The Santa Clause: Krampus's Return

Chapter Five

Walking through the workshop, Curtis pushed open the giant double doors to a new secret room and Holly was in shock when she saw it. A huge Christmas colored machine sat in the middle of the room, and the rest of the room was filled with tables that had what looked to be various gadgets and inventions set upon them. Curtis stepped up the the huge machine and smiled with pride, as if he were announcing the cure for the common cold.

"This is a matter rearranger. Time efficient and safer than the traditional way, our goal is to make it so instead of using the outdated sled and reindeer, Santa could use this machine to teleport into people's homes, next to their Christmas tree and deliver them that way."

"That's unbelievable." Holly stared up at the machine with awe and Spirit nodded his head excitedly,

"Yeah. Curtis is the brightest out of all the younger elves. He's been making these nifty little inventions for as long as I can remember-"

"As a matter of fact, who better to try the newest invention out on then an actual legendary figure." Curtis crossed his arms over his chest and smiled gleefully at what he had said. Confused, Spirit slowly realized that Curtis had meant himself and then gasped with surprise,

"You mean me?!"

"Of course! You and Santa have the same kind of magic-" Curtis started to say, obviously happy with the fact that he'd given Spirit a confidence boost but Spirit ran up and cut him off before he could say much else,

"I would be honored!"

"This machine looks kind of... " Holly started to say, an unsure look crossing her face and Bernard finished her sentence before she could, "Dangerous?"

As Spirit climbed the steps, up onto the platform, Holly couldn't help but look genuinely worried for her new friend. As he stood under the dome shaped glass half sphere, Holly turned to Bernard to ask questions, since he seemed the most responsible person there,

"How old is that kid? Are you sure he knows what he's doing?"

"That's a bit patronizing... " Bernard's eyes went over to her warningly, as if to tell her without words that calling Curtis a child was insulting even though it was obvious that even for an elf, he was still a child, "He's a lot older than you-"

"Here we go!" Curtis pulled the lever on the machine, and suddenly, the room was filled with the sounds of metal scraping together and colliding in a not so nice way. It made a very scary loud screeching noise, one so bad that the majority of the people in the room covered their ears.

"Turn it off!" Bernard tried to yell over the sound and Curtis shook his head worriedly,

"It's okay! That means it's working!"

"That thing looks like it's going to explode." Holly's eyes were wide with panic and before everyone knew it, electricity shot from the glass dome above Spirit's head and struck him directly like lightning, the glass dome shattering into a million pieces and scattering across the room. With the flash of a great bright light, he was gone. The noise suddenly stopped and everyone in the room stepped backwards, as it seemed like the machine could explode at any moment, despite being eerily quiet.

"It worked! It actually worked!" Curtis yelled excitedly, jumping up and down with glee, running to stand next to Holly and Bernard, who both looked worried and almost scared.

"Where did he go?"

After Holly asked this, she and Bernard turned to Curtis expecting an answer, but sheepishly, he shrugged his shoulders because he didn't actually know. The machine now made a whirring noise, one that was quiet at first but rapidly grew louder, the machine turning red hot as it did.

"Get down!" Bernard grabbed Holly and Curtis and pulled them down behind the large counter that was built into the floor before the machine exploded into pieces, flying all over the room in a hot and fiery mess. The lights in the room now shut off in what they assumed to be a power outage from the machinery malfunctioning. Bernard, Curtis and Holly now stood up, looking at damage the best they could through the smoke and with the light from outside. Surprisingly enough, on the ground underneath where the glass dome used to be was the stick bodied Spirit, wide eyed and curled up into a ball.

"Spirit!" As soon as Holly saw him, she ran forward, helping him up on his feet the best she could. Light from the outside poured into the room when the double doors opened and in walked Santa, looking worried himself,

"Bernard? What in the name of Jiminy Christmas is going on? The power is out in all of Elfsburg!"

"Scott... " Spirit spoke his first word since he had arrived back and left Holly's side, running up to Santa worriedly. Santa looked at him confused and put his hand on his shoulder once he realized how frightened he was. Spirit was shaking badly and timidly, he raised his stick hand, and in the palm was a torn and frayed piece of cloth, definitely a velvety red but very much faded like it was very old and might've even fallen off from age instead of being ripped off. "It's him."

Santa's face went from worried to downright dead serious, probably the most serious anyone had ever seen him be and quickly, he grabbed the fabric, tucking it away in his pocket almost fearfully.

"I want that machine destroyed."

Curtis's eyes widened with shock and he shook his head, nearly groveling at his bosses feet, "But sir! It nearly worked! I spent three whole years building-"

"Curtis, that's enough. I want that confounded contraption dismantled and taken far away from here. Understood?"

Santa didn't raise his voice or yell, he was just very firm while talking to Curtis, letting him know that getting rid of the dangerous machine was non negotiable. Holly and Bernard sat by uncomfortably, glad that the machine would be gone but sorry for Curtis that he'd spent so much time working on a machine just for it to explode and then be destroyed after. Santa then looked over at Bernard softly,

"Bernard? Could you try and figure out how to get the power fixed? If we don't figure something out soon, I'm afraid we'll all freeze solid."

"Right away Santa." Bernard nodded his head quickly and calmly, Santa left the room, the piece of fabric still tightly clutched in his hand that was tucked away in his pocket. Spirit went out after him, eyeing the place nervously as if he were afraid something would jump out and get him.

"Are you okay Curtis?" Holly looked down at him and he slowly nodded his head, sniffling while he wiped his nose,

"Yeah. I'm fine..."