The Incident of the Christmas Elf: A Merlin's Grove Companion Story Read online

Ben voiced the wise old snowman and talked about the year Christmas was almost canceled.

  The kids were already so wrapped up in the story that a few mumbled: “Oh, no.”

  Surely, they had seen the movie version, and yet they thought Christmas had really almost been canceled.

  Alex guided the snowman off to the backstage area, and the flashback for the main story of Rudolph began.

  Once Alex was in a flow, he relaxed and enjoyed it more. Every time he heard Dan make a goofy voice that made the kids laugh, it made Alex love him more.

  He was so good at these things. Then Alex reminded himself: they were good at this. They were doing it together.

  Alex wondered if they should have the discussion about having kids of their own. And just as he realized he’d stopped paying attention to the show, an explosion shook Alex to his core.

  The whole building quaked, and Alex watched a dark billowing plume of smoke rise just outside the window.

  It took him a moment to get control of himself after the jarring confusion. Kids started to cry, and parents pulled them away from the window in an attempt to comfort them.

  The fire alarm sounded, and somehow people filed out in an orderly fashion. Dan was at Alex’s side in an instant.

  He feared gunfire or a bomb, but the thought of David rushed into Alex’s mind. Alex trembled with anger that this stupid experiment had ruined such a good thing.

  Dan asked, “Are you okay? What’s wrong? What happened?”

  “I think it was the Yule log. The truck ran into something.”

  They went to the window, and it was clear what had happened. The center of the log no longer existed. A blackened, charred mess lay there.

  Somehow David was still standing, but he clearly put far too much lighter fluid on the log to get it started in the middle. The log exploded and burned the center.

  It then collapsed without a center to hold it up, and thousands of pounds of wood smashed into the ground: the reason for the whole building shaking.

  Alex couldn’t believe it. David could have killed people with this stunt.

  Alex turned back to the ruined performance with a heavy heart. The hovel was wide open and unguarded. He ran toward it.

  How could I be so stupid to leave it like that?

  Alex put his hand out to guide his mind and tried to snap it shut. But something darted out in the last fraction of a second.

  “Shit!”

  Dan turned quickly at the outburst. “What’s going—”

  There was no need to finish that sentence. A small creature stood in the middle of the room. He seemed to have frozen in fear. It had pointed ears, a dark green tunic and pants, and a long black cape.

  It wasn’t quite the cartoon image from Christmas movies, but it was unmistakably an elf of some sort.

  Of course, as anyone in Merlin’s Grove could tell you, those media depictions had come from somewhere. Faeries and other magical beings were real, even if they could only get to the non-magical realm through the Enchanted Triangle in modern day.

  Alex stepped carefully toward the elf and softened his voice.

  “Hey there. You wanna go back into the hovel?”

  Alex began to open it back up, but the elf made a laugh that could only be described as “tee hee hee.”

  Then it darted out of the room.

  Dan’s mouth hung open for a second, but then he asked, “What do we do?”

  “We have to find it. Do you think it will hurt anyone?”

  “It’s an elf. It’s Christmastime. It has to be a nice helper elf…I think. It would be a weird coincidence if it was anything else, right?”

  Alex shook his head. “I don’t know. He seemed kind of evil to me.”

  The fire alarm still blared, and the real world came rushing back to Alex. They had to tell the Council before anything happened. He quickly texted the group to meet up at the Knightcap.

  But knowing Merlin’s Grove, something would definitely happen before then.

  Chapter 4

  Hunter had already disappeared somewhere. He presumably went to find Luke to make sure he was okay.

  Alex, Dan, and Ben scanned the area as they headed back to the Knightcap. The mayhem of David’s exploding Yule log seemed to have captured everyone’s attention. It looked like a creepy zombie movie as more and more people crept from the outskirts of town toward the central cloud of smoke.

  The fire department showed up, but there was no fire to put out anymore. Everyone seemed to be milling about in awe or fear. David kept shouting things to people like it was all their fault and not his own foolish decision.

  Alex said, “We have some time before everyone gets here. Let’s just split up to look for it.”

  Ben asked, “What do we do if we find him?”

  “I don’t know. Call me, and I’ll try to open a hovel to get him to go back in.”

  They nodded to each other and went in separate directions. Alex knew splitting up was their best chance at finding the little guy, but he didn’t like the idea of being away from Dan in this potentially dangerous time.

  Alex meandered off in the direction of the Victorian District. He walked next to several red brick storefronts decorated for the season.

  It reminded him that he was going to do a town walk with Dan to see the lights. Some people really went crazy with the decorations, and it was always an enjoyable experience to see Old Joe’s large, inflated Santa illuminated by lights at dusk.

  Alex sighed.

  Why did this always seem to happen?

  He rounded the corner to the street of Victorian houses. Many had set up lights, but many had not. The cute sidewalk of the town center disappeared, and Alex found himself in the middle of the road.

  A woman’s voice came from a few houses down.

  “Aren’t you just the cutest thing? What do you have there?”

  Alex jogged across the asphalt to get a better look.

  He saw motion coming from a gigantic blue house with several peaks and pointed sections coming off the roof.

  A white porch swooped all the way around the house, and a wooden rocking chair creaked as it swayed to and fro.

  A woman had clearly just gotten up from reading outside, which Alex found absurd with the cold and snow.

  She had long braided hair and wore a puffy winter coat, and she squatted at the edge of the steps leading up to the porch.

  The little elf made a few hops in her direction. He looked like a scared rabbit coming in for a nibble on a carrot.

  The elf held something out to the woman.

  Alex stopped in relief. It seemed he was a Christmas elf, and he was giving the woman a present. Alex stopped running, so he wouldn’t scare the elf off. Everything about it looked like a picturesque scene from a made-for-TV holiday movie.

  Alex realized this could be a fun Secret Santa activity if the Council just let the elf deliver his presents. He might even go back when he completed the gift giving.

  Alex tried to scoot closer to watch, and he shuffled behind a bush in someone else’s yard. He hoped they weren’t home, or this could look really bad.

  The elf held the present up to the woman. He was only about as tall as her shin, and so the present was bigger than him in a surreal way.

  She took it and turned it around once. It looked normal, but whatever was inside hadn’t been secured. The box thumped from side to side as she got it back upright, and the woman looked alarmed that she might have broken whatever was inside.

  Alex wondered where the present came from. The elf clearly didn’t have it when he first came through the hovel.

  The red dotted wrapping paper neatly surrounded the box, and a green bow was tied around the gift to perfection.

  She said, “Thank you.”

  The elf stood there staring at her. Alex was beginning to think he couldn’t speak other than basic sounds. But he did seem to understand language.

  She asked, “Oh, do you want me to open this right now?”
r />   The stocking cap on his head bobbed up and down with the enthusiastic yes.

  Alex’s heart beat faster. This had to be the cutest thing he’d ever seen. This elf would cheer the town right up after that horrendous incident with the Yule log. Alex envisioned the elf showing up on random people’s doorsteps giving each person a present they secretly desired.

  The woman carefully unwrapped the present. Alex didn’t blame her. He figured he’d probably also try to not rip the paper off of such a beautiful wrapping job.

  She pulled the lid off the box and looked inside.

  A shriek came from her mouth, startling Alex. Her face went ghostly white, and a flash of anger pierced her eyes as she looked back to the elf.

  The elf made his “tee hee hee” laugh and scampered off.

  Alex ran over to help the woman as she dropped the box and jumped away. The container toppled to its side.

  A brown snake with red and yellow rings slithered out of the box. Alex recognized it as a harmless milk snake, but he didn’t think explaining that to the woman would help calm her down.

  It stopped and coiled itself on the cool surface of the porch, eyeing the humans suspiciously. Its forked tongue shot out twice at the woman, and she let out gasps.

  They both froze and watched. Luckily, it didn’t take long for it to stretch out and wriggle away from the scene.

  Alex rushed over and put his hand on the woman’s shoulder.

  He asked, “Are you okay?”

  She stood there shaking, but then nodded her head slowly. The color started to return to her face, and this placated Alex’s nerves. He thought he might need to get her serious help if she didn’t stop shaking.

  He continued, “Are you sure? I’m going to go try to fix this.”

  She nodded again, and the shivering eased. He’d tell someone to go check in with her later. For now, he needed to warn the town before more incidents started to terrorize them all. If the elf was preying on people’s fears, this could turn horrible really fast.

  Alex ran to the Knightcap. Enough people would be there now to start discussing what to do about it.

  Chapter 5

  Alex burst into the Knightcap and found David standing there in his black robes. No one else had bothered, thankfully.

  This wasn’t a traditional meeting of the Council; it was a pure necessity.

  Everyone was present, and Alex felt like he had the most information from witnessing the elf’s interaction with people.

  He said, “Everyone probably knows by now that an elf is loose in the town. It’s worse than we thought. He’s giving out gifts that terrorize the receiver. I just watched a woman almost faint when she found a snake in her package.”

  Hunter snickered, and Alex shot him a glare.

  He said, “Sorry. That just sounded like innuendo for something else.”

  David stepped forward. “I’m on it.”

  He rushed out of the door as everyone watched, confused. Alex couldn’t begin to guess how David would solve this problem on his own.

  Hunter raised his hand, and Alex looked around. Apparently, he was in charge now, so he said, “Yes?”

  “The best thing is probably to just split up and find him.”

  It was what they’d been doing, but Alex didn’t have a better idea. At least there were more people involved now.

  Alex said, “Okay. Just tell me where to go if you find him. Let’s take regions of the town. I don’t think he’d go too far away from the Enchanted Triangle. I’m not even sure he can leave the Enchanted Triangle.”

  The thought of this elf getting out into the wider world terrified Alex.

  Each of the Council members described where they would go. Alex was given patrol of the Town Square since it was central to most other locations.

  The people left, and Alex wondered where Dan had gone. He checked his phone and there were no messages from him, but he also wasn’t officially in the Council. Alex told himself there was no need to worry yet.

  He hadn’t gotten very far from the Knightcap when the town emergency siren blared through the streets of the town.

  At first, he didn’t realize what it was. Some instinct kicked in to find cover, but that had probably come from watching too many war movies.

  It sounded like an emergency vehicle but ten times louder.

  The sound cut off suddenly, and David’s voice came through the speakers.

  “Attention! Attention! Do not open any suspicious packages. A Christmas elf is on the loose, and he’s trying to ruin Christmas. His presents should not be opened. They are cruel jokes. I repeat: do not open any elf or Secret Santa packages. Only open a present if you know who it came from.”

  Alex shook his head. How had it come to this?

  He continued to the Town Square. Alex saw Old Joe hobbling along the cobblestone sidewalk like he did every day, oblivious to the world. He leaned on the cane so hard when he stepped that Alex feared it would snap in half.

  Television crews and firemen were sprawled about the area. People hacked away at the giant Yule log to get it into more manageable sizes to be carted off someplace else.

  Alex didn’t think the elf would show up here, so he just watched the ridiculous scene play out in front of him.

  It also didn’t hurt that the beefy firemen were quite attractive. He watched one pull the cord on a chainsaw—so manly. He wore heavy-duty noise-canceling ear muffs.

  The man sliced through several parts of the log with ease, not paying attention to where they fell.

  A stray piece of the log hit one of the chunks already on the ground and rolled in Old Joe’s direction. Alex held his breath.

  He couldn’t run over in time to stop it. The heavy chunk of wood barreled at Old Joe’s cane. It would surely knock him over.

  Old Joe shuffled forward at a snail’s pace, still oblivious to the danger and chaos.

  Then, just as he was about to be knocked flat on his back, the log mysteriously stopped.

  Alex let out his breath.

  What the hell?

  It could have been only one thing: magic. Sure enough, the little elf popped up from behind the log. Old Joe noticed this and stopped his walk.

  The elf sniffed the air, almost like a puppy smelling steak for the first time. Those elongated ears fell back.

  Alex was torn. He wanted to know what the elf was up to. He didn’t appear to have a gift this time, so he felt a bit safer continuing to watch from the distance.

  Alex also didn’t think running at the little guy would do anything but scare him off again. He figured he might get useful information from whatever the elf smelled here. At the very least, he might be able to open a hovel and trick him in.

  Old Joe reached into his front shirt pocket and pulled something out.

  Alex squinted: a candy cane. His heart raced faster. This didn’t seem like a good idea at all. He started off toward Old Joe with a power walk.

  Old Joe said something to the elf, and the elf nodded vigorously.

  Alex yelled, “Hey. Don’t give that to him.”

  Those tiny hands reached up, and the elf waggled his fingers. Alex was close enough to hear now.

  “Here you go.”

  The elf grabbed it. Alex felt like he had a moment of time while the elf unwrapped the plastic.

  Alex said, “Get that back from him.”

  Old Joe didn’t seem to notice that another person had shown up.

  Then it was too late. Somehow, without unwrapping the plastic or chewing, the elf had downed the entire thing in one quick motion.

  A sound came from the elf, “Yuumm!” It was high-pitched and squeaky, but it also conveyed the elf’s pleasure.

  The elf shuddered and fell to the ground. His body convulsed and started to bounce. He curled up into a tight ball by grabbing his knees.

  At first, the ball bounced only to Old Joe’s knee height.

  But after a few more bounces, the elf was making it to Joe’s head. The ball took off and bou
nced through the Town Square.

  The people milling about started screaming when they noticed. Some tried to get a better look. The camera crew tried to videotape it, but it all happened so fast.

  Most people just ducked and squatted in fear. Many put their hands over their heads to protect themselves.

  The elf bounced so high that it reached the Town Hall roof and then bounced off to some unknown place, likely to terrorize more people.

  Old Joe stood there smiling like it was the highlight of his day. It probably was the highlight of his day.

  Alex put his hands on his hips and tapped his foot. Old Joe kept looking off where the elf had vanished.

  Alex cleared his throat loudly, and finally, Old Joe looked over. He tapped the brim of his farmer’s hat at Alex and smiled.

  He said, “Well, that was something.”

  “Why did you give that to him?”

  “He seemed to want it.”

  “But didn’t you hear the announcement to not interact with the elf?”

  Old Joe shook his head and tapped his ear. “No. Just put these in a few minutes ago.”

  Alex couldn’t believe it. That announcement had been so loud.

  But then he realized this man had been around this town longer than anyone he knew. He might have useful information.

  Alex asked, “Any idea what it was and what to do about it?”

  “It’s just another faerie. I’ve seen a lot around this town in my day. They usually go away on their own once they do whatever it is they came to do.”

  Alex couldn’t help but laugh to himself. He’d never understand how the townspeople just accepted these strange incidents as a part of living here.

  But this was insightful. Alex hadn’t considered that the elf had come with an intention. If they could figure out what it was, they might be able to speed the process up and get him on his way.

  Alex texted David to make another announcement about not giving the elf sugar. They didn’t need this to be any worse than it already was.

  He must have been sitting right next to the PA system, because the horrid sound of the emergency siren blasted out over the town again.

  “Attention, attention! Do not give the Christmas elf any sort of candy. This includes candy canes, chocolates, peppermint ice-cream…” David moaned a bit as if the thought of these treats was turning him on.