Smiles Chapter 16: The Clifton Society Incident: Rescue, a the santa clause fanfic

The Clifton Society Incident
Part 2: Rescue

"Okay, what's our cover story," Charlie asked, rummaging through his bag as the pair approached the doors.

"We're cousins looking for our dads," Jacqueline decided, scratching her arms as they stepped onto the veranda. "We were on a trip, at our own lodge down the way. Our dads headed out just after dinner to get, y'know, firewood and stuff, bickering as brothers do, leaving us two cousins behind. Then, the storm hit. We haven't heard from them since, so once it slowed down a bit, we came looking for them."

"Got it, got it. And got this for you!"

Grinning, Charlie passed Jacqueline a small bottle of pills.

Scratching her head rather intensely under her hat, she squinted at them. "What're those?"

"Antihistamines! Looks like it's fae brand."

"Well that's handy. Thanks!"

Taking the bottle of pills from Charlie gratefully, Jacqueline watched as he continued rummaging around his bottle. The sounds coming out of the pack were cartoonish in nature; her head tilted involuntarily as finally, he pulled out a tall, reusable water bottle. He gave it a little shake; water sloshed around.

"Ha! Sick! Already filled AND ecofriendly! Here you go, Jacquie."

"Oh, shit! Sweet! Thanks, Charlie!"

Popping the lid and grabbing two pills, Jacqueline tossed them in her mouth, holding them there as she grabbed the water Charlie had pre-opened and handed her way.

"No problem! Hopefully that curbs the itching. We don't want them to be onto us right away."

She nodded, gulping comically loud. "It'll take a moment for them to kick in, but I'll do my best to not scratch in the meantime."

"Cool. I can do most of the chatting for the first bit, if it helps?"

"Oh, I'll be fine to chat. Don't worry! I'll behave. Promise!"

"I wasn't worried, but now I kind of am," Charlie teased.

"Ha! No, I'll be okay. Oh! But if you wanna take the lead for the experience or whatever, by all means! Go right ahead." She flashed him a kind smile. "It'll give me more time to case the joint. Plus, first Legate mission! Better get some practise in, eh?"

Charlie laughed. "Exactly! If you're cool with it."

"Dude, I already told you, I invented—"

"You invented cool, right right right. Got it. Okay! We've got our cover story, you got your antihistamines, water's tucked in the side pocket…" he patted one of the many, many, many pockets of his cargo pants. "I think I'm good to go."

"Perfect. I think I'm ready to go? Ears are all tucked away. How do I look?"

Charlie squinted at her. Think human, he thought.

"Your hair, dude."

"Ah, shit. Right." Frowning, Jacqueline pulled off her hat. She ran her hands through her hair, the white trailing behind her fingers and revealing the brown, until all that remained of the freeze dry (or in her case, snow blow) was a rather large snowball.

"And maybe you should like, put on pants?"

Jacqueline looked down at her bare legs, humming thoughtfully to herself. She glanced at her snowball and grinned.

Tossing it into the air, she waved a glowing hand. The snowball turned into frost, sparkling as she whooshed her hand down. The frost settled on her legs, turning into what could, for ordibeings, pass as sheer white-ish blue-ish tights.

Charlie, very much a magihuman, looked down at her legs. Then back up at Jacqueline, eyebrow raised.

"What?"

Charlie looked down at the snowy tights YET AGAIN, then back at the sprite.

"Oh, come on. Nobody's gonna know!

Charlie kept staring, incredulous.

"Nobody's gonna know."

"They're gonna know."

"HOW would they know?"

"It's snow, Jacqueline."

"Yeah? And my dresses are usually layers of ice and frost and snow on top of material used back in like the fifteen hundreds. How is this any different? They're not going to know!"

Charlie snorted. "Yeah, okay. We'll see about that."

"They're not going to know."

"Bet."

"Fine!" Indignant, Jacqueline stuck out her hand. "I'll relinquish my title of chubby bunny champion to you if they notice."

Charlie clapped Jacqueline's outstretched hand. "Done."

"Good." She squeezed his hand, keeping it locked in place. "And if I win?"

"You keep your title and I buy the next round of drinks for all the Legates. Who drink."

"DONE!" Letting go, she shoved her hat back over her slightly pointed ears gleefully. "Ready?"

"Oh yeah. I got this. First Legate mission," Charlie stretched his neck and cracked his knuckles. "Let's do this."

Shaking out his hands, he knocked on the door.

They waited for a moment, wind whistling through the trees, snow spraying with a delicate tinkle as footsteps sounded behind the door. The locks clicked; the door swung open, revealing a small, thin woman. She looked very tired and interestingly enough, slightly perturbed.

Charlie smiled. "Hi there! Merry Christmas! Sorry to bother you so late, but we're looking for our dads. We were at our lodge just, uh, down the way, and they popped out to get like, firewood and stuff? But then the storm got bad and we haven't seen them since."

"Oh, you poor kids! You must be worried sick."

"Nah." Jacqueline waved carelessly. "They do this sort of thing all the time."

The woman glanced at Jacqueline and immediately started. "Oh my god, you're blue! How long have you been outside, young lady?"

"Oh, I'm—"

"Young man, you should really take better care of your sister."

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Sister?"

He glanced over, squinting at Jacqueline dumbfounded.

"What would your fathers think?!"

Jacqueline's eyes widened in realization. She turned away, unable to help the snort that tumbled out, hoping to compose herself before it turned into a full-on laugh fest.

"Oh dear. That's a nasty sounding cough. You should come right inside; it's bad out there!"

"Really, it's fine! We're fine."

"Honey. You're blue." The woman tsk'd, turning to level Charlie with a stern glare. "You should've made sure she bundled up more before the two of you left."

"Yeah, y'know, I would've, but she's stubborn! Doesn't usually listen to me," Charlie said, dryly.

"That's because the cold really doesn't bother me!" Jacqueline turned back around, smiling sweetly as she pointed to herself. "Canadian! That's where my dad and I are from. So I'm used to the cold. We both are. Really, this is mild compared to Winnipeg on a bad day. Sorry to worry you!"

"Really?" Charlie asked, meaning we're going with this?

"Oh ya bud, one hundred percent," Jacqueline replied, meaning this is so fucking funny we can't NOT go with it.

Charlie shrugged. "Sick."

Which, of course, actually meant, you know what? It kind of is! And if it works it works. Also, seeing you dial up the Canadian is very amusing, so let's do it!

But to the woman at the door, it was just confirmation that Canada was cold and Canadians were not just polite, but also maybe a little bit crazy.

"Well, this may not be Canada levels of cold, but it is still cold. Here, come in. It's warm inside, and we have some food if you'd like. Let me make you two some hot chocolate, toast up those fingers and toes. Jack Frost sure is hard at work tonight," wincing, she ushered them inside.

"Oh, please. No he's not. The storm is practically running its—"

"Alright sis, IN we GO!" Charlie cut in, chipper, drowning out Jacqueline. Stepping inside, he pulled her in with him, stomping the snow off his boots as loudly as possible as the warmth in the house encompassed them. Bending to slip off his shoes, he looked up.

His heart plummeted down into his stomach, grin falling right behind it

The foyer walls were tall. They stretched very high, and were covered in what upon first look seemed to be your average hunting trophies. But upon the second look of a magically trained kind, they were not the least bit average, nope! No sirree!

He turned to give Jacqueline a warning, but it was too late; the door gently clicked shut behind her as she gazed up at the walls, equal parts horrified and astonished.

"Sorry about the décor," the woman began, kicking some shoes off to the side. "My husband and his friends collect…weird things. His family had this old story about a strange old hunting club they used to run. His great grandmother disbanded it when she inherited it."

"Made for a uh, silly story, I'd guess." Charlie hazarded a glance at Jacqueline, hoping for confirmation that that's exactly what it was.

Needless to say, the small, sad shake of her head was not the answer he'd been hoping for.

"Ha! If only. She tried though! And it lasted a while. Unfortunately, the stories and traditions made their way down to my husband who decided to revive them. Bad décor and all."

Visibly annoyed, she shook her head and huffed, a loose hair floating up in the air before gently settling back on her forehead. "Sorry. I didn't mean to uh, sound so rude." Perking up, she offered them a kind smile. "Please, come in! Follow me. Kitchen is right this way. There should be some maps of the trails in there somewhere…"

The woman mused to herself, disappearing down the hall and to the right. Once she was out of sight, Charlie spoke up, very, very quietly.

"Jacqueline, I—"

She held up a finger, closing her eyes and composing herself briefly before speaking.

"If you're going to apologize, please don't, Charlie," she finally said, opening her eyes. "You didn't hunt these magibeans."

"Yeah, but. They're. You know. You…it's just…you know. You're also a magibean!"

"I am aware."

She surveyed the unicorn horn encased in glass on the sideboard, errantly scratching her arm as she peered closer at it. "But for what it's worth, a lot of this stuff is fake! And there's nothing here of sprites. I don't even know what you'd take from a sprite if you were to hunt one. We don't really have anything to keep as a posthumous trophy."

She turned away from the horn, drumming her chin thoughtfully. "I had this HORRIBLE teacher once, who told me that when a sprite dies, they turn back into the elements they were made of." She laughed. "She was trying to spook me, but I wasn't a baby. I knew that was false. Mama didn't raise this one to be a fool! We get beamed over to Rosehaven, just like everyone else."

"How are you being so cool about this?"

"I told you, I invented—"

Charlie gave a small smile. "You invented cool, right, right."

"Hey man," Jacqueline rested her palm on his arm. "It's okay. Nothing like this will happen to your Dad. Not on my watch. And seriously, most of this stuff is fake. Now c'mon. Take a few breaths, and let's head in before we make whoever she is suspicious."

Gently, Jacqueline steered Charlie past the sideboard and out of the entrance space, into the hall.

"She seems nice."

"Seems. Remember, our dads are here!" Jacqueline's smirk was borderline devious. "They've been legend-napped, Charles."

Charlie snorted. "You know, they really need to flirt in a way that doesn't involve bickering so much that they get lost."

Jacqueline just about died as they entered the kitchen, the kettle boiling as the woman rummaged around a desk-like counter top beside the entrance.

"Though the neighbours are sparse, the area is gorgeous! There's a whole set of lovely trails up the way, and they're pretty easy to stumble on while walking around. Very pretty, too—especially after a snowstorm. Maybe your dads decided to go on a romantic, snowy walk?"

"Oh, my dad loves those!"

"Mine prefers a sleigh ride over a walk."

The woman smiled, missing Charlie's smirk as Jacqueline's giggles went right over her head. "Awh! How cute. Oh, where are my manners!" She looked up, spinning around and facing the pair. "My name is Eve! Eve Clifton."

"I'm Charlie Calvin. And this is my uh, sister. Jacqueline—"

"Frost. Jacqueline Frost. Our dads kept their surnames. Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Clifton."

"Call me Eve," she said, setting the mugs down in front of them as the kettle screamed. "You know…you have quite the last name, Jacqueline. And paired with that first name…"

"I get that a lot! People always go haha! Imagine if you were a boy, eh? Bet you'd be named Jack! And then the whole reference comes out and they laugh like I've never heard THAT one before." She sniffed. "Absolute hosers, I tell ya."

Eve laughed, though she looked…worried, funnily enough.

"Well. You won't get that reaction here, I promise you that. They take Jack Frost seriously around these parts. Too seriously, if you ask me."

Jacqueline smiled slyly. "Now that's funny."

"Is that instant mix?" Charlie couldn't help but ask distastefully.

Jacqueline cleared her throat, giving him a warning look.

He shot one right back, doubled in intensity.

"Unfortunately, that's all I've got."

"That's alright. Add some milk and cinnamon and it'll taste amazing."

"A bit of citrus wouldn't hurt either," Jacqueline suggested. "Or a hint of vanilla."

The woman looked at them from round the fridge. "Well, aren't you two quite the hot chocolate aficionados."

"Our dads are really into Christmas."

"Well, Charlie's is. Mine is a little salty about it, but he makes a mean cocoa."

"Salty about Christmas? Why?"

"He thinks it overshadows the winter season too much." Jacqueline batted her eyelashes ever so sweetly. "Winter's his favourite."

Good god, Charlie was going to lose it. He was going to straight up die of laughter. Holy shit. He took a deep breath in, grabbing the items Eve had pulled out of the fridge from her.

"Here! Let me help."

"Oh, thank you, Charlie!"

"I've got free hands too!"

"Thank you, Jacqueline. Could you grab the maps? They're just right over there—yes, that's them. We can head over to the living room. The fire's roaring! I make a mean fire," she laughed. "That along with the hot chocolate should warm you two right up and get you ready for the next leg of your journey."

Flashing them a sweet smile, she headed down the hall and turned into the living room, the pair of them entering behind her and immediately recoiling, grimaces not far behind.

The walls here were covered in magibean trophies, too. Ridiculous pelts; a tattered old witch's hat. Some odds and ends that glowed and sparkled when the firelight caught it in just the right way. Very high up, Charlie spotted fairy wings. His grimaced intensified; he glanced over at Jacquie. She, too, had seen them.

She looked away, placing the maps on the table and taking the tray of hot chocolate from Eve.

"Oh, thank you. The two of you are absolute sweethearts! I hope my kids turn out to be as lovely as you."

"Kids, huh?" Charlie asked, sitting down carefully beside Jacqueline. She held the warm mug in her hands, casing the joint over the rim.

"I have three. Jamie, Steven, and the baby. She's only a couple of months old," Eve said, glancing over at a bassinet.

"Does baby have a name?" Jacqueline asked, following her gaze.

"I wanted to name her Beatrice," Eve started.

Jacqueline glanced into her mug, trying to hide the recognition that she was sure spread over her face.

"But Colin, my husband, wasn't a fan of the name. We've named all three kids after his ancestors who started collecting this, uh."

"Weird stuff," Charlie supplied.

"Yeah," Eve sighed. "Beatrice was the name of one of his very great aunts, and her history is fascinating. Colin isn't a fan, though. Thinks he already gave me a decent amount of leeway with our last one. Stevie. Short for Steven. Named after his very great uncle Stephen."

"A shame," Jacqueline said, clearing her throat and putting down her drink. "I like the name, too."

"I've decided to call her Helen, after Colin's great grandmother. It seemed to do the trick, though he was still a little on the fence about it." Eve flushed. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to unload on you two."

"It's okay!" Charlie smiled. "Really. We don't mind!"

"Thank you," she replied with a soft but tired smile of her own. "Now then, whereabouts are you two staying? Is it the Roberts' place? I heard they had rented it out for the season and gone off to Cuba for the holidays."

"That sounds about right," Charlie said.

"Oh! In that case, I imagine that your dads are probably somewhere around here." Pulling out a map that was near the bottom of the pile, she placed it on top. "There's all sorts of lovely views on the trails, but this one is closest to the Roberts's place—"

A wail startled the three; they all looked up, glancing over at the bassinet by the window. The baby's hands were waving in the air, her cries getting louder.

"Oh, I'm sorry, let me—"

Jacqueline stood up before Eve could. "May I? I'm really good with kids."

"Oh! Uh. Sure, if you'd like, but really, I—"

"Nonsense!" She hopped over the side of the couch, the braids on her hat swaying behind her. "I got it. You've been very kind to us! Take a moment, okay?"

"That's very sweet, but I—"

"Don't worry, Eve. She's got it," Charlie said. "I promise."

Eve chewed her lip thoughtfully. She watched as Jacqueline reached the bassinet, the cries dying down as she gently reassured the baby.

"Everything okay?"

"Oh. It's just. It's been a long night."

"We can talk about it, if you'd like. I'm a really great listener."

Eve sunk back down, eyes still trained on Jacqueline and the baby. "Oh, I don't want to keep you from finding your dads—"

"Nonsense! They can wait. My dad would be happy to know I stopped to help someone in need."

"He sounds generous."

Charlie chuckled. "Oh, he is! Very. So. What's going on?"

"Well..."

Jacqueline glanced back at Charlie with a soft smile and a small laugh of her own. He'll be fine, she thought, tuning them out and reassuring herself, apparently, when there was no reply. Her mind was buzzing with the silence. She'd gotten so used to the familiar, comforting (though she'd never admit that to anyone) presence just being there after Jack's return, that the silence was…unnerving. She wasn't used to it. She didn't like it.

Sighing, she glanced down at the little baby.

The baby opened her eyes, taking a breather before the next wail and stopping the moment she saw Jacqueline peering into her cradle. A sniffle; a quick gurgle, an almost cry, even, as the baby reached up, fingertips just reaching the softly frayed edges of the braids on her hat.

Jacqueline smiled. "Hey there, little one. You like my hat?"

The baby cooed, playing with it some more. She managed to grab the edge, giving it a tug.

"Careful! You'll pull it right off and get a nasty little shock," Jacqueline chided, gently tickling the baby's belly.

It laughed, its little legs kicking the air.

"Aww. You're just the cutiest little pie, aren't you? I get it. So am I!"

Jacqueline winked.

The baby shoved her fist into her mouth, staring up at the sprite with wide eyes.

"Do you wanna see something cool?"

The baby continued to tug on her braid. It made a sound that may have been a laugh, but may have also been a cry.

"I hear you girl. Here, check this out."

Glancing left and right very quickly over her shoulders, Jacqueline wiggled her fingers as she called up her magic. They glowed light blue, and a little itty-bitty flurry of snowflakes appeared, dancing on her fingertips.

"Ah-ha! Ha! Ah!" the baby yelled with glee, sticking her entire fist into her mouth and kicking about excitedly.

Jacqueline laughed. "I know, right? It's cool, isn't it?!"

"Eve? What's going on here?"

Jacqueline dropped the magic real fast, whirling around and whipping her hand behind her body. She stared at the entrance to the living room, where a man dressed in a horribly reddish orange cloak with dark trim had appeared, staring right at her with narrowed eyes.

You were right about the outfit, Frosty, she thought, met with nothing but silence in return.

Eve stood up. "Colin. These are our neighbours for the season."

The man's head swivelled towards her, suspicious.

"Really now?"

"Yes. They're renting the Roberts's place for the holidays."

"And came calling at this late of an hour?"

Charlie stood up now as well. "We were looking for our dads. They left to grab some firewood, and we think they got lost in the storm. We didn't really know the area, so my sister thought we should stop and ask for directions. She's Canadian, you see," Charlie said, as if that explained everything away.

"Canadian?" he asked, turning back towards Jacqueline, suspicious.

"Oh ya," Jacqueline replied, heavy on the lilt. "Go Leafs go!"

The man hummed. "I never was one for hockey."

"You're, ah. You're missing out there, bud!"

The man hummed. "If you say so." Eyeing Jacqueline up and down one last time, he turned back to Eve.

"Could I see you in the kitchen for a moment?"

Sighing, Eve placed her cup down, pushing herself up. "If you must. I'll be right back, Charlie."

"Yeah, sure! No worries! Take your time. My sister and I will just, ah, take a look at those maps in the meanwhile."

Eve smiled and nodded, heading out of the room with the man.

Charlie waited until the last flash of reddish orange turned the corner before bolting over the couch and rushing to Jacqueline.

"I think he saw!"

"Don't EVER let me say that again."

"Say what?"

"Go Leafs g—ah, I can't even finish that sentence," she said, visibly disgusted. "They suck. They suck so bad. And they never do well in play-offs and Leaf fans are incorrigible!"

"See, that's why I like the Penguins. They're alright and the most insufferable fans are the ones who talk about how hot all the players are and that's it. And like, only some of them are hot! That's the worst part."

Jacqueline raised a brow, corners of her mouth twitching. "That they're wrong and have bad opinions?"

"Exactly."

Jacqueline snorted. "Ha. Man, I don't even follow hockey season. It's scary enough as is when an errant Leaf fan sees you and makes conversation and then of course, talks about the Leafs and it takes so much willpower to not say yeah, the Habs are gonna kick their asses yet again just to get them riled up—sorry, hang on a sec. He saw? Saw what?!"

"Oh! Right! Yeah, I think he saw you showing the baby your, uh, magic trick."

"Oh. Oh shit. Are you sure?!"

"I don't know, but we gotta get moving while we have the chance. We need to figure out where Dad and Jack are. Can you sense him at all?"

"I told you, I can't. It's quiet. It's buzzy. I can't hear him, I can't sense him—nothing. It's never been this dead, not even when we had blocked it." The baby tugged harder at the braid. "You need to use yours."

"Mine?!"

"Yes! If we want to find them, you've gotta dig into your mindscape and find the thread."

"But Dad and I didn't really want to—"

"Well it looks like now you're gonna HAVE TO, Charles."

"Apologies for my rudeness. We've had a busy night here! I'm Colin," Colin said, reappearing at the entrance with a worried looking Eve. "Colin Clifton. Pleasure to meet you two, Charlie and—?"

"...Jacqueline."

"Jacqueline. Well, do make yourself comfortable." He gave them a sort of almost sinister grin. It made Jacquie's nose wrinkle and gave Charlie a shiver. "Both of you, of course."

His eyes flicked carefully between the two of them.

The baby tugged harder on Jacqueline's hat.

"I have to run upstairs quickly, but I'll be back down in a jiffy! I'm sure we can get better acquainted then."

"…okay."

"...sure.

"Excellent."

Still smiling in the most unsettling way both Legates could imagine, he turned and left the room in a whirl of robes, footsteps heading up the stairs.

"I'm so sorry about him," Eve sighed, her voice warbly. "He's. I don't even have an excuse, he's just like that. He wasn't always. But lately, this whole antiquated family tradition has become his life."

The Legates shared a look.

"Listen," Jacqueline said. "I know we're total strangers who like, just met, but, what Charlie said still stands, eh? We're happy to listen. And help, too, if we can."

"I—ha." She laughed to herself, shaking her head with a sad smile. "You're going to think I'm crazy."

Jacqueline and Charlie shared a knowing look.

"You'd be surprised," Charlie said, Jacqueline nodding in agreement as she leaned back down to the bassinet, once more playing with the baby.

"Are you folks sure? It's. Oh. You're going to think I'm insane. I feel insane."

"Hey. My sister walks in snowstorms dressed like that," Charlie gestured behind him, where Jacqueline was making silly faces as the baby tugged on her hat strings. "It'll take a lot to shock us."

"Really?"

"Really," Jacqueline assured.

"Oh. Okay. Well, you see…it's just that—"

Audible static interrupted the woman, ringing out throughout the living room. The baby giggled, Jacqueline's hat clutched tightly in her little itty bitty baby palms, the former's pointed ears completely visible as strands of thawed hair stood on end.

Eve gasped. Her hands moved up to her mouth, eyes widening.

"Uh," Charlie stalled, scrambling for a story while Jacqueline, quick as could be, threw her massive amounts of thick brown hair forward, then back. The slight waves settled, covering her ears as she pried the hat out of the baby's surprisingly strong grip.

Finally, Eve pulled her hands away from her mouth, lips pinched.

"You need to go. Now."

"But we—"

"No buts!" She snapped in her Mom voice, rushing over and grabbing the hat from Jacqueline, jamming it back on her head tightly. "It's not safe for you here."

Charlie looked over at Jacqueline, relieved to see her looking just as heartbroken as he felt. He quirked an eyebrow; she gave him the slightest of nods, readjusting her hat.

"But it's not safe for you here either, is it?"

Eve gasped. Her lips wobbled; tears started pooling once again. She muffled a sob, chest heaving as she nodded as best as she could through her grief.

"Oh. Here, come here."

Jacqueline gently pulled her in, offering her a hug.

She took it, burying herself in the sprite's shoulder and letting the thick woollen coat do the muffling for her. Charlie frowned, rubbing Eve's back gently as the woman let out all the tears she'd been holding back probably since baby Helen was born.

"It's okay," Jacqueline spoke quietly; softly. Chilling her hands, she brought them up to Eve's face, cooling the woman's cheeks as she pulled herself out of Jacqueline's sodden shoulder. "Tell us what's happened."

"Please," Charlie said. "You know we can help you. I know you know."

"He knows many things about many people. And you give me nice list vibes!"

"Not once on the naughty list," Charlie confirmed.

Eve smiled, a small laugh eliciting a glob of snot from her nose.

Charlie pulled a tissue out of the side of his backpack and offered it to her.

"Please. Let us help you, Eve."

The woman waited a beat. Two. She breathed deeply, looking up at Charlie, trying to catch her breath as her sobs died down. Finally, she wiped the tears off her cheeks, took the tissue gratefully, blew her nose loudly and looked at them both, face wet.

"I know where your dads are."

"So if we get the key, we can take the bracelets off Mister Frost, and he can block the door and we can take the old stairs up! If we do it right, they'll be too busy with that door to think to use the back one before we can get out through it," Jamie explained, the carpet indented where she had trailed her fingers through it to draw their proposed path.

"Ah yes, the element of surprise. Sound military strategy." Santa stroked his beard, staring at the carpet diagram thoughtfully. "Although…they do know about the other exit, right?"

"Yeah, but they never use it."

"So we'll have a small window of time to run our play," Santa tugged at his beard. "Hmm. Do you really think reinforcements are on their way, Jack?"

"Duh!" Jack panted briefly, still leaning heavily on Santa. "They lost contact with you! On Christmas Eve! SOMEONE is bound to be coming."

"Probably just ELFS."

"No. They'll be sending our Legates."

"Legates?" Stevie asked.

Jamie frowned. "Don't you mean Leg-IT?"

"Uh, no. We mean Leg-ATE because Leg-IT sounded yucky when we did the whole thing what, fifteen hundred years ago?"

"Why are you asking me? I literally just got mine a few years back."

"And ABOUT TIME, too."

Santa rolled his eyes.

"So what's a Leg-IT?" Stevie asked, pen at the ready.

"They're our little padawans."

"What's a padawan?"

"Have you never seen Star Wars?"

Both kids shook their heads no.

"How?!"

"Really Santa?! Are you really asking them that after the NIGHT we have HAD?"

"Good point," Santa replied. "They're like our seconds-in-command. Little deputies. They're next in line for our titles. And apparently, they're en route?"

"Well yeah!" Jack shimmied, slowly moving himself from Santa's back to his side. "ELFS may come, but once they see the scene? They're going to call in Special Ops RIGHT AWAY. I've lost complete contact with Jacqueline, and that's a HUGE factor for when Legate interference is necessary. They may even be here already, come to think of it."

Thoughtful, Jack glanced down at the cuffs, managing to somehow go even paler.

"We need to get out. Fast."

"We're working on it, right kids?"

They nodded in agreement.

"But it'd be great if we knew for sure where the padawans were. Jack, do you have any idea? You know," Santa wiggled his fingers above his head, making a little "woo" sound. The kids snickered.

Unimpressed, Jack rested the back of his head on Santa's shoulder and looked up at him. "What part of I HAVE LOST COMPLETE CONTACT do you not understand."

"You mean you can't, you know. Woo!" Santa asked, wiggling his fingers once again.

"Anti-magic cuffs." Jack clinked them together for good measure. "Can't frost, can't snow, can't access any magical mental connections. You know, Scott, you have one too. Maybe YOU should try to go all WOOO!" Jack said, loudly, imitating Santa's wiggly fingers. The kids covered their mouths to muffle their laughter.

"Yeah but…I don't know how. Charlie and I haven't really been great at using it. Well…we haven't been using it. At all. We didn't really want to invade each other's privacy like that? It ah, it felt and sounded right at the time. We don't use it. We never have."

"Well sprite up!" Jack spun around once more, settling himself against the bars of the room cell. "Because you're about to."

"Wait, now? You're going to teach me? You?!"

"FIRST of all, yes, right now. We've got a small window! You said so yourself, didn't he, kids?"

"You did," Jamie said, Stevie nodding.

"Boom," Jack replied. "SECONDLY, YES, me. I am a GREAT teacher! Jacqueline turned out JUST FINE and don't you say a word, Santa, because the I told you so is going to feel GREAT for me and me alone when she gets here and breaks us out, and I DON'T want you to ruin that for me. AND THIRDLY and also LASTLY, I need to know where she is, because I can't let this," he clacked the cuffs together again, shoving them in Santa's face, "happen to her, too. And I don't think you understand how far I will go to keep her safe, Santa." Jack leaned forward, actually for real whispering. "You saw the photo, Scott. She's in danger."

Santa found himself raising his hands in defense. "Whoa. Right. Okay. Sure, let's do it."

"Good." Jack settled back onto the bars with a deep breath. "Let's get Inception-y, yeah?"

"What's Inception?" Jamie asked.

Santa looked aghast. "Wow. We have got to get you kids out of here."

"You do?"

Eve nodded, a steady stream of tears coming out of her eyes and dampening the cuffs of her sweater.

"My husband's family. This, tradition; this club…it goes back. Way back. His great grandmother is the one who made it seem more like a silly little story than what it actually is."

"Which is?"

"A society dedicated to the complete eradication of magic."

Charlie gasped; Jacqueline did not look surprised.

"Myths, fairy stories, folklore, legends…all of it. Helen disbanded it, you see. She turned it from a little boys club to an endearing Christmas tradition." Eve laughed. She looked wistful. "The family would come up here. All of them. She'd tell the story over dinner and they'd bundle up and bring hot cocoa and treats and go out in the snow, looking for Santa. When it got too cold and the kids were turning blue, someone would yell that they saw the sleigh and we'd rush inside to get the kids to bed, and enjoy a nice evening in the west wing with food and drinks and tunes and silly old movies."

"That sounds lovely."

"It does, doesn't it? And it was. It was Helen's tradition. She carried it on for as long as she could, and then her daughter—my mother-in-law—kept it going once Helen passed. But we recently lost her quite suddenly. It became Colin's responsibility, the tradition. And I thought he'd keep it as is! I was excited that we got to helm that now! I had so many fun ideas and then he goes and starts collecting all these, these things and calls up old family friends his mother and grandmother had cut contact with and suddenly, he's doing hunting parties almost every Christmas Eve! And the thought of the poor creatures, if these are even real, that got tangled up in it all and-and trophies of theirs brought here? It was awful. I convinced myself that they were fakes."

"Eh, you weren't too far off the mark. They're like, fifty-fifty," Jacqueline said with a sniff, tilting her hand back and forth.

"Well that's sweet of you to do, reassure me like that," Eve sniffled. She pulled her sleeves over her hands, wiping her face with the fresh dry parts. "But I'm no longer convinced. Not after tonight. My husband came home this evening, with two of these beings in tow. And I know it sounds insane," she picked up Helen and held her close to her heart. "But he walked in the door with honest-to-goodness Santa Claus and Jack Frost. I was floored. How do you respond to that?"

"Indignantly if you're Jack, I'd imagine."

Charlie snorted.

Eve laughed, her smile wobbly. "He critiqued the décor. And the trim."

Charlie wheezed.

"That sounds about right. What happened after that?"

"Colin took them downstairs, with the KIDS! And I sat here, unsure about what I had seen and what to do now as reality crashed around me and I realized, staying to keep the kids stable wasn't cutting it anymore. We needed to go, to LEAVE. And trying to fathom HOW I'd even DO that?! I was in a panic. And then you two came to the door, looking for your dads, and I was thinking what an odd coincidence, but then after talking for a bit, I thought, oh, maybe they're like the guests downstairs? But then I thought, Evelyn, you're being silly! But then I thought, was I? Was I really? And then, and then the, and then the. Your ears!"

Jacqueline pulled her hat down self-consciously. "They're perfectly normal by sprite standards, thank you very much."

"Listen," Eve leaned in closer, baby clutched against her chest. "You two need to leave. Now! You're in terrible danger. You especially, Jacqueline."

"Really?" Charlie asked.

"Oh yeah. Big time. I'm public enemy number one for these guys, remember? Bernard too. And while I'm not a snitch, based on what they did to the sleigh? And what they may have done to Jack? And the fact that they have Jack?! I'm not sure how long I could last before…well. I don't want to put Bernard in danger, either."

"I've read the family history books. You two did quite a number," Eve said, with the ghost of a grin. "Beatrice spoke highly of you. I can see why. To think, you were around all those years ago, but you don't look a day over twenty something."

"Oh, thank you!" Jacqueline blushed, squishing her cheeks. "It's the longevity."

"But you do need to leave. My husband, he's suspicious. And he's not as level headed as I am, being that he literally kidnapped Santa Claus!" Eve said, in a horrified whisper. "I mean, who does that?!"

"And Jack Frost," Jacqueline said, scratching her head.

"Yes, him too. He was quite clear on that point."

Jacqueline snorted. "He would be. Look, Eve. I appreciate your insistence that we leave. We both do! Unfortunately, we can't leave without them. If we leave them here, and they don't make it…Charlie and I will have to take over. And I don't think either of us wants the job just yet."

"Yeah, I've got some things I'd like to do before Santa-ing."

"And I've done enough Jack Frosting recently to last me a couple hundred years, give or take a few. I appreciate your concern, Eve. We both do. But we need to complete our mission. And we can't leave you here, either."

"Thank you, really. I appreciate it. But I can't leave my kids here alone with their dad. Not like this."

"Oh, we aren't going to leave them here." Charlie grinned. "We're taking all four of you with us!"

"All four of us?"

"Yep!"

"But how? How will you get us all out?"

"Jacqueline has an entire season at her fingertips! And I have a magic bag, and a plan. We'll need to get Dad and Jack out first, though."

"Let me help with that. You'll need both keys."

"Both?" Jacqueline asked.

Eve nodded, placing the baby back in the bassinet. "Both. The ones for the basement, and the one for the cuffs."

"Cuffs?"

"Yes, the cuffs." Out in the hall, footsteps were rushing down the stairs. Eve blanched. "We don't have much time. Please step carefully. I think the statues in here may be traps."

The pair shared a look, then nodded.

Eve did too, happy with the reply. She turned to the bassinet, gently rocking the fussy Helen back and forth as Colin came into the living room.

"Welcome," he said kindly, hands behind his back. "Apologies for earlier."

He headed towards the fireplace, face unreadable. "I wasn't fully aware of the circumstances pertaining to your visit. But I am now."

He turned to face them both, and if the double meaning wasn't evident from the tone of voice alone, the way the firelight reflected off his brow, drenching half of him in red, burnish low light certainly was. He smiled.

"So! Christmas in the woods, huh?"

"Yeah!" Charlie spoke up, carefully placing himself in front of Jacqueline. "Our dads thought it'd be a nice change of pace, you know?"

"Oh, indeed I do. My family was always more partial to the countryside. And while this isn't the English countryside, it has its perks as well. Please! Come away from the window, take your seats! I didn't mean to ah, intrude."

"That's alright, dear," Eve said. "I think they were just wrapping up. We've narrowed down where their fathers may have gone."

"Well good!" He gestured to the couch. "Have a seat! Finish your cocoa. Though my family doesn't come up here anymore, I have some lifelong friends that join us these days. They may be able to help us search for them."

The Legates shared a look, Charlie immediately making sure to keep himself between Colin and Jacqueline.

"Those are some, uh, nice statues you got up there," Jacqueline said, nodding at the busts on either side of the mantle. Charlie squinted at them. Something in the mouths of the stern looking men glinted.

"Thank you! They're of some ancestors of ours. My great, great such and such grandfather, who started our little club, and his son, who continued the legacy."

"Family tree goes way back, then?" Charlie asked, making his way over to the couches slowly, trying to keep Jacqueline close. She was carefully examining the room, lips pressed in a tight line.

"Very far back, yes."

Jacqueline squinted, sizing up the man in front of them.

"And what exactly do you folks do here?"

He looked at her carefully, eyeballing her right back.

"It's quite fantastical. Would you like to hear the story?"

"Uh...sure." Charlie sat back down, almost having to pull Jacqueline down with him.

"Our little society goes way back," Colin began, staring into the fireplace. He placed his hands behind his back, a brief, faint clink resounding.

Faint enough that Charlie and Eve had not heard it. And Colin gave no indication of having heard it, either.

But Jacqueline, who had the sensitive ears of a magibean, had.

Her eyes narrowed. She frowned. He kept fidgeting with something, and each time he did, there it was again. That faint sound. Almost like...metal on metal?

Perplexed, she tilted her head. As he fidgeted with the strange round objected curled tightly into his hands, Jacqueline made a show of leaning forward and grabbing her cocoa, getting a closer look at the pocket in question.

She could just make out the outline of a keyring in the pocket he kept jostling, smacking against some kind of bar? Flashlight? A weird stick.

Interesting, she thought to herself, grabbing her mug and settling back into the sofa, crossing one leg over the other, as Colin continued his tale.

"It was founded in 1732. My great, great, great and such grandfather, James, was ruined by his own brother. His reputation was tarnished. See, James thought that his brother was Santa Claus. Or Father Christmas, as he was commonly called at the time. He went to great lengths to prove it and secure his fortune."

Colin's lips tightened into a tense line. He glared into the fire.

"He failed. Reputation ruined! According to the story, he retreated to the country estate and founded what he called the Clifton Society: an organization of like-minded young men who would help to bring the magical beings to justice. Or so the tale was told to me."

"Ha! Yeah! Wow!" Charlie said. "That's one hell of a story!"

"It is, isn't it?" The man whipped around. "Now, my great grandfather James, he kept meticulous records of the entire lead up to the society being founded. He had a list of figures already drawn up, marked as most wanted by the society. He sought out fae, found magical solutions to the magical problem. This knowledge was passed down for centuries, until recently, of course. My dear grandmother Helen. She was…less than sold on the tradition and kept it out of her home, the tome a storybook on her shelf."

"Which is where it should've stayed," Eve said from the living room archway, Helen sleeping in her arms. "Honey."

"I'm guessing then," Jacqueline leaned forward, placing the cup back on the table and glaring at the man. "It did not stay on the shelf."

Colin glared right back. "No it did not. I took it down, and brought it back! It was very easy to find the descendants of the others who had been a part of it. And the magical knowledge needed to be updated. We've been working towards it since bringing it back, and we've got a very steady foundation."

"On magic?" Charlie asked.

"I know what you're thinking! Magic isn't real, right? Wrong! It is! And it's everywhere if you know where to look. And we do." His eyes narrowed. "Think fast!" he shouted, tossing the object from behind his back out towards Jacqueline.

She gasped, whipping her hand out. The small metal ball opened up, stretching out into a flat piece of metal as it grazed the back of her hand and bounced to the floor.

Jacqueline hissed with pain, pulling her hand close to her chest as Charlie hovered, trying to see where she was hurt.

"COLIN! That's no way to treat guests!"

"Look again, Eve. These guests of ours aren't quite what they seem." Colin chuckled darkly. "Hand hurting, Jacqueline?"

Charlie glanced down at Jacqueline's hand. An angry red mark sat on it, shimmering of all things.

He looked up; Colin looked very proud of himself.

Anger unfurled in his chest.

"Hey! You could've hurt my sister!"

"I know! That was the goal, Charlie!"

"I'm so sorry, Jacqueline, I—"

"Oh, stop it, Eve. No need to be sorry! I'm not." Colin turned to the sprite. "I know exactly who you are. And if you think that's bad enough on its own, just you wait to see what we have in store for you."

Jacqueline chuckled, cradling her hand. She looked up, fiercely determined for a moment before smiling just a bit too sweetly.

"Oh, Clifton. You truly have no idea who you're dealing with."

He looked confused. "No, I know exactly who I'm dealing with! It was you! You were there, all those years ago! You and that elf were the ones responsible for ruining my family!"

"Trust me." Jacqueline stood up slowly. The air around her was very, very cold. "James did that just fine all on his own."

Straightening up, she stiffened. Her stance gave Charlie mad regal vibes as she glared at Colin, her fists glowing at her sides.

"Now. Clifton. You have something I want. And if you don't give it to me, I'm going to take it." She tilted her chin up. "Right hand pocket. Key ring. Give it here."

"Or what?" Colin asked, whipping the strange stick out of his pocket. It extended into a proper baton as he glared intently at the sprite before him.

"Or you're going to see what this little flurry can do."

Woah, Scott said.

Thought?

Freaky.

He could feel himself still sitting on the floor in their cell. But what he was seeing instead was not the metal security gate, or the kids, or his wintry friend slowly looking more and more drained.

He was in the Workshop. Like, the very first time he ever saw it. It was empty of life, but the tables were full of works in progress, toys and tools littered about. Surrounding him were multiple doorways.

"This is weird! So weird! I'm at the Shop!"

"Oh good! You found your mindscape! Thank god," Jack said. His voice sounded…far away. "Remember what I said, Scott. Look for something connecting the two of you."

Something connecting them.

He took a few steps forward.

There was a whistle in the distance.

He spun around. A small blue train, looking like one of those mini train rides at amusement parks, came chugging by.

The memory hit him like a ton of bricks. Him, standing in the Workshop, not yet Santa but no longer Scott. Elves rushing around. Bernard sassing him. Charlie waving from the train as it rode by.

He rushed after the train, almost smacking his head on the short tunnel it popped into. He stepped back, rubbing his head; the train disappeared. In front of him now was a sort of weird, foggy, sparkly, cloud.

It was Christmassy.

Reaching out, he stepped towards it. His hand barely grazed the cloud before he was yanked forward into a Christmassy vortex, the lights and colours flashing around him until they turned into memories. He could see himself in them, but they weren't his.

Riding in the sleigh. Petting reindeer. Looking up at Santa Claus beside him and thinking that's my Dad! Spray painting the walls, a very loud THIS IS FINE as he saw himself and Carol sealing the deal that Christmas Eve all those years ago. More recent memories. University. Hanging out with his new friends. A quiet cocoa date in what looked like a Tim Horton's bakeshop, Jacqueline thawed in front of him, explaining something with fierce intensity. Races with Danielle…shoving a bunch of marshmallows in his mouth and trying very hard not to laugh and lose his title of chubby bunny champion…

"Charlie!" Scott nearly shouted.

"INSIDE VOICE!" Jack shouted back, his voice still sounding weird. Like it was underwater. "Just THINK it, Santa."

And so, in this warm middle ground with art nouveau pillars curling high, high up above him, surrounded with glowing warm memories, Santa thought quietly.

Charlie?

Dry ice was seeping out of Jacqueline's fingertips.

Charlie moved his head very slowly, looked Eve dead in the eye and mouthed one simple word:

Run.

And, baby pressed against her chest, she ran.

Jacqueline lunged, going right for Colin's pocket with an outstretched hand. Above it, a sharp tendril of frost curled into a claw, solidifying into ice as she let out a yell and aimed for his robe.

The material tore as he sidestepped her. He stuck out the baton and slammed it down into one of the bricks in front of the fireplace. Something clicked; the statue's mouths opened up, and thin, metal looking strips began shooting out from the busts on the fireplace.

Jacqueline twirled. The icy claw shifted into an icy gauntlet, a matching one forming above her other arm. She knocked the first band out of the way with the left gauntlet, the right gauntlet throwing the second one off course. Both the strip and her gauntlet shattered upon impact.

Jacqueline gasped, glancing down in shock at her right hand.

"Looks like I've left a mark," Colin sneered.

On her hand, the fading baton mark still shimmered. Whatever the baton was made of had hurt her. A lot. The shimmering on her hand was magic—but magic that had weakened her magic on impact! She kept her cool, though; she steadied her resolve in a nick of time, using the still present gauntlet to block the other strips that flew her way before it, too, crumbled from the anti-magic in the strips.

Colin chuckled, smacking the top of the mantle with the stick now. Charlie heard the metal clicks again as something came shooting down from the opposite side of the room.

He lunged, covering Jacqueline's back as the strips came flying towards him. They hit his chest. He let out a whoosh of air from the impact, watching as they fell to the ground with a clatter.

Surprised, Charlie pat his entire torso.

"They don't work on me?"

Two more hit his forearms, promptly falling to the ground. He shoved back his sleeves as best as he could.

No shiny marks.

"Oh!"

Throwing his weight, he shoved Jacqueline to the side, switching places with her.

"Charlie, don't—"

"It's cool! They don't work on me!" He stuck his arm out for emphasis, another one of the strips bouncing right off him.

Jacqueline looked surprised. "Well, shit! That's handy."

Colin sneered, the baton tip tap tapping several more spots around him. "You can't hide behind your human friend forever!"

The pair of Legates heard the metal clanking fill the room as Lady knows WHAT armed all around them. Trying to make himself as big as possible, Charlie stood in front of Jacqueline, arms wide.

"Yes she can!"

Behind him, Jacqueline looked perplexed. She rolled her eyes with a huff, moving closer to Charlie.

"We literally do not have time for this. Hang tight, Charles."

And before Charlie could even form a reply, he felt himself be yanked down, snow blasting all around them as they fell towards the couch.

Charlie stuck out his hands. His palms hit the back of the couch with the full force of their snow-propelled landing. It tipped back, the bottom of the sofa springing up as the pair landed, the thick swath of snow Jacqueline had summoned carrying them deeper into the room before settling around them.

Jacqueline placed her glowing palms on the snow. Cracking rang out around them as the snow hardened, springing up and creating a little dome around them. It glowed, ice and frost curling throughout it as multiple shinks and twangs rang out around them. Snowy dust fell from the ceiling, drifting around them as the onslaught continued.

Charlie went to rummage through his backpack, in the hopes that something would pop out that could help them…but he never even got to the zipper. Not before, clear as day as though the man himself was beside him, he heard his dad call his name.

Charlie?

"Dad?!"

"Sorry, what?"

"My Dad! I just heard him loud and clear calling my name."

Jacqueline looked puzzled for the briefest of moments, trying to keep their barrier up before the realization hit her. "Oh! Dude! He's in your head!"

A smattering of arrows pierced the roof. She flinched, ducking and moving to the side, the tip of the last arrow hovering dangerously close to her shoulder.

"He's got ARROWS?!"

"Now that's just rude."

Jacqueline lifted a glowing hand. Snow curled over the arrowheads, pushing them back out and filling the holes they left, a fresh layer of ice sealing them tight. The ice forming looked strong, though it was lacking her usual sparkle. Patchwork done, Jacqueline looked down at her hand.

The shimmer had diminished. Huh.

Shaking it off, she gave Charlie her full attention. "Did he say anything else?"

"No, just my name. I'll see if I can reply!"

Closing his eyes, Charlie thought back to what Jacqueline had said about the mindscape what felt like hours ago—

—only for another handful of thwacks to interrupt his concentration.

"This is not the place to do that," Jacqueline snarled, reinforcing the roof yet again.

"Can you poof us somewhere else in the house?"

"Where to?"

"When we walked in, there was a room to the left. The tree is in there. It's behind a panelled door. Did you see it?"

Jacqueline frowned, trying to recall. "I think I did, yes! I can get us to the door, but not behind it. I don't know what's back there and I'd rather not risk the both of us. Hang tight, Charlie. I'll poof over, take a little peek, and come back for you, okay?"

"Is this thing gonna hold?"

"Goddess willing," Jacqueline said, disappearing as a volley of smacks started up again.

"You can't stay in there forever!" Colin shouted outside the impromptu igloo.

"Try us!" Charlie shouted back, ducking and shifting side to side as the baton poked through the snow.

"Oof! Dude! Watch out!"

"Sorry, it's—he's getting stabby, Jacquie!"

"GOD. Why is everyone here so RUDE? We don't get this shit this often in Canada! WHAT is WRONG with this country!"

Charlie! Are ya there?!

"Dad's asking if I'm here. Did you get a good look at the other room?"

"I did. You're gonna love it." She grabbed his arm. "Ready?"

Charlie nodded.

"Poof!"

And with a brief cold pop, the sounds of cracking ice and shouting were muffled. A calm stillness descended. Charlie opened his eyes.

They were in the other room.

"Ta-da!"

"Oh, wow. It's...it's gorgeous."

A beautiful Christmas tree was lit up, casting a warm yellow glow throughout the room. Snow fell outside, the flakes piling up on the window. Garland was strung around the window and the doorways, lit up in twinkling white lights. The fireplace here was out, but the stockings were hung, the mantle lit up as well with a small Christmas village on top.

Jacqueline grinned. "I told you you'd love it, you Christmas loving freak!"

"It's amazing! Wow! I never would've imagined they'd have such a nice little Christmassy space here of all places!"

"Yeah, yeah, Christmas, WOO! Listen, the igloo's starting to crack. We don't have a lot of time. Get cozy, Charlie, because we're about to enter your mindscape," Her grin fell. "Well, you are. I'm going to guide you from outside, so I can keep watch out here.

She turned around, squinting through the frosted glass. "Shame I didn't tear the pocket all the way. Hopefully both keys are in there. And we can figure out what the second one is for."

Worriedly, she glanced down at the shimmer on her hand. The pink was gone, and the sparkles seemed to be flickering away, like fireflies when they dipped below the grass, their little lights snuffing out.

She recalled the last thought Jack had sent her way before going quiet.

Thing on wrist is bad.

The thin strip flying right at her from the armed statues…the magical effect just grazing the baton had had…the second key.

Thing on wrist is bad.

It didn't take much for Jacqueline to put two and two together. She could feel the fury rile up deep within her core. With an icy exhale, she turned back to Charlie, trying her very best to not look like she was about to destroy the nearest piece of furniture.

It did not work.

"You are genuinely terrifying right now, just so you know. I've never seen you this intense."

"Sorry. It's just," she exhaled once more, dry ice floating out of her nose. "I fucking hate these guys. I thought we took care of them in the nineteenth century. So to see them back? And how their anti-magic magic tech has improved? Knowing they have my brother?! I'm absolutely fucking furious."

"Remind me not to get on your bad side."

Jacqueline smiled. "I don't think you ever could, Charles. You're one of the sweetest magihumans I've ever met."

Charlie's mouth turned up into a lopsided grin. "Awh, thanks Jacqueline!"

"Anytime. ANYWAY!" She clapped, making a conscious effort to lighten up (that may have involved double or triple frosting the already glazed glass of the door behind her). "Mindscape!"

"Yeah!" Eager, Charlie sat in the bay window seat, cozying up and enjoying the surroundings. Snow billowed about outside behind him, the glow of the Christmas tree in front of him. The only thing missing was a fire in the grate—and just like that, it lit up.

"Ou. Nice. Maybe make it smaller? We don't want Clifton to know we're in here."

"Right, right." Focusing for a moment, Charlie eyed the fireplace, watching the flames go down to a warm simmer. "Better?"

"Much!"

"With the practised ease of a summer sprite, perhaps?"

Jacqueline laughed. "Ha! Nah. More like with the makings of a great Santa. Now STOP FISHING. We have work to do."

"Right! Mindscape." He crossed his legs, wiggling in the seat. "Cool. So. Close my eyes and just picture my mindscape?"

"Close your eyes and think of going into it, and it should appear. Deep breaths, steady…there you go."

His breathing evening out, Charlie thought of. Well. Where his thoughts were made! And though his eyes were closed, he could feel the room around him almost shrinking away.

Getting gelatinous vibes, he felt himself pulled very far back and thrown into a whole new space. He could feel all sorts of memories, if that made sense. Like, he couldn't see them, but he knew they were there.

Things started to emerge from the warm. His bean bag chair; his old lava lamp. His bed in a corner, the windows of Mom and Neil's place, all lit up with Christmas lights. The window seat from his Dad's old place. All of his favourite bits of all the places he had ever been came together to make the coolest lounge he had ever seen.

"Sweet!" he said. Or thought? He wasn't sure. "Jacqueline? Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear buddy," she replied, though she sounded…far away. Muted? In stereo? Like broken headphones, almost. "What's it looking like?"

"The coolest lounge I have ever been in!"

"In that case, welcome to your mindscape!" And although Charlie couldn't see her, he could hear the grin in her voice. "You should start noticing some doors or archways."

He took a step forward; then another. Sure enough, several doors and archways appeared. One was directly in front of him; it was golden, with columns shaped like candy canes. It reminded him of the Workshop.

"Find something that connects the two of you," Jacqueline continued, sounding farther and farther away. "You'll know when you see it. Reach out, and boom! Connection made. Use your indoor voice and keep it in your head. And pretty please hurry."

"I will."

With a determined nod, Charlie rushed forward, right through the candy cane archway.

Santa's eyes snapped open. "It's not working. He's not responding."

"Just have some patience, Santa, would you? If you weren't fully connected then chances are he wasn't either. And anyway, it's gotten loud upstairs, so they may be a moment."

"Wait, what?"

"Sounds of a fight," Jack sniffed, errantly scratching his forearm. "Something clicking?"

"Oh, that's probably the booby traps," Stevie said.

Jack ceased his itching. "The what now?"

"A couple years ago dad did some stuff," Jamie spoke up. "He got some old statues and was messing around with them? When we asked he said they were booby traps. Mom said that that sounded insane and what if it hurt us? Then Dad said that it was just for magical threats and we all went well that sounds silly and left him to it because he was being very silly about it all. At least, that's what Mom said. After that he got all those new friends and started doing all this."

"That is one fu—"

"Jack," Santa warned, pointing towards the kids with his chin.

"—udged up guy," he recovered quickly. "Look, Santa. Just give them a moment, alright? I'm sure Jacqueline's got it handled."

There was a large crash from upstairs and an infuriated yell.

"Totally under control," Jack assured.

"Ou shit."

Jacqueline watched as the igloo broke, and, upon seeing it empty, Colin did a little yell. A little cultist yell, Jacqueline thought to herself with a cackle.

"What?" Charlie asked, eyes still closed.

"Don't worry about it!" Jacqueline squeaked. Too high. She cleared her throat. "Focus on that connection."

Outside, Charlie shrugged.

Inside, he was running.

Charlie rushed through the candy cane hallway. The walls were lined with photos—memories, he realized, as he gazed at them. They were popping out as he ran, magic in the air.

He reached the end of the hall. There was a snow globe, with a sort of Christmassy cloudy vortex…thing inside it. It looked vaguely like the borealis, sparkling here and there with many reds and many greens interwoven between the lights.

Unsure what else to do, he reached out and touched it.

With a feeling he'd describe as a shwomp, Charlie felt himself pulled into the vortex.

Steadying himself, he opened his eyes, the colours rushing past him along with a myriad of memories.

Memories…but they weren't his.

He could see himself, little, on the sleigh beside his dad. The two of them walking through the zoo. The many times he had joined his dad on delivery night. The Workshop, the Elves, his smiling face looking up until he was tall enough to look at—oh! They weren't his memories, they were his DAD'S memories!

He'd done it. He'd found their link.

He swam in the air, righting himself and posing like a flying superhero as the memories rushed by, the vortex growing longer and brighter until suddenly, POOF! He landed, finding himself inexplicably sitting once more.

He got up, looking around.

He had landed in a warm room. The ceiling was high and well lit. Art nouveau pillars curled high, high up above him.

Dad?!

Charlie!

He spun around. Across from him was his dad.

His face split into a grin.

"Dad! Hey! You're here! You're okay!"

"I sure am now, sport!" he jogged, meeting Charlie halfway and hugging him. "And you! Look at you! You're here! Cool bag."

Charlie turned around. "Oh! Thanks! Elle and Bernard gave it to me, it's—"

"Just like mine!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah! They mentioned they were working on it! Wow." He clapped Charlie's arm. "Look at us! We did it! We got the connection right!"

"Haha, yeah! We did!"

Charlie whooped; Scott laughed merrily, fist pumping the air.

"INDOOR VOICE," they both heard, a muffled yell and a hiss.

Silenced, they looked at each other, identical looks of surprise on their faces.

Charlie grinned. "Jack?"

Scott chuckled. "Yeah. Jacqueline?"

"Yeah!"

"Guys! Seriously!" another hiss from Jacqueline. "You don't need to talk out loud. Just think at each other."

"Okay. Easy. We just. Think at each other. Right." Scott's mind-sona frowned. "This is freaky."

Charlie laughed. "C'mon Dad! Just give it a try. We've seen freakier."

Scott chuckled. "That we have, sport! That we have! Right. Let's give it a go."

He stopped talking, looking at Charlie slack jawed, eyes wide. Right. I'm giving it a go. Didya hear that?

Charlie grinned. Loud and clear!

Not a second after Charlie thought back at him, he found himself yanked back, his Dad being pulled away from him as well. He reached out, trying to grab his Dad's outstretched hands to no avail. It felt like he was suspended on top of a roller coaster, waiting for the drop.

And then the drop came.

The pair of them were flung backwards, back through their mindscape, and right out into the conscious world.

"No, no, no!" Scott found himself saying, back in his body in the cell.

"What? What happened?"

"I found him! We did what you guys said, and thought at each other, and then got thrown back out here!"

"Ou, good job Santa! I didn't think you could do it."

"I didn't!"

Jack scoffed. "Yes you did. You've established your Legate-Legend connection. You ever have Elle inside your head?"

"Yeah."

"And you've replied to her, right?"

"Yeah."

"Do that but with Charlie in mind." Jack shot him a smarmy, know it all smirk. "Watch what happens."

So, Santa thought once more of Charlie. The inside of his head tickled. He could sort of feel a warm, familiar presence in his head when he thought of his eldest.

Charlie?

"Ah! What happened! Why am I back!"

"Those questions or statements?" Jacqueline asked as Charlie, panicked, jumped off of the window seat, looking down at his hands and around him.

"I was just talking to Dad! And we thought at each other and I got pushed back out here!"

"Don't worry, we've got time! He's tearing apart the living room," Jacqueline cackled, gesturing with her chin outside the frosted panels.

Charlie sat down beside her, taking a look for himself. Colin was breaking the igloo to pieces. It was a lump of melting snow on the carpet now. You couldn't even tell it had been a little snow fort for two average sized young adults.

"You guys thought at each other?"

"Yeah, and got yanked back here!"

"Sounds like you just established your Legend-Legate mental connection. Congrats!"

"Oh, great! Now what?"

"You've had Elle in your head before, right?"

"Yeah! Of course!"

"Okay, cool! So it's like that. But think of your Dad."

Charlie?

"Oh! He's in my head! Without like, us literally being there!"

"Just think right back to him!"

Charlie thought of his Dad. The inside of his head tickled. Instinct drove him to reply to his Dad's thought with his own.

Dad? Can you hear me?

Loud and clear Sport!

"It's working!"

"Great! Ask them what's going on." Jacqueline got up from the doorway, walking over to the far side of the room. There was a sort of archway in the middle of it. Charlie couldn't tell if there were doors or not.

"Come out come out wherever you are!" Clifton shouted, in the hallway now.

Charlie dove to the other side of the door quickly, sizing up the back room and thinking fast.

What's going on up there? Charlie heard his Dad think at him.

Uh. I don't know how to explain it? We had a cover story, and things were going well enough, but our cover was blown and the guy who lives here? Colin? Yeah, he found out and he is unhinged, Dad. And not in the affectionate way, like with the Frosts.

Are you guys okay?

We're fine! We're hiding in the other room. He's across the hall. We're trying to get the keys from his pocket. Jacqueline already did a number on it, Charlie thought, rushing around the archway and almost crashing into a very fancy dining room chair.

"Careful Charles!" Jacqueline said quietly from the doorway.

Doorway?

"There's another door?!"

"Yeah! Right into the kitchen."

"It's a circle?!"

Jacqueline cackled quietly. "Yeah it is."

"I've got an idea."

"So do I! Do you think it's the same?"

"Say it on three?"

"On three."

"One…two…three…"

"Sneak up behind him through the kitchen?!" They said at the same time, both Legates grinning when they heard the exact same thing.

"Yes!"

"YES!"

"Nice one," Charlie stuck out a fist.

"Thank you, thank you, you're too kind! Too kind," Jacqueline fist bumped him back.

Charlie?

Sorry Dad! We were sneaking around.

You're both okay? Is Jacqueline safe? Jack's asking.

We're fine. She's fine. I can't say the same for everyone else in the house. She has it out for them!

Had Charlie had the hearing Jacqueline had, he would've heard a very loud THAT'S MY SISTER! From directly below them, clear as day. Instead, he heard a muffled yell and a very loud SHUSH from his Dad in his head.

"Jack?!" Jacqueline, who was Jacqueline and therefor had her hearing, exclaimed, looking at the floor. "Charlie, where are they?"

Where are you guys?

In the basement! Scott replied. They have a dungeon, Charlie.

"A dungeon?!" Charlie said and thought.

"Dungeon?!" Jacqueline echoed, horrified.

Well, a pseudo dungeon. A suburban dungeon. No chains and shackles. Except Jack does have some kinda…weird cuffs on his wrists. They aren't attached. They're like those slap bracelets Lucy couldn't get enough of a few years back. His magic's shot.

Charlie got down beside Jacqueline. "Oh shit."

"What?"

"They're downstairs. In a sort of dungeon. What do you think a suburban dungeon would look like?"

Jacqueline looked thoughtful for a moment. "Beige. Very beige. Or maybe cream. That thick carpet with the lines? And maybe like a store when it's closed. That's kind of a relief, I was worried there'd be like. Y'know. Chains and shit."

"Your brother has some kinda slap bracelet shackles. They've nixed his powers."

Jacqueline nodded, her lips a tight line. "That checks out. Those thin things that came flying out of the walls back there? They're made of the same thing the baton is," she gestured to her hand. The red mark was all but gone, but if Charlie squinted, he could make out a very faint shimmer. "It weakened my powers. I have a feeling that if those things had landed on my wrists or arms or even legs? Snow business would be impossible. And if a tap did that to my hand? And weakened my magic that much? Then Jack…" her breath hitched. She looked away furiously, sizing up the kitchen.

She didn't need to finish the thought. Charlie knew exactly what she was insinuating.

"Okay, I've got a plan."

"Let's hear it."

"We sneak through the kitchen. Tackle him down, grab the keys from the torn pocket. Living room was across from the stairs up…"

"…so the stairs down should be right there," Jacqueline caught on. "If I can conjure enough snow, I can block us in from the inside. We can poof out with Jack and Santa."

"And see about the kids and Eve."

"Right," Jacqueline glanced at the kitchen walls, lighting up. "I have an idea."

"Shoot."

"It's batshit crazy."

"Well now I'm excited."

Jacqueline snorted. "We make our way along the wall there, open the windows. I'll get the storm's attention, and once it gets mad I'll have more than enough snow to show Clifton what happens when you fuck around withthis Legate in particular."

"You're going to antagonize a storm to have enough snow to snow some bad guys out?"

"That's one way of putting it, yes."

"Ha! Let's do it!" Charlie slid in front of Jacqueline and rummaged around in his bag. She watched, equal parts curious and baffled as he pulled a decent sized saucer sled from his bag. "There we go!"

"What the heck is that for?"

"Sledding, usually! But it'll make good cover for me to make sure the storm doesn't hit me, and to keep you from getting hit by those no-magic snap bracelets," he explained, propping the saucer in front of him like a shield. "Ready?"

Jacqueline cracked her knuckles. "Ready."

"Then let's go."

Plastering himself to the side of the wall, Charlie crab walked towards the windows, Jacqueline close behind.

Hang tight, Dad! We've got a plan. We're about to bring in a storm.

Is that slang? His Dad answered very fast, concerned. Please tell me that's slang.

If it makes you feel better, Charlie replied, going quiet as they reached the first set of windows. They popped up from behind the kitchen table, sharing a look. Coast was clear. With a nod, Charlie blocked Jacqueline, shield up, while she carefully opened the windows.

Shoving herself a decent way out the window, she shouted out into the night.

"You call this a storm? This is barely a flurry!"

The wind howled, shaking the house. Jacqueline slid back in, cackling. "He's nasty!"

"What did he say?"

"He called me barely a sprinkle, said I was a half-baked Jack Frost and that he'd show me just what kind of flurry he is." She laughed. "Jack's storms are so funny when they get sentient. They have such delicate egos."

Charlie laughed quietly, wearily watching the doorway. Behind him, he felt a chill; the temperature got lower, and snow started drifting past his face. Peering around the table, he watched for Clifton. Judging by the sounds coming from the living space, Clifton was still having a bit of a tantrum.

The temperature continued to drop. Charlie glanced behind him, grinning when he caught sight of Jacqueline.

She squatted, hands by her side. The snow was pouring in through the windows, gathering by her hands, two long tendrils trailing down her arms and behind her. The white stuff piled up and up and up, the wind battering the windows, ice hitting the floor with a light tink.

The grin on Jacqueline's face was absolutely feral.

"You ready?"

"I'm so fucking ready."

Charlie grinned back, equally as feral. He put his sled in front of him.

"Let's do this."

"Oh CLIFTON!" Jacqueline shouted, rushing forward and jumping. The snow pooled under her, lifting her up and propelling her forward. A tendril slid Charlie's way, tossing him up in the air. He laughed, throwing the saucer down below his knees and landing in the snow. The pair of them shredded down the hall as Colin rushed out of the living room, only to jump back in seconds later as the hall filled with snow.

Charlie wasn't sure how she was doing it. At this point, she had to be conjuring her own snow as well. It pushed against the walls, filling the space and roiling like an angry sea. He wished he'd grabbed his snowboard instead. This would be one heck of a run to do! But for now, the saucer would do.

Pushing her hands back, the snow whooshed up the wall and turned, barrelling into the living room. The fire behind Clifton extinguished as he looked on, equal parts horrified and delighted, the snow pressing him up against the corner of the fireplace as Jacqueline slid them both down the snow and into the room.

She stopped, holding their position high above him, Charlie barely clearing the ceiling. She stuck out a hand, pointing at the torn pocket.

"We'll be taking that."

Below her, an icicle jutted out of the snow pile. It flew forward, still embedded in the ground, beelining for the hole. It hit, the rip growing and the keys falling right out.

Charlie propelled himself down the snowy pile, grabbing the keys before they could hit the snow. The saucer spun in place as he spun himself around, the snow carrying him halfway up the wall and around the sprite.

"NO!" Clifton shouted, lunging forward. He was immediately pushed back by a wall of snow. It pressed up against him, keeping him stuck to the wall with sheer force. He grimaced, squinting to see what the girl was doing.

"Oh, shut up," she said, as cold as she looked. Only one hand was trained on him, glowing light blue. The snow followed her direction, continuously pelting him.

Waving her free hand, the snow underneath Charlie blasted forward. It shot him right out of the room (letting him catch air long enough to shout a WOO) and swirled to a stop right at the basement door.

"Thanks!" Charlie said to it, hopping out of the saucer and surveying the key ring as the snow saluted and backed away, throwing itself back into Jacqueline's pile.

It was quite the oddity. A handful of modern keys sat on it. One key looked ancient, nearly the size of Charlie's hand. There was a short, flat, square thing that looked nothing like a key and more like a piece of scrap metal. He touched it, his fingertip glowing with magic.

The scrap sheet glowed back.

"These must be for Jack's cuffs!" he shouted, excited. "Jacqueline! Come on!"

"I'll catch up. Make sure they have another exit!"

It sounded like she was still in the living room. Charlie could hear the snow still tumbling over itself.

"Are you sure?"

"POSITIVE."

He glanced down at the lock on the basement door. Easy peasy, as it was as big as the old key on the ring.

Unlocking the door, he shouted once more. "Jacqueline! I'm in!"

"Congrats! Now get your ass down there, Charles."

"But—"

"GO," she shouted, her voice scary enough that Charlie figured protesting any more was a bad idea. Keys jangling in his hand, he flew down the stairs.

Certain that Charlie had gone downstairs, Jacqueline tilted her head. A north wind slammed the basement door shut. Satisfied, she turned back to the prick in the corner who simply refused to be crushed by the snow.

With an angry grunt, Jacqueline thrust her hands to the side. The snow pushed him off the wall, and Clifton fell onto the brick hearth. Snow splattered along the brickwork, a pile crowding the fireplace and smothering the remaining embers.

Glaring, Jacqueline stepped down from her pile of snow. It soared up behind her, spinning in place and waiting.

Clifton scrambled up as Jacqueline stepped beside him, the metallic ice picks in her heels clicking on the brickwork.

"You better hope that he's still in one piece, Clifton," she spat, crouching down and giving him her best Winter look. Right down her nose, as though he was a bug beneath her boot. "Because let me tell you."

She moved closer to his face, noses nearly tip to tip.

"Whatever you've done to him, I will do ten times worse to you."

And, before he could reply, Jacqueline stood up. Behind her, the snow towered higher, mimicking her arms and turning into a snowy set of hands. She lifted hers, the snow following suit. At her command, it thrust forward, picking Clifton up and dropping him flat on his back.

His head hit the hearth with a not nearly as satisfying smack as Jacqueline would've liked. He looked dazed before falling limp, his red robes swirling around him.

"Get fucked."

Taking the time to fly a bird at his prone form before spinning on her heel, Jacqueline headed out. The snow slid gently under her boots, lifting her up once more and swirling around her. She brought her fists up to her chest, then thrust them out behind her.

With a loud smack, the windows in the living space shot open. The storm came pouring in, Jacqueline grabbing as much snow as she could before shooting forward towards the basement door. The snow pulled it open for her, following her as she slid down the staircase.

Charlie stumbled down the stairs, quite literally, his socks sliding on the worn edges of the carpet. Tumbling, he somersaulted down the last four steps, nearly crashing into two kids crouched in front of an honest-to-god jail cell.

"Charlie!"

"Dad!"

Charlie sprung up, grabbing onto the gate. "And Jack! You guys are okay!"

"Mostly," Santa said, helping Jack up.

The sprite grabbed onto the gate, looking at Charlie very, very seriously. "Where's Jacqueline? Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine! I promise! She told me to head on down, and she'd catch up."

Above them, the door slammed shut, almost everyone starting at the loud band that followed.

"Was that you, Sport?"

"No! I left it open so she could follow me down."

"Well. That can't be good."

Jack chuckled darkly. "No. It's really not. Sounds like someone up there is absolutely fu—"

"JACK!" Irritated, Santa gestured over to the kids. "Just. Just a modicum of decency. Please?"

"Oh, for the love of—CHARLIE. Could you please cover the ears of the uh, the. Those things?" Jack gestured to the kids.

Santa looked appalled. "You mean the children?!"

"Yeah, those!"

"Charlie, don't—"

"Sure thing, Jack!" Charlie threw a hand over one ear each. "You guys mind covering your other ears?"

"Bad word?" Jamie asked.

"Big time," Jack replied.

Jamie sighed. "Okay. I'll cover Stevie's ears." Waving Charlie off, she put both of her hands tightly over her brother's ears, ready to hear the swear word herself.

Charlie laughed. "Nice try, kiddo." He threw both his hands over her ears tightly, grinning as she pouted and protested with a very disappointed hey!. "You're good, Jack."

"SOMEBODY up there is absolutely FUCKED."

"DEFINITELY. You guys should've seen her! It was terrifying," Charlie said, freeing Jamie's ears. "She's got a lot of snow. Which reminds me!" He scrambled up, eyeing the locks as he went through the key ring. "Is there another exit down here?"

"Yep!" Jamie pointed down the hall. "Secret stairs in the movie room."

Charlie glanced around her. "Oh! Good! Because when I say Jacqueline's got a lot of snow. I mean it. She has a lot of snow. Like. A lot."

"Like, how much snow we talkin' here, Charlie?"

Before anyone could reply, the door burst open. Panicking, Charlie grabbed Jamie and her brother and lifted them onto the desk with him as snow burst down the steps, rushing like floodwater. Jacqueline billowed down on top of the snow, turning sharply and stopping just in front of the desk, her back towards Charlie and the kids.

She pulled her hands back, snow gathering behind her until it lined the hall behind them, floor to ceiling. When the snow finally stopped pouring in, Jacqueline waved an errant hand. A cold, sharp wind stirred to life. The upstairs door slammed shut.

Throwing her arms forward and thrusting her open palms in front of her, the snow shot forward. It packed onto itself, harder and harder until it hardened into a block, obscuring the door and the stairs up completely.

"That much," Charlie said.

"Oh," Santa said, in a mild state of shock.

"Nice one, Jacquie!"

"Thanks Charlie! Oh! Good! You found the other kids."

"Yeah! This is Jamie," Charlie pointed down at the girl.

She waved hi, shyly.

"And this is Stevie."

"Hi!" Stevie said, waving excitedly.

"You work fast, Charlie."

"What can I say? I'm friendly."

Jacqueline smiled. With a relieved exhale, she hopped down from her snow pile, the remaining snow gathered about pooling around her and trailing along behind her as she double checked the well packed stairwell.

"How did you know our names, Charlie?!"

Santa let out a customary ho-ho-ho. "He's my padawan! He can do everything I can do!"

Jacqueline stopped suddenly, doing a double take. She brightened, rushing to the bars, snow trailing dutifully behind her.

"Jack!"

"Am I GLAD to see you, Jacqueline. Just give me a second." He turned to Santa (a funny spectacle, given that he was fully leaning on the man) and served him a haughty look, swaying slightly. "I told you so."

"And yet, we're still behind bars."

Jack snorted, glancing over at Jacqueline with a look that very clearly said, can you believe the AUDACITY?

She shook her head and rolled her eyes as if to say unbelievable!

"Charlie? How we doing on keys?"

"Haven't found it yet."

"Don't even worry about it. Everyone BACK the FU-uhhhh FROST. UP."

"Huh?"

"No huhs, Santa, just do it. C'mon. Back it up."

Jack threw himself back, forcing Santa to come back as well. Charlie hopped down from the desk, arms up to protect the kids. In front of him, Jacqueline inhaled. Turning blue, she took a deep, deep breath in and blew.

Frost filled the space. It latched onto the security gate, the metal bars squealing as they cooled off real fast. She stepped back, blue receding as the frost settled into thick ice, the bars frozen solid in front of her.

She lifted a hand. The trail of snow below her shot up. It solidified, hardening into the icy snow you'd see at the bottom of melted piles in the spring, and hit the metal bars. Hard.

They shattered.

In one fell swoop, the bars fell into an icy heap, freeing Santa and Jack.

"I TOLD YOU so!"

"Alright, alright, Jack! Don't get your suit in a bunch about it."

Grinning, Jacqueline rushed into the cell, grabbing Jack's other side (much to Santa's relief). The snow below her rushed up, supporting Jack as she grabbed his wrists and looked at the anti-magic slappers stuck on them.

"Give it to me straight, little flurry. How bad is it."

"Uh…it's…ummmmmmm…" she grimaced. His skin was bright red, the sheen from the anti-magic glistening the way the snow around them was. He was shaking a little bit. "Bad. Yeah. No. It's bad. I wonder if I can…"

"No, Jacqueline, do NOT—"

Ignoring Jack completely she reached out, finger lightly frosted, and gently poked the bracelet.

The frost on her finger fizzled out; there was a staticky sound and she hissed, her finger shooting back.

"Careful! I told you! Thing on wrist—"

"BAD! Yes, I know. I was hoping I could do to them what I did with the bars."

"Key! We need a key!" Santa looked over at the kids. "Stevie, Jamie, you guys said you could help?"

"Sure can!" Stevie said, as Jamie walked right up to Charlie and poked at the strange flat piece of metal on the keyring.

"It's that one. Just tap it on the bracelets and that'll pop them right off!"

Jacqueline yanked the keys out of Charlie's hand, grabbing them by the flat metal piece. She brought them up to Jack's wrists. Sure enough, the moment the two metals met there was a ZAP, and POP! Off one bracelet went, the second one following soon after.

"Oh, thank f—"

Jack did not get to finish his sentence. His vision blurred. As the colour rushed back into his face he listed, grabbing onto his Legate the same time she grabbed onto him.

"RICEY."

"How bad?"

"EVERYWHERE."

Santa looked to Charlie, confused; Charlie shook his head and shrugged.

"I think I stood up too fast."

"You were already standing."

"Was I?"

Jacqueline nodded. "It's cool! Take it easy. I've got you."

Jack smiled. "Thanks, Jacquie."

She flushed, barely giving him a moment to steady himself before crushing him with a hug.

"Ah! Hey! Careful! I'm delicate."

She smirked in his shoulder. "Oh, of course!"

"Really!" Jack insisted, hugging her back. "I've been under anti-magical influence for who knows how long! I get it, though. You missed me."

"I just didn't want to have to do your job just yet. I got things to do, y'know."

Jack snorted, squishing her one last time. "Of course, of course. Goddess forbid you get a promotion."

They pulled out of the hug, Jacqueline snorting. "That's one way to look at it. Here," she offered her shoulder. "Don't rush it. I got smacked briefly with whatever those bracelets are made of and not only did it sting, it also impacted my magic for a hot minute. The ice was just. Ugh. Awful. Don't rush it."

Jack smiled softly. I won't, he replied, mentally—the relief on Jacqueline's face evident.

I missed that, she thought back.

Ha. You love your brother!

Jacqueline blew a raspberry.

"You've got him Jacqueline?"

"Yeah! Why wouldn't I, Santa? We're basically the same size."

"Thank GOODNESS for that because let me tell you, I was getting a nasty crick in the neck from bending down the whole time."

"Excuse me! Are you calling us short?"

"I mean. If the shoe fits—"

"Neither of us are above giving you frostbite, Santa. One of us quite literally."

Jacqueline snapped her jaw.

"See?"

"Alright, take it easy! Both of you!"

Footsteps rang out above them as what sounded like several people ran down the main stairs.

"Guys, let's focus. We can give Dad frostbite later."

"Charlie! Whose side are ya on?!"

"Ours! Because there are no sides here! Because all four of us are now wanted by a literal cult that wants to get rid of magic forever! And it sounds like they're headed to the living room!"

"Oh dear! We need to go!" Jacqueline started forward, pulling Jack along with her. "Like, twenty minutes ago!"

Jack laughed. "What did you do?"

"Oh! You know! Bought us time!"

What did you do?

Uh. There was an incident involving uh. The bonkus of the conkus. On the fireplace.

On the fireplace?!

He was still breathing!

Jacqueline frowned for a moment.

...regrettably.

Jack snorted. Above them, the basement door flew open. The snow squeaked as something was plunged right into it.

"Okay! Time to go, come on, chop chop Jamie, Stevie, Charlie—I'm right behind ya!"

The squeaking came faster, growing louder and louder as more and more people tried to dig through the snow. Santa shoved the kids in front of him, the four of them jogging to catch up with Jack and Jacqueline.

"Where're the stairs?"

"Behind the wall! There's an old door that like, blends in, you have to squint—"

"Got it!" In seconds, Jacqueline managed to pull open a section of the wall, revealing an old staircase.

"Ou. Staff only entrance. Nice. You know, you'd think that, given how old and classy this place seems to be—"

"Barring the cult."

"Good point. Let me rephrase. Seems to have once been, pre-cult, you'd think they'd have better taste in decor."

"Rich people often don't."

"Jack! Jacqueline! Time and a place!"

"Right! Sorry! You guys go up, Jack and I can take up the rear."

"Are you sure?" Santa stopped, ushering the kids up first with Charlie right behind them. "I mean, you didn't see how bad he was, Jacqueline."

"I know, Santa. I know. But you can't control massive amounts of snow. So! Up you go! We're right behind you."

"But—"

"No buts, Santa!"

Carefully, Jack lifted himself off of Jacqueline and flung himself onto Santa, pushing the man up the stairs. "Come one! Let's go! Quickly, quickly! Escape time! And don't worry! I won't lift a finger! Jacqueline will do all the work!"

"Mm. What else is new."

"Hey! I pull my weight! It's not my fault I've been grievously injured, Jacqueline."

"Okay, now you're just milking it—"

"Guys!" Charlie shouted. "Come on!"

"Right! Up we go, keep it moving Charlie! You too, kids. Come on Jack, don't fall behind! It is well past the time to get the hell out of here! I should be halfway to Brazil by now. Brazil!"

"Ou. Caipirinhas!"

A/N: HI. This is now a three parter, hehe WHOOPS. Also crossposted on ao3, in case anyone still lingers here for smile shots! I'm in the process of transferring everything over-hard to do when I keep getting distracted by giving the old work a GLOW UP prior to crossposting! And then I'm like DANG I GOTTA UPDATE IT HERE but it can be a bit more tedious so then I DON'T and it's a WHOLE thing lol. ANYWAY. PART 21 GIVE IT UP FOR PART 2! SORRY IT TOOK LIKE LITERALLY ALMOST 2 YEARS LMAO.

This one was getting LONG! (It's about 15k). And I realized that there was more to share than my notes had? So we've split it into three parts now, lmao. Third part to arrive at uh. Some point. So much for the projected 2024 finish I had planned

And as a disclaimer: I know next to nothing about babies. All the baby shenanigans are based on my new mom friend oversharing and a wee bit of internet searching, so apologies for any uh. Inaccuracies there lmao 😅. Man, Charlie and Jacqueline are a FUN combo. I love writing these two goobers lmao.

Sorry to keep y'all hanging on this one! Action scenes are HARD. Went through a LOT of rearranging while rereading it! I am pretty damn sick of this part so TAKE IT! TAKE IT AND enjoy! Review, fave, whatever, etc. etc. :) OH and if you see typos or sentences that have a comma but end PLEASE let me know. I caught a few when I transferred it over to ao3 and out of the word document, and that was read through number THREE. ARGH!

I love writing :) :) :)

PS: I will NOT apologize to Leaf fans. But hey! There's always next year :)