The transfer is complete. The energy has ebbed completely out of the device, and instead the molecules in the air surrounding me are enriched with concentrated and fully processed psychic energy.
I feel it buzz and ripple through my veins; through every cell in my body. I flash and ripple a glittering gold, and feel power spilling through my body.
“What’s happening?” Elle has tears in her eyes, and every fiber of my being wants to stop what I’m doing and comfort her, but instead I need to act. Now is the time to put all of my concentration into making things right on this mountain.
“We’re going to save your friend,” I growl, and then I start to shift.
Chapter Thirteen
Elle
I have never been in a situation like this, so it’s only reasonable that I feel shaken. So many things have happened, and now Braxen is trying to explain to me that avalanches happen all the time on this mountain?
Seriously? All the time? What’s the deal with the mayor trying to pass this place off as the ideal ski vacation when avalanches are constantly endangering people?
As he leads me outside and finishes his transformation into the huge, dazzlingly beautiful reindeer, with antlers that branch and curve high as a small tree, the Elle inside me who went to journalism school begins to piece things together.
The Elle who was hired to write exciting, cool, weird articles is keeping silent for once. This is the true me right now, turning everything I’ve learned since arriving here over and over, until it clicks.
Braxen is the monster. He senses disasters.
He’s diverting the public away from avalanches. Again and again. Possibly every single day.
How many lives has he saved? How many people owe their existence to a scary sighting of a hurtling ball of fire and antler by the side of the slope?
I can’t properly make sense of what I’ve just figured out, because he is fully shifted, and we don’t have much time. He tosses his huge, gorgeous head at me as if to tell me to climb on, and I feel panic rear its head inside of me.
But we’ll be returning with Liara, at least, so I have a better idea than jumping up onto his golden back.
Braxen stays still, except for the impatient stomping of his three-toed hooves in the snow, as I hitch him up to the sleigh, my heart pounding. Because I know exactly what I’m doing, exactly what’s about to happen, and I can’t believe it’s about to become my reality.
I swear, I think as I fumble with the reins, I used to be the most normal person ever. And now this? I’ll have to freak out later, because right now, I think Liara might really need me. Need both of us.
We’re a team now. The weirdest team ever.
Braxen doesn’t even wait for me to disengage the four already hooked up reindeer. He begins to walk, snorting misty breath into the air and tossing his head at me again. Before I can argue, or just scream, I leap into the sleigh.
And he’s running, and running faster, and I feel the rumbling of the sleigh against the stone path vibrate through my body. And then he’s airborne.
We are airborne.
The other four reindeer don’t seem to care. They continue to gallop, happy as anything, through thin air as we rise higher, higher, higher. Above the treetops, above the town.
I don’t know if anyone looks up, but I can’t even imagine what they would be thinking if they do.
I feel dizzy, sick, scared out of my mind. Without the guard around my feelings — this newfound perfect clarity — I feel truly scared.
But it’s OK.
I sit up slowly and grip the prettily painted siding in the sleigh, and carefully look out over the snowy trees and buildings again. My breath is coming hard and fast, and I’m sweating in places I didn’t even know could sweat. I’m scared.
But I’m a lot of things. I’m exhilarated. I’m excited. I’m almost literally on top of the world. And I have the most wonderful partner with me. I know he won’t let me down. So, bit by bit, without packing away my feelings in a box as if they’re something to hate about me — without squeezing my emotions down with work and deadlines and endless tasks — I tackle my fear. Using the hardest tool of all. I face it.
And soon, I’m not a frightened girl anymore. I’m a woman riding through the air in Santa’s sleigh, led by four reindeer and a glowing beacon of light. They gallop through the air, and it’s the smoothest ride ever. I’m not afraid anymore.
For the first time in a really long time, I feel like I’m really me.
I lean forward and try to angle my body with the movement, streamlining the process as well as I possibly can. Soon, the town ends, and the pure whiteness of the ski slopes and mountainsides begins.
“I don’t see her!” I yell over the whooshing of chill wind in my ears. I wrap myself in a hug and shudder. “I don’t see anyone.”
I doubt Braxen can hear me out here, so I grab up the reins again as he descends down the biggest, meanest looking slope. The same one we spent our first night together on. I see two figures huddled, bent over, skiing fast down the slope. Above, at the top, I hear a soft rumble begin almost too quiet to hear.
But Brax hears it, and confirms it for me when he jerks his head in that direction. Then he speeds up, launching through the falling snow straight for the two figures.
I see Liara better now, in her slightly baggy borrowed ski suit. Orange and blue with racing stripes. She keeps tossing worried looks over her shoulder, and I can see from her body language that she is aware of the strange noise behind her. The slight change in the atmosphere; the eerie still before everything comes crashing down.
Why hasn’t the mayor shut this place down if it’s such a hazard? I don’t understand.
“Here!” I very gently tug on the reins, and to my surprise, all reindeer curve to that direction and instantly begin their descent, just from the lightest touch of my hand. “Liara. Liara!” I’m yelling at the top of my lungs as we gallop through the air towards her from behind.
She shoots another look over her shoulder, and locks eyes on the flying sleigh, complete with five airborne reindeer, one at the front glowing like a golden star.
Liara screams.
The noise cuts through even the silence caused by swirling snow and the rumbling of a beginning avalanche.
We land, thundering down the slope with the sudden sound of twenty pounding hooves. I hold out my hand for Liara. She looks at me, at my probably red face, my frozen, outstretched hand, mouth open trying to think of something to say. Anything to say to make this less weird. Less unbelievable.
Then, the strangest thing happens. Somehow just about stranger than everything else that’s happened in the last couple of hours.
Liara reaches out with her gloved hand, still taking care not to trip and fall as she glides down the mountainside, and she grasps my hand tightly. Wordlessly.
Soon, she’s in the sleigh beside me, ski-clad feet awkwardly hanging out of the side. Her male friend, who I’m pretty sure is the actual driver of the sleigh I kind of stole, is gaping like a dying fish, but eventually the two of us together pull him in.
Finally, we soar upwards again, ascending with Braxen in the lead, and then whatever swirling energy he’s running on hits each next reindeer in succession, and then we’re in the air again. Liara is panting with fear, cold, exhilaration, and then finally turns to me and pushes her goggles up onto the top of her head.
“What…?” is all she can say, gesturing around. “Is this … no, wait. What is this?”
I nod my head at the gold glowing deer at the head of the party, and wrap my arm around Liara’s waist so she isn’t toppled out of the sleigh when we bank sharply to the left. “I guess I have a lot to tell you,” I yell over the sound of the approaching snow.
Below us, just about missing the tips of their galloping hooves, the avalanche explodes down the slope. The snow from the top of the decline finally settles at the bottom, and then it’s pristine and peaceful again. It hardly looks like anything happ
ened at all.
We ride the rest of the way back in shocked silence. Liara leans back in the sleigh once we touch down gently on the pathway, and Braxen and the reindeer slowly lead us back into the little paddock behind our rental cabin.
She’s unable to speak, and gently, I prod her. “It’s hard to explain,” I say finally. “But this is why I wasn’t replying. I was with him.”
Liara blinks and then turns to me. “Uh, him?” she asks. “There’s a him too?”
“I tried to tell you. His name is Braxen.” I nod in his direction, and Liara follows my gaze numbly, just in time to see an incredibly handsome man unclip and pet each reindeer, mumbling quietly to each one before they wander away for food and water.
He dusts himself down, tugs on his wool beanie, and then strides over to help us out of the sleigh. “It’s nice to meet you,” he says, beaming at Liara, and holds out his left hand. It’s an innocent mistake to make, especially for an alien, and Liara holds out her right hand and then quickly switches, grabbing his with her left.
“Can, uh, can someone explain to me what just happened?” she insists.
“It might take a while,” I say, rubbing my hands over my arms to try to warm up. “Let’s get inside and by the fire?”
Chapter Fourteen
Braxen
When Elle is finished explaining everything — leaving out only the fact that things in here got steamier than the cabin’s windows — Liara sits in silence. Her male friend, mate, whatever, has long since left to get some rest, and pleasantly assured us he was never drinking hard egg nog ever again.
Humans have this interesting habit of rationalizing away the things they don’t want to look deeper into. I have no doubt that this experience will be all but forgotten by him within the week.
“Well, we need to do something about this,” Liara says finally, and Elle is nodding. I look between them.
“Do something?” Is that not what I’ve been doing this whole time?
“Seven Pines is built on ski tourism. And there’s the mayor,” Elle says, narrowing her eyes as she thinks. “A mayor I was unable to get in touch with for a soundbite about the ski slope monster. Maybe he’ll be more interested in talking after I’ve done a little writing on the subject.” Her eyes actually flash with excitement, and it makes me happy to see her in her element like this.
“We can get expert opinions, witness testimony,” Liara says, looking just as excited. “You can write the hell out of this story.”
“I can?” She bites her lip, and then looks over at me. “I already did do … something. I wrote a story. About Braxen. I sent it to my editor, and he rejected it, of course, because it was too positive. He said no one wants to read anything positive. So I sent it to the local paper. They put it online right away, hours ago, and it already has thousands of hits.”
Elle fidgets with her phone for a moment before showing it to me. “I realize I should have asked first,” she adds, shifting from foot to foot as she presents the screen. “I was just so excited about what you were saying. About how to contribute to the world better; make the world just a fraction of a percentage better for just one moment in the day, and how much that can really matter. So I wrote it. My first positive piece.”
‘Seven Pines’s Christmas Wish Granted. Local Toymaker Brings Holiday Joy to All!’
It’s an article about, well, me. Just like she said. About what I’ve told her about my process carving toys. About how I try to give my wares away. And at the end it’s an opinion piece on why Elle thinks people in Seven Pines don’t want to accept free gifts. It’s overall incredibly positive. About me, and about the town. I’m touched.
“The editor of the local paper, online and in print, asked if I was looking to move here,” she chuckles, and then blushes a furious red.
“What did you say?”
“Oh, I think she was only kidding.” Elle swats away my question, as if it’s so ridiculous to think of my soulmate living here with me in this snowy mountain town. “But I think they’ll be very receptive over there to me writing one last negative story.”
Liara stands, grins, and punches the air. “We’re gonna expose whoever almost just killed me with negligence. You me, and this glowing reindeer alien!”
“Reilendeer,” I correct pleasantly. Liara doesn’t react.
“What are you doing?” she asks, nudging her best friend. “Get writing! I’ll help in any way I can. We will help in any way we can.”
The next hour is a rush, and a blur, and the three of us work together on Elle’s latest story.
I say work together. Elle writes while Liara and I make food and coffee and idly discuss who’s who around town. She has been seeing Mack McElroy, who works part time as a reindeer sleigh driver for the owner of a few nearby rental properties. I assure her that what I know of him is very positive, and she seems elated.
Later, I leave the cabin to grab some more snacks, and in the short walk into town and to the local store, my wrist device begins to beep.
And beep. And beep.
I glance down, and then do a double take and look at it again.
It’s full.
All around me, people are holding hands, children skipping around the market as it closes for the evening, and when some see me they point and wave. Or they grab their phones and double check it’s me from the article. Elle’s article.
“Braxen!” A man I barely recognize from town greets me warmly and claps me on the shoulder. “Great to see you.” I move on, a little stunned, mentally noting each and every smile I pass.
Elle was right. Words are everything. Stories are power. Happiness lies not just in what already exists around you, but how people choose to perceive it. What they consume, and how they interpret it.
I actually have it. Enough juice to talk to my family, my friends, my species back home. I’m no longer stuck on Earth.
When I head back into the cabin, snacks in hand, a deep frown must be set in my face because Elle greets me by springing from her laptop and holding my face in her hands as she kisses me. I sink into it.
There’s no debate. I know what I’m going to do.
“I finished it,” she whispers, looking equal parts terrified and excited. “I used some of my clout as a journalist for PressFeed, even though I technically don’t work there anymore, and I got quick soundbites from local experts on the problem. And on the solution. The mayor refused to comment.”
“You are extraordinarily beautiful when you feel passion about an issue,” I let her know, and she absolutely lights up. My girl glows brighter than I do.
“This needs to stop before someone gets hurt,” she says.
“I have been working on that.”
Her brow furrows. “You could get hurt, Brax. I can’t handle the thought of anything happening to you. I feel like I can feel your heart beat alongside mine ever since we, you know. Is it always like that?” The smirk on her face shows me she knows it isn’t always like this. She knows it’s special with us. I’m not from this world, and that means our love can only be otherworldly too.
“What do we do now?” Liara asks, stepping back into the room with a knowing smile when she sees me reach out to grab Elle’s hands.
My beautiful human turns to her friend and then back to me. “We’re going to visit the mayor of Seven Pines.”
Amused, Liara continues to prod. “Why do you care so much about this tiny town? Aren’t we leaving in a few days?”
Elle turns to me, cheeks coloring. Even after we’ve mated, is she nervous to ask me directly if we will be together? I place a kiss on her forehead to communicate that it is her call. Wherever she wants to be is fine with me. She’s my love, not my pet; she can pick where we go.
“I really like it here, Li. Don’t you?”
“Let me get this straight. You’re seriously moving here, the middle of nowhere, to be in a serious relationship with a stranger from another planet?” Liara sounds accusatory, but I can tell she is trying not
to convey the pure happiness she feels for her friend. I am witnessing true friendship here. Liara would do anything for Elle.
Elle gives a dismissive shrug, but then seems to gain confidence. “Yes. I think I am. What do you think of that?”
Liara only chuckles. “I think it’s about time you followed your heart. Your mind is your friend, but it only wants you to work. There’s more to life than that.”
“You’re right, you’re right,” Elle says, and pulls on her coat. “I’ll be sure to listen out for what my kidneys have to say on the matter before I commit.”
Her friend follows close behind, mockingly chiding Elle, and I follow after her too. “What are we doing?” I ask aloud, though I am certain I know the answer.
“The mayor must have something to say about this. It won’t be complete until I get his quote.”
As Elle replies, I look up at the evening sky with curiosity. A shooting star zips across the deep blue, and I can’t help but wonder if my wish is going to come true. And do I even want it to?
Chapter Fifteen
Elle
The mayor lives and works in an ostentatious manor home just outside town, and it takes us very little time to find it with Braxen helping us navigate. The streets are cute, winding, lined with tall snow-capped trees, and we ascend higher and higher until we reach his ostentatious front door.
When his confused staff let us in and guide us reluctantly towards his office door, I steel my nerves and rap three times under the silver name plate. Mayor Kane finally yanks his door open and glares at all three of us.
“Jessica, what’s happening?” he barks over my shoulder. “Who are these people?”
I get such a bad vibe from his combover and pinched, agitated expression already, that I launch into my schpiel before settling in with any small talk first.
The Alien Reindeer's Wish Page 7
