The Impeccable Lady Claus

10 - Elves In Danger

"The presents?" Santa repeated, furrowing his brow.

Christina could feel the anger bubbling up inside of her. She didn't know who this doll was or where it had come from, but she knew it had something to do with the black and white presents outside their home. And she wasn't going to let it happen again. She didn't know who was doing this, or why, but she knew one thing for sure; she wasn't going to let it hurt anyone.

"We have to destroy them" Christina exclaimed. "We can't let anyone open them!"

"Wait, wait!" Noelle cried. "Mama, we need to calm down! We don't know what's going on here."

"They're all over the place," Christina yelled, ignoring her daughter. "Razz and I spotted them on our way in."

"We don't know that for sure," Santa protested, trying his best to reason with his wife. "What if the elves left them out there?"

"Why would they do that?" Mrs. Claus shook her head. "They know we don't give gifts out until the 26th!"

"I don't know why they're outside, but you're right, we can't let anyone touch them," Razz replied, nodding in agreement with Mrs. Claus. "They're too dangerous."

"You can't let anyone touch them!" Christina yelled again. "Not until we know what's going on."

"I think she's right," Razz told Santa. "It's for the best, sir. We can't let anyone get hurt."

Santa looked over at his wife, concern in his eyes. He didn't know what to do, but he had a feeling they needed to get rid of these presents, whatever they were.

"Okay," he sighed. "We can't risk anyone else getting hurt. Let's go get rid of them."

"Thank you, sir," Razz replied with a smile.

With a nod, Santa made his way out of the house with Razz and Noelle following close behind. Christina stood by the door, looking around at all the presents scattered across the village. She felt like they were everywhere. It was terrifying, and she didn't know what was going to happen next.

She wanted to make sure Noelle was safe and that they got rid of these presents. But at the same time, she was worried about the villagers getting caught up in this. So with the Everlight Cloak still on her back, Christina quickly rushed out into the village, hurrying over to the first pile of presents she saw.

Santa, Noelle and Razz watched as Christina worked quickly to gather up all the presents and throw them into a nearby pile. She was worried that something might happen if they didn't get rid of them right now, so she had to do it.

As Christina worked her way through the piles of gifts, the elves around the village began to gather around, watching her as she went. They didn't know what was going on, but they could sense that something was wrong. They could see the concern in her eyes, and it scared them.

Soon Santa and Noelle made their way over to join her, helping her finish up with the last of the presents. At the same time, Razz accomplished a headcount of those in the village to make sure everyone was accounted for.

After the final pile of presents was secured, Santa looked around at the others, a look of relief and joy in his eyes.

"Well," he said with a smile. "That should be all of them."

"I hope so," Noelle replied, looking around at all the elves.

"Um, sir?" Razz spoke up, pulling the group's attention towards himself. "We're missing a family of elves."

"What?" Santa asked, his face turning pale. "Who?"

"We haven't seen any of the Ullens, sir," Razz replied. "Maybe they're at home?"