© 2024 Debra Anastasia. All rights reserved. This material is the intellectual property of the author and cannot be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form without express written permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author. (Best read on a desktop)
CHAPTER 10 Frosty Balls
Kris
She was right. I could see the sparkling frost causing a stir on the walls. On the ceiling. In a mirror made by ice, Lila and I both locked eyes in our reflections.
“Sonnet.” Lila was out of the bed, gloriously naked but obviously panicked.
I hopped out of bed behind her, also naked, save for the bracelet Mrs. Fargone had given me.
Lila couldn’t even get the door to unlock. She slapped the door and called for her sister. Then she stepped out of the way to make room for me to try.
The metal actually hurt my hand. It was so cold. Lila put her hand on top of mine in a move I thought would be futile, but the second our hands touched, it was like we had a blowtorch on the frost there. It turned into moisture but we still couldn’t get the door to unlock.
Lila found her phone on the bedside table and it was still working despite the chill. Lila hit the VideoChat button. While the phone rang she and I hastily put on our clothes. I was pretty sure she had her pants on backwards, but that was the least of our problems.
Once she had her shoes on she was at the front door, trying to open it. Still stuck.
Finally the videochat connected. A sleepy Sonnet croaked a good morning with her hair sticking in the air.
Lila staggered away from the door with relief upon seeing Sonnet’s face. “Are you okay?”
The more I looked at Sonnet in the video, the less I liked it. Her lips looked blue. The walls behind her were also etched with ice --just like ours. “I’m so cold my feet feel hot. Where are you? Where am I?”
Lila and I shared a panicked glance before she spoke to her sister, “We’re right next door. We have the same cold stuff in here. Can you get out of your door?”
The phone moved and instead of Sonnet’s face, we were looking at Glacius.
He ran his hand over Sonnet’s hair and just like that, she was iced over.
“Get away from my sister, you set of frozen balls.” Lila dropped her phone and went to the adjacent door and started to slam it with her palms again.
I picked up the phone and glared at Glacius. “Man, not cool at all. Knock it off.”
Glacius laughed. “Sure baby santa. Threaten me all you want. Just know Sonnet here will be just fine--if you guys do what I want.”
I was struggling to hear him now because Lila had taken the desk chair and was slamming it against the adjoining door.
“She’s a feisty one. I’ve been dealing with Annie Fargone for so long I forgot that the weresecretaries could be this high-spirited.” Glacius showed me around the hotel room next door. Mrs. Fargone looked dead. Brick cold and dead. And Sonnet was cuddled on her side again--worse than the pendant inspired weirdness--she was emotionless and still.
“What do you want then?” I asked.
Lila set down the chair when it failed to make even a dent and came to stand next to me. She was fuming, fists balled.
“Hey, I just need to do a deal with you. You’re the new Santa for the Upper Northeast. It’s a big promotion and I just need to make sure we’re on the same page.” He winked at the camera in a way that made me think he was aiming it at Lila. Which would be a huge mistake considering how freaking mad she was.
“You didn’t have to freeze Sonnet and Mrs. Fargone to have a conversation with me.” I pointed out the obvious.
“That’s true, but I wanted you to be motivated. And nothing like having your weresecretary’s sister as a bargaining chip to make things go smoothly.” He twirled what looked like an icicle wand between his index finger and thumb.
Lila took the phone from me. “Open the door.”
“I will, eventually. You just have to meet me outside. Things go well? Your sister comes back to you almost the same as before.” He flashed the screen at Sonnet again.
Lila roared in frustration.
“How do you want us to get outside when we’re frozen here?” I wanted a plan, and to get that I needed as many details as possible.
Glacius smiled. “Just try your window. Put a little umph in it and you should be able to get out.” With that Glacius wiggled his eyebrows--one scarred before ending the call.
Lila marched over to the window and was able to flip the lock. The ice on the glass shattered around it into shards. I helped her push it open. We were three floors up. I knocked out the screen and we both leaned outside.
There was no way to get to Sonnet’s room from here. Honestly, considering how this was going, I doubted we’d be able to open Sonnet’s window even if we could get to it.
From our window to the parking lot below was a glistening ice slide.
Glacius was standing in the center of the lot. It was curious that he didn’t want to just simply open the door to speak with us, but before I could even think about the oddity Lila was on the slide headed down.
I grabbed her jacket, cell phone and my jacket. When she was safely off the slide, I got on. I hadn’t wanted to test the ice with both of our weights at the same time. It was fast and felt wimpy. I was very glad when I had my feet under me.
Glacius’s eyes looked wild as he cackled. The laughs turned into puffs of mist in the frigid weather. I held out Lila’s jacket and she stuck her arms in the sleeve without taking her stare from his face.
While I put on my jacket, I made sure to stuff Lila’s phone in my pocket. I wasn’t sure what we were going to be discussing, but after our passionate night, I was all about Lila. And I would do whatever I had to to make sure all the women I was traveling with were safe. And I didn’t think we had a lot of time to make things go our way. I pictured Sonnet’s blue lips and tipped my chin in Glacius’ direction.
~~~~~
Lila
I had felt like this before. When we were in grade school, there was a kid that would pick on Sonnet in our neighborhood. She was a happy-go-lucky kid and pretty weird. A good weird, but chances are she’d be doing unexpected things when left on her own. Toilet paper bows on her toes or racking a huge leaf maze in our backyard were part of her routine. Vinnie was a jerk. And he’d ride by on his bike just to toss insults --and sometimes acorns at my sister. I saw it once. The next day I had an elaborate trap for him that included a water balloon full of paint and a nice, long stick for jabbing between the spokes of his bike. My plan had worked. He was disoriented by the ink and then flying after I was able to get the stick in his wheel. After he hit the asphalt, I grabbed him by the shirt and whispered threats and promises to his messy face that was now missing a front tooth.
He never bothered us again. We also never got the lawsuit he had promised his dad would file either. I hoped that everytime he polished his fake front tooth he remembered to be kind to others.
I had that same fire in the center of my chest now. Except it was worse. And somehow hotter. Forget lawsuits, I’d go to jail and soon to make sure whatever the hell was going on here. My sister hadn’t been harmed anymore than when I saw her last.
“You better fix this. I don’t know what you are, or how the hell any of this matters, but you best fix it.” I stepped as close to Glacius as I could.
I was a little surprised when he took matching steps backwards. When I turned my head, I saw that Kris was right behind me. I could feel the heat from his chest. The closeness of him radiating.
“Hey. Stay where you are for this conversation.” Glacius put up his hands and frost fluttered down.
“As long as my sister is up there frozen? You can pack a giant bag of nope in your asshole.” I pointed at the hotel room behind me.
I felt Kris’s hand at the small of my back.
“I just want to talk about our future. I know this is new for you both, and I think we got off on the wrong foot.” Glacius was still shuffling in small increments backwards as we talked. “I should’ve led with I can make you rich beyond your wildest imagination. And I should’ve welcomed you to this beautiful business arrangement we’ll have.”
Kris’s comforting, deep voice had an answer before I did. “You took her sister hostage and sealed us in a room. You might have killed Mrs. Fargone. We’re not doing business with you. Ever.”
I advanced a bit closer to Glacius. I had handled bullies before. And just like dealing with Vinnie, I wasn’t afraid to hit this guy where it hurt --if I could figure out where that soft spot was.
“When you’re right, you’re right. Honestly, I’ve been up against so many old school santas that I forgot you guys can see the bigger picture. You know how society has evolved. Think of dealing with me as getting in on the ground floor of bitcoin. Super profitable.” Glacius rubbed his hands together.
“How can being an ice guy make anyone money?” I asked. Glacius was like a nightmare after some dicey leftover take out food-- not sitting right.
“When I was younger, I was tapped to be a santa, just like you Kris. I was volun-told that I’d have to give up a good fourth of my year to help uphold the magic of the holidays. For years, I did it. I was approached by a businessman with a proposition a long time back now. He said that if we could redirect the meaning of the holidays to be about buying stuff and decorating with expensive things? We could really invest in that and make bank.” Glacuis gave us a smarmy pout before continuing. “Think about it? We’re given all this responsibility and basically a boatload of power and we’re not supposed to do anything with it. Just add to the magic of the holidays. Help families make memories. Let friends touch base and wish each other well.” As his hands moved, little images were fluffed into the air with snow. The money sign, a wine glass, presents.
“That sounds amazing. Why would you agree with a businessman to change that?” I crossed my arms in front of my chest.
“Because why do we have to help with that? Shouldn’t people be doing that without magic? Just to be good people or whatever.” He stepped backwards again and I decided to stop moving toward him.
I didn’t like the idea of putting distance between me and Sonnet’s hotel room. The whole area was settled in the aftermath of a huge, icy blizzard. It was oddly quiet except for when our feet crunched in the snow.
Kris held my hip and put his mouth next to my ear. “Look at our feet.”
I did as he suggested while Glacius went on about the humans’ responsibilities to each other. It seemed Kris and I had melted the asphalt around our feet. I looked behind us and there was a path anywhere we had stepped, ice and snow having melted after we walked through it.
I reached behind my back and grasped his hand. When we touched, the snow around us sizzled and melted some more.
This stopped Glacius in his tracks. “You had sex.”
Kris tilted his head in warning. “None of your business.”
“It’s a fact.” Glacius slid his mouth to the side for a beat before declaring his verdict. “An unfortunate fact.”
I turned and looked up at Kris when it all clicked for me at once. “He needs us. He needs us otherwise we would’ve been frozen.”
I turned back to Glacius. “Why don’t you tell us why we’re really here? You have my sister and Mrs. Fargone, surely you know we’d do anything to keep them safe. You didn’t need to meet with us in the parking lot.”
I looked at my feet. The snow was melting further out from us, creating a wider perimeter. Glacius took another step back. I watched as a brief look of fear shot across his face before he regained his cool.
“I’m a gentleman. I’ve been in the business for far longer than even your parents have been alive. I just want a nice, under the table merchandise deal.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “There’s nothing more important than money, right? Getting to buy yourself an easier life. How much will it take for you two to play along?”
Kris put his arm around my shoulders and some more of the snow carpeting the parking lot sizzled to nothing. “Are you like, an agent? Between businesses and santas?”
“Sort of. Picture an agent with magical powers. Let’s say we need a delay so a shipment of toys can get where it needs to go. A perfectly placed ice storm is all that's needed.” He pulled wads of hundred dollar bills out of his wallet.
“Do they know you’re magic?” I wanted to know how deep this conspiracy went.
“Knowledge like that gets lost over the years. Some know. Most don’t. People involved contact me and let me know how to make Christmas the most profitable quarter their business can have.”
“That’s the last thing Christmas should ever be about.” Kris rubbed my shoulder.
“You’re right, Glacius.” I watched as Glacius’ cheeks pulled into a smile. “The holidays have gotten away from us. But it doesn’t mean we can’t remember the important stuff. Focus on friends and families and traditions. Sure, gifts are fun to get and give, but what matters is being kinder. Finding people in need and helping them.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong. People don’t want stockings and Christmas carols anymore. They don’t have the patience for it like they used to. The world can’t handle Christmas anymore.” He shrugged like it was the most obvious thing.
“Actually.” Kris put his hand under my chin and leaned down close to my lips. “Having love, kindness and selflessness can make even the most hopeless moment into your favorite Christmas memory.” Kris kissed me lightly before dipping me so he could kiss me deeper.
My feelings for him surged in my chest. My love for my sister and parents became its own element. My town, the people in it. All of it mattered so much more than how much money a company had at the end of a quarter.
The snow around us popped and sizzled as we defrosted the earth around us. The deeper Kris kissed me, the warmer it got until the sun was out.
Glacius slumped to his knees, gasping. Kris and I both stopped our kiss and closed the distance to the man in distress. Behind me, I heard my sister calling my name. A quick look over my shoulder confirmed that both Mrs. Fargone and Sonnet were okay. They were sopping wet, but okay. The ice and snow was gone completely from the area. The heat Kris and I created had literally changed the weather.
Kris leaned over Glacius. “My dude. How have you gotten it all so wrong? You were tapped to be a Santa Claus and turned it into something so evil.”
I squat down so I could be eye level with him. “Do you need medical attention or something?”
It looked like although he was gasping but his lungs were working, his pupils looked good.
“Don’t be nice to me!” Glacius’ sharp words were useless both Kris and I fully intended on trying to help.
“Maybe call an ambulance?” I suggested to Kris.
Kris pulled my phone out of his pocket before Glacius covered it with his hand. He was able to make a thin coat of ice on the touchscreen --preventing the call.
“I’m not human. And you won’t be either after a while. The human ambulance wouldn’t help.” He sat the rest of the way down.
“You know what? You could’ve been helping us all this time. Instead all you did was try and scare us. You’re an asshole.” I glared at the man, now that it was clear he wasn’t keeling over.
Glacius seemed taken aback. “Weresecretaries are supposed to have certain decorum.”
“Get used to the new ways. I’m going to say what’s on my mind and make sure my people are okay. The rest of this holiday stuff comes second to that. For sure.”
Kris had a sweet smile on his face. “Hey, guess what?”
I went from furious at Glacius to suddenly more calm. “What?”
“I can remember who I am again.” He held out his hand and I took it.
“That’s fantastic. Please tell me you don’t have a wife or anything?” A host of horrible possibilities slammed into my consciousness.
“No. Not at all. I just… well I know for sure I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about you. And that’s making me so damn happy.” He tucked one of my errant hairs behind my ear before touching my cheek.
I found myself smiling back at him. “That’s amazing news.”
Mrs. Fargone and Sonnet shouted to us as they crossed the parking lot. “You good?”
I looked from Kris to Glacius to them both. “We’re good. It’s going to be okay.”
