Sam's mind was rewinding and playing over the recent talks and events like a tape in his head. Not long ago he was ranting to his former headteacher about how miserable his own life was after spending the whole night moping about having to hide in a school where his unusual hosts were nothing but welcoming and kind to him. And now he was just told the story of Brenda, practically being born without a limb, and her experience with that.

Not that it made Sam's story less important or less tragic, but he'd had the attitude of him being the only one who suffered because of this school. After the conversation with said athletic statue girl, he was informed by her of Christina working in the teacher's lounge, though she didn't know what her sister was doing in there. Nonetheless it was Sam's next stop.

Trekking all the way back from the gym, he definitely had a long time to think about what he wanted to do concerning leaving the school tonight. He originally just wanted to set up the tree for them and leave. But then what? Resume stealing and thieving? No doubt the police would be on higher alert now looking all over the city for someone of his build and height. Though even with that they wouldn't get very far.

But still, tonight was a big eye opener for him. If he wasn't caught after this botched robbery, then how long until he would be caught in a future one? He knew he couldn't keep living how he was currently, but what other choice did he have? There was no chance of being hired for anything nor was it likely he could keep outrunning the law or find a suitable place to live. And also, deep down, very deep down, there was the feeling of comfort he felt here, that almost made him want to visit the girls again after tonight.

Stepping closer to the lounge, he indeed heard the scuffling of a tiny person moving around. Not only that but also a noise as if other items were forcefully and urgently being shoved into a cupboard of some sorts. Putting his hand on the doorknob, Sam twisted it and pushed the door open to see the eldest statue girl just managing to close the lounge cupboard shut before turning to him.

"Oh, hello Sam" she took her tiny hands off the cupboard door and put them behind her back, trying to look as innocent as possible. "Uh, what brings you here? Have you had your talk with John? What'd he say?"

Eyeing her a little, the guest of the school decided it was best just to go along with her conversation.

"I explained to him how I ended up here, and that he would make sure I was comfortable until I leave." The boy sat next to her in a lounge chair.

"And speaking of comfortable, I could really get use to these chairs, but anyway" he said turning back to her. "What are you doing in here Christina? I'd thought you'd be with your sisters or those other magical objects or whatever, doing Christmassy stuff and all that."

"Me?" she let out a clearly fake laugh, putting a hand to her chest. "Of course I will, I just, wanted a little break in here first," she pretended to stretch her arms. "Looking after three siblings can be quite exhausting you know."

As if on cue, as soon as she finished saying that, the cupboard door was forced open with several little items that were halfway gift wrapped, fell and tumbled out of the cupboard and onto the floor. Christina's facial expression instantly changed when she heard it happen, though she didn't turn around.

Moving his head slightly to take a look at these gift wrapped items, Sam asked the small girl: "What are those?"

"What are what?" she played dumb.

"Those down there, that fell out the cupboard."

"What cupboard?"

"The one you had your hands on when I walked in."

There was a pause. "No I didn't."

"Yes you did" Sam got on his knees and picked up the objects on the floor. "I mean, are supposed to be gifts?"

He saw her face, and quickly corrected himself. "Oh I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just, why are you hiding them? Or at least, why you trying to hide them from me? You've already given me a gift with that woolly hat remember-" he stopped mid sentence, as on closer inspection, he realised that the tags on the gifts all read: From Santa.

Looking back up at the stone girl, he realised what this was.

"Please, don't tell Brenda Isabel or Pearl" she asked dejectedly jumping down and again picked up the gifts. "They don't know."

Sam helped her pick up the rest and put them back in the cupboard. "You put them under the tree every year? When did you find out?"

"I, figured it out myself. Even with an entire team of elves, making gifts for seven billion people still seems next to near impossible. And going around the planet delivering them all in one night? It just can't happen." She pushed the cupboard shut.

Sam sat back against the wall, still on the floor. "Y'know, I would've thought John might've, dressed up or something?"

"He did. But it didn't work for me" she sighed sitting back down.

"I realised who it was straight away. Please Sam," she got his attention again. "My sisters still don't know, nor do the other objects. And I don't want their Christmas to be ruined by this. John buys the gifts and I wrap them, with him sometimes dressing up as Father Christmas to surprise the girls. I play along of course, making sure they leave out a mince pie and a glass of milk. I want them to be excited for this time of year and not ruin the whole spirit for them."

"Spirit? Christina from what I've seen from you girls tonight is that regardless of whether Santa's real or not, you're all innocent and creative enough to make even him look bad when it comes to making it feel like Christmas."

Sam stared down and couldn't believe what he was about to say next. "Look, Christina, for the past few years it has not felt like Christmas at all for me with the current, 'job', or what's going on with my family."

"Why? What is going on with your family?" she asked suddenly sounding concerned. "You said that you didn't always get along with them before didn't you?"

"Yes, but you four, John and the other objects, have such an almost sickly bond, the kind that makes ya wanna throw up of how cute it is." He couldn't believe he used the word 'cute'.

"And I admit Christina, my relationship with my family hasn't exactly been the model one, and being here with all of you, it has sort of felt, almost, cozy?"

There was another silence. "So what are you saying Sam?" The statue girl looked at him. "I should tell them the truth about Santa Clause? And it'll still be Christmas for them, regardless of whether he's real or not?"

"There's far worse things in the real world Christina. Telling them ol' St. Nick isn't real, ain't exactly the end of the world."

The girl turned away again, a thoughtful expression on her stone face. "I'll, consider it."

Accepting that as a suitable reply, Sam saw this as a good time to leave and move on to the last statue girl. Christina was brought out of her thoughtful trance when she saw her visitor get up from the floor. "You're going?"

"I think I should leave you to it" he turned the doorknob to exit. "Y'know Christina, I kinda admire the way you take care of your sisters, and the other objects for that matter. Probably the best I've ever seen someone care their loved ones. Better than mine that's for sure."

He had already turned and walked out before the girl could call after him to further ask about his past. Why did he have to be so secretive about it?

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It hadn't exactly been half an hour with Christina back there, but it was enough time to find out something about her.

Knowing she discovered Santa clause didn't exist, counted as knowing something about her right? John didn't specify on what he exactly had to find out about them. He was rather vague. What if he came back to John with this information and it wasn't good enough? It was like studying for a test all over again before entering an exam, feeling those nerves that you got every time you lined up before the exam hall doors, or the night before where you didn't want the morning to come.

One thing he needed to find out now, in fact two things, was something about the last and youngest statue girl, and, the second thing, was where the hell she was.

He had no idea where the final one could be. Knowing her, she could be anywhere. Knowing her, she'd be exploring the entirety of the school. Knowing her, it would specifically be the outside of the school. Knowing her, it would be the highest place nearest the fence!

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Sam at last made it the edge of the school where the fence was to the road outside. At this time of the night he wasn't worried about anyone seeing him and becoming suspicious. There were houses on the other side of the street, but every single one had no lights on.

There was an old but sturdy tree at the north end of the fence. It was enough to support his weight as he climbed up, brushing the snow off the branch he sat on, and gazed out at the town, illuminated by the moon. It actually seemed, rather beautiful. Straight out of a Christmas scenery painting, and at first the thief was a crestfallen that he didn't find the tiny girl here. She would've adored this-,

"Hiya Sam!"

'Of course' he smirked as he flinched a little. "Pearl, how many more surprises am I gonna get tonight?"

The small girl swung herself from a branch and into the snow next to the human. "Amazing right?" she gestured to the scene before them. "You normally only see this sort of thing as background pictures in Christmas music YouTube videos."

"Yeah, all we need now are little children playing snowball fights next to a frozen lake while a dog runs around them" Sam pulled up one of his legs crossing it over the other. There were a few seconds of silence to take it all in.

"Sam? When this night is over, and maybe tomorrow night, can I see your house?" Pearl asked out of nowhere.

Sam looked taken aback, confused at what she meant. "My house?"

"Yeah, where you live with your family."

"Oh, ooooh," Sam caught on. "Um, I dunno, don't you turn to dust if you go outside the school or something?"

"What?" Pearl glanced at him confused. She then got up, held onto a branch above her and stretched out as far as she could over the fence sticking her other arm out. Nothing happened. "Huh, guess not."

"You didn't know that though. What if you did and lost an arm like Brenda?" Sam warned.

Pearl stared at him. "She told you about that?"

Sam looked downward. "Yeah, and I'm sorry Pearl but I can't take you to my home. What if something happened to you? There are far worse things than spiders out there, that'll think you're food."

"Well I don't know if there are until I go out there" she answered pulling herself back on the branch beside him.

He admired her reasoning, and determination. But she couldn't go. She'd know the truth about him then.

She made a little innocent pout folding her arms. "You sound like John when I ask him if I can go outside the school."

"Well maybe John's right." Sam had no idea why he felt that way. "Surely in your hundred years of life you must've been outside the school grounds at some point?"

She unfolded her arms. "Actually, no, never. All I know is this school. The only things I've seen of the outside world are on computer screens. And it all looks, wonderful. Oh, If I could just explore another house, that would be enough for me. And I won't ask for more. Christina says I always do in the end, but this time I won't, honest."

The boy turned from her to the scene before them, smiling at her childlike persistence. Over the rooftops of the suburbs, if you stared far enough, you could just make out the buildings of the city centre, and their glowing lights backdropped against the horizon line. Then Sam got an idea. There was a hill, a tall hill, that overlooked nearly all of the city. And it wasn't too far away from the school. Just a short jaunt.

"I won't take you to my house Pearl, but I can take you up that hill."

The girl's eyes widened and once more stared up at her human guest. "The hill? A-Are you sure? I can go out?"

"C'mon, all that talk about seeing the world and now you're getting cold feet?"

"No! I wanna go! It's just, what about Christina? And John? They won't like-"

"We'll be back before they even know we're gone. I'm pretty quick on my feet you know. Here, climb into my pocket."

She seemed unsure. Here was the chance of a lifetime that she always wished would happen and yet, the thought of her sisters finding she was gone. But gazing at Sam, something in his expression just let her trust him, heck this was the boy who saved her life only hours ago. Why wouldn't she? She no reason not to.

One final glance behind her and she let the biggest most excited grin spread across her face. "Oh go on then! Just a quick trip." She balanced herself onto his palm as he placed her in his jacket pocket.

"I'm going out! I'm actually leaving the school! I'm going out! I'm going out! I'm going out! I'm going-"

"Woah calm down Venus de Milo, we don't want to attract attention to ourselves" Sam reminded as he climbed over the fence and began to head to the fields leading to the hill.

"Sure, can't have other humans finding out I live and talk can we?"

Sam didn't reply, and kept heading through the knee deep snow, climbing over the gate to the field. It was only two streets from the school, and there were no sign of any boys in blue or squad cars around so it was safe enough for him to head up. He doubted the owner of that land would be awake this time of night. He might be surprised to see footsteps on his field tomorrow morning, but Sam would be long gone by then.

The other end of the field led to a wooded area of trees and already you could feel the uphill slant a little. Sam pushed and split apart branches on his ascent which gradually became steeper, a mixture of leaves and snow crunching underneath his feet, as well as some drops of it falling onto his head from the branches above. All along the way, Pearl never ceased in asking him a number of things.

"Those car things, when do you learn how to drive those?"

"What's the highest anyone's ever climbed?"

"How many species of fish are there?"

"What's a felony?"

He slightly panicked for a moment when he realised she was no longer in his pocket, but felt relieved when he found her leaping from twig to twig beside him. Yet her questioning continued, but he didn't answer a single one believing what she would see at the top would shut her up. And at last they reached the open field at the summit of the hill that overlooked the city. The little girl climbed up to his shoulder still yapping the night away; but not for long though….

"Wow, the air up here is so, so, refreshing. It's so different to the school, it's, it's," Pearl's words lost her. Her gaze suddenly became mesmerised, and if she could breath, it would've been caught in her throat. She froze completely, one hand gripping a strand of Sam's hair for balance, and the other she slowly brought up to her face. Her fingers covering her agape mouth. The sight was almost incomprehensible for her ditty little eyes.

The top of this summit was exactly what Sam said it was, and both human and statue could see the entire orange-y yellow glow of all the city below them, with so many parts of it covered in different colours of decorations, the moon emerging between the clouds illuminating it all. The only sound was the soft breeze of the wind.

There were other fields and hills all in the background, blanketed too in a similar way to the hill they were on. The lake not too far away, that stayed a perfect blue, not emitting a single wave or ripple. The tall town square Christmas tree in the city centre, surrounded by glowing lights of the shopping areas, and reefs of holly suspended above the roads.

"Sam," Pearl attempted to say at least something. "I, I can see everything. I, oh look! There's the school!"

The boy smirked. She wanted to see the world and that of all places was the first thing she pointed to. He sat down cross-legged in the snow, not minding the temperature, as the statue very nimbly climbed down to his knee and resumed onlooking.

"Oh, I could stay up here forever" she sighed.

"A felony, is something you're not supposed to do Pearl."

"What?" she turned, taking her eyes off the memorable sight for a minute.

"Your question earlier. It's an act you're not supposed to do. It's a bad thing." There was a pause.

"Oh. Well I know you would never do anything like that. Taking me all the way up here in the freezing cold. Letting me see this remarkable city, when no one else, not even John or my sisters, would. No one's ever done something that nice for me." She stared back out at the glowing world before her.

Those words of hers made Sam's heartache and he had to know: "What if, someone did do something bad, but it was for a reason they couldn't control?"

She turned to face him again.

"Say, a person stole something because they had no money, and they had no other way of feeding themselves. Would that be still bad?"

This earned a raised stone eyebrow from his miniature companion. Why was he asking her this? And now of all times? "I, well, I dunno. It's still stealing on one hand, but on the other the person has no choice. Does this person have a family to feed?"

Sam turned away. "No. Actually quite the opposite. He's homeless. Y'know Pearl, this reminds me of a time with my family." He shifted his position slightly. "One Christmas, my mum had asked me to help my dad put up the Christmas lights outside the house while she was out."

"I said: Sure, just get him to call me down when he starts to put them up." Sam paused. "Fifteen minutes went by. My dad didn't call me down. Half an hour goes by. Still nothing. Forty five minutes goes by, and yet he still hasn't asked me to come down and help him."

The boy sighed. "Then all of a sudden my mum bursts through my door screaming at me for not helping my dad. I sat there completely dumbfounded and confused. I replied with: W-What? But he hasn't called me down to help him yet."

"I headed downstairs and outside, only to see that my dad had put up all the decorations by himself already, without calling me down to help, and had told my mum that I hadn't bothered to do it."

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose at the memory. "Hadn't bothered to help him" he mocked. "I-I-I didn't even know he had started doing them!" he stuttered, his voice shaking a little.

Pearl brought her arms to her chest, her face completely stunned at the fact that this boy who had been so kind to her, had come from a family like that. Maybe, they weren't always like that, just that one instance? But something in Sam's face told her this might not be the case.

"But, that's unfair. You can't just not tell a person you're doing something, and then get angry at them for not helping you. How were even supposed to know you were doing it?"

"Do you know what my mum's answer to that question was?" He looked at her still holding the bridge of his nose. "I was just supposed to know."

The little girl didn't know what to say. She felt anger rise up in her tiny stone body at these people she had never met. She had been frustrated before, but never this angry. It surprised her even.

"Sorry to, dampen the mood Pearl" a small laugh escaped Sam's throat.

"No no. Sam, thank you so much for bringing me up here. I, I really appreciate it. And you are appreciated by me, and my sisters, I can vouch for that. Once, once we go back to the school, I would like for you to tell me more about your family. Because I don't want you returning to a household like that when morning comes."

The boy smiled a smile of gratefulness. Glad that she cared for him, and more so within only a few hours of meeting him, than his family did for his whole life. "We can stay up here for ten more minutes if you want. Then we'll head back-"

He interrupted himself when he felt her curl up in his lap, holding his jacket like a blanket. They both resumed observing the ambient city in complacent silence.

Ha ha. Here we go again. Hopefully I'll get this finished this year. We're quite far in the story now anyway. Good to be back on writing it again. I went over and polished the previous chapters as well. Story and characters belong to me.