“To see it through your eyes is great. Sometimes we get tired of this view, but you are making me fall in love with it again.”
For a split second, I thought he was going to say something else.
“Are we almost there?” I felt like a kid asking if we were there yet.
“Only a few more minutes. Then the real fun begins.”
The glimmer in Blitz’s eyes told me I was in for something good. Like them, I hoped it would be worth the wait. He pulled me close for the landing and told me how much he missed me this week. I had too.
We landed on an airstrip in what looked like the middle of nowhere. Control tower. Airstrips. That was it.
“This is the big surprise?” I said, trying to hold onto some positivity.
Comet shook his head. “No. We’re just waiting for Marl.”
“Marl?” As I said his name, a shorter man came barreling toward us on a snowmobile pulling a huge sled. Like Santa Claus in the kids’ books sled. What in the world was going on?
The only thing I could come up with was a ski resort. Maybe these three were secret billionaires and they kept up appearances but really were the owners of some grand resort.
I didn’t really care for the idea. Being super rich seemed like a life suck, and I would want to give all the money away.
They didn’t seem like billionaires but, then again, I’d never met one.
“Can you tell me where we’re going now?” I tugged on Comet’s jacket. It was light compared to the huge, puffy one I had on, but the cold didn’t seem to bother him in the least.
“He will tell you in two seconds, m…Aideen. I promise.”
Holy shit. Did he almost call me mate? No, no, I was getting ahead of myself.
“How—” I tried to get out another question as a bluster of wind hit me. It forcefully shut me up, and Comet had to wrap an arm around me so I didn’t blow over.
“There he is. You’re late, old friend.”
Wait a damned minute. The snowmobile was not a normal one. It was twice the size of the ones I’d seen. The man jumped down from the snowmobile and if I thought he was small before, he proved it now. He was dressed in a suit, half green, half red, and had a hat on his head to match.
He had pointy ears.
Like an elf.
“I’m right on time, I’ll have you know. An elf is never late. A lot of things, but never late. Let’s get your luggage loaded. No time to waste.”
“Aideen?” Blitz walked over and cupped my cheeks. “You still with us?”
I froze in place and not from the cold. We were here, somewhere far north. There was a person, dressed like every elf from any children’s book, taking my reindeer shifter men and I somewhere.
On a freaking sled.
“I’m here.”
“Let’s get a move on, people.” Marl tapped his finger on his watch. We got onto the sled and all took seats. I touched the red-painted wood as I sat down on the dark-green leather seat. Where in the world were they bringing me?
Was this all a setup? Some kind of immersive experience? A vacation that resembled Christmas at the…
“Next stop, North Pole!” Marl revved up the snowmobile and we took off.
“I don’t understand. Like the North Pole Resort?” My mind was still stuck on the billionaire resort hypothesis.
“What?” Marl yelled back. “The North Pole. We have all kinds of work to do. No time to waste. We only have three hundred and fifty days left! No time for running behind!”
