Chapter 16: Breaking the Spell
"Maggie!" Mrs. Calloway looked at Maggie and couldn't believe what she just said. This can't be happening right now. "You can't be serious."
"She's right," Maggie answered weakly. "There is nothing we can do about what has been done to Grace and the two of us." She slowly grunted as she rose up on her feet. "Besides, we can't allow her to be lost alone. We should all stay together like we always do." Then she turned to Crystal. "You win; now we'll serve at your command." The Ice Empress gave a sinister smile and crossed her arms.
"See, that wasn't so hard now was it," she mocked. "Now bow before your empress!" The strong effect of Crystal's spell forced the cows, including Grace to bow before who was to be their new empress. Mrs. Calloway did not want to believe that they would be lost forever living as Crystal's servants in this cold dismal environment. Not only that, but this made her heart sink lower to think about the family back at home wondering what happened to them.
"We won't be lost forever," she whispered sadly with her head facing the icy ground. "We'll be home soon; I hope." She refused to cry or shed a tear, despite the powerful force spreading inside of her.
"Alright, now follow me," Crystal ordered her three new servants as they rose up and followed close behind her. "There is so much to do and very little time."
"Don't worry, Santa won't let her control us," Maggie whispered to Mrs. Calloway beside her. In a moment, her eyes grew weary and steely as her hide transformed from her normal color to dark cold blue. Now she was lost inside.
Mrs. Calloway couldn't utter a word of comfort or hope since her mind became filled with a strong desire to serve their mistress through a lustful pleasure. The cows memories were becoming erased and being replaced with thoughts of destruction, malice, and insanity. A cold, calculating look crossed Mrs. Calloway's face as the cows still followed Crystal into a room where the star was being kept in. She was willing to serve the Ice Empress at all costs and nothing would stand in their way. The color of her hide turned blue as well.
Crystal clapped her hands twice when she led the cows to the end of a passageway. The wall of ice moved to reveal an empty room with the star protected in a glass case set on a shining glass table. Walking inside, Crystal seized the case with both hands and placed it under her left arm to hold tightly. Then she whirled around to face the girls.
"Come; I know of a place where we can see how well you do with your new powers," she laughed cruelly and snapped her fingers as a swirling bluish cloud covered them a moment before they all vanished.
Unbeknownst to Crystal however, this whole event had been viewed by a blue-haired pixie in a blue dress. She had volunteered to fly to Cold Stone Mountain and spy on Crystal to see what she was up to. Her eyes filled with worry when she thought about what would happen to everyone in this realm once everyone had fallen victim to the powers of the Ice Empress and her new servants under her control.
"Those poor cows, this is awful!" she drawled sorrowfully remembering when she saw how Grace was easily being controlled. Her heart had also sunk when she witnessed the cows being succumbed to whatever spells that cold hearted woman placed over them. "I can still warn Santa and Rudolph what she has done." And with that she zoomed off. She could never fight off Crystal alone since she knew that she was only a single tiny fairy and would need a whole army of magical beings.
In the snowy forest
In a cavern lying amongst the midst of the forest, a herd of deer slept peacefully unaware of the dangers that were to occur. In their dreams, the adults had been watching over their young ones play together happily while chewing cud in the ground. There was nothing that could disturb their natural way of living. Suddenly, everyone stopped what they were doing as soon as a burst of blue light shot from the sky and sped straight in their direction like a comet. There was not enough time for them to move aside before it came down on them with a bang!
"Well done, my humble servant," said a cold voice with satisfaction. It was Crystal who stood to watch a bewitched Grace use her new power on the sleeping herd to trap them in blocks of ice. Whenever her eyes flashed an immense glow, which was when a spell was cast. The poor heifer had no clue what she was doing while being controlled by a curse more powerful than any of the cows might have imagined. "I'm beginning to like you a whole lot more." All Grace could do was staring blankly at the frozen deer and to her empress without conscience. Crystal placed the same black spectacles over her eyes and removed the star from its glass imprisonment. "We are not finished yet though; time to see how this star truly works."
The ice woman's eyes flashed blue as she raised her left hand over the star. Its white pure shine began to fade into a pale blue. Crystal spotted a few chipmunks in a pine tree and aimed the star at them. In a few moments, the chipmunks flashed a blue color and for no reason, attacked each other mindlessly. This had given Crystal a smile of pleasure and shameful joy. Her magic had worked indeed. Throwing the black spectacles aside in the snow, she turned to Grace and the other two who had arrived from finishing the job of freezing a river with fish swimming around. Now the fish were trapped with no hope of restoration. Even Maggie and Mrs. Calloway were unable to break out of their trance since Crystal's spells are too much for any mortal to handle. It would take a true miracle to break the spell over them. All three of them watched as Crystal held the star high up in the air creating ice walls and a fierce snowstorm. The winds picked up causing the trees and bushes to sway forth swiftly. Soon the snowflakes followed afterward. White grey clouds covered the blue sky with snow falling more fiercely trapping all living things in blocks of hard ice.
Because Crystal had been so focused on a lust for eternal winter, she failed to notice something zoom over to her and miraculously swipe the star clear out of her blue hands.
"What is this!" the woman gasped. She whirled around to find Rudolph holding the star in his mouth and handing it over to none other than Santa. Now even though Saint Nick was not the type to be easily angered, he stared at the Ice Empress like any grandfather would whenever a child did anything beyond naughty. Crystal was no exception.
"So you're responsible for the theft of our star!" he shouted furrowing his brow. "And is this the way you handle taking what doesn't belong to you?" With a sprinkle of fairy dust from his magic snowsuit, the star reverted back to its pure shine. "Now free those cows from your spell or I'll have to do it myself!"
"Not so fast Mr. Clause!" Crystal scowled with a smirk. "You may have taken the star, but the cows are still mine!" She turned to face the cows standing in the snow with blank expressions on their faces. "Turn those simpletons into icicles!" she ordered pointing her finger at Santa and Rudolph. The cows walked forward with their eyes twinkling blue to release a bolt of light straight at them.
"You're not her evil servants!" Rudolph called out dodging a few blasts coming from Maggie's pupils. But the reindeer went on. "Crystal doesn't care about you; she only wants to use you to help her destroy Christmas and all that it stands for. And you're close to doing it!" He dodged another blast from Mrs. Calloway. "Please listen, if you don't snap out of it soon, you'll be lost to her forever!" again he dodged another blast. "Crystal is not your mistress; your real home is on a farm in Colorado. Don't you remember what you told me before? Pearl Geisner is your real guardian!" The cows stopped in their tracks and stared blankly at Rudolph when he mentioned that familiar name.
"Don't just stand there, finish the job!" Crystal hollered clenching her fists. Grace shot a straight blast trying to catch Rudolph, but the reindeer kept on dodging and calling out to them.
"Keep going Rudolph!" reminded Santa who kept the star safely in his hands.
"Think about it! What would your real guardian think if she saw you doing this?"
At that moment, the cows paused once again with their hooves buried deep within the snow. Something seemed to be coming to their minds other than destroying everything in sight. An image of three piglets, a grumpy goat, happy little chicks, two adult pigs, a chicken, an egotistical horse, and…
"Enough with the chit chat already!" Crystal interfered again only this time her finger touched at the tiny circular sapphire stone imbedded in the center of her crown. "…time to get serious!"
Altogether the girls used their blast making it impossible for the red nosed reindeer to move aside as his feet were becoming trapped in ice and slowly rising above. They wouldn't stop until he was covered entirely. So Rudolph figured there was one last option for him to do.
"If you don't remember me, maybe this will help!" closing his eyes tightly, his nose shined bright enough to stop the girls from finishing the job as they began to back up covering their eyes. Since all of Crystal's spells had involved trapping things in ice and turning a warm heart to coldness, they would never any match for Rudolph's shine. Right now, she had been protecting her eyes as well. "Possessing this sort of power will only bring about misery and unhappiness to not only those who love you, but other innocent lives as well. Do you think this is what Christmas is all about?"
The girls uncovered their eyes and stared at the ground without winking as they were hit by other memories. There came images of a town, bounty hunter, a cattle rustler and a kind elderly woman. Their eyes suddenly began to blink and flutter rapidly as the blue color on their hides slowly melted away to uncover the normal natural colors. Healing warmth spread throughout their bodies. It was the warmth of love and kindness they had felt back at home. And it was warm enough to break Crystal's spell over them as their eyes were no longer steely or blank. Now that they were awakened, the girls looked around in puzzlement to find that they were in a different frozen wasteland.
"Where are we now?" Grace asked curiously. Rudolph smiled in relief.
"You've done well Rudolph," Santa advised, putting his hand on Rudolph's back.