‘And that’s how the mystery of Jinxy’s disappearance began,’ Lacey said. ‘But, it’s not all yet. Bethy and Danji, both of you somehow made it back to the workshop. I remember when Melo burst in, looking for Jinxy, you were both there and acting normally. At least, to my eyes as an outsider. But the events were in motion. So let’s now move on to the first elf who saw the truth.’ Her gaze glided from Bethy to land on the next sorry actor in the unfortunate tale. ‘Under the Rite of Truth, Elf, please tell us what happened next.’

  ‘That selfish elf told Bethy to hide what she did, that’s what happened next!’ Elf burst out, making everyone in the room jump. ‘Did she stop to think what it would do to Bethy? NO. She only ever thinks of herself.’ He stopped, glaring angrily at the elves in the room. Almost like he was challenging them to take Jinxy’s side.

  ‘Oh, no, it’s not like that,’ Bethy tried to object, patting Elf on the knee.

  ‘But it is!’ he said. ‘The things you have gone through for her since she left—’

  Jumping in, Lacey said, ‘But Bethy is your friend, and so you helped her.’

  ‘Of course I did. I know what friendship means, unlike that self-absorbed cloud of cotton candy.’ As he said it, he rose as if to fight the ghost of Jinxy herself, stepping toward Lacey.

  Her body tensed, but before she could react, Peter rose from his chair.

  ‘Let’s relax a bit here, Elf,’ he said. Elf sunk back down, folding his arms tightly and glaring at Peter and Lacey.

  ‘It’s true,’ he said unhappily. ‘Once again that ditsy Elf skipped off, leaving Bethy to cover for her mess.’

  ‘And that afternoon?’ Lacey asked. ‘What happened when Bethy got to you?’

  ‘At first she seemed fine, when she walked in the door returning from the workshop—’

  ‘Wait,’ Lacey interrupted. ‘I’ve forgotten about that. Bethy, both you and Danji were in the workshop afterwards. You told me not to worry about Jinxy.’

  ‘That’s true,’ Danji confirmed, still holding on to Mathilda like a drowning elf to her lifebuoy. ‘I woke up in time to see Bethy walking back from the station, and I followed.’ She swallowed uncomfortably. ‘It would’ve been odd if we didn’t go back to the workshop, since we were working so hard on the toys.’

  Bethy nodded at that. ‘We had to go back, at least for the last little bit. At the time I didn’t think it would be much of a problem. I was sure that Jinxy would be back the next day. And, if you don’t mind, Danji, I was so relieved to see you come back into the toyshop. I’d been so upset at how Jinxy left that I forgot about you in the snow. In a hundred years I will never forgive myself for that.’ Her tears flowed stronger again.

  ‘Awww, Bethy, that’s okay,’ Danji said. ‘You didn’t mean to, and you were there to help when it mattered.’

  ‘You forgive me?’ Bethy asked.

  ‘Of course,’ Danji replied, letting go of Mathilda and reaching past Cynthie and Lacey. Relieved, Bethy did the same, and the two friends hugged, clinging to each other in their shared distress.

  Cynthie cleared her throat, causing them to awkwardly break up their embrace. ‘I’m glad the two of you are okay and all, but we need to find out about Jinxy still.’

  ‘We surely do,’ Lacey said. But, she smiled as she watched them take their seats again. It didn’t last long, for Elf’s angry face to crash it.

  ‘Oh, great, we’re all friends again,’ he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. ‘Is it a good time to continue my tale now?’

  Don’t take it personally, Lacey reminded herself. He’s just Elf being Elf.

  Out loud she said, ‘Sure. Tell us what you saw, and about the piece of Jinxy’s coat and the mysterious note.’

  For once he didn’t have a angry quip, staring silently at her for just a beat too long. ‘You already know,’ he stated.

  Lacey nodded. ‘While Bethy was protecting Jinxy, you were protecting Bethy; isn’t that right?’

  ‘What?’ Bethy asked, turning to look at Elf with her mouth open in surprise. ‘Elf, what did you do?’

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  ‘I did no more than you did for Jinxy,’ he said. ‘Normally, it wouldn’t even have been necessary. If you, strange elf girl, hadn’t come along, everyone would’ve just assumed she skipped off somewhere again and would be back before too long. But you couldn’t let sleeping reindeer lie. Bethy got nervous, and did the first thing she could think of, pointing to the abominable snowman. But none of the elves believed she would be that stupid, so I had to give you more reason to lean into the theory. So, I planted that piece of her coat by the Wasteland in the bushes. But it wouldn’t be enough, so I also added the note on Jinxy’s desk as another distraction.’

  Bethy had clapped her hand over her mouth at that. ‘Oh no, Elf! You shouldn’t have.’

  ‘And you shouldn’t have either,’ he rejoined. ‘If that silly elf wanted to leave, she should be the one to figure out the consequences, not you. I don’t understand why you keep covering for your so-called friends like that. Gave me stomach ache, that’s what all of that did!’

  ‘He’s right, you know,’ Peter added, though he still glared at Elf. ‘You shouldn’t be lying for your friends. Look what almost happened to Lacey because of it.’

  ‘I know,’ Bethy sighed, looking down at the floor, more miserable than ever.

  Lacey patted her on the shoulder. They had spoken about it already, after all, in the aftermath of her return from the Wasteland.

  ‘Fine,’ Melo piped up from the crowd. ‘Now we know what those two did. Bethy, I suppose that was what you were trying to do as well that night you tried to convince me to stop worrying about Jinxy.’

  Bethy gave a slight nod.

  ‘That’s all well and good, but where is she?’ he pressed.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Bethy said. ‘I don’t know why she suddenly had to be on the train. I don’t know at which stop she would’ve gotten off, and I don’t know why she isn’t back yet. This was everything I had to tell.’

  Everyone looked back to Lacey. ‘I can speak to at least some of that,’ she said. ‘Starting with the package. Why don’t you tell us more about that, Cynthie?’

  Cynthie’s eyes widened. ‘Who, me? What would I know about this package?’

  Lacey grinned, looking round the circle of friends. ‘None of you have guessed yet? Well, let’s take it step by step then.

  ‘Cynthie, you and Jinxy were getting ready for the masterwork challenge.’

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘We were both going to make crystal-threaded snowflake kaleidoscopes at the same time, so we would be master toymakers together.’

  ‘Yes, you were,’ Lacey said. ‘But that wasn’t your first choice, was it?’

  ‘It was Jinxy’s,’ Cynthie responded. ‘But yes, I originally wanted to do a magical skylight. But then the stupid crafter who made the lenses threw a hissy-fit and refused to sell me any.’

  ‘Glacien,’ Lacey added. ‘The two of you had a disagreement, like you told me yesterday.’

  ‘Indeed,’ Cynthie said. ‘So, I ended up settling for the snowflake kaleidoscope.’ She frowned. ‘I don’t see the point of this.’

  Lacey smiled. ‘Glacien wouldn’t sell to you, but, perhaps he would sell to Jinxy?’

  Bethy gasped. ‘Jinxy was waiting for a package. But even if it didn’t come on the train that day, why would she leave?’

  ‘Because one snowflake fell in the right spot,’ Lacey said. ‘Danji, when the two of you were fighting, you told her that she only cared for her friends when it suited her. I can’t say exactly why, but those words struck a chord. That’s why she had to have the package that day, and also why she wasn’t willing to wait.’

  Danji’s mouth formed an ‘oh’ at the realisation. ‘It was all because of me?’ she said, her voice small.

  Seeing where Danji was headed with that, Mathilda briskly stepped in.

  ‘No, sugarplum,’ she said. ‘Your words only affected her because the seed was already there. You’re not responsible for what Jinxy chose to do.’

  Danji didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t argue the point further. Lacey felt a small pang in her heart for her, but Danji had Mathilda for the moment. Later, Lacey promised herself. Later I’ll chat some more with Danji.

  Focusing on the present Lacey turned to Peter, addressing him directly for the first time in the hall. ‘Peter, Glacien lives in Icehaven. How long would it take Jinxy to travel there and back?’

  He stroked his chin. ‘Hmm, usually about three days, but the Polar Express has been delayed this past week. It only started its regular service again last Starday.’

  ‘So, suppose Jinxy reached Icehaven, when is the soonest she’d be back?’

  A gasp rippled through the room, followed by a furious muttering as everyone began calculating.

  ‘Today!’ Bethy concluded first, her chair clattering to the floor as she jumped up. ‘Lacey, it’s today. Oh no, she has no idea how worried everyone was. It’s all my fault! I have to tell her!’

  Not waiting for anyone to react, she hastily sprinted through the assembled elves and out the door.

  ‘No, wait for me Bethy!’ Elf yelled, rushing out after her. ‘You need your coat!’

  That opened the floodgates for everyone else to jump up and rush out, grabbing scarves, gloves and coats in a frenzy. Even Mathilda didn’t wait to help Lacey. Within the space of a minute, Lacey was standing alone on the little platform in her moonboot.

  ‘Uhm,’ Lacey said to the empty room. The only other elf left, sighed heavily, and looked at her with guarded eyes.

  ‘I suppose I can help you to the train station.’ Peter said, his voice carefully measured.

  ‘I don’t know if we’ll be in time,’ Lacey replied, the whistles of the Polar Express already sounding in the distance, becoming clearer as it got closer.

  In response he strode over and picked her up. It was almost like the first day all over again, except this time he carried her out into the snow.

  She watched the sky uncomfortably. On the first day, she’d been in the arms of a handsome stranger. Then, over the space of almost a week and a half, he had become someone she knew all too well.

  And now, even though she was in familiar arms, they may as well have been light years apart, the emotional distance forming a chasm between them. She focused on not losing herself to it, on keeping her eyes on the little crowd up ahead.

  She didn’t need to force it for long, as the whistle of the Polar Express blew over the plains, the train becoming visible in the distance as the railroad tracks clacked into place.

  The moment of truth had arrived.

  ??????