I Applied for a Delivery Job and Got Turned Into a Flying Reindeer?!

Chapter Twenty Five

"Justin! Justin, please, open your eyes!"

The voice was faint, distant, but Justin still recognized it in an instant.

"Lena?" he called out. He looked around, but couldn't see her anywhere.

"Don't do this to me! Don't leave me again!"

Her voice seemed to be coming from the light, he realized. Leaning in close, Justin peered into the dully shining orb.

Inside it, he saw Lena.

"Justin, no!" she was crying, with tears spilling down her cheeks. "No, no, no, nooooo!"

He couldn't just see Lena, he realized. Behind her, he could see the city street where he had...where he and Krampus had fought. In fact, if he wasn't mistaken, looking into the light was like looking through his own eyes into the real world.

"Lena, the sun is coming up!" said another familiar voice. "We have to...Santa has to go!"

"Willow?" Justin asked.

"I'm not going to leave him here!" Lena yelled.

"I didn't say to leave him, but we can't stay," Willow consoled her. "Help me pick him up."

The view in the light began to shift, as if his body was being moved, and then suddenly he was looking down at the town from high above. He couldn't see her anymore, but he could still hear Lena wailing.

Justin had to look away, turning around until he was facing the inky black depths of the void again. Had he done the right thing, going to fight Krampus like he had? He had felt so sure of himself before. He had done it to save Lucas! Even Santa himself had seemed to think he was making the right choice. But now, being forced to listen to his friends mourn him, he found himself doubting his actions.

They'll get over it, he told himself, the emotions he'd regained seeping away again. It hurts now, but sooner or later it will fade. Then they'll forget about me, find new friends, keep helping Santa deliver presents every Christmas Eve...

Justin grunted, doubling over in pain. Christmas Eve. Those words were like driving an icicle through his heart. He remembered flying through the night sky, delivering gifts, and the joy that had made blossom in his heart. The sense of purpose.

Now he would never feel that again.

Unable to resist, he turned back toward the light again. Strangely, it seemed to have drifted away from him. Or maybe he had drifted away from it. Either way, he propelled himself toward it again, looking deep into its shimmering luminescence.

"There has to be something you can do!" Lena was yelling.

Justin blinked in surprise. Only a few seconds had passed for him, but the view inside the light was now completely different. He recognized Laetitia's infirmary. The way people were gathered around, towering over him, he guessed his body must have been lying in one of the beds.

I swear, I spend more time there than I do in my own dorm, he thought, unable to keep from smirking. The half-smile fell away. Or...at least I did.

"Don't just stand there and shake your head at me, you miserable quack!" By now, Lena was shaking the doctor by his shirt collar. "Use your magic and bring him back before I—"

"Lena, stop!" Willow yelled, pulling the elf away from the silver-haired doctor. "You need to calm down! Lashing out like this isn't going to help anyone!"

"I wish I could help you," said the doctor. "But he's gone. I'm sorry."

"No I'm not!" Justin yelled into the light. "I'm right here! Lena! Willow! I'm right here!"