Already something felt off. Lucy usually can't tell for sure whether she's dreaming or not, until she wakes up. But something is off here.

She was encapsulated by a black almost suffocating void. The only thing in the place floating aimlessly through the nothingness was her. Gravity seemed to be also nonexistent and there was no light and nothing to try and see.

This had a far different feeling then her usual brand of dreams however empty. It was a feeling within her. She didn't feel awake enough for this to be real, but didnt feel like she was asleep either.

Looking around the girl was perturbed by the lack of anything except herself. The inky blackness that was the world at the moment was overwhelming. Her heart rate rose as she tried looking around or trying to move in any discernible direction to gain any stimuli in this plane. But she found none. She could hear her own breath slightly echo in her own ears but nothing more.

That was until her senses went into shock at the sudden appearance of a blinding white light directly in front of her. A single lighthouse eye in the midst of the black oceans. She instinctively put her arms up around her face and sealed her eyes shut. She could feel the warmth of the light touching her exposed skin, which quickly went from warm to uncomfortable pricking.

The closest sensation she could attribute to, was the feeling of pins and needles but blurred by the sensation of carbonation bubbles. Briefly surface level, the feeling soon burrowed deeper into her flesh. Settling into her bones, she could even feel the sensation in her teeth and the tips of her fingers. And most of all right in the center of her chest.

As soon as she tried opening her eyes to see what this light and associated feeling is coming from, it stopped. The blinding light died and the girl was once again thrown back into the jarring darkness. The full body sensation also slowly dissipated as Lucy tried to adjust her eyes to the changed environment.

Before she could do so however, she felt the strong yet slow pull of a familiar force. Gravity was weighing her down and was pulling her toward what she assumed was the ground. Her eyes finally adjusted once again to the dark, as her feet slowly floated onto an invisible plane serving as the floor.

With her senses being thrown around and with little time to react in between, she was left reeling from the assault. Trying to gain back her composure, she was a little confused that she wasn't even a little dizzy. In fact, with her eyes adjusted, gravity restored and now a solid surface to stand on, she felt. Perfectly in balance.

Lucy had a fleeting thought about walking around to try and see the sights (the one sight of nothingness) but decided to try something else first.

"Hello?" she shouted into the nothingness.

Her voice echoed and reverbed, but nothing spoke back. Turning around in all sorts of directions to try and make out anything discernible, she looked up into the dark sky. She could see that little specs of sparkle started to gently shower down from the endless expanse above her. Tiny quarks of pastel light trailed from the ceiling like a gentle snow. They all fizzled out just above her head and never reached the floor. But in the blackout in the world around her, it was as if the constellations themselves melted from the sky and into her hand.

Lucy was enamored by the little bits of magic from over her. She held out a single hand over her head and managed to catch a few fleeting specs. She scrutinized the tiny crumbs of magic only to see that they were, in fact, shaped like the tiniest stars.

A smile grew on her face at the thought of holding the stars in her hand. A rather nice thought to clear her head from the previous more aggressive circumstances. She turned around and took a few non committal steps in no particular direction with her attention still above her. Too astonished by the sight to explore elsewhere.

"Lucy Miller."

A low voice called her name, breaking her out of her wanderlust. She didn't have to look far for the voice's owner, being that he was the only other person there with her.

She couldn't help but notice just how ethereal yet very strange looking he was. He looked like he was in his late 50s or early 60s. His face was gaunt, with a large pronounced nose and a crescent moon tattoo around his right eye. His hair was dark and in tight waves, tied back into a low ponytail. It was as dark as the night and almost touched the floor, moving as if it was in water. The light colored robes did much the same. Atop his head were two off center horns in the shape of another crescent moon. And he carried a large bag on his back full of wooden sticks.

"Who are you?" she asked. Quite relieved to see another person in this weird dreamscape.

The man paused for a moment before answering.

"No one important," he answered in a distorted voice, "But I am here to give you this."

The man reached behind him to his bag to retrieve a simple wooden stick from the bundle. He held it out expectantly for Lucy to take it. Confused but ultimately intrigued by what this was all about, the redhead took a few strides over to the man. She didn't notice just how tall he was this close, and his features held no discernible expression.

Her hand flinched ever so slightly before reaching out and grabbing the branch from the man. In her grasp, the stick glowed the same soft, light purple color as the falling stars around them. It magically grew in length and summoned a crescent moon shape at the hilt in its transformation.

"This staff will serve you well," the man explained, "As I am sure you will serve me well."

The man then turned and walked away from Lucy, leaving far more questions than answers. But before Lucy could have any time to ask them, she felt the claws of the dream begin to release. The grip of consciousness replacing it.

She gently woke up to find herself in the same bed she had gone to sleep in the morning prior. Through squinted eyes she could tell the sun had started rising. But before she could try and wrap her head around the strange dream, she felt something in the palm of her hand.

'Did I fall asleep with my phone again?' she thought as she gripped the object tighter.

Only when she sat up in her bed, did she notice what the object was.

She was holding the same moon shaped staff from her dream.

In another magic realm, far across the stretches of the world, Mother Nature was staying rather unusually calm and still.

Her Garden as she called it, was more so a forest than anything else. The impossibly tall trees on all sides of a large clearing reached toward the stratosphere. The dappled light from the canopies swaying in the gentle breeze onto the grass. In the center of the clearing stood a monstrous white barked tree. Its twisting branches like tentacles of an indescribable god stood resolute as it bridged the gap between earth and sky.

Standing in front of this godlike tree, and in the middle of the blooming flora, in the golden glow of the sun, stood the two council heads. Mother Nature and Father Time stood next to one another as they carefully listened to the sharply dressed centaur before them explain the latest news.

"As I've said, we've only just gotten news from the MFOD thirty minutes ago. The field has touched down and has fully condensed. We've detected no movement from it as of yet, but it did form in Illinois suburbia. Family neighborhood," the dark haired centaur explained.

Both monarchs individually looked deep in thought at themselves.

Mother nature was the first to speak up, "And you said there's been no movement for the past thirty minutes?"

"Correct ma'am."

"Hmmmmm," Mother Nature took another small pause to collect her thoughts.

"Alright then. Father Time, what time should it be in that particular longitude and latitude in Illinois right now?"

Father Time didn't even need time to think about it, "That would be 4:51 am."

"Just as I thought. Keep us updated on any movement from it. I'll send out some fauna to scope the area out for anything unusual. In the meantime, we will have to call an emergency Council meeting to properly deal with this new spirit. Thank you for your assistance, Sheila."

"No problem ma'am." The centaur bowed to the two Legends before making their way out of the garden.

Mother Nature took a small sigh once they left, and walked toward the white tree trunk. She held her palms open toward the skies, and she summoned the squirrels, birds and raccoons to her feet. The birds and squirrels landed on her arms, and she squatted down on the ground to the raccoons to give her orders.

She hasn't said anything yet, and Father Time knew that was an indicator of a problem. The same problem she's been dealing with for a while now. He made his way over to where she was standing as she sent the animals on their way.

"That's all taken care of. They should be keeping an eye out for anything strange," Mother Nature said.

She was about to walk away in order to summon an emergency meeting, when Father Time's gentle hand caught her shoulder.

"I can tell somethings wrong," he gave a sympathetic look.

This caught Mother Nature off guard, as her face fell into one of confusion, punctuated with sad eyes.

"What do you mean? I'm perfectly fine. I just figured we should move quickly with the new-"

"And that's probably what we should do, Mother Nature. But I'm not talking to her, I'm talking to Terra."

Mother Nature's thought was swiftly interrupted, and with her real name no less. She knows that whenever they use eachothers birth names, it means it's time to get serious. Her expression melted from her all business attitude, to one of forlorn. Her posture deflated, and she laid her own hand on top of Father Time's as she admitted defeat.

"It's ok to still miss him. It's only been seven years after all," Father Time remarked, bringing both of his hands into hers.

She couldn't make eye contact, but squeezed his hands back in response, "I know..."

"I don't think you can manage the magical world, and properly grieve at the same time," He prodded.

Father Time witnessed his dear friend's eyes blur with sorrow. A familiar wistful look he's seen many times over the past seven years.

"And I will," she responded softly, "I will in my own time."

"I know that. I'm just concerned that you're not prioritizing your own feelings."

Mother Nature sighs and takes a moment to sit in the calm atmosphere. Reconciling with how she would respond. Until eventually she gathered her breath and fixed her features into something less sad looking, "I - I am. I promise, Horace. There's just been a lot going on. A - A few things to reshuffle, that's all."

Just then Mother Nature finally meets Father Time's gaze to verify her words, and smiles at him.

At that moment he knew she was lying. She was never particularly good at lying, but for him it was always rather easy to tell. She's unsure and fumbles on her words when she tries. In the moment Father time has a fleeting thought about how he definitely didn't get that trait from her. But he knows that now is not the time to try to pry about it either. As much as he would love to have proper sit down and get her to actually examine her own feelings, they can't do that now.

"I understand," he admits in defeat, "Don't forget, I can set up a time stasis whenever you need."

Mother Nature's smile becomes more genuine at his offer, "Thank you Father Time. Maybe another time when there's no urgent business to focus on. Now lets see about calling that meeting."

Arm in arm, the two legends make their way to the teleportation platform in the garden. Making their leave to try and corner this new spirit.

Now fully snapped back into the waking world, Lucy dropped the staff out of her hand in shock. She quickly shuffled away from the magic staff, backing herself against the headboard. Once she was as far away as she could manage, all she could do was stare at it from afar as if it just made a rude comment at her.

'How? How on earth is that thing there? That was a dream, there's no way it's actually there. Am I still dreaming? What even is it?' Lucy thought to herself.

She cautiously leaned her leg out and poked it with her foot. Solid. After a few more seconds of contemplation, she scooted just a little closer to it.

'Nothing about it seems off or anything. No noise, no light, it just looks a little weird.'

With a smidge of newfound confidence that the item won't cause her any harm, she reluctantly poked it with her finger. And again, nothing happened. This gave her the resolve to finally pick it up in both her hands, and it certainly looked a lot lighter than it felt.

It was a plain looking thing, sterile in its design or lack thereof. The handle of the staff was a plain off white, drifting towards a lavender color. Straight as an arrow and slightly weighted at the bottom. At the very top however it sprouted a large white stone carved into the shape of a crescent moon. It looks more akin to a surgical instrument more than a magical artifact.

'I mean this thing is kinda cool, but why is it here?'

Before she could try and think of any answers to her own questions however, Laura knocked and subsequently opened the bedroom door.

"Lucy, are you getting ready?" Laura asked. She looked on in confusion as she saw her daughter still sitting in bed with a weird stick in her hand.

"What's that?"

Lucy was then struck with an internal debate. She never lied to her parents before, and she wasn't sure if now was the best time to start. But she didn't know anything about this thing either. What would be her mom's reaction to saying 'I have no clue! I just woke up with it in my hand.'

So she opted to simply tell most of the truth, "I…don't…know," she rattled off non committedly.

"Where did you get it?"

"I have no idea?" Lucy couldn't find it in herself to give answers she really didn't have, "It just kinda, showed up."

Laura found her daughter's confusion on the staff sincere enough to not ask any more questions. But strange enough to not completely let it go either, keeping it in the back of her mind.

"Alright then. Just make sure to leave it here when you go to school. You overslept a little this morning."

At this new information, Lucy glanced at the clock on her bedside table. She was right, not by much, but she did end up over sleeping. Both mother and daughter noted in their own heads how offbeat the occurrence was. Lucy was usually very punctual for these kinds of things.

Laura took her leave from the room and left a rather dumbfounded Lucy. Her head still swimming with confusion, she gently leaned the staff against the side of her bed.

'Mom's probably right. This whole thing sounds like a problem for future Lucy. I can try and figure this out after school. Future Lucy has been getting a lot of mileage recently!'

As much as she wanted to launch a full investigation about this, she decided that she would have to wait another 7ish hours until the end of the school day. Once off the bed she gave the staff another lingering look, as if would have come to life with her back turned. And when yet again nothing happened, she went about her normal morning routine. Trying to shake whatever feeling the stick was giving her.

After a speedy shower and a wardrobe change into a red sweater dress and black leggings, she threw her hair up into a scrunchie. Hap haphazardly rummaging the various nooks and crannies of her room, she started throwing stuff into her bag for the day.

Jumping down the stairs and zipping up the backpack, she made her way to the front entrance. Both parents in the dining room straight across, making their morning coffee and getting their odds and ends together. Neil, still in his pajamas from the night before with a coffee mug in hand. Laura with her back turned to both of them, mostly dressed.

"Over sleep Luce?" Neil loudly asked.

Lucy looks up from her rushed struggle with her snow boots, "I know right! I thought I set the alarm, but I guess -"

She was quickly cut off by her dad's piping hot coffee spit take. Neil started loudly coughing and hacking the remaining drink out of his system. His eyes were bulging out of his head.

Laura quickly turned around to try and mitigate the choking hazard when she too got a look at Lucy and stopped in her tracks to stare.

Lucy, just having watched her dad almost have an aneurysm, was beyond confused.

"What? What is it?"

"What is on your face?" Laura asked on the brink of a shout.

"My face? What do you mean, what's on my face?"

'Surely I couldn't have missed something that would have that reaction,' she thought.

"You mean you didn't do that to your face?" Neil asked.

"No! I don't know what you guys are talking about. There should be nothing on my face."

"Lucy, your face is glowing!" Laura shouted to make a point.

Lucy freezes for a moment, her features expressionless. Now she had to find out for herself what the hell was going on. With a determined stride, she passed her still bug-eyed parents to the downstairs bathroom. Just off to the side of the entryway.

She made her way in while Laura and Neil stood bolted to the kitchen floor. They didn't even notice Tulip had been sitting next to them, waiting for them to move.

"AHHHHHHH!"

Lucy's scream broke them out of their shock, as they realized they probably should have gone with her! Both parents ran to the bathroom where Lucy was currently freaking out. Tulip follows close behind and sits down at the bathroom doorway.

Her cheeks and nose have been dotted with stark white markings. Abstract with a few definitive moon and star shapes among the swirling patterns. All the small designs combined give off a rather bright unnatural purple glow on Lucy's face.

"When did this happen!? I was fine earlier, what even is this!?" Lucy tried in vain to wipe off the glowing marks from her cheeks in a frenzy.

"It's going to be alright, Sweetie! It's going to be just fine, we're going to figure this out," Laura reassured her panicked daughter as she too started trying to wipe off the glowing marks with a damp wash cloth.

Neil kept a close eye on the cleaning processes as he chimed in from behind the pair. There was nothing he could do at the moment then supervise the cleaning process and watch as his daughter and wife both became more and more nervous. He could see Lucys chest heaving with rapid breath and her hand begin to shake. At that moment he decided it was time for Dr. Miller to step in.

"I think this might be one of those times to take a feelings inventory," he said in a more professional psychologist voice, mostly reserved for panicking clients.

The redhead took a deep breath, measuring the inhale, exhale and held breath in the middle. These types of feeling inventory moments were a constant presence in Lucy's childhood. Whether or not it works for everyone is debatable, but Lucy herself found it actually very helpful in compartmentalizing these kinds of complicated situations. After a few more carefully counted breaths, what little tremor she had was gone and she felt better enough to try and voice her feelings.

"I feel…confused. Because I don't know why or how my face is glowing," she began, still on the tail end of her breathing exercise.

Neil has now gone into full therapy mode, and simply listens to her plight. Putting on the whole psychiatrist persona as he does.

"It wasn't here earlier when mom came to get me. And it wasn't even there when I went to take a shower. And I don't think that it's coming off mom."

Laura perks up and sees that her daughter is right, and that her efforts were indeed fruitless. She puts the washcloth in the sink and ushers the trio out of the bathroom.

"I think we should call Scott," Laura suggests.

Lucy's eyes brighten at the idea, "Yes! Call uncle Scott! He's magical! The north pole is full of magic stuff, maybe this is a magic thing."

"Well, I don't know about that just yet. I mean, it's nearly Christmas and he's as much a regular guy as you and me anyway," Neil interjects.

"Neil, her face is glowing. If anyone we know is going to know anything about this it would be him," Laura explained.

"Exactly! I can't just go to a regular doctor with this," Lucy aggressively gestures at her own face.

"At the very least she can't go to school like this."

Neil, faced with his headstrong daughter and wife, admits defeat before he even gets the chance. If he didn't trust Laura so much, he would fight for his position harder. But he knows that they both have made up their minds already, and he would be powerless to stop them either way.

He sighs, "I'll go call the school."

He pulls out his phone from his pocket and gives Lucy another reassuring pat on the shoulder before walking off to make the call.

"It'll be alright, Sweetie. We're going to get this all sorted out," Laura spoke softly.

She held her daughter tightly by the shoulders as she tucked a stray strand of red hair behind her ear.

"Now let me go call Scott, and we'll get his expert opinion on this," Laura leaves Lucy as she goes to make her own call.

Still standing just outside the bathroom, Lucy takes a moment to note the bond between her parents. Some kind of strange conscience in the back of her head was noting just how well they seemed to get along. It's not knowledge per se, but it's such a strong feeling that it could be? A sixth sense maybe? At this juncture she's not too concerned with the semantics. Whatever it is, it's telling her they have amazing balance with one another. Unknowable information popping up in her head that's telling her they are in great unity with not only each other, but with her as well. She doesn't think to question the information, but it instead puts her more at ease.

'We will all fix this together,' she thinks to herself.

While both parents are occupied, she tries to walk back into the bathroom when she nearly stumbles on Tulip who is still sitting in the doorway. She expects herself to completely fall over when stepping over the surprise dog but finds that she never felt off balance to begin with. To her own surprise she merely steps over the dog with ease. She stops in her tracks and stares down at the golden lab who gives her no input back.

Lucy sighs and she slides her back down the tile wall next to the dog. Tulip scooches closer to the girl, practically sitting in her lap. Lucy pets the dog absent mindedly.

"We're going to get this all squared away, Tuli. And you're going to help me, right?" Tulip provides no response, as she is too engrossed with the pets.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"What do you mean you can't come?" Laura's voice echoed barely audible from the other room. She takes consistent pauses between sentances as she talks with Scott.

"I understand that it's Christmas soon and I understand you have a meeting, but this is a special kind of emergency. Its - It's about Lucy. It's a magical emergency. Her face is glowing!"

Lucy strains her ears as Laura takes a long pause for Scott to explain.

"Alright. Okay, thank you Scott. We will see you in a bit. Okay, bye."

Laura and Neil both finish their respective calls and make their way back to where Lucy was sitting.

She immediately stands back up to attention, shooing Tulip off in the process, "Well?"

"I called the school and got you the rest of the week off. Just in case," Neil said.

"And I talked to Scott. He said that he has an emergency meeting to get to in half an hour, but Bernard will be taking us up north soon. He's going to make the time for us."

"That's great! I really like Bernard." Lucy said.

The anxiousness was soon replaced with enthusiasm, as she realized she was going to get an extra visit with Scott before the holidays! Out of the strange situation that's occurred, she finds holding this extra time at the pole over Charlie's head to be very entertaining.

Laura and Neil don't fully relax but find Lucy's smile infectious and they become a little more at ease.

"Did he say when Bernard is coming?" Lucy asks.

But before Laura could answer, there was a rather loud sparkling and crackling sound coming from behind the trio. A flash of swirling blue light appears in their hallway, a small breeze shaking loose coats and kicking up small papers in its wake. Tulip immediately jumps and runs to hide behind Lucy's legs. The swirling light then disappeared as soon as it came, and in a shower of sparkle stood the elf of the hour with a small blue crystal in his hand.

"Hello Millers," he said dryly.

The human family stood still for a beat in reactive stances from the magic.

"Uh, right now," Laura quipped.

"Bernard!" Lucy exclaimed as she speeds over to the taller than average elf.

She greeted the head elf with a strong and very warm hug. Initially caught off guard, Bernard eventually did hug back. He was never one for physical contact much, but he remembers that this particular kid is a hugger and at this point has learned to not fight it. As much.

"Hi Lucy. You seem to be in good spirits for a human who might be magical now," he said as he pulled away from the hug, "Oh! I see Santa was not exaggerating this time when he said magical emergency."

He didn't notice at first, but now that he has a chance to properly look at her, her face is definitely glowing. Kinda hard to miss to be honest. He leans forward, sticking his hands behind his back as he scrutinizes the glowing marks on the teens face. Every so often cocking his head from one side to the other in observation. Just as he was examining Lucy, she noticed something about him as well.

"What is that?" she asks, pointing directly at his chest.

With his train or thought thoroughly derailed, he follows her finger but finds nothing out of the ordinary on his person, "What's what?"

"That glowy thing," she says.

She can see it clear as day right in front of her! Right in the middle of his chest is a glowing peach colored ball of magic. Floating in stasis. She knows he's never had this thing before now. She tries to reach out and touch it when his hand grabs her wrist.

"Listen kid, you get one hug, but I think it's a little rude to go around touching people like that," he said deadpan.

Lucy immediately collected her own hand, "Oh! I'm sorry, you're right."

Bernard has his suspicions on what could be happening with the kid, his own theory's brewing in his head with the little information he has. But he ultimately decides to keep them to himself for now, at least until he can get Santa's opinion on the matter.

Having just watched her daughter reach out and touch thin air in front of them, Laura steps in, "Do you have any explanation for this Bernard? We're worried about her."

"I'm afraid I do not," he said sincerely, "But that's why you're coming to the pole. We have the best magical physicians on staff. But if you want to talk to the big guy about this before the meeting, we got to leave right now."

"Right now, right now?" Lucy asks.

"Yes! Santa has an emergency council meeting in less than thirty minutes, and I would assume you would want his eyes on this as soon as possible?" he asks sarcastically.

"Of course," Neil said.

"Then let's go! Chop chop! No minutes to spare," Bernard exclaimed. A head elf is never truly off duty, is he?

The Millers wordlessly and quickly flew through the house gathering the appropriate attire to wear for the top of the world. The elf spares a glance at his wristwatch. Two magical emergencies in one day, this close to Christmas too! At this point he can only be grateful this isn't happening the day of, as these things tend to do. Tulip takes this time to cautiously approach Bernard as he supervises the humans. He lets the dog sniff his hand and eventually gives a few noncommittal pets to her head.

Catching a glance at this interaction Laura exclaims loudly to herself, "Oh my god the dog! Just one second, I'll have to call Trisha next door. I don't know how long we're going to be away but it's better safe than sorry!"

With coat in hand, Laura dashes into the other room to make yet another call.

"How are you going to get us there, Bman?" Lucy asks as she hurriedly straps on her snow boots.

Bernard holds up the blue crystal, "With this. Couldn't take the sleigh because it's broad daylight out, and you guys aren't magical so I couldn't teleport all of us myself. So, we had to go the old-fashioned way."

"That thing is going to teleport us there?"

"Precisely. Usually, we only reserve this kind of instantaneous transport for folklore only. But this is turning out to be a special case," the elf explained.

Now fully clad in the proper winter attire, Lucy bent down to eye level with Tulip, "Be good Tuli! No setting the house on fire, and no house parties."

Tulip looked at Lucy like she was the only in the room but had no other thoughts behind her dark eyes. She was just very happy someone was talking to her.

When Laura emerged from the other room fully dressed, the whole team was ready to go.

"There we go! I told Trisha to check up on Tulip in a few hours. Everything should be all set," she affirmed to herself more than anyone.

With everyone ready, Bernard held the crystal in a firm right-handed grip, "Everybody make sure you hold onto each other. Don't need anyone dropping off the face of the earth."

Neil chuckled at this remark, "Metaphorically, right?"

Bernard gave a sparing gaze at the man and did not respond to the comment. Neil felt himself lose years off of his life in that single moment.

As instructed, the family members hooked their arms together with the head elf forming a circle between them.

"Now this might get a little bumpy," he warned as he closed his eyes and tapped into the crystal in his hand.

Lucy could see it all happen in front of her. The little orangish ish ball of magic in his chest and the blue crystal glowed brighter in tandem. Both bright and both temporarily linked. The scene of the magic channeling from the elf was soon ripped away as the environment around them started aggressively clouding and swirling. The walls and surfaces of the home twisted and turned into pure colors and shapes. The ground around them felt uneasy as it warped, temporarily putting the group in what felt like thin air. For the weak stomached, it could give a nasty case of vertigo.

As soon as it started however, a new place then came into view through the sparkly mist around them. The almost familiar visage of white snow and tall buildings emerged and materialized. And with all four pairs of feet on the ground again, the group found themselves in the middle of the workshop square. Just as how they remember it looking. And how cold they remember it feeling as the winter air assaulted their exposed faces.

Once reality settled into solid forms again, the group opened their eyes again and started to get their baring's. As they gathered themselves, Lucy started chuckling to herself.

"What? What's so funny?" Neil asks.

Lucys laughter only got louder, "Dad. Your still in your pajamas."

Neil, Laura and Bernard all took a moment to confirm that indeed, Neil had left the house still in his very apt Christmas Pajamas.

This got another round of laughter from both Lucy and Laura, as Neil gave a sizable face palm to himself. Bernard, always in a hurry, immediately walked off to the workshop entrance.

"Come on people! We have a schedule to keep."

Lead by Lucy in hot pursuit of the elf, the miller family started speed walking through the main square. Crossing paths of miscellaneous elves, Lucy wondered to herself how Bernard manages to walk so fast.

With the parents two steps behind, Bernard leads the group to Santa's office. Periodically stopping to give some kind of confirmation for an order, or to give a solution to another minor problem that's popped up on the assembly line, or to give Curtis the job of managing one of the floors he couldn't reach at the moment.

Lucy on the other hand stopped just as often to watch the workshop, and the whole elf workforce in action. The place just seems to get better every time she comes here, but something else has been catching her eye as she walks through the candy cane-colored halls.

Like Bernard, all of the elves she's been seeing have the same peach color orb hovering in their chests. Every elf she's seen has got one. And from the brief glances of the busy factory floor and Bernard subtly managing it on his way, her new weird subconscious is telling her that this place is in almost perfect harmony. Almost, just barely. She can tell that the synergy here is precarious, but at the moment working like a well-oiled machine. She can practically feel the main assembly floor emitting efficiency.

After a set of stairs and more hallways, the group finally made it to Scott's office.

Bernard opened the door for the family, "Sir! The Millers are here," he shouted as he made his exit back down the hall.

From all the way across the room, Lucy could even see there was something different about her uncle too. He was sitting at his desk in the midst of some paperwork, and there was nothing physically out of the ordinary with him. Besides the being Santa Claus thing. But now instead of the floating orbs she saw with the elves, Scott had a glowing aura around his form. Mostly gold with specs of green and red glowing brightly around him. This however did not stop him from being a very welcomed presence to her at the moment.

Scott was stirred from his paperwork at his desk, and immediately lit up at the sight of the family.

"Uncle Scott!" Lucy yelled as she made a beeline for him.

"Lucy!" Scot shuffled out of his chair to meet the girl's embrace, "Just in time! I was starting to get a little chilly here."

Lucy chuckled as she pulled away from the hug and getting a good look at her face Scott seemed perplexed all of a sudden.

"I thought you said her face was glowing?" he asked.

The parents and Lucy gave their own looks of confusion. Laura and Neil shucked off their coats and walked over to the pair. Evidently when all three adults had their eyes on her, the Millers were surprised to find that her face was indeed clear.

"Huh. She was glowing just a moment ago," Neil said.

"Yeah, but now her eyes are a different color!" Laura discovered.

"What!?" Lucy instantly started looking around the room and found a large wall mirror straight ahead of her.

She practically ran to the mirror and leaned in close to judge for herself. Sure enough, her eyes were no longer grayish blue, but instead a light desaturated purple that almost shimmered if she looked at the irises just right.

Pulling herself away from the mirror she made her way back over to where the adults were standing.

"This is the problem uncle Scott! I was perfectly normal yesterday, but when I woke up today suddenly my face has weird marks on it and I'm glowing, my eyes are changing color, I'm apparently seeing stuff that one else is seeing and I found a weird - "

Lucy cut herself off in the middle of her thought. Frozen in place she remembers perhaps the weirdest thing that happened just this morning!

"...staff," she quietly finished her thought as her eyes locked onto it from across the room.

Seeing as her gaze has turned to stone and the teen has stopped moving, the adults in the room follow her line of sight.

The same wooden moon shaped staff from earlier that day was somehow here. Leaning peacefully against the far wall. Lucy and Laura alike, acted as though they saw a ghost.

"That's…that's impossible," Laura muttered to herself.

Lucy cautiously approached the staff as Scott and Neil shared another confused look.

"So, what is it?" Scott finally asked.

Lucy picked up the stick in both hands and turned to face everyone else, "I have no idea. But it's impossible that it could even be here in the first place, because I left this thing back at home!"

Everyone stood in abject silence for a second, utterly clueless as to what was actually going on. Lucy was staring daggers at the staff in her hands, like if she thought about it hard enough it would come to life and give her all the answers she wants.

"Okay, alright," Scott said, stroking his white beard in thought, "so let me get this straight. You've been seeing things one one else is seeing, your face has been glowing, your eyes are now changing colors and you have a staff that's followed you here?"

Before anyone could say anything else, another velvety voice piped up from the office doorway.

"That sounds like quite the predicament."

It was none other than Mother Nature, ducking her way into the room. Followed suit by the seven other members of the Legendary Council filing into the space directly after her.