Teleporting lessons couldn’t come soon enough.
Now that I was closer, I could see that my herd was hitched to a sleigh as massive as my dad’s. All of my reindeer, including Rudy, were hooked to it.
A flutter of hope caught in my chest. Was Rudy flying?
“Again!” A voice sliced through the air from the other side of the reindeer, his face partially obstructed by the massive antlers everywhere.
The sleigh and eight reindeer lurched upward, wobbling precariously. My heart soared as the runners left the ground, lifting about ten feet into the air before tilting dangerously to one side. Eight sets of reindeer legs scrambled as they tried to maintain balance, but the sleigh crashed back to the snow with a sickening thud.
“Pathetic.” A man strode to the front of the herd. His dark hair and eyes were almost a replica of Rudy’s.
Silven, my brain supplied instantly, though I couldn’t remember ever seeing him before… but that voice was very familiar.
He grabbed one of Rudy’s antlers and yanked downward, forcing his head to bow. “You don’t deserve these. It’s a waste of perfectly good magic on a flightless beast.”
The world around me tilted, colors bleeding at the edges of my vision as something unlocked in my mind.
I was fifteen, crouched behind a snowbank near the south stables; a place I wasn’t supposed to be during rutting season when young reindeer were unpredictable and learning their flight magic. But curiosity had always been my downfall.
A man stood looming over a magnificent young reindeer.
“Useless creature.” Silven grabbed one of his antlers. “A reindeer who can’t fly? An embarrassment to Christmas itself.”
“Hey!” I jumped up from my hiding spot.
Silven’s hand dropped immediately, his eyes homing in on me. “Miss North, you know you aren’t allowed here.”
He took a step toward me, and I turned and ran. I needed to tell Dad.
The workshop wasn’t far, and that’s where I’d probably find him. I heard Silven behind me at first, but then he disappeared. Sighing in relief, I made it to the workshop, but as I yanked open the door, Silven was there, blocking my path.
“Miss North.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Spying again? Your father indulges your little peculiarities far too much.”
“I need to see my dad.” I tried to move past him.
His hand shot out, gripping my arm.
Ice spread along my fingertips. “Let me go.”
“The way I train my son is none of your concern.” His voice was low and venomous.
“He’s your son, and you treat him like that? You should be banished from the North Pole!”
“And you, Miss North, are an expert at parenting? Your own father lies to your face! You think he’s proud of you? You’re not aClaus; you’re a mistake. All that power in you is better suited for ruin than wonder.”
Something inside me shattered. Magic exploded outward as I yanked free, stumbling backward through the workshop doors. Ice shot from my hands, freezing conveyor belts, destroying toy-making machines, climbing up walls?—
Screams. So many screams.
Silven watched from the doorway, a satisfied gleam in his eye.
I gasped, snapping back to the present, trembling so hard my teeth chattered. Ice crawled from my boots across the snow, spreading in jagged patterns.
“It was you!” I pointed at Silven, my voice filled with rage. “You caused it!”
His head whipped toward me, eyes widening in recognition before narrowing to slits. “Miss North. What an unexpected surprise.”
The air around me hummed. The snow beneath my feet swirled upward, circling my body in a miniature blizzard. “You made me think I was broken.” Ice crystals formed in the air, suspended like deadly stars. “You manipulated me into losing control!”
