the shops is on fire!” Mona exclaimed.
Brian whipped out his cellphone to call for the fire department, and the two of them darted up the hill toward the smoke. Lou’s shop was completely up in flames. “Are they still inside?” Mona yelped as she and Brian stood out on the sidewalk.
“I don’t know,” Brian said, checking his watch. “It’s after closing time… I don’t know!”
Mona felt a sense of panic as Brian spoke rapidly into the phone. He was going to go into the building. Mona could not imagine how her sister would feel if she let Brian go darting into a burning building on her watch. She pulled out her wand without any sort of hesitation just as Brian ran inside the door. “Etiam!” she called, waving her wand, and the whole scene before her froze. She only had a second to think of another spell before etiam wore off. “Glacies!” she called, pointing the wand directly over the building, causing an ungodly amount of ice and snow to appear just above the building as etiam wore off. As time unfroze, the giant pile of snow and ice fell so abruptly on the building that it caused part of the roof to cave in.
“Oh my gosh!” Brian yelped, jumping back. “What was that?” he screamed in surprise.
The flames were gone, though the place was still smoking as Brian hurried inside.
5
Monica reached into her purse, digging around for the elf’s cage. The elf woman standing in front of her in the midst of the North Pole precinct looked rather impatient as she waited for Monica to locate the little runaway. “Would you hurry up?” the elf asked.
Holly looked at the woman with a bit of dissatisfaction. “Why aren’t you rhyming?” Holly asked.
The elf stared back at her blankly. “Do I look like a toy elf to you?” she asked.
Monica nudged Holly. “Don’t embarrass yourself, Holly.”
“Well, how am I supposed to know which elves in the North Pole rhyme or not?” Holly asked.
“Toy elves are only a couple of feet tall, and they tend to work in the factory,” Monica said.
“As in the toy factory?” Holly asked.
“That’s the one,” Monica said. “You don’t usually see them outside of the center of town except around the holidays.”
“Workaholics,” the elf behind the counter said as she straightened up her hat. Unlike the colorful elf they had been dealing with thus far, she was about a foot taller than the one in the cage, a towering three and a half feet tall, and she was not quite as colorful. Though she was dressed in green, her police uniform was very dark in color. “Those toy elves work themselves crazy trying to get on Santa’s good side. As if he picks favorites. They need more sugar to keep themselves going.”
“Don’t they get breaks?” Holly asked.
“Of course they do. Santa practically has to force them to take a day off, though,” the woman said with a huff. “Would you hurry up and— Oh my snowflakes!”
Monica plopped the cage down on the counter. The little monster that had once been an elf was now shrieking and clawing, gnawing at the cage that was now rather bent. “Yeah, we can’t get him to eat any sugar now,” Monica said. “He hasn’t had any in hours. We tried out best to get him here sooner, but…”
“I’m sure the workshop is just going to be glad to have him back,” the woman said, shaking her head and picking up a colorful telephone. “Yeah, I’m going to need some paramedics to the station right away to transport a toy elf straight to the infirmary. He’s in full cretin mode… Yeah, it’s pretty nasty. The witch who brought him here says he hasn’t had sugar in hours and is refusing to take any now at this point… All right, will do.” The woman hung up the phone and shrieked when the elf in the pen hissed at her. “Who is this, anyway?” she asked.
“Said his name was Thaddeus,” Monica said.
“Thaddeus!” the woman exclaimed. “So, that’s where you’ve gotten off to. There has been a missing elf report out for him for over a week. The reindeer he was sent after returned without him. Santa has been awfully worried about you, Thaddeus!” The creature hissed in response. “Well, thank you, ladies. I truly appreciate you bringing him home.”
“It’s no problem at all,” Monica said politely. “Come on, Holly. Looks like we have done our civic duty. Hey, do they still give out reindeer rides at the stables?”
“Sure do,” she said, and Holly looked like she was going to faint from excitement.
“Actually,” the woman said, checking the clock behind her desk. “If you hurry, the heavy hitters are out right now.”
“Heavy hitters?” Holly asked.
“Santa’s original eight,” Monica said. “Come on!”
Monica and Holly darted out of the precinct, Holly oohing and awwing at everything in sight. The little village was quite exciting, full of color and adorable houses and shops. They ran around the backside of some red brick shops and up a large, snowy hill toward a number of large stables. Sure enough, they could see young elves riding on the backs of various reindeer. “Well, what do you say? You want to go for a ride?” Monica asked.
“Ride on one of Santa’s reindeer? Are you kidding me?” Holly gleamed. “Yes, please!”
A four foot tall and perfectly fat elf man was working the stables that day. He smiled at them as they approached. “Out-of-towners,” he said. “Welcome to the North Pole stables. Here to go for a ride? Doing the last rides of the season with the A team.”
“Definitely,” Monica said.
“All right, Prancer, come here, girl,” the elf man said, and a large reindeer with enormous antlers stepped out of the stable.
Holly’s eyes glistened. “Wait, I thought only male deer had antlers?”
“Common misconception. Both male and female reindeer grow antlers each summer,” the elf said, “but most males shed their antlers at the start of winter. Only the ladies keep theirs up until spring during mating season.”
“Wait,” Holly said, pausing to contemplate this for a moment. “Are you telling me that all of Santa’s reindeer are…girls?”
“Well, yeah,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Girl power, wow, I had no idea,” Holly said, and the next thing she knew, the elf was saddling up Prancer for her.
“Prancer is one of our stronger girls,” he said. “No offense, ma’am, but you’re a lot heavier than some of the elf children who come out to ride, but she’ll be able to handle you well.”
“I’ve ridden Dasher before, is she available?” Monica asked. “She really liked me the last time.”
“Sure thing,” the elf said, and soon Dasher was set up and ready to go.
The elf slapped each reindeer on the rear, and they took off down the snowy hill. After a moment, they lifted up into the sky. Holly and Monica laughed and cried out in their excitement as Dasher and Prancer raced one another around, each of them gripping onto the reindeer’s reins to keep from falling. Abigail suddenly poked her head out of Monica’s bag and shrieked, “No! This is not a broom! Get me down!”
Eventually, they landed back at the stables, and Abigail jumped out of the purse. “No more surprises,” Abigail declared.
“You’re the one who keeps taking a nap in the bottomless purse,” Monica said, climbing off Dasher’s back and petting the reindeer on the nose.
“Here you go, miss,” the elf working the stables said, handing Monica her broom. “Held onto it for you.”
“I appreciate it,” Monica said, taking her broom back.
Monica and Holly walked back into the village, Abigail trailing close behind and grumbling about the flight on the reindeer that she had not signed up for. They headed into a local shop while Abigail elected to lurk outside for a bit, the two of them having to duck to get through the low door. It was a little trinket shop, and they browsed around a bit. “I just have to get something while we’re here,” Holly said excitedly. “Something to remember my first trip to the North Pole.”
“It is pretty exciting,
” Monica said as she looked around.
The shop was full of beautiful handcrafted items, and as she was looking about, she noticed something lovely hanging on the wall. It was a beautiful black shadowbox lined with bits of gold trim. Her eyes were immediately drawn to it, and she could imagine Brian’s gold medal hanging in it just perfectly. “Whoa,” Monica said in awe. “That is amazing.”
“I’ll say,” a young elf said, and she turned around and looked down to see a three-foot-tall young man staring up at her. “Made with care.”
Monica looked at the price tag, and her stomach cringed. “Whoa. Why is it so expensive?” she asked.
“Well, it’s made from imported wood. The sides and front are all African blackwood, and the back of the interior is purpleheart wood—some of the most expensive wood out there. The gold lining there on the front is authentic fourteen karat,” the young elf explained. “Whatever you’re planning on displaying in there should be something worthy of the box, I’d say. My father made that box himself. One of his last projects before his passing. Another reason for the price, I’m afraid. Having a hard time letting it go.”
“Oh, dear, I’d hate to try to haggle you, then,” Monica said, but she couldn’t look away. The black siding, the golden accents, and the dark purple interior were just perfect. She could imagine Brian’s medal in there, and it would look just lovely. She sighed, though, knowing good and well she could not afford the price.
“How much could you swing?” the young elf asked, though he asked with much hesitancy in his voice.
“Two hundred?” Monica asked hopefully.
The elf did not seem to care for this answer. “I don’t know… Say, I’ve always wanted a broom.”
“Can elves ride brooms?” Holly asked, poking her head around the corner.
“Yeah,” Monica said.
“Dang, so I’m probably not part-elf, then?” Holly asked.
“I’d say not,” Monica said, turning her attention back to the elf. “What are you suggesting?”
“Well, you don’t exactly get a lot of brooms in the North Pole. I’ve never had the opportunity to buy one. How about a trade?” he asked.
