The North Pole Challenge (Flea's Five Christmases, #1) (15 page)

Tight Security

“
Niko?
”

             
“How else did you think he would get such an important job around here?” Minko asked. “That’s why Rome flirted with him, so she could gain access to the toy factory. Niko is related to Santa, that’s why he’s so important around here even though he’s the youngest elf at the North Pole. Wait, how old are
you
?”

             
“Ten,” Flea answered, still in shock to find out about Niko’s relation. He couldn’t quite comprehend how someone so cranky could be the son of the world’s most jolly character.

             
“Then I guess that makes Niko the
second
youngest but only by a handful of years. Still, the way he bosses around elves you might think that he was just as old as Vork or the other North Pole elders,” Minko said.

             
“Does Santa have any
other
children?”

             
“Nope, just the one.”

             
“So what’s the story with Mrs. Claus?” Flea wondered.

             
When Minko stopped walking and looked around again, Flea expected to hear another ‘secret.’ But the pudgy elf wore a look of complete seriousness that bordered on anger. For someone wearing such a festive blinking shirt, Minko’s expression seemed out of place.

             
“We don’t
ever
talk about Mrs. Claus around here, not to anyone, not even in whispers amongst ourselves,” Minko said. “So do us both a favor and never ask me about her again.”

             
Minko turned and marched off. Flea was so shocked by Minko’s reaction that he turned bright red and muttered an apology, though he wasn’t totally sure
why
he was so sorry. Flea worried that he had just ruined his first real chance of making a friend. He realized now that Minko’s friendliness was the only part of his North Pole experience that didn’t make him feel awkward and unwanted. For some unknown reason, mentioning Mrs. Claus was a big no-no here and Flea wondered if he’d given the elves yet another reason to demand that he leave the North Pole.

             
But Minko did not get very far before he stopped and turned back toward Flea.

             
“Don’t just stand there, I have much more to show you here,” Minko said, his voice and facial expression having softened. Flea hurried to catch up and saw that the pudgy elf had also blushed. “I’m sorry for snapping. I’ve never really met any
new
elves before. I have to keep reminding myself that you don’t know about these kinds of things. And I guess it’s actually good that you asked me and not someone else about Mrs.…. about her, especially Niko. The elves around here can get a bit sensitive about that subject.”

             
Flea nodded, not wanting to make another mention about Mrs. Claus. He was suddenly very thankful that this subject hadn’t come up earlier with Niko, that this wasn’t one of the dozens of questions he’d pestered him with. More than anything else, Flea realized that maybe he needed to heed Niko’s earlier advice about not asking so many questions in the future.

             
For several minutes, the only sound Flea and Minko made was the
crunching
of their footsteps in the snow. The silence between them grew awkward until Minko stopped just beyond the ice bank and picked up a handful of snow.

             
“You wanted to know more about the ice bank so watch this,” he said. “You better take a few steps back, though. Since you’re new, the guards won’t know you so they better know that
I’m
the one doing this.” Minko carefully formed the handful of snow into a large, perfectly formed snowball. “Like I said, only Santa or his family can enter the ice bank.
This
is what would happen if anyone else tried to break in.”

             
Minko lobbed the snowball high toward the ice bank but before it reached the building, an icy arrow intercepted it and caused the snowball to explode. Flea looked down to see an entire line of snowmen encircling the ice bank, though these
weren’t
simply the blockade variety. The green-eyed snowman leader of the bank security force stared directly at Flea and Minko, both of whom backed away upon seeing the squad of well-armed snowmen ready to strike.

             
“What did you do?” Flea whispered. “It looks like they’re going to attack us.”

             
“Don’t worry, they know who I am and that we’re not a threat,” Minko said, though he didn’t sound very convincing. “Still, I wouldn’t make any sudden movements if I were you.”

             
Once the two elves stepped farther back and made no further threatening moves, most of the armed-snowmen melted back into the snowy ground. Still, the leader continued to watch them, the familiar green-eyes boring a hole directly into Flea.

             
“Why were the ice bank guards up?” Niko called out as he rushed toward them from the security building. Niko ran so quickly that his big red Christmas hat nearly flew off several times, though he was careful to keep a tight hold of it against his head. Santa’s son glanced toward the barren landscape beyond the village.

             
“I’m sorry, Niko, I was… I was just showing Flea why he should stay away from the ice bank,” Minko stuttered. He was clearly worried about getting in trouble, especially when he saw how angry Niko appeared. But luckily for the pudgy elf, Santa’s son seemed totally focused on Flea.

             
“Did you try to enter the ice bank?” Niko demanded to know. Though the tone of his voice sounded angry, Flea thought he also detected a bit of panic in it as well. “I
told
you there’d be trouble if you tried to get close to it. It’s barely been a few hours and you’ve
already
disobeyed the only direct order I gave you.”

             
“It wasn’t him, I pr-… I promise Flea had nothing to do with it,” Minko said. “I was just trying to show off and – ”

             
Without taking his eyes away from Flea, Niko held up a finger to Minko, who instantly stopped talking.

             
“Walk away right now, Minko,” Niko said. Once the pudgy elf was out of earshot, Niko continued to hiss angrily at Flea. “I thought the North Pole was under attack. How could you let that fool do something so stupid when you saw what was happening in the security building?”

             
“I didn’t know what he was doing,” Flea countered. “Besides, you didn’t
explain
to me what I saw in there.”

             
“And you’re proving that you don’t deserve to know
anything
important that’s going on around here,” Niko said. He stormed back to the security building, but not before issuing one final warning. “
Stay away
from the ice bank, don’t make me have to warn you a third time.”

             
Minko apologized profusely when Flea caught up. Flea told him not worry about it even though he was concerned that Santa – or whoever else was in charge of making decisions here – had yet another reason to boot him out of the North Pole. Flea had little time to focus on his misfortune though, as the two passed yet another one of the main buildings that Flea had previously built.

             
“Welcome to the reindeer stable,” Minko said.

             
The stable resembled a large brown barn, a building that seemed out of place here at the North Pole. The stable lacked bright colors and looked like it was straight out of the human world. Flea again traced his knowledge of the North Pole back to famous Christmas tunes, as he remembered that nine reindeer pulled Santa’s sleigh. While Flea was no expert on the subject of animal care, the stable looked way too big to house only nine reindeer. He was just about to ask Minko about this when he reminded himself that learning on his own – whenever that might happen – might be the better option. Besides, the symphony of strange sounds that emerged from the reindeer stable made Flea forget his previous questions, as a whole new set of them suddenly came to mind.

             
What the heck is going on in there?
Flea wondered. As he walked along the length of the stable, he heard every distinct noise, each sound totally different from the last. The
stomping
of hooves perfectly in tune with loud music. The
clinking
of metal against metal over and over again, each time followed by a thunderous
grunting
. A high-pitched,
whiny
voice that screamed “but I’m a superstar!” moments before a door slammed. Finally, soft piano music. And those were the only noises that he could distinguish from one another. Flea had no idea what these strange noises were but the reindeer stable sounded nothing short of crazy. Once Flea and Minko were beyond the stable and away from the noise, they could finally talk again.

             
“I realize that getting yelled at by Niko was a real downer, but I know how I can make it up to you,” Minko said. “I’ll show you one of the coolest parts of the North Pole and introduce you to two of the coolest elves I know.”

             
“You really don’t have to do anything special on my behalf,” Flea said. “Maybe we should just get to your job post and avoid any more… complications with your work schedule.”

             
Flea knew he was already on thin ice around here and was starting to get the feeling that trouble followed Minko. But the pudgy elf seemed oblivious to Flea’s concerns and told him that this would only take a few minutes.

             
“First, notice that the factory is there…” Minko said, pointing at the large building. He then drew a straight line in the air toward a smaller building, another one that Flea hadn’t built on
The Great Build-Off
. “…and the garage is over there. The two are connected but I’ll tell you why later. Come on, we’re going to the garage.”

             
Along the way, Minko warned Flea not to trip over a hatch in the ground. The hatch was halfway between the two buildings but when Flea asked what it was, Minko told him that he would explain later.

“There are cars at the North Pole?” Flea wondered, as he could think of no other explanation why a garage would be needed.

“Cars? On ground covered with this much snow?” Minko said. “I don’t think so. The garage holds something
much
better than a car, though you might not want to tell anyone that I brought you here. Technically, I’m not sure that anyone else is supposed to see this right now, not even me.”

When the two reached the smaller building, they found that the rolling garage door was raised only about a foot off the ground. It clearly wasn’t a sign to Flea of an open invitation to enter, though that wasn’t about to stop Minko. The pudgy elf lay flat on the ground and wiggled his way under the opening. Once he squeezed his way inside, he whispered to Flea to follow him.

             
How do I always end up getting myself in these positions?
Flea wondered. He looked around the North Pole and saw that nobody was watching, although that didn’t make him feel any better as he climbed to the ground and shimmied his way into the garage.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Wrench and Grinder

“And you’re
sure
we’re allowed in here?” Flea asked once he got to his feet and brushed the snow off of his clothes.

             
“Don’t worry so much,” Minko said. “I’m friends with the mechanics who work here. They are really cool elves, can’t you tell already?”

             
It was hard to tell
anything
inside the dark garage. A small amount of light trickled in from the outside and allowed Flea to see a long ramp leading downward, though he couldn’t tell exactly how deep it went. However, he saw an eerie reddish glow and heard loud pounding music coming from down the ramp that made him seriously doubt whether coming here was a good idea. Minko carefully stepped over a red laser beam at ground level and Flea did the same.