Author's Notes: I said I had to finish before tomorrow, so I'm going ahead and posting now, even though I haven't gotten a single review for last chapter.

Chapter 6: The Arrival

When I asked for a hot chocolate, Stork sent me to find Chef Steward's quarters. Chef Steward was only too delighted to help. He immediately ran me to the kitchen and made a wonderful cup of chocolate, handing me some candy for my trouble as well.

I was taking a page out of Junko's book, remembering how he had taken the hot chocolate to Aerrow. I would do it for this new girl, the last pickup on our trip.

As soon as I came into the room she was in with her platter, she cast me the coldest glare. "What do you want?"

I shrugged. "Just thought you might like some hot chocolate," I answered.

At first the girl said nothing before finally taking the hot chocolate from me with a gruff, "Thanks." But she did seem to enjoy it when she finally took a sip.

"I'm Piper," I told her, trying to be friendly and break this awkward silence.

She thought a moment before saying, "Call me Lark."

"Okay," I said. I noticed she kept her hand in her pocket, and she was playing with something there. "What do you have?"

"Oh." She pulled out some crystals. "It's nothing, really, just like to mess around with them sometimes—"

"Wow!" My inner crystal self came out at once. "Bloomers! Blazers! Icers!" I smiled. "I wish I had all those in my collection."

She brightened at that. "You have a collection?"

"Yeah!" I said. "I love crystals!"

"Me, too!"

Oh, this was awesome! Never mind what Aerrow said about Cyclonians. He was totally wrong about this one!

I sat down next to her. "Have you ever done any experiments with eruption stones?" I asked her.

"Yes," she said. "It's quite fun with a feather crystal."

"Don't use a slimer with it," I warned her. "I found that out the hard way. I thought Dad was going to kill me!"

She laughed at that. "I'll remember that."

I don't remember how long we talked, and I can't repeat everything we talked about. It was all about crystals and the things we'd done with crystals.

"So," I said without thinking, "how do you get all those crystals? Are your parents rich or something?"

That, apparently, was the wrong thing to say. "I don't have any parents," she said at once.

"Oh," I said, feeling like I just got the breath knocked out of me. "I'm . . . sorry."

"It's alright," she said. "I have my grandmother. And my grandmother," she smiled in such a creepy way that it almost looked wicked, "owns everything."

The way she said it made me nervous. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing," she said at once, as if just realizing she was making a mistake. "Nothing. Never mind."

"Is she . . . important or something like that?"

"Yeah . . ." Lark agreed. "Something like that."

"Okay," I said. I was starting to get nervous. What if this was the daughter of a commander or something?

Then it clicked. I don't know where it came to me, but it just clicked. Her cloak, her grandmother . . . "You're Master Cyclonis's granddaughter!"

Lark seemed to think that over, as if trying to decide how to respond. I wondered momentarily if she was going to deny it. Finally she said, "So what if I am?"

I jumped up. "Are you . . . that is, do you . . . ?" I wasn't sure what I was trying to ask. I finally settled on, "Why does your grandmother try to conquer other terras?"

"Why, because it'd be better that way," Master Cyclonis said at once. "Don't you think having Atmos under one flag is best?"

"Not the way Cyclonia does it," I answered. My heart was beating wildly, and I didn't know whether it was out of anger or nervousness.

"My grandmother is great visionary!" Lark shouted, getting to her feet.

"Oh, yeah?" I shot back. "I have a friend who's lost his whole family because of your grandmother's 'vision'!"

"Then obviously they resisted," she said. "Resisters deserve what they get!"

I backed away from her. "That's monstrous!"

"Yeah?" she said. "You think so?"

"I know so!" I shouted back.

"She's got the power to do it!" she told me. "Crystal power! Like you and me!"

"I'm not like that! And neither are you, or you wouldn't be on this ship!"

That stumped her, but only for a moment. "You don't know what I'm like!"

"Fine!" I said. "Let me just tell the whole world that Master Cyclonis's granddaughter went to see Santa Claus. Let's see what everyone says to that!"

She eyed me coldly. "If you did that," she said, "you'd have to admit you spent time socializing with me."

She had a pointed.

"Fine," I said. "We'll have an agreement. I'll leave, and it'll be like we never met."

She nodded. "And not a word of this to anyone."

"Right," I said.

"Right."

And with that, I turned on my heel and strode out of the room.

Well, when I got back on the bridge, I didn't talk to anyone because I was mad. I was mad at my newest friend, the one friend who understood my affinity with crystals, being half mad and evil. I was mad at Aerrow and Finn for being mad at me. I was mad at Radarr and Junko for going along with Aerrow and Finn. I was mad at Stork for shouting at me earlier. And I was mad at everyone else in the room for daring to be cheerful when I was this mad.

So what do you do when you're that mad? You sulk in a corner.

I don't know how long it was, but at some point Aerrow came over to me. "Hey," he said.

I crossed my arms and pointedly looked away.

"I'm sorry. About earlier."

Oh, he would have to try better than that!

"I thought about what you said and . . ."

Yes, go ahead and say it. Doesn't hesitate. Say it now.

". . . you're right."

I love hearing those words.

"I just . . . I shouldn't've . . . I mean, I know you can't call all people bad for what one group did . . ."

Uh huh.

"I just . . . I mean, I just remember . . ."

Oh, great. Was he talking about his family? Don't do that. If he did that, I'd have to feel sorry for him, and then I'd be forced to stop being mad at him. I wasn't ready to stop being mad.

"I'm sorry. It's just . . . they killed my parents. I'm sorry."

Oh, rats! I'd actually driven him to that painful point. Was he actually apologizing for what happened to him?

Stupid sympathy!

I turned back to him. "Don't do that!"

He blinked at me, clearly puzzled. "Do what?"

"Apologize for that!"

Now he was really confused. "But . . ."

"Forget it," I said. "You were half-right about this Cyclonian, anyway."

"You mean, the one you let on?"

"Yeah."

"You met her?"

Whoops.

"Yeah." Why deny it now?

"But . . . I was half-wrong. You gone awhile. You must have liked her a little."

"Yeah," I admitted. "I did. And I'm not apologizing for that."

"I'm not asking you to. You were just being nice. And I wasn't. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing!"

"Sor—Okay."

I sighed in exasperation.

He smiled nervously at me. "So . . . still friends?"

I hesitated a moment. I wasn't really considering the question—it was an obvious "yes"—but he deserved the suspense after the way he acted.

Down at his feet, Radarr was looking up at me with puppy eyes. Stupid friendly boy with his stupid cute friend had to inspire stupid sympathy that made my anger melt away far too quickly. Am I not allowed to hold a grudge or something?

I must have held out too long because Aerrow's face fell. "Yeah, okay, that's fair, I understand . . ."

I hurriedly grabbed his arm to stop him and flashed him a smile. "We're friends. Most definitely."

The next thing I knew, something slammed into my chest and gripped my neck, whimpering with delight. Good, old Radarr.

"Hey, guys!" Finn came running over to us. "You have to see this!"

Apparently since Aerrow was okay with me again, the rest of the guys were, too.

I set Radarr back on the floor, and we ran after Finn toward the window. Junko was there, as were a few other kids.

"Look!" Junko told us, pointing.

The most beautiful collection of shimmering lights was dancing across the sky. "The Northern Lights!" I exclaimed.

"Hey. Four troublemakers up there!"

Aerrow, Radarr, Junko, Finn, and I glanced back at Stork. Radarr squawked indignantly.

"Okay," Stork corrected. "The five of ya! We just crossed into the Arctic Circle. That's why you see the aurora borealis that you're gawking at. Now move so I can see!"

That's when I realized the five of us were standing right in front of the helm, blocking Stork's view. We quickly moved aside.

Once that was done, Finn pointed at some lights in the distance. "What's that?" he asked.

"That," said Stork, a wicked smile spreading slowly across his face, "is Polar Terra."

Aerrow and Radarr exchanged glances, and so did Finn and Junko. Then I exchanged glances with Aerrow and then with Junko. We were all opened-mouthed, half-unbelieving, excited. We were here. After this crazy adventure, we were here at last!

It was all so exciting that even I joined in with the other kids when they started to sing their song.

"It's a magic carpet in the air. Never takes a rest!

Flying through the mountains and the snow!

You can ride for free and join the fun if you just say yes!

'Cause that's the way things happen on the Condor Express!

Honk, honk, the horn blows. That's the sound of her singing!

Blast, blast, the engines roar. Golly, look at her go!

If you wonder if you'll get there soon, anybody's guess!

'Cause that's the way things happen on the Condor Express!

When we get there, we'll scream, 'Yea!'

We'll arrive with a BANG, BANG, BANG!

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! Laughing all the way!"

Stork was smiling to himself as we came in for the landing. "We made it," he said, laughing hysterically, "with five minutes to spare!"

I raised an eyebrow at him. We had five minutes five minutes ago! And five minutes ago before that! And . . . well, you get the point.

As we came in for the landing, we looked around. It was a cute little town in which every building had white Christmas lights on it. The streets were cobblestone with identical streetlamps, each with a Christmas wreath on it.

But something was missing. "There should be elves," Gareth said as he looked out. "Where are the elves?"

"Yeah," Billy Rex agreed, "where are the elves?"

"Where are they?" Noob echoed.

"They are gathering in the center of the city," Stork told us. "That is where Santa will give the first gift of Christmas."

We all turned to him excitedly. The first gift of Christmas?

Finn ran up to him excitedly. "Who gets the first gift of Christmas?" he asked, clearly hoping it would be him.

Stork looked around at all of us, squinting harshly. "He will choose one of you."

"Look!" a girl yelled suddenly.

"Elves!" Chuckie cried, pointing.

We were just about to touch down now, and there were elves everywhere! They wore red and white outfits, just like their boss, and they looked like full-grown, shaven people, even though they were only about as tall as some of the younger children on the ship. I expected dwarf-like people, but these were more like . . . mini-people.

Once the Condor Express had landed, Stork went outside, gesturing for the rest of us to follow. "Two columns!" he ordered as he started leading us toward the gang plank. "Shorter in the front, taller in the rear. Even-numbered birthdays on the right, odd-numbered birthdays on the left. But let's pick up, okay, it's five minutes to midnight!"

"Dude," Finn shouted at him, "it was five minutes to midnight five minutes ago!"

"Exactly!" Stork told him without bothering with an explanation.

I was just about to follow when I remembered something. Lark. No matter what I thought of her grandmother or her philosophy, she should still have a chance to see Santa. And she wasn't with the rest of us.

"Wait!" I called to Stork. I ran up to him. "The Cyclonian girl," I said quickly. "She should come . . ."

"She knows we're heading out," Stork answered nonchalantly. When he saw I wasn't satisfied with that answer, he looked me in the eye and said, "Look, no one is required to see Santa, got it? If she wants to stay on board and risk deck fleas, that's her business. My job is to get all of you to Polar Terra and back safely."

Well, I couldn't just let Lark miss out on the chance of a lifetime. Quickly I turned around and ran back into the ship, not bothering to enter the bridge but keeping right on into the hallway until I came to the room where I had been with Lynn.

She was there, alright, still sitting on the bed where I left her. "Come on!" I said to her. "You have to come with us!"

She glared at me. "What? I'm good enough to talk to now?"

"It's Christmas Eve," I said. "You shouldn't be here alone."

She turned away from me. "My grandmother thinks Christmas is nonsense."

"Your grandmother . . . !" I stopped before I made a mistake. "You obviously don't think Christmas is nonsense, or you wouldn't be here! Now come see Santa with us! That's what you're here for, isn't it?"

She was silent for a moment, as if merely considering it. Finally she turned away from me, her arms crossed. "Just leave me alone, okay?"

I sighed. Well, I had given it my best shot. Knowing that she wouldn't have it any other way, I did what she asked and left her alone.

As I was heading back down toward the plank, however, I came face to face with Junko. He looked worried. "What?" I asked him.

"Aerrow," he said. "He wasn't with the group." He headed around me back toward the bridge.

I shook my head. First Lark, now Aerrow? How often did you get two kids who got on the Condor Express and still won't come to see Santa?

We found Aerrow sitting on one of the couches on the bridge, absently looking out a window. Radarr was with him, as always, curled up next to him and peering up at him sadly. He had his paw on his hand. As soon as Radarr noticed us, he turned his head in our direction and pricked his ears toward us, alerting Aerrow to our presence.

"Hey," Junko said when he walked up to him, "aren't you comin'?"

Aerrow shrugged. "Christmas just doesn't work out for me," he said in a quiet voice. "Never has."

"But Christmas is such a wonderful, beautiful time!" Junko argued. He was so full of Christmas spirit that seemed hard for him to imagine that other people didn't feel the same way. "It's a time for giving and being thankful, for family and friends!" He gestured to us when he said friends. Because we were Aerrow's friends. Even if we'd only met, according to the stopped clocks, less than a minute ago. "People hang decorations and lights," Junko continued, "and then Santa comes and leaves presents under our Christmas trees!"

But that meant nothing to Aerrow. He had never been part of any of that.

He kept his head down a moment and then looked up to meet our gazes again. "Christmas just . . . doesn't work out for me," he said again.

I sighed in exasperation. This was just exhausting! Why can't he just come with us already? "Look," I said, leaning down and looking him right in the eye, "I don't know if Christmas is gonna work out for you or not, but this is Christmas Eve! Don't spend it here by yourself!"

I know I had said something similar to Lark, and it hadn't worked. But with Aerrow, I thought I had a chance.

"Yeah," Junko added hopefully. "Come with us. We'll go together."

Aerrow looked around at both of us, as if unsure. Radarr whimpered to him hopefully.

Finally Aerrow stood up. "Alright," he said. "Let's go!"

"Yes!" Junko exclaimed. Then he crushed Aerrow with a hug.

I led the way out, hoping that Aerrow wouldn't have second thoughts. If he did, he didn't show it.

Once outside, we looked around. Most of the elves were gone already, and Stork and the other kids had disappeared with them.

"We're too late!" Junko said.

I shook my head. "Stork said they're gathering in the center of the city, right?" I pointed out. "We just have to get there, and then we can find the others." That seemed like perfect logic to me.

"Alright," Aerrow agreed. "What are we waiting for?"

We were just starting out when Aerrow and I both heard a loud clank. Radarr let out a squawk of alarm, and we whirled around. "What the . . . ?" Aerrow began.

Junko had apparently tripped over a small track, like a railroad track, and had landed face first in a cart on the tracks. The cart was knocked into action by the force and was sliding back down the tracks. Radarr was scampering after him.

Aerrow and I only had to glance at each other to know what to do. We ran after them.