North Pole City Tales 02 - The Heart of Frost (6 page)

Impressed by what he saw, he called her in for an interview along with a handful of other elf mechanics who showed promise. He put them all through the wringer, as he did everyone he considered hiring. Ginger had knocked them all out of the water. She was swift, accurate, skilled, and knew exactly what she was doing. Most importantly, she had backbone, refusing to let anyone break her spirit. He knew hiring her would let loose another wave of rumors, but he was past caring about gossip. Ginger was the best mechanic he’d ever had, social convention be damned.

“Wonderful job. Let’s get her in the air, shall we?” Rudy climbed into his seat behind the wheel and closed his door firmly behind him. He switched on his radio, put on his headset, and fastened the heavy straps of his harness, one padded strap over each shoulder that clipped into the thicker one around his waist. Once secure in his seat, he started his preflight preparations. “Tim, can you hear me?”

Tim’s gentle voice came through his earpiece. “Loud and clear, Rudy.”

“Noel?”

“Loud and clear, Rudy,” Noel replied in his curt yet polite tone.

“Ginger?”

“I’m here, Captain.”

Rudy smiled. Ginger was the only one who called him Captain. He appreciated her formality, even if it wasn’t necessary. He understood her need to keep things professional. The only reason the gossip regarding her hiring hadn’t turned sordid was due to Rudy’s inclinations. Had his nature favored Sugarplum fairies, who knew what manner of nonsense would be circulating? Ginger had something to prove, and he had no doubt she would teach them all a thing or two. It was time for North Pole City to leave some of its outdated habits behind.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Rudy concentrated on making certain everything was in working order for the second time that day, from his gauges to testing the flaps. The inside of his plane was as shiny and new as the outside, with its red control panel and black interior. It was no secret Rudy was partial to red, but seeing as how everything on his person was red, including his flight jacket, he thought it best he make the interior a different color. He had chosen black because it reminded him of Jack.

Rudy had waited as long as possible to start the test run, in the hopes Jack would make it. After Jack’s phone call, he had busied himself in his office for several hours, catching up on paperwork and whatever else he could. When it became clear Jack wouldn’t be returning until far later in the evening, Rudy resigned to carrying on without him. It was silly, really, but Rudy had grown accustomed to seeing Jack smiling at him from the tarmac as he took off.

The roar of the propeller was music to his ears, and he couldn’t keep his dopey grin off his face. Next to Jack, there was nothing he loved more than flying. After giving everything a final once-over, he spoke to his team.

“Ready?”

“You’re clear for takeoff, Captain.”

“Roger that.” Only a few weeks left until the Big Flight. There were plenty of test runs to do in the meantime, some on his own and three with the rest of the Rein Dears. There was a great deal of work involved, but no matter how many years he’d been doing it, he still found it exciting and exhilarating.

Above him the skies were blue, the winter winds calm and blowing with him rather than against him. His heart did a little flip knowing Jack was helping him despite his absence. Before he knew it, his plane’s wheels were leaving the tarmac, and he was rising up toward the clouds. Once he achieved altitude, it was just him, his plane, and the lulling sounds of his engine. The peace that washed over him, the freedom he felt while soaring through the air, was unlike anything else he could think of. Ever since he was a tiny elfling, he’d known he wanted to fly, and his mother, who had raised him all on her lonesome, had encouraged him, whittling the most beautiful airplanes for him out of pine, which they would paint together. Whenever he got the chance, he would visit her and take her for a ride in his plane.

With the weather clear, he practiced a few aerial maneuvers, enjoying some dips and loops, a couple of barrel rolls, before the wheel in his hand gave a harsh shudder. Leveling out his plane, he frowned, wondering what had caused the jolt. Out of the snowy blue, every light on his control panel lit up like a Christmas tree, the needles of his gauges going into wild spins. What the Holly? The entire aircraft trembled, and black smoke started engulfing his precious plane. The worst part was he had no idea what could be causing the failure. Everything had been checked and double-checked. Every piece had been in perfect working order, well-oiled, polished, and maintained to the highest of standards. Every cable had been in its place, every nut and bolt secure.

The engine sputtered noisily, then stalled, and his heart leapt into his throat.

Nothing he tried seemed to work, and as he began losing altitude it was clear he was going to have to jump. With a curse, he pressed down on the clasp of his seatbelt’s buckle. Nothing happened.
Crabapples.
He tried again, this time getting a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something was horribly wrong. He pressed against the buckle with all his strength, and when it didn’t budge, he thought of climbing out through the straps, except when he tried to move, he was tightly secured, as if the belt had somehow tightened around him, pulling his body back into his seat. There was no budging.

He frantically fought against the harness, and when nothing came of it, he searched around in the hopes of finding something sharp he could use to cut his way through one of the heavy straps, but there was nothing. The way he was falling, he wouldn’t have time to cut himself free even if he did have something, which he didn’t.

“Oh Gods.” How could this be happening?

“Rudy?” Tim’s panicked voice came over the radio. “Rudy, what’s wrong?”

“The plane…. It’s dead, completely dead. I’m falling.”

“You need to jump.”

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?” Noel’s firm voice came over, his own panic evident in his gruff tone. “For Kringle’s sake, get out of there!”

“I can’t. My harness is stuck.” He did his best to remain calm and tried to open his door. Not that he knew what he would do once it was open, but he had to hope whatever was going on wasn’t affecting the whole plane. When the door remained firmly bolted shut, his fears were confirmed. This was no ordinary malfunction. This was unlike anything he had faced before.

“Rudy!”

He’d done the drills, run scores of variables, prepared himself for every possible outcome should his plane malfunction, but nothing could have prepared him for whatever this was, for this dark force that had infected his precious baby. Had it been anything else, he might not have been so frightened, but this…. Whoever had done this hadn’t intended for him to survive. Even the air around him was thick, making it harder and harder for him to breathe. His lungs ached and his body felt weak. The only thought that crossed through his mind was Jack. He shut his eyes tight to keep his tears at bay. No. He couldn’t end like this. He threw a gloved fist against his window and fought against his harness. If he was going to go down, he’d do so fighting.

“Jack!” he screamed as he threw his shoulder as hard as he could against the door. If there was even the slightest chance the wind could carry his pleas to its master, Rudy was going to take it.
Please, hear me
. “Jack, I need you! Please… help me.” He let his head rest against the cold window, his voice hoarse from lack of oxygen. “Jack…. I love you.”

J
ACK
WAS
on his third triple vodka, laughing at Hollis’s disgraceful display as he lost his fifth round of conkers by nearly knocking himself out, when a sharp pain pierced his heart, forcing him to nearly double over. He clutched at his chest, puzzled by the strange jolt. What the Holly was that?

“Jack? Are you all right?” Vale approached him and took his glass from his hand before it could fall to the floor and shatter.

“Yes. This strange pain just hit me out of nowhere.” The pub’s windows and doors blew open and Jack straightened. That hadn’t been his doing. The wind swirled around him, a chill going up his spine at the faint whisper reaching his ear. Someone was calling his name.

“What’s going on?” Hollis asked, frowning at him.

“I don’t know. I have to go.” Jack didn’t wait to hear the rest of his cousins’ questions. He ran out into the streets and summoned the arctic winds to carry him up high above the earth. With swift orders, he shot through the skies toward the causeway, demanding haste. In the distance ahead of him he could see a small dark object, and at first, he dismissed it. The wind whispered at him, beseeching him. Not one to ignore such a call, Jack soared toward the object, stunned when he discovered it was indeed Rudy’s plane.

There was a thick fog of black smoke surrounding it as it sped toward the mountainside, and a part of him hoped Rudy had long since vacated the aircraft, but as he flew closer, something told him that wouldn’t be the case. There was something different about the smoke, something… menacing. The smoke wasn’t coming from the plane, at least not in a way that insinuated there was some mechanical malfunction. Had it been, it wouldn’t have been a problem at all, not to mention Rudy would have jumped out by now. Why was he still in the plane, knowing it was hurtling toward destruction? Rudy loved his plane, but not enough to go down with it.

Catching up to the medium-sized aircraft, Jack hit his hand against the window, his chest feeling constricted at the sight of his lover struggling to remove his harness with no luck. Rudy’s moves were sluggish, his chest rising and falling rapidly. It didn’t take Jack long to deduce his sweetheart was having difficulty breathing.

“Rudy!”

“Jack!” Rudy’s eyes filled with unshed tears as he pounded against the small window. “Jack I can’t get out! The harness, the window, the door, everything’s stuck!”

Jack grabbed the door handle, only to be surprised by a sharp burning sensation, forcing him to snatch his hand back. He made another attempt, the handle searing his skin and leaving a harsh red mark across his palm. It couldn’t be….

“Jack?”

His head shot up and he met Rudy’s frightened gaze. This couldn’t be. No, he wouldn’t allow it. He reached deep inside him as he summoned his powers to fight this malevolent force created to keep him out. Around them the wind howled and a blizzard engulfed them in white. Shards of ice shot toward the plane, only to be melted by the black smoke before they reached the shiny red surface. This was no ordinary spell. Jack would need to reach deeper. As if reading his thoughts, Rudy slammed a fist against the window.

“Jack, no!”

Rudy’s fear mirrored his own, but at the moment, saving his lover meant more to him than his own life. Whatever force was at work here, it had been created specifically to keep him out, to keep him from saving his love. Rudy was immortal, but he wasn’t indestructible, and as a Christmas elf, his powers were limited. Jack could survive such a collision, but not Rudy.

“Jack, you have to stop.”

Ignoring Rudy’s pleas, Jack did the opposite, calling upon the full forces of his powers. His body burned from the inside out, and his muscles strained in an attempt to maintain control of the conflicting elements within him. “I can do this.” Was he assuring Rudy or himself? Whatever the case, he had to believe he could.

“I don’t want to lose you,” Rudy pleaded. “Jack, listen to me.”

“I can do this!” He grabbed hold of the door handle with both hands, ignoring the burning against his palms as the spell worked fiercely to deter him. The fire spread through his body, battling the ice summoned to protect him, to save both himself and Rudy. The color drained from his hands, leaving behind his elemental form. The cyclone of ice and snow swept up the plane and Jack with it, throwing them into a monumental spin, and giving Jack more time to draw on the full force of winter.

“Damn it, Jack, please! I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t.” He focused his energy, gritted his teeth as the first signs of fern-frost sprouted on the edges of the window and spread. It was working. He was getting through.

Rudy put his hand to the glass, his expression one of heartache. “What if I’m not given a choice?”

“That won’t happen,” Jack growled.

“How do you know?”

“I can control it.”

“Jack—”

“I won’t let you die!” He released the door and used his feet to push himself away from the plane. With his arms held out at his sides, his vision went white and he raised his face to the Heavens. He prayed to his ancestors and drew upon his father’s power. Whatever reprimand he would receive for it, whatever punishment, so be it, but he would do whatever it took.

“Jack, no!”

The skies darkened and thunder erupted above him, lightning accompanying the blinding storm of burning ice. If he couldn’t get Rudy out of the plane, he would soften the landing. On the earth below, the snow quickly gathered, setting down thick blanket upon blanket. Rudy’s screams were drowned out by the fury growing inside Jack as his thoughts went to whoever had the audacity to threaten the life of his lover, to insult Jack by plotting against
him
, against the Prince of Frost. Someone was going to pay dearly for this. The sharp pain in his heart intensified, the agony resembling a multitude of icy stakes plunging in all at once, and he fought the urge to clutch at his chest.

He heard Rudy faintly call his name as his body plummeted alongside the plane. The impact of the soil beneath him when he plunged through the layers of snow and hit the earth was excruciating, the tremor wracking his entire frame and knocking the wind out of him, but he couldn’t allow the pain or exhaustion to take over. He had to remain awake, for Rudy. His hand trembled as he reached up from the small crater his fall had created, and he clawed his way up to the snowy surface, falling in a breathless heap. The sharp pain in his heart returned as he dragged himself out, his gaze going to Rudy’s plane, the tail end the only part visible, angled out of the snow.