‘It’s not a business plan, it’s burglary!’ Bean was outraged.
‘They just took advantage of the opportunity that appeared in front of them.’ Coral sounded impressed. ‘It is incredibly clever.’
Gilmore looked appalled. ‘They’re literally stealing toys from children!’
‘Even better. Children are brats,’ Coral said dismissively.
‘We need to go to the factory and talk to these delinquents,’ I declared.
‘Talking’s not going to help,’ Leo disagreed.‘They were a tough bunch we spotted.’
‘I’m Santa’s daughter!’ I protested. ‘If your villagers are intimidated by Dad, they will definitely listen to me.’
The seven South American elves objected to my idea but I was confident it would work. I would just have to get a little creative with the truth and convince the villagers in the factory that Dad was back.
‘Come on then,’ I announced resolutely. ‘Let’s go!’
The elves only agreed to lead us to their factory because they couldn’t come up with a better plan. We extinguished the campfire, put away our bowls and spoons and made our way out of the clearing.
The sun was coming out as we stepped away from the hidden camp. The jungle we were walking through was situated near the top of a mountain. We trudged up the slopes and scrambled wildly when they got steeper. The trail we were following was surrounded by dense green shrubs and trees.
The path was full of loose stones, which made climbing up the sheer mountainside a dangerous adventure—if we slipped particularly hard on one, we would have tumbled straight off the edge.
We were also tormented by hordes of giant insects that made it their mission to assault every exposed inch of our bodies. According to Gael, these pests were called pumahuacachi in the local language, which translated to ‘the one that makes the puma cry’. Not the most comforting of names.
We finally made our way to the edge of the jungle. The rear entrance of the factory was right in front of us. I couldn’t see any villagers guarding the gates. In fact, I couldn’t see anyone at all.
‘Weren’t there supposed to be guards here?’ I raised my eyebrows sceptically. ‘I don’t see any.’
‘Maybe they’re sleeping,’ Bean suggested.
‘That wouldn’t make them very good guards, would it?’ I retorted. I was starting to think these elves had exaggerated the situation a bit.
‘Let’s go see if they’re inside,’ I said and confidently marched up to the entrance. The gate was open and the eleven of us walked in.
‘When I was here it was bustling with activity,’ said the elf who had been sent to the factory to spy on the villagers.
‘I don’t like this,’ Gael muttered. ‘It’s too quiet.’
‘Maybe they’ve left,’ Bean said hopefully. ‘At any rate, it doesn’t look like anyone’s home.’
‘We can go rescue the others!’ Lucia added cheerfully. ‘This way!’
‘Didn’t we tell these pocket-sized meddlers to stay out of here?’ a loud unfamiliar voice called out.
The startled elves and I looked around to see where it had come from. In less than a minute we were surrounded by kids wearing neon-coloured backpacks. The youngest looked like he was seven years old while the oldest was about fourteen. All of them were armed with water balloons and were swinging their hands rather menacingly.
I turned to Gael open-mouthed. ‘The villagers who took over your factory are children?’
‘Greedy monsters is what they are,’ Lucia answered heatedly. ‘They deserve to be stuck up a chimney with a porcupine for company!’
‘As much as you make us blush with your compliments,’ said the girl whose voice we had first heard. ‘You weren’t supposed to come back here.’
‘It’s our factory!’ Lucia cried out.‘You’re the ones who shouldn’t be here!’
Gael and Leo made shushing noises, trying to get her to stay quiet. I turned to the girl who looked like she was the leader of the bunch. She was short, had dark curly hair and wore an amused expression as she surveyed us.
‘My name is Noel,’ I introduced myself. ‘We’re just here to talk.’
‘Hello, Noel,’ said the girl. ‘I’m Adriana. You and your elves seem to be trespassing on our factory and we must ask you to leave at once.’
Lucia looked like she wanted to lunge at Adriana’s throat but the other elves managed to hold her back.
While Adriana spoke in a perfectly reasonable tone, her eyes flashed. This was a girl who was used to getting her way. I decided to match her calm demeanour.
‘We need our factory back,’ I said evenly.
‘Your factory?’ Adriana raised an eyebrow. ‘I’ve never even see you here before.’
I squared my shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. ‘I’m Santa’s daughter,’ I said coldly. ‘Dad is not going to be happy when he hears about this.’ I had never used my father’s name to throw my weight around before but these kids needed to know who they were dealing with.
Adriana looked at me with mock concern. ‘Shouldn’t you be out looking for your daddy instead of harassing us?’ Her friends sniggered. They were really starting to get on my nerves.
‘We’ve already found him, thanks.’ I glared at her. ‘I’m going to have to report to him how naughty the children of Duende have been this year. No presents for you!’
‘With Christmas being cancelled, there’s going to be no presents for anyone this year.’ Adriana smiled. ‘Except for us, of course. We have all the presents we need. And the ones that we don’t need . . . well, we have ways of making those useful too.’
‘Christmas won’t be cancelled because Dad’s back,’ I reminded her.
‘If that were true, he would be here in person.’ Adriana turned to face her balloon-armed comrades. ‘They’ve outstayed their welcome. We have to get back to work.’
She turned back to us and smiled. ‘Goodbye.’
The room was suddenly filled with flying balloons and loud splashes. Having stray objects hurled in our direction was becoming a bad habit in South America.
11
Things that make Coral angry:
1. ‘Children.’
2. ‘Why is Douglas still Santa Claus?’
3. ‘I am surrounded by imbeciles.’
4. ‘I am going to starve to death because there is no proper food on this stupid quest!’
5. ‘Children are throwing water balloons at me!’
For the second time in as many days, I found myself drenched through no fault of my own.Water-balloon fights may look like fun but
a) We didn’t have any balloons to throw back and
b) They hurt!
The elves and I ran across the factory back the way we had come. But right at the doorway, Bean tripped over one of her scarves, sending her nosediving for the floor. I in turn tripped over her sprawled body and fell in front of her. Half the elves tried to dodge our fate by scampering sideways while the other half ran into us and collapsed like a house of cards.
Meanwhile the kids were still behind us. The speed and accuracy of the balloons heading our way improved now that they weren’t aiming at moving targets. We managed to crawl out to the factory’s backyard and looked for a place to hide. But we couldn’t see anything through the never-ending torrent of balloons.
In a few minutes, however, the kids seemed to have run out of ammunition. Their backpacks were now empty. The elves and I got to our feet as two kids ran to the far left of the factory building. They struggled to unlock a wooden gate and then threw it open. Adriana stuck two fingers in her mouth and let out a piercing whistle.
A herd of strange-looking animals bolted out. They were white, furry and large, about six feet tall. They had long necks and banana-shaped ears.
‘Llamas!’ Gael sighed in relief. ‘They’re harmless. The villagers use them as pack animals. I feared the girl was unleashing some wild beasts on us.’
Adriana whistled twice and made a weir
d noise that sounded like ‘Mwa!’ All the llamas started running towards us, spitting and hissing furiously.
I looked at Gael in alarm.‘I thought you said they were harmless!’
Gael looked back at me helplessly. ‘I think these are guard llamas. They’ve been trained to protect goats against anything that looks threatening.’
‘So what do we do?’
‘Run!’
The spitting llamas were getting closer so that’s exactly what we did.Luckily,they stopped galloping after us when we got off the grounds and reached the edge of the jungle.They gave us one last glare and calmly headed back to the factory.
Attacked by water balloons and chased by llamas. And I had thought my life couldn’t get any stranger.
We made our way back to the camp and collapsed against the trees.
‘That could have gone better,’ Bean panted.
‘I will not be treated in this discourteous manner!’ Coral thundered. ‘Who do those brats think they are? They set wild animals on me!’
‘They’re domestic, actually,’ Lucia corrected.
‘I do not care!’
I had never seen Coral so angry before. Usually he was the one who was making others mad.
‘I cannot allow them to get away with this insult!’ He continued raging on about how children were uncultured monsters and should be put to work as soon as they learned to walk.
‘Why do you want to become Santa Claus if you hate kids so much?’ I wondered.
‘Because Santa has nothing to do with kids,’ Coral retorted.
‘He has everything to do with kids!’ Gilmore exclaimed.
‘No, he does not!’ Coral snapped. ‘He never has to meet any of them. I love toys. Children just happen to be an unfortunate side effect.’
‘Now what do we do?’ Leo asked. All the elves looked at me for an answer.
‘I don’t know!’
‘We attack them, of course!’ Coral replied.
‘As much as I’d love to, we can’t,’ Lucia said.‘There are too many of them.’
‘But you have the home advantage,’ Coral pointed out. ‘You know the factory better.’
‘That doesn’t do us much good if we’re outnumbered,’ Gael said dispiritedly. ‘We can’t even get in at night. They lock themselves in.’
‘They lock themselves in?’ I repeated. ‘Why on earth do they do that?’
‘They don’t work after sundown,’ Leo answered. ‘None of the villagers do. They’re sun worshippers in these parts. They believe they’re protected by its powers. But they also believe that this protection only lasts as long as the sun does.’
‘You mean those thugs in there are just as stupid as the rest of the villagers?’ Coral said sneeringly.
‘They’re not stupid,’ Gael said. ‘It’s just a part of their beliefs.’
‘But they are superstitious?’ Coral asked thoughtfully. Lucia nodded.
‘Then it is simple,’ Coral declared. ‘We have to haunt the factory.’
‘What?’
‘We have to convince them that their despicable actions have led to frightening consequences,’ Coral said with a wicked twinkle in his eye. ‘The factory has to be haunted by an angry Christmas spirit.’
‘How is that supposed to help us?’ Bean demanded.
‘I don’t think that’s going to work,’ Leo said uncertainly.
‘We’re not ghosts!’ Gilmore cried.
‘It’s brilliant,’ I said, amazed that Coral had come up with such a brainwave. (Coral seemed equally amazed that someone was agreeing with him for once.) ‘But how are we going to do it?’
‘It depends on the tools we can get,’ Coral replied.
‘You can have everything on the sleigh,’ I offered. I turned to the elves. ‘Do you have anything else hidden around the camp?’
‘No,’ Lucia answered. She looked like she was quickly coming around to the idea of scaring the kids senseless. ‘But we have a few friends in the village. We can visit their houses to see what you can use.’
‘I need a lot of water and dry ice, a remote-controlled car and the sleigh radio,’ Coral said in a businesslike tone. ‘I also need a photo of Douglas, a small music system and white sheets.’
‘Will those things really help?’ Leo asked.
‘You happen to be talking to Santa’s top apprentice and the best toymaker in the northern hemisphere,’ Coral said haughtily. ‘Everything helps.’
‘But what are you going to do with all those things?’ Leo pressed.
‘Build a Christmas ghost, of course.’
12
What happened at the factory
‘Are all the doors and windows secure?’ Adriana asked her second-in-command, a twelve-year-old boy called Ren.
‘Nobody can get into the factory and nobody can get out,’ Ren assured her. ‘We’re all locked in. We have kids guarding all the entrances, windows and even the door to the residential wing.’
‘That should keep that girl and those elves out,’Adriana said approvingly. ‘Has the first guard shift started?’ Ren nodded.
‘Come on, let’s give the place a last look before turning in.’ Adriana led the way to the locked front door. Two kids were on guard duty but they didn’t seem to have understood the basic rules of keeping watch. The girl was trying (and failing) to stand on her head while the boy was trying (and failing) to lick his elbow.
‘Excuse me,’ Adriana said coldly. ‘Are there things you would rather be doing than watching over the main entrance to the factory?’
The girl tumbled to the floor while the boy’s eyebrows shot up in horror. They mumbled hurried apologies and stood at attention near the door. Adriana shot them one last glare and moved on to the second post at the back entrance, with Ren right behind her.
They came upon eight-year-old Oscar who was trembling from head to toe.
‘What’s wrong?’ Ren asked with concern. ‘Did you see someone?’
‘I . . . I . . .’ he stuttered, sounding terrified. ‘This . . . this . . .’
‘What is it?’ Adriana asked impatiently. ‘Was it the elves? Did you see that girl?’
‘This place gives me the creeps at night,’ Oscar said in a small voice. ‘I can’t stand guard by myself.’
‘You’re supposed to be a bold adventurer!’ Adriana scolded. ‘Our courage doesn’t go away with the sun.’
Ren looked at Oscar more understandingly. ‘Where’s Luna?’ he asked.‘Isn’t she supposed to be here with you?’ ‘She’s sick,’ Oscar sniffed.‘She’s safer at home. At least they have electricity.’
‘You know why we can’t keep the lights on,’ Adriana snapped. ‘We don’t want to draw the attention of the villagers.’
‘Not even a candle?’ Oscar pleaded.
‘I’ll stay with you,’ Ren said comfortingly. ‘The light from my phone should keep us bright and happy.’
‘You mustn’t encourage him, Ren.’ Adriana shook her head disapprovingly. ‘He has to learn to be brave. How else—’ She stopped mid-sentence and strained her ears. The silence of the corridor was suddenly broken by the sound of faint music. The noise was coming from within the building.
‘What was that?’ Oscar asked fearfully.
The music was getting louder. Now they could just about hear the lyrics.
You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
‘Do you hear what I’m hearing?’ Ren was puzzled. Oscar squealed in terror. The words and the music got louder.
He’s making a list
And checking it twice
Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town
‘It’s . . .’ Adriana took a deep breath to clear her head. ‘It’s just a Christmas song.’
‘Where is it coming from?’ Oscar shrank behind Ren. ‘I think it’s a singing ghost.’
&nbs
p; ‘It’s not a ghost!’
‘How is the singer moving around the factory without being seen then?’ Oscar was right. The song was quickly moving away from the corridor they were in. A bewildered Adriana, a confused Ren and a cowering Oscar followed the direction of the music. It led them to the main factory room where the other kids were sleeping. The song was now deafening.
He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
Oh, you better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
The blaring carol succeeded in waking up all the kids in the room. Even the kids who were supposed to be on guard duty throughout the factory had abandoned their posts to investigate the mysterious noise. The song started again from the beginning and could be heard in the same deafening tones they had heard a minute ago.
‘What is that?’ a girl yelled over the noise. She had been in the middle of a very nice dream, involving llamas and a bossy Adriana, when it had been rudely interrupted.
‘Who’s singing in the middle of the night?’ a tousle-headed boy demanded. He had been fast asleep for only what felt like two minutes when he was forced awake by the din.
‘Could it be the elves?’ Adriana shouted. Another girl shook her head. ‘They can’t turn invisible! And the song seems to be coming out of this very building.’
‘Buildings don’t randomly burst into song!’ Adriana said sharply. She didn’t want everyone to start panicking over something stupid like mysterious music coming from nowhere.
A few other kids shouted out their suggestions while the song added to the general cacophony. After being relayed twice in the factory room, it was on the move again and led an astonished audience to the corridor near the residential wing.
In the middle of the seventh sentence of its eighth rendition, the song abruptly stopped. The kids stopped chattering too and everything was deathly still.
When Santa Went Missing Page 6
