He helped the boy down over the side of the Santa chair, not wanting to even temporarily put him in the path of the furious reindeer. The ashen-faced mom mouthed a heartfelt thank you to him, gathering the boy up in her arms and hugging him tight.
“Masher gotcranky,” the boy mumbled into her shoulder.
He was partly right. Masher—God, of course Marsh’s slip-of-the-tongue there had been uncannily prophetic—did look like he wanted to mash them all. He was on the attack, and a heightened sense of outrage went along with that. But at heart, this was an herbivore who was terrified of coming face-to-face with an apex predator. It may have chosen fight rather than flight, but it was still scared.
Wade didn’t know if he could possibly calm it down. Unintentionally or not, he was what was scaring it.
He’d love to try to give it some space, but if he made any sudden moves, there was every chance it would barrel into him. His polar bear could withstand that, but he couldn’t.
“Milo, try to get everyone out of here. Show the parents where the back exit is, have the elves escort any unaccompanied kids. Start clearing everything out.” He could see Mira alreadystarting to direct people towards the closest exits. “Do whatever Mira says.”
“Will do, boss,” Milo said nervously, clutching his book like a security blanket. He vanished into the crowds and started thinning them out.
Okay, that was something. That was progress.
“Marsh,” Wade said through gritted teeth, “take the reindeer back to the pen. It’s nervous.”
Understatement of the century.
Marsh tugged at the bridle, but he wasn’t making any progress in dragging the animal backwards. It was planted in place, ready to fight and die if it had to.
And behind it, back at the pen, something even weirder was happening.
The remaining reindeer were whipping around in a circle, their hoofbeats rising to an unstoppable clamor. There were only three of them there, but as they turned into a dusty brown whirlwind, Wade could have sworn there were a hundred. There was something awe-inspiring about it—but that came a distant second to the growing alarm that they might bust down the walls of their pen and take off on a rampage, leaving trampled Honey Brook shoppers in their wake.
Marsh turned his head to gawk at the reindeer tornado. It looked like all the blood had run out of his face, leaving him a bleached white.
Wade knew why: the remaining Christmas Village guests were either running away in a panic ... or snapping pictures. This was going to wind up on the news, and the story would be Marsh’s catastrophic decision to bring wild animals he couldn’t control into an event with children. Not only was he not getting a promotion, he was going to be lucky if this didn’t follow him around for the rest of his life.
It wasdefinitelygoing to follow him around if he couldn’t defuse the situation, but he seemed too shocked and horrified to try. Wade said his name again, more loudly this time.
“Marsh. You have to get it back to the pen. Maybe they’ll all calm down once they’re reunited and they can see that this one isn’t in any danger.”
Marsh gave him a stunned nod. He yanked on the bridle again, pulling as hard as he could, but the reindeer wouldn’t budge.
“It’sstuck!” Marsh shouted.
Suddenly, Mira was there, putting her hands on either side of Marsh’s and helping him pull.
Wade didn’t know what did the trick. Maybe it was just having Mira’s additional strength. Maybe it was the fact that she’d been taking care of the reindeer all day, so they were familiar with her and found her soothing.
Wade suspected that it was justher. His gorgeous, strong Galadriel, who was passionate and loyal and kind. Wouldn’t anyone or anything rather go with her than with Marsh?
Step by step, the reindeer followed her back to its pen. Eventually, Marsh even let go of the bridle, and Mira was still able to lead the reindeer on her own.
Meanwhile, back in the pen, the cyclone was slowing down. It was easier to distinguish the individual reindeer now, and they were starting to look almost sheepish. It was like they were admitting they had gotten a little carried away.
By the time Mira got the loose reindeer back with its fellows, the storm had completely broken.
Not that too many guests were around to see that. Almost all of them had hightailed it when it had looked like they were all going to get—per the Christmas song—run over by a reindeer.
Wade exhaled. He breezed past Marsh, ignoring the irate sputtering sounds the man was making, and went and wrapped his arms around Mira. She was shaking.
“It’s okay,” he said. “You did great. You calmed it right down.”
“I thought it was going to stab you with its antlers,” she said into his chest, the words a muffle sob.
“It didn’t. You didn’t let it.” He kissed her forehead. “You’re a magical reindeer charmer.”
