"Angie, you and Bernard have been together eight years and haven't even talked about marriage..."
I tossed over again on the couch, unable to fall asleep despite all the soft blankets around me.
I don't know why that statement caught me off guard, but it did. Eight years was a long time for many people, but we weren't exactly normal people.
Was marriage something I wanted so soon?
I sighed, sitting up and wrapping the Christmas throw blanket around my shoulders.
I'm being ridiculous, there's Christmas-threatening business happening up at the North Pole, and here I am thinking about getting married!
I shook my head, attempting to clear the idea from my mind, and ran a hand through my hair.
Despite rationally knowing that it wasn't something I should be thinking about, I couldn't draw my mind away from that happy fantasy, or the strange sad feeling I now had in the pit of my stomach.
Eight years ago, when we first began dating, we had talked about the idea of moving at a "human pace" since most of my family were humans. I didn't want my grandparents, Charlie, or even Laura and Neal now, miss out on that moment in my life.
It was so odd having both human and elf perspectives. My Grandma Esme was constantly teasing us about how long we had been together whenever they found the time to visit. She would tell me all about how "Me an' Cormac got married in only four months, we did. Oh, my mother wasn't happy at all when she heard the news that we jumped town to elope, but sometimes yeh have to follow your heart." After last time they came up to visit, she practically called me every day waiting for some sort of update in our lives, but I couldn't figure out why.
Meanwhile, elves like Judy prefer to be in relationships for hundreds of years before tying the knot. A marriage before fifty years, at least, is usually regarded with raised eyebrows and a careful watch to see if any "elf babies" are soon after announced.
But then I looked around the room, at all the pictures of Charlie growing up, a picture of him holding baby Lucy, Lucy passing from the toddler age to a child. Neal's hair was beginning to get a few hints of grey, and Laura was starting to talk about their future "after-retirement plans" already.
How does one even bring this discussion up?
"Hey Bernard, you know how my Dad needs to get married before the whole North Pole explodes, that is, if it hasn't already through the hands of Fake Santas? What if we also got married? Great idea, right?"
I stood up, tired of my thoughts spinning in circles, and crept down the stairs, hoping that a midnight cookie run would make me rest better.
"Can't sleep, kiddo?"
I jumped, clutching the throw blanket tighter around my arms.
Dad sat at the kitchen table, looking so... normal and defeated. He was wearing the same pair of jeans and grey sweater he had on earlier in the day, the only difference was his disheveled hair and tired-looking eyes. He had beat me to the midnight cookies, as right in front of him sat a steaming plate of chocolate chip cookies, which looked and smelled freshly baked, and a pitcher of what I knew to be warmed milk.
Despite wanting to be angry at him, something about his form sitting there made me sympathize with him, even though I didn't know what was wrong.
"You had the same idea as me, I see." I glanced at the mixing bowl in the sink, then sat down next to him, grabbing one of the cookies from the plate. "What happened?"
"I told her." He had his head resting on his hand and was looking off into the kitchen blankly.
"You told her?" I felt my hands tense as my fingers squished the still-soft cookie in my hands. "What did you tell her?"
"About me being Santa, the truth about our lives." He shook his head slowly. "I really thought that she'd understand. I had a feeling."
"Oh...Dad," I paused. I didn't want to act happy that their date didn't work out, but a small sliver deep inside was rejoicing. At the same time, the feeling of worry that had been locked away started flooding up again. "Don't be too hard on yourself... She- Principal Newman has never been a fan of Christmas. If Santa himself can't make her see the magic, who else can? You tried your best. There's plenty of women out there, you'll meet the right one!"
"I'm running out of time. There's only two weeks left until Christmas, and I'm no closer to finding a wife than when I first got here."
"You'll figure something out, I know you will."
"But you need to be prepared in case I can't," He turned to face me, "This could be our last Christmas."
"Don't say that, Dad. You were meant to be Santa, you can't give up now."
He sighed, "Well, nothing I can do about it tonight." He stayed silent for a moment, picking apart the cookie with his hands. "What about you? What's keeping you up?" He asked, obviously not wanting to continue the previous conversation.
"Not anything half as serious as that."
"Come on, Angie. It's just like we're at the Pole, you have cookies, milk, and a pair of listening ears." He softly pinched the top of my ear. "Now what's going on that you can't talk to your good ol' Dad about?"
I swung my feet under me as I thought of what to even say. What surprised me was that, it wasn't the whole situation at the North Pole that kept me up, but the stupid comment Charlie made.
"Does Bernard ever talk to you?"
"Why yes, that is his job, if I remember correctly," Dad stated very matter-of-factly and chuckled.
"No, you know what I mean," I shoved his arm with my hand, "About me, about "us"," I motioned between me and the empty space in front of me.
"Angie, that lover boy of yours doesn't shut up about you. I should know, I have to spend about 12 hours of undivided time with him almost every day."
"No, you aren't getting it!" I sighed and facepalmed, "I mean... about us not just "about us"."
"I'm not sure what you're getting at." Dad laughed again, growing a bit of a confused expression on his face.
"You know... with all this talk of "weddings" and "marriage"... it just got me thinking if he's had the talk with you," I raised my eyebrows hopefully.
"Oh jingle bells, Angie!" Dad leaned back in his chair and about tipped it over, "You're still practically a teenager! You haven't even been together that long, what has it been- a year?"
"Dad, it's been eight years! You should know this!"
"I guess it was around the same time, wasn't it?" He shook his head. "But you're so young- you're only... you're-" He furrowed his eyebrows.
"Twenty-eight?" I gave him the answer he was searching for. "I know you still see me as nineteen-year-old Angie, but I'm not. A lot of time has passed since we first got to the North Pole, even if we don't look it."
Dad chewed on his lip thinking for a second, then nodded slowly. "So you really like this guy then?"
"I don't think we'd still be together if I didn't."
He nodded again before eyeing me and asking, "This isn't because you have a "little elf surprise" on our horizon right?"
"No, of course not!" I raised my hushed whisper to a momentary startled exclamation. "No-" I lowered my voice again, "No "elf surprises"."
"Good, good." He seemed to be deep in thought. "No, Bernard hasn't talked to me about any of that yet, but then again, he didn't talk to me about my own need to get married either. Maybe he's just a private guy when it comes to talking about marriage." He shrugged.
"Ah, I see..."
"Don't be downhearted, kiddo. You have plenty of years ahead of you... almost way too many when I think about it." He patted me on the shoulder, but the statement didn't make me feel any better.
"Hm," I nodded with a sigh. I found myself starting into my milk, unsure what to say.
The conversation fell into silence again after that, both of us just waiting for the other person to say something.
"So Laura said you're heading out-"
"Dad, I'm leaving tomorrow-"
We said at the same time and then paused.
"I know," Dad smiled a tired smile, "Don't worry about me down here, I know there's lots to do at home."
Oh, if only he knew.
Sometime after the last cookie was devoured, and the last drop of milk poured, we said goodnight and went back to our respective places to sleep.
Little elf surprise?
I thought to myself as I climbed the stairs. I shuddered. Thinking about getting married was one thing, but elf babies were a whole other.
Come on, Angie... focus on what's important.
I climbed into bed, and this time, I was able to finally get some rest...
The next morning, I awoke early. The sky was still dark and hazy, and the house was quiet and still. As quietly as I could, I folded the blankets into a neat pile and shoved my remaining items into my bag.
Laying on the end table to my right were the clothes I had picked out for the day. A pair of elven embroidered overalls, they were tan with poinsettias and Christmas roses carefully sewn to the front bib. The straps had ruffled lace around the shoulders, and shiny gold buttons to connect them to the bodice. There was a simple forest green turtleneck sweater to go under, and my favorite pair of midnight blue socks, that had been enchanted to show little snowflakes blowing in the wind. I pulled on my traveling cloak and secured it with a pin before placing a pointed knit winter cap on my head.
I loved how elven clothes looked, they were all so intricate and detailed. The way elven hats sat was to always show off our ears, as many elves took pride in the appearance of their points. Finally, and what I thought was the best part of any outfit, was the shoes. Most all elf shoes were pointed, but just how pointed they were depended on the individual's taste.
My boots were hand-sewn from dark brown leather, had a light fur trim around the ankles, and the point at my toes nearly curled all the way back down to the top of my foot.
I looked at myself in the wall-mounted mirror with a feeling of relief. I felt like myself again. Pulling my green traveling bag over my shoulder, I quietly took to creeping down the stairs, careful not to wake anybody. After years of practice in delivering toys with Dad, I had become pretty good about stealthily sneaking around.
Through the kitchen, I took one last look around, then left through the back slider door to the yard.
"Vixen, wake up," I patted the furry reindeer, who promptly ignored me, and turned around to look the other way.
"Vixen!" I shook him, but he was much heavier and larger than me. "Come on buddy, I need to saddle you up to go home." I sighed, "I have sugar cubes and carrots, but you can't tell Comet," I whispered into his ear.
It seemed that was the motivation he needed because he finally opened one of his large dark eyes and peered up at me. I could tell he was debating whether it was worth it, but I pulled a handful of the sugar cubes from my pocket, and he was standing in an instant.
"Good boy, now hold still," I pulled my reindeer saddle from my bag and threw it up over his back, securing it below. "Oh come on, stop yawning, it's only 4:30."
I attached the reins and his bells, (reindeer don't like to fly without their bells), then led him around to the front yard.
The middle of an empty road was the perfect place to take off, that is, if you didn't have a rooftop to land on. Slipping my foot through the stirrup, I pulled myself up and over his back. It turned out to be much harder on my own than with someone helping me up, but I wasn't the shortest elf around, so I managed.
"ON VIXEN," I shouted, and he took off galloping down the drive.
We climbed higher and higher in the sky, past the clouds to the chilled air above. "Bring us home, buddy." I softly patted him on the sides with my heels.
The North Pole: Many Hours and A Few Time Zones Later
The familiar glowing globe that I knew as the North Pole drew close. Vixen flew down and landed right outside the tall wall of ice, waiting upon further instruction as he normally did.
After a minute or so of waiting, the red and white striped "North Pole" arose from the snow, and... not an elf was there to greet us. Instead, a tall blue tin-man soldier stood, casting a dark shadow around us.
My hands tightened around Vixen's reins, unsure what to do. An uneasy feeling took hold of my body as its glowing eyes watched us.
Its robotic eyes scanned the two of us before the moving platform beneath our feet began lowering into the ground. The stable room appeared below us, only a handful of elves nervously running around with hay, carrots, and shovels to take care of the remaining reindeer. Usually, this room was rushing with life and laughter, with so many elves running around.
Just like the one on the surface, at least seven Tin-Man Guards were stationed around the stables, their glowing eyes following the movement in the room.
A young dark-skinned elf caught my eye, and pointed, alerting the others. "Look everyone, Angie is back! We'll be saved!" He wore such a relieved smile, but I knew none of his relief would last for long.
"Noel, quiet yourself, you'll get in trouble-" Another elf whispered, but it was too late.
One of the soldiers marched over to Noel, sprung a strand of red velvet ribbon around him, and then threw him over his shoulder. Noel wiggled but couldn't get free from the soldier's arms.
They can't all be counting on me...
"Where's Bernard?" I whispered to the elf who was hurrying Vixen back to his stable.
"Shh."
"Harvey, talk to me,"
"I can't, I'm working." He said in such a quiet whisper that it almost sounded like he had simply exhaled. His eyes danced around the room, "He got wrapped, just like Noel,"
I bit my lip. "Wrapped?"
"Shh!" Harvey widened his eyes at me.
Realizing that the only way to figure out where the "wrapped" elves were being put was to simply follow along with crossed fingers, I took off behind the toy soldier who was carrying Noel down the hall.
More soldiers stood along each side of the hallways, their eyes glowing and following as I moved.
"Well, well, well!"
My feet came to an abrupt stop as I watched the soldier round the corner and disappear.
"Now WHAT do we have here??" The obnoxious voice of Fake Santa rang through my ears as the man himself stood, plastic arms on his hips. He wore a strange black militaristic uniform, and a slouching black hat to match. "Shouldn't you be hard at work preparing coal for all the children?"
"Uh," I wasn't expecting Santa to turn the North Pole into this.
"Oh, I know you. My "daughter" is it?" He took a step closer to me, sticking his artificially rosy face in mine. "Where are you trying to sneak away to? Trying to stick that pointed nose of yours into my business??"
"I was- just grabbing some more carrots from the kitchens for the reindeer." I lied, trying to relax and act normal.
"Is that so? Because it almost looks like you were trying to sneak around over one of MY soldiers, and from our footage, it looks like you just flew in! I think you aren't being honest with me, and HONESTY is a very important attribute for an elf. I think you deserve to be punished!" He looked to the side and ushered another soldier over in my direction. "Put her with the others! Consider yourself GROUNDED, ho, ho, HO!!"
Big metallic arms started to close in on me, but I ducked, rolling between their legs, and darted down the halls.
"Follow her!!" His voice echoed down the halls, and from the doors beside me, more toy soldiers began emerging.
That Stupid toy! Filled our Workshop with soot and coal! Not important Angie, focus!
I took a glance behind me.
Where the heck did these all come from??
WHACK!
While looking behind me, I had straight-on run into what felt like a wall and fell backward. I peered up at the large tin man ahead of me, he bent down, and I suddenly couldn't move!
The rest of the tin men caught up, but seeing that I was already properly tied up with a bow, they turned, and returned to where they came from.
Like Noel, I found myself trying to kick and squirm, but it only made my stomach hurt from laying over the large "not very plush" shoulder. I couldn't even yell out, as a bow had been placed very specifically on my mouth, and my hands were too busy being pinned to my sides to take it off.
I supposed I wanted to see where all the elves had gone, but not in this state. I sighed, slumping over the giant shoulder and waiting to see where he brought me.
I began to notice that many of the offices and department rooms were boarded up. Through the tiny windows, I could see elves who were all trying to move and call out to me, but all I could hear were their muffled voices.
He walked past all these offices and to the edge of the Workshop, almost to Santa's office, but turned to the right to the cherry red door with the decorated arch labeled "Head Elf".
He opened the door, and I was suddenly chucked to the ground like a rag doll.
"Ouchth." I groaned, rolling to my side.
"Anghhe?!"
"Anghe!!"
I wiggled around on the floor, turning my body to look ahead of me.
In Bernard's two fireplace chairs sat Bernard, and Judy. Both were completely tied to the chairs in the same red ribbon, from their wrists, which were tightly bound, up to their faces where a strand was wrapped against their mouths so that they couldn't talk either. They too had bows on them, but situated on top of their heads instead of their mouths like mine.
"Bernarthh! Duthdy!" I responded, inching my way over to them, feeling very worm-like. "Help-" I tried to motion to the bow on my mouth, as their hands were not completely wrapped.
"Here-" Bernard tried to say with a lot of struggle.
I leaned against his chair and tried to prop myself on my knees so that he could grab the bow from my mouth.
Bernard, trying to lean forward to help, accidentally moved the chair, which only bumped me over dangerously close to falling into the fire.
Judy gasped, and I made a strange muffled yelping noise and threw my body to the side to roll away.
Trying one more time, I once again lunged my weight forward onto his chair so that my face was practically in his lap. Finally, he was able to pull the bow off, and a layer of skin from my mouth.
"Ouch!" I pressed my lips together. "What do we use on those things? Superglue?"
"Anghee, watt are you doo-hing here?" Bernard's eyebrows furrowed.
"I came to help!" Both of us looked at Judy who had a bit of a guilty expression on her face.
"I thold you noth to white her!!"
"Bernath donth be mad!" Judy continued.
"Stop arguing, you both sound ridiculous. And it doesn't matter how I got here or why, I'm here now on my own accord. Can you stop bickering and try to untie my hands?"
Bernard narrowed his eyes but he shrugged and opened his hands up to try and hold onto me.
I turned and leaned my arms up as far as I could reach them. Bernard just barely grabbed onto my wrist but without much ability to balance myself, I kept slipping away.
"I have an idea, hold still." It was not a very good idea, but it was the only idea I could think of. "I'm going to try to climb up on you, and I need you to hold onto me so I don't fall into the fire. Please don't let me fall." I gave Bernard a pleading look, and he nodded adamantly.
Like before, I leaned into the side of the chair, sliding my legs under me so that I was standing on my knees. I threw my face and upper body onto the seat of the chair, that was, Bernard's legs and crotch, and he groaned in pain.
"EATHSY THERE!" He snapped.
Judy looked like she didn't know whether to laugh or look away awkwardly.
"I'm sorry!" I snapped back, turning my face to the side. I tried to push my legs up under me, and in my strange stand-leaning pose, I now had my face in Bernard's armpit.
"I'm sthorry, but how is thisth an idea?" Judy asked, now just watching with a confused expression.
"Quiet Judy, I'm trying to focus here," I said from inside his armpit. With all my ability, I kicked my knees up, and they landed in Bernard's lap.
"OW! ANGHEE!!" He looked like he was about to cry now.
"I'm sorry!! I'm trying to get us out of here," I tilted my head at him and frowned. "Now hold still."
"SHE'S BITHING ME!" Bernard didn't hold still but wiggled back and forward..
"I'm trying to chew through this ribbon, we don't have any other options! And I told you to hold onto me! I don't want to die in your fireplace, Bernard!"
Judy watched with a horrific expression as if realizing that she was going to be next.
"I'm just going to get your face ones off first so you can talk, okay?" I looked at Bernard, then to Judy so she would know what was happening.
I went back to chewing on his face ribbon and finally ripped a piece off with my teeth. Bernard flinched, trying his best not to pull away.
Judy made a muffled cheering noise and I smiled.
"Okay, just a little more,"
With one more good chomp, the ribbon fell limply to the sides and he spit the fabric from his mouth.
"Angie, you're supposed to be with your family!" Bernard frowned, but his face slowly softened, glad to not have the tight rope around his face any longer. He opened and closed his jaw a few times, moving it side to side.
"The elves are my family too, I can't ignore them if they need my help. Besides, I was going to come home much sooner but then- Uh-Bernard?"
Bernard seemed not to be paying attention to what I was saying anymore and was spaced out, watching me talk with his eyes fluttering between my lips and eyes. "Can I kiss you?" He smiled softly. "I missed you."
"Hello?" Judy raised her voice. "I'm sthill here!"
I leaned in and gave him a quick peck. "Let's focus on getting us out of these ribbons first... Now how are we going to do the rest of these? I can't chew that much ribbon.
"If you lean up more, I may be able to untie the knot on your hands." Bernard motioned his head up, "I can hold onto your legs again."
I turned, leaning the back of my legs against his chest, and tried to align my hands with his mouth as he gripped me by the ankles. Somehow, after a few minutes, the ribbons from my hands dropped onto his lap.
"You just untied that without your hands!" I stretched my hands out, sending a relieved feeling back to my fingertips, but my arms were still stuck. "I didn't know you could do that."
"Angie, you know me well enough to know that I'm good at using my mou-"
"I'M STHILL IN THE WOOM!!" Judy squirmed again, scooting her chair from side to side. She seemed to be trying to chew through the ribbon on her mouth now too, with little avail.
"Bernard!" I hissed. I would have shoved him if I could. "Judy don't worry, I'll come help you in just a second." I gave her a guilty smile, "Okay, Romeo, I get the point. Now let's focus." I turned back to Bernard, trying to keep a straight face.
"I'm sorry Judy," Bernard apologized in a way that felt like he wasn't really sorry, as he had a mischievous grin plastered on his face. "Angie, are you able to untie my wrists? I think it's the same ribbon that's around my arms."
"I can try, but I don't have eyes on the back of my head... Nobody has come in here to check on you guys, right?"
"We've been in here since this morning when "Santa" went rogue. Your arrival has been the first time that door has opened all day."
Judy shook her head, no.
"Well that's promising," I sighed, sliding back off the chair to sit on the ground again. With my free hands, I began trying to feel for Bernard's wrists. "Let's hope that means we won't just get rewrapped."
Bernard coughed awkwardly, "To the right more, Angie."
"I told you that I can't see what I'm doing!!" I snapped in a whisper. And moved my hands off of what was not his wrists.
Judy looked like she was going to die from embarrassment.
"There, is that right?" I felt the knot loosen, and with one final tug, the ribbons fell from his shoulders and slacked from his wrists.
"Oh, Chestnuts, that is a good feeling." Bernard sighed a breath of relief, stretched his arms out above his head, and pulled the bow from his curls. He tossed it into the fire with a scowl, as if it was the one who put us here. Leaning forward, he quickly untied his legs, bundled up all the remaining ribbons, and tossed them into the fire.
"Help Judy first," I stopped him from crouching next to me and ushered to my poor traumatized friend in the chair nearby. "She's been stuck longer."
"PLEH!" She spit the ribbon from her mouth and gave Bernard a disgusted grimace. "You both are so crass talking about such... private things in front of me!" These were the first words from Judy's mouth as soon as she was untied. "You both should be grateful that I don't have a gossiping tongue." She shook her head but was mostly giving Bernard a dirty look. "Angie, I am glad you came back when you did. I'm not sure what we would have done here without you." She turned to me with a softer smile, stood, stretching out her sore limbs.
"Believe me, I'm glad I got thrown into a room with you two, and not with Curtis." I chuckled, "Can you give me a hand now?" I wiggled to sit up again, and she ran over, bumping Bernard out of the way.
Bernard offered me a hand and pulled me back up to my feet.
"Well, now what do we do?" I asked, pressing my ear to the door to see if I could hear anything outside.
"I think we need to come up with a plan. Toy Santa has wrapped up every elf who disagreed with the way he was doing things. Oh, Angie, it's terrible! He completely halted toy production and is planning on giving all the children coal this year!" Judy began slightly tearing up at the thought.
I shook my head, "That's ridiculous, he can't do that!"
"Well, when is the real Santa getting back?" Bernard gave us pleading looks.
"Um... He still hasn't found a wife."
"Still?? He only has thirteen days left!" Bernard pulled down on his face.
"Well, it's a pretty big task he has there! It's not as if you two could do the same thing and feel good about it that soon. Bernard, we couldn't stand each other a month into knowing each other, remember?"
"Oh, I remember." Judy wiped her eyes. "He'd come back to the Pole all tired and grumbling."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Bernard rolled his eyes, his face turning a little red, "We'll need him back here soon though, I don't see how we'll be able to catch ourselves back up to be ready for Christmas."
"This is all just so unfortunate." Judy shook her head, "No matter what choice we make, to prioritize Santa or the North Pole, both mean risking Christmas spirit. If Santa comes back early, he may not be able to stay Santa... but if he doesn't, millions of children will wake up with no Christmas."
"I won't let that happen." I snapped, the idea of either of those scenarios were not ones I wanted to think about. "Let's try to get all the other elves free. We might be able to take him down-"
"We've already tried, Angie," Judy said softly. "Even the E.L.F.S has fallen behind. They keep trying to round up wrapped elves and free them, but more and more of them have gotten locked up themselves. Those toy soldiers have their eyes out on everything."
Bernard nodded in agreement with her.
"Hmm," I rested my chin on my hand. "You said that they haven't checked the rooms, right? I mean there isn't a toy soldier in here." I looked around, just to check in case.
The two of them shook their heads.
"What does that matter? They're stationed all along the halls, and even if we did manage to not get caught, most all the filled rooms are boarded up from the outside." Judy crossed her arms tightly across her stomach.
"Oh, come on. We're elves? We have a way to travel right here!" I pointed to the fireplace behind me. Bernard, aren't you glad now that my Dad insisted on installing these things in every room?"
Bernard's pondering expression turned into a smile. "Ah, so his stubbornness pays off! I'd kiss him right now if he was here!"
"Ew-"
"As a matter of fact, I AM!" The door swung open, and Fake Santa took a step inside. "I thought it would be a good idea to check on my number one elf! But, what's this? My most trusted elves plotting against me?" His glass eyes rolled to the remaining burning ribbons, then to the three of us. "How did you get out?"
"I'm not kissing him!"
"Go! Go!" I pushed Bernard and Judy towards the fireplace.
"But there's a fire-! OUCH!" Bernard yelped.
Bernard began climbing up the chimney, and Judy followed with much grumbling about how the soot was going to ruin her favorite dress.
I was last, and with a glance behind me, I could see Fake Santa stick his head into the fireplace and peer up at us. It was one of those moments where I was glad he was made of plastic, because he realized his beard was beginning to stretch out of place from the heat, and he pulled his face back.
"Find out where they're going!" His voice echoed.
"Great, now what's the plan?" Bernard pulled himself onto the roof of the Workshop and helped Judy and me up, keeping an eye out. He clenched his knuckles tightly.
"We'll just have to go room to room," I dusted myself off, "Maybe if we start with the furthest room back and work our way forward, he won't track us as quickly. Judy, do you know if there's a safe spot where Fake Santa hasn't put his soldiers yet?"
Judy shook her head. "Maybe in the residential halls?"
"What are you thinking?" Bernard looked at me.
"Judy, I need you to give the elves we get out directions to a safe spot- Bring everyone to the E.L.F.S office and board up the doors. You're good at keeping the elves calm, they'll feel safer with you. Hopefully, Kenny will still be there with some of his team. Bernard, you and I will keep rescuing and unwrapping the rest of the elves, okay?"
Judy nodded, "I'll keep a look out until you get back. Now go, I know which chimney to go down- Don't worry about me!" She pushed us forward lightly and we took off running down the snow-covered rooftop to the furthest office chimney.
We landed hard with a thud. The North Pole chimney's weren't used to being stretched like most modern houses, so they were pretty rusty.
"Ah, where this whole problem started." I gave Curtis' machine a nasty look and about tripped over something. "Oh- Curtis!"
Curtis and a few other elves were tied and thrown to the floor just as I was. Upon seeing us, they all began squirming with hope.
As fast as we could, the two of us worked on untying everyone.
"Keep your voices down, we don't want to draw attention," Bernard ushered everyone towards the chimney again. "Go to the rooftop, Judy will be there with instructions on where to go-"
There was the sound of heavy banging on the doors.
"Quickly!" I shoved two more elves up the chimney, but it was obvious that not everyone paid attention in "chimney climbing" class at elf school.
"I need a boost up!" Curtis' feet kept slipping from the walls, and Bernard climbed underneath him and pushed his feet up as high as he could reach. "
"Anybody else need a hand? Because we're running out of time!" Bernard whisper hissed.
The doors flew open and two toy soldiers marched into the room.
"Hurry up!" I shoved the last elf girl into the chimney, and we all climbed as fast as we could to the chimney again.
Judy was waiting there pale faced with worry, "Follow me, everyone, this way!"
The elves followed her to the other end of the roof, where they began shimmying down the opposite chimney.
"Bernard, Angie," Curtis looked at us with wide eyes, "I'm sorry about all of this- I'll find a way to make it right, I promise."
"No need to find, Curtis, I already have something for you to do." I placed a hand on his shoulder, "I need you to borrow one of the E.L.F.S jetpacks and find the real Santa" From my pocket, I still had half a crayon and an extra piece of paper from Lucy. "This is the address that he's at. Can you get there?"
Curtis nodded cautiously. "I'll do my best."
"Now go on!" I pushed him forward towards Judy who caught his arm and helped him down the chimney "Bring my Dad home."