Jake & The Gingerbread Wars (A Gryphon Chronicles Christmas Novella) (The Gryphon Chronicles) (15 page)

But leave it to Archie to ask the
logical question. For when the boy genius put his de-fogged glasses back on, he frowned in his particular, thoughtful way. “How in the world is Santa going to fit all those presents on his sleigh? Physics makes the whole thing impossible.”

“Magic s
ack, obviously,” Humbug answered. “The presents appear in the sack just when they should, one house, one family at a time.”

“Really?” Dani exclaimed.

“Well, it’s the only sensible way to do it, isn’t it? He’s not going to carry that whole mess with him halfway round the world all night. He’s an old man. Think about it!”

“Ohhh,” they said.

“Besides, that’s how he sees everybody,” Humbug mumbled. “Not countries’ worth, not by the thousands. Individuals. That’s how he knows which list to put you on.”

“So he knows everybody? How?” Jake asked skeptically.

“No idea,” Humbug said with a shrug. “He just does.”

The elf
fell silent, gazing at the everyday goings-on of the life he had left behind.

Isabelle
looked askance at him. “How proud you must’ve been to be part of all this.”

“Yes, bu
t he wasn’t joking,” Dani said. “This does look like a
ton
of work.”

Humbug seemed to struggle for words. “It is.
But…you know, like Santa always says…”

“What does he say?” Jake pursued, arching a brow.

“That it’s better to give than to receive.” Even as he said the words, Humbug melted. Staring at the busy scene below, two big tears welled up in his eyes as he realized how wrong he had been.

The elf’s whole expression changed.

His wizened face softened with kindliness, his cheeks grew rosy, and a glow of gratitude stole into his eyes, mingling with the tears of regret there. Most shocking of all, a tremulous smile began to spread across his grumpy little mouth.

“Humbug?” Jake asked gently. “Are you all right?”

“I
do
want to go back!” he burst out with a sniffle. “Even if Santa does put me on reindeer stall-mucking duty. This is my home. This is where I belong, and besides, whoever heard of a Halloween elf?” He no sooner said the words than, all of a sudden, the Snow Maiden’s makeover spell broke, poofing him back magically into his Christmas elf clothes. “Ha, ha!” He looked down at himself in amazement.

At
that moment, one of the other elves saw him standing there. “Humbug?” The other elf stopped in his tracks. He pointed at him. “Look, everybody! Humbug’s back!”

Everybody looked.

When the elves saw their missing comrade standing there, joy flooded over their little, long, pointy-nosed faces. They abandoned their work with eager shouts of relief and came rushing over, scores of them.

“Oh, Humbug! You’re all right! We thought you were dead!”

As the elves stampeded toward them, barely taking notice of the children, Jake leaned down to Humbug and whispered behind his hand: “Maybe there’s no need to bother Santa with the details of your little Halloween Town plan.”

“Really?”
Humbug asked hopefully.

He nodded. “We’ll forget
about all that, if you will.”

The elf gazed
at him gratefully. “Thank you, Lord Griffon. You’re not actually half bad.”

Then the swarm of excited elves flooded onto the landing, crowding around and cheering that their missing mate had returned
, safe and sound.

“Everyone will be
so relieved to hear you’re alive! Santa’s going to want to throw a party when he sees that you’re all right!”

“We elves do love a party,
” a small gent in a green coat informed the staring children.

Then a
nother little fellow threw his arm around Humbug’s shoulder. “Let’s go tell the boss you’re back!”

But they didn’t even have to.

On the next landing up, a door marked
‘Office’
banged open. A fat old man with a white beard rushed out and peered over the brass railing.

Dani gasped aloud
.

All the elves
pointed eagerly to Humbug.

“Look, sir—
look who’s come back!”

Humbug stared up at his former em
ployer in chastened uncertainty. Jake held his breath, wondering if Humbug would be immediately punished or if the ‘boss’ would accept his runaway elf back at all.

But while Jake
braced himself for Santa’s wrath, the red-suited man boomed out a short, jolly laugh, then he came bounding down the steps with the agility of a much younger (and slimmer) man.

“Ho, ho, Humbug! Sweet snowfields, you’re safe!” Before the elf could protest, the big man scoo
ped him up in a Santa-sized hug.

A
ll the elves were cheering, but Jake could only stare.

CHAPTER SIX
TEEN

Santa Central

“W
ell now, Humbug, who’s this you’ve brought to see us?” Santa rumbled, releasing the chastened elf from his bear-hug. Rosy-cheeked and beaming, the old man wiped away a quick tear of happiness over his missing elf’s return.

His show of emotion astonished Jake. Clearly, the towering fellow was just an old softie.

Santa looked from Humbug to them, then he gave the elf a nudge. “Manners, shortling. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?”

Dani furrowed her brow and leaned to whisper in Jake’s ear:
“If Santa really knows everyone, why’s he asking who we are? Shouldn’t he already know?”

The jolly old elf laughed aloud, overhearing, much to Dani’s horror. “Ho, ho, I was only being polite, D
aniela Catherine!” he said merrily. “Some people find it off-putting, you see, that I already know so much about them before we’re introduced.”

Dani turned as red as Santa’s trousers and stammered, “Sorry.”

Jake did not envy her in that moment. He made a mental note to keep his sarcastic comments to a minimum, for it seemed that Father Frost had terribly sharp ears for such an old man.

Santa waved off the carrot-head’s embarrassment with one of his big, callused hands. “It’s all right,
lass. Never fear, your spot on the Nice list is secure, my dear Dani O’Dell.”

“Whew,” she said under her
breath.

“And how is that funny litt
le dog of yours? What’s his name…? Ah—Teddy!” he suddenly remembered.

Dani was astonished. “Yes, Santa, Teddy is his name. H
e’s doing well, sir. Th-thank you for asking.”

“Give him my best.”

“I-I definitely will,” Dani said in wonder.

“So
then.” Now that it was out in the open that no introductions were actually necessary, his twinkly blue eyes traveled across their faces with fond amusement. “Here are the young heroes I should thank for bringing my lost elf safely back to me. Gentle-hearted Miss Isabelle; brilliant Master Archie; brave Lord Jake; steadfast Miss Dani; and, of course, the renowned Claw the Courageous.”

“Becaw.” Red gave Santa one of his noblest bows.

“Welcome, Crafanc-y-Gwrool. An honor to finally meet you, as well.” Santa bowed back to the Gryphon while the children beamed and stood a little taller, warmed indeed by such wonderful compliments on the very heart of who they each were.

“
You understand Red, Santa?” Isabelle asked in surprise, looking from the old man to the Gryphon. “You can talk to animals, too?”

“
Why, my dear, they are among some of my most interesting acquaintances,” he declared with a wink.

“Mine, too!” she answered.

“Ahem, so, right,” Jake said, ready to get down to business. “I believe we saw a notice in the Clairvoyant, sir. Something about a Christmas wish to be granted as a reward for bringing Humbug back?”

He laughed merrily at Jake’s brisk
reminder. “To be sure. I take it you’re the one who’d like to claim the wish, m’boy?”

“I
am, sir,” he said boldly.

“Very well. We will see r
ight to it. But first, I, er, see you’ve met my granddaughter.” He glanced down at their strange, high-fashion clothes. “My apologies if Snowy was at all…unpleasant to you. She’s a good girl, really. Mrs. Claus says she’s simply going through a wee bit of a rebellious phase.”

“You can say that again,” Archie muttered under his breath.

“She didn’t harm you?” Santa asked in concern.

“No, sir. She might have at the end there,” Jake informed him, “but we got away.”

“Ah, but of course you did.” He held his round belly as he let out a broad laugh. His humor was infectious. “I daresay the five of you together are quite unstoppable. Still, she can be quite a bully.” Santa shook his head. “Takes after her aunt, you know. My elder sister,” Santa added, almost whispering with a glance over his shoulder. “The Blue Hag of Winter.”

Dani nodded. “We heard about her.”

“Well!” Santa declared. “I will not tolerate my granddaughter following in the Winter Witch’s footsteps. I shall certainly pay a visit to the castle and have a very stern word with her about her behavior.”

“Don’t be too hard on her, Santa,” Archie spoke up. “She’s just really, really bored.”

“Hmm, I will take that under advisement, Master Archie. For now, the least I can do is try to make it up to you by putting you back the way you were. Unless you prefer these, er, modern fashions?”

“Oh, no, please
do put us back!” Isabelle said in relief. “That is—if you don’t mind, we’d be ever so grateful, sir.”

“Certainly, my dear.” Santa chuckled. “I wasn’t sure. I can never tell what strange new thing you young people will be wear
ing from one year to the next.”

Fine talk coming from a man in a red suit, Jake thought. But for his part,
he’d be glad to be rid of the Prince Charming look.

Then Santa
snapped his fingers, and gold sparkles flew out from his hand. The tiny lights traveled toward the kids, leaving trails like glowing tendrils.

The tiny golden-orange
lights wrapped around each one of them and whirled around their bodies from head to toe, swirling faster, round and round, until…

Poof!

Suddenly,
they were back in their own clothes.

“Ha!” To Jake’s relief, his hair flopped right back over
his eyebrow where it should be, his frosty ski-jump hairdo was no more. With a habitual toss of his head, he flipped his forelock out of his eyes so he could see.

Then he turned to look at the others and grinned.

“Aw, where’s your purple hair?” he teased Dani.

She brought a length of her hair in front
of her eyes to make sure it was back to its usual orangey autumn red.

She laughed in relief along with the others. Everyone was glad to be looking like their normal selves again. They thanked Santa for putting them back, but he had things to do.

“Children, I must have a brief meeting with Mr. Humbug. I believe we still have a few matters to sort out.”

“Uh-oh,” one of the other Christmas elves said in a small voice. Scores of them were still crowding around
, looking on.

Humbug
lowered his head.

“You shortlings
need to get back to work,” Santa chided. “We’re on a schedule here, or have you forgotten Christmas is less than six hours away? Mrs. Claus catches you loitering like this…”

He didn’t need to finish the sentence.

They swarmed back to their duties.

“Except for you, Crystal
!” Santa called.

A knee-high girl
elf with a white pom-pom on the end of her hat stopped and came back. “Yes, boss?” she asked in a squeaky little voice.

Santa held up his finger to signal her
politely to wait, and turned to Jake. “This won’t take long. As soon as I’m done speaking to Humbug, you and I can have our meeting about your reward. Till then, Crystal will lead you all to the kitchens.”

The girl
elf nodded, hearing her assignment.

“Mrs. Claus will give you a nice snack while you wait. You are our guests. Please make yourselves at home.” Then Santa turned to Humbug and gestured toward the office. “Shall we?”

“Yes, sir,” Humbug said obediently, head down.

Good luck,
Dani mouthed at him.

“This way
, please!” Crystal beckoned cheerfully. “If we hurry, we can still catch the train!”

“Train?” they murmured to one another, but there was no time to waste. They ran after Crystal, who whooshed down the few stairs off the landing and started to zip off ahead of them with the same blinding
speed Humbug had demonstrated in the bakery.

“Wait!” Dani cried.

“Oh, sorry! I forgot—human speed.” She giggled self-consciously and stopped to wait for them.

Although she slowed down from there, the kids still had to hurry to keep up. Jake wondered how the speedy elves avoided tripping in their curly-toed shoes.

Crystal led them around the perimeter of the huge, domed gift-sorting area in which they had first arrived.

On the far side of the room, they followed her through a tunnel of giant candy canes just as a small, brightly painted passenger train came chugging around a bend in the hallway to their left, heading toward their stop. The steam whistle blew and the train began to slow.

“Gift Sorting!” called the conductor, riding on the engine seat in front. He was a plump elf dressed in green overalls, and tipped his striped hat to Crystal as the train glided to a halt. “Welcome, guests!”

When the train stopped, some elves jumped off the little open
train cars and others jumped on.

“Come, VIPs sit up front.” Crystal beckoned them into the first train car, which was slightly larger than the elf-sized ones behind it.

“Where you headed?” the conductor asked.

“Kitchen,” Crystal told him.

“Have you there in no time. All aboard!” he called one more time, blowing the whistle to summon any other elves who needed to get to another part of the Great Igloo.

None came, so off they went.

The kids (and the Gryphon) stared in wonder at all the fascinating departments they passed as the train wound through Santa’s elaborate North Pole operation.

Given that the elevator had spit them out in
Gift Sorting
, the last stop before the presents were delivered, they viewed the various steps in reverse order as the train made its rounds.

For example, before the presents could be sorted, of course they had to be wrapped.
Gift Wrapping
had miles of colorful paper on spools and long tables where the elves were hard at work, judging just the right length of paper to cut and making perfect creases on every box in sight.

Next door
was the
Bow Department
, where elves tied ribbons into perfect bows and handed them up to doves, who flew off over the wall divider into
Gift Wrapping
, and dropped them onto the presents, just where they were needed.

Farther down the tracks
came a dizzying array of workrooms dedicated to the making to various types of presents:
Dolls, Doll Wardrobe, Doll Furniture, Doll Houses, Stuffed Animals, Ball Department, Sports Equipment, Jump Ropes, Art Supplies, Telescopes, Scientific Toys, Educational Toys, Figurines, Music Boxes, Books, Toy Painting Department, Carpentry.

Archie pointed
eagerly at the next workroom, where elf scientists and engineers in white lab coats and goggles were discussing their sketches of strange toys on large chalkboards.

“
Research and Development
?” he read aloud.

“Toys of the future.” Crystal nodded sagely.

“Look,
Puppies
!” Dani pointed into the next room, a large, loud but cozy kennel, where a dozen elves were trying to contain the yipping, tail-wagging, floor-soiling, irresistible puppies running and tumbling around. The kids laughed, watching the elves chase the puppies about, trying to capture them so they could be tucked into Christmas stockings for delivery to their new owners.

Kittens
came next, and you can imagine the trouble it caused when one of these escaped (as kittens tend to do) into the area for
Puppies
.

Across the hallway was a glassed-in overlook
onto the
Reindeer Training
arena below, according to the sign. Then they saw the proof of it and gasped as a reindeer leaped up off the sawdust track and flew up past the glass, and higher, into the open space under the high dome.

It circled
around and was followed by another. Santa’s famous reindeer were doing a few laps to exercise their legs ahead of their marathon night of delivering toys. The kids marveled, watching the reindeers’ galloping strides in midair.

But
the indoor train chugged on, past a section of rooms grouped under a hanging sign above the tracks that said
Decorations
. On the right was
Garlands & Wreaths
. Across from it was
Flowers
, with endless rows of bright poinsettias and lush amaryllis growing under warm lamps. Elves in garden gloves misted their blooms with little squeeze bottles and made sure to talk to the plants, telling them how pretty they were.

The next department kept its glass door shut because, though shielded from the wind, its back wall was open to the elements. Jake’s eyes widened as he read the placard over the door:
White Christmas
.

“I thought Jack Frost handled all the snow,” he said.

“Well, he’s young, you know boys in their teens…he’s just a wee bit casual about showing up on
time
,” Crystal said discreetly. “Santa likes to keep his own backup supply of Christmas Eve snow, just in case.”