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We were all in Nicholas’s kitchen. It had been an hour since I saw Wayne and there was no news yet.

No news was bad news.

Nick dragged a hand down his mouth. “Kids, most likely. It didn’t seem very organized. Probably a crime of opportunity.”

The thief had gotten into the museum through an unlocked door. The cameras on the street got a few angles, but the guy had a scarf over his mouth. He’d hitched up the sleigh to an ATV and dragged it down Candy Cane Way until it was out of view. No alarms, no leads, not even an AirTag on the priceless artifact.

“I can’t believe they left it exposed like that,” I said, incredulous.

Nick shook his head. “I hate to say it, but the council needs a refresh. It’s just me on there and the rest of the members are too old and out of touch to do the job. I’ve been lobbying for funds to update the museum security for years, but they wouldn’t even approve a surveillance system.”

“Maybe I should run?” Noel said, looking up at her fiancé.

“That would help, but we’d still be in the minority.”

“Maybe this will be a wake-up call?” she said hopefully.

“Maybe this will be too late,” I muttered.

Lauren looked back and forth between us. “What does it mean if they can’t find it?”

“It’s not good,” I said.

“People come up here just to see Santa off,” Nicholas said. “It’s the busiest day of the year. It wouldn’t surprise me if people cancel when this gets out. The losses could be huge.”

“And the little kids…” Noel said.

“If the sleigh doesn’t run in the parade, it’ll be the first time in town history,” I said.

I didn’t love most of the cheesy shit they did here, but I did love Santa’s Sleigh. I didn’t even realize how much until the thought of it not existing in the world anymore became a possibility.

I remembered being a kid, my dad holding me on his shoulders so I could see. Santa waving, his sack of toys behind him, the sound of the bells while the reindeer pulled. Seeing whatever couple that got married that day smiling at the crowd.

That sleigh coming down the street was magic. And now there were kids who might not get that this year. Children just old enough to remember, not getting to have that first moment. Some almost-teenager on the cusp of not believing anymore with one last Christmas to be a kid, one last chance, and it being lost. Nick and Noel not getting their send-off. The first couple in a hundred and fifty years. Like the worst omen in the history of time.

It made me feel sick.

Noel looked devastated. “The town’s going to be so sad… It doesn’t even feel right to have a wedding when this is going on.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Lauren said. “We have time. They might find it.”

“Maybe we should go out and look?” Nick said. “It’s not like we’re going to be able to sleep anyway.”

I pushed off the kitchen counter. “Good idea. It’s just Wayne out there. We could cover more ground.”

We split up. Noel and Nick and me and Lauren.

I was quiet on the drive.

“You okay?” Lauren asked.

“Not really. It just bothers me.” I stared out at the dark road. “Whoever did this is robbing those kids.” I went silent for a long beat. “There are so few years where wonder exists. Where we don’t question the way things are and just let our imaginations take us to a place that just disappears one day. We get older and we get jaded…” I trailed off.

“Personally I think being jaded is a choice,” she said. “If you want to believe something exists, believe it. That’s the level of delusional I aspire to be.”

I scoffed.

Maybe I had lost the spirit of the thing that drove this place. I’d seen too far behind the curtain too soon and it stole a little piece of my childhood before I was ready to stop believing.