Halfway down the train, Rainn started carrying Maisie and Kelly, by request of the former. It was surprisingly easy to get Rainn to obey commands now. Maisie supposed that it was because he felt guilty about their first encounter. Well, that didn't matter. She had a billion other things to be sad about. Not that she wanted to think about them.
Rainn grunted as he dragged himself up the train, which was now crawling uphill.
"Almost . . . there . . ."
He lowered them down into the coal cart, wheezing.
"This is where I leave you . . . urf . . ."
"Don't you wanna come see Kayla?"
He shook his head.
"I'm good. See you soon!"
He vanished into a puff of snow. Maisie frowned.
"That's odd."
"Yeah. He just kind of poofed."
"No, not that part."
"Then what?"
". . . It's not important, I guess."
She turned to the window above the coal pile.
"Alright, let's find- Moonwatcher?!"
Moonwatcher was cleaning up a pile of ash. She gasped with surprise.
"You're early! Aren't you supposed to be chasing a lost ticket or punching a caribou or something?"
"What are you cleaning? Oh my god, is that blood?!"
Beneath the ash was red fluid. Moonwatcher gulped.
"It's fine. Nothing's wrong."
Maisie was hyperventilating.
"Where's Kayla?"
"Right behind you, of course."
The two kids turned around. There was nobody there. When they turned back, Kayla had appeared.
"Hey, kids!"
Maisie narrowed her eyes.
"What's going on? Why is everyone acting so weird?"
"Uneventful."
"What?"
Moonwatcher kicked Kayla. She jittered a bit.
"I am the engineer. I drive the train."
Maisie swallowed.
"I'd . . . I'd like to get off."
Moonwatcher crossed her arms.
"Goddamn it, I hate writing kid characters. I can never make the jokes I want."
Kayla smiled vacantly.
"Why do you want to leave? We're almost at the North Pole."
Maisie snorted.
"So you got un-banned?"
It was true. Kayla had been banned from the North Pole about five hours ago. This was because she was a generally unpleasant person.
"I am a generally unpleasant person," Kayla said.
Moonwatcher turned to her with wide eyes, then laughed it off.
"Ignore her. She's a generally unpleasant person."
Maisie frowned.
"That's not true! Kayla, why aren't you defending yourself?!"
Kayla blinked.
"Coal makes the train go faster."
Maisie swallowed, stepping back.
"Kayla, you're scaring me."
Moonwatcher coughed.
"Kayla, let's get to where we're going, okay? Start shoveling coal."
"Coal makes the train go f-"
"Yeah, okay."
Moonwatcher pushed Maisie and Kelly toward a full door. The coal was gone.
"Let's go, kids!" she grunted.
Maisie thrashed around.
"But I-"
"We're almost at the North Pole. Now, GO!"
As she pushed them through the door, they emerged in the passenger cabin with all of the children. Maisie looked around.
"But . . . this was at the back of the train. How-"
The door had disappeared behind her.
"Oh . . ."
Kelly sat down.
"Well, that was weird. Do you want some hot chocolate?"
Maisie sat down across from her, looking over her shoulder.
"Okay, this just went from regular creepy to extra creepy. Like the lesser known verses of Christmas carols. Oh god, now she has me making bad niche jokes!"
Maisie put her head in her hands.
"All I wanted was a normal Christmas. I just want to get through it quickly."
"But if you get through it quickly, it won't be normal."
Maisie sighed.
"No, it'll never be normal again."
She choked a bit, then took a hasty sip of hot chocolate. After a pause, her lip quivered.
"I didn't realize how much I missed hot chocolate. I haven't had it for years."
"You haven't?"
"Claire and Owen don't make it for me. They prefer cider."
"Can't you just make your own?"
She swallowed.
"It's not the same."
"Not the same as what?"
"As when my grandfather made it."
She looked out the window. It was no longer snowing.
"I suppose . . . I suppose it's been hard adjusting. Claire and Owen are nice, but it's not the same. They try too hard. It's all so different. Truth be told, I haven't felt like it's Christmas since he's been gone."
Kelly put her hand on Maisie's. Her heart fluttered a bit.
"Well . . . Maybe tonight will be different."
She shook her head.
"I don't think so."
The train hissed to a halt. Maisie followed the crowd of children, staring ahead vacantly as they jostled her shoulders. Tears pricking at her eyes, she tuned out most of Moonwatcher's speech. She snapped out of her reverie, however, when the crowd cheered. Moonwatcher skipped up to her.
"You've been selected for a special surprise."
She nodded, but didn't reply. As she was hoisted up into Santa's sleigh, she took a deep breath, preparing herself to once more apologize for causing such a ruckus earlier. But it wasn't the same Santa. She stared at him with awe.
"Grandpa? . . ."
Outside of her dream, Maisie started to flatline.