The North Pole Challenge (Flea's Five Christmases, #1) (9 page)

             
“So I guess you’re some kind of toy-maker then? The way you made the bike from that stack of wood was pretty incredible,” Flea said.

             
“If you’re asking whether I’m a factory elf then the answer is
no
,” Niko said. “Obviously, I’m a very good builder and if that was my full-time job then there’s no doubt in my mind that I’d be top-of-the-tree level. But I was put in charge of a more important North Pole duty years ago.”

             
“And what duty is that?” Flea asked.

             
“
That duty
is something
you
don’t need to know about,” Niko said bluntly. “Just remember that you’re new here and my important business is not for the ears of bottom-of-the-tree level elves, let alone someone on no level at all.”

             
Flea knew he shouldn’t pester Niko with any more questions at the moment but they were quickly approaching a part of the lobby that held little else besides the icy roller coaster. Flea watched the coaster’s train-cars go around several loops, which made his stomach sink.

             
“We aren’t going to have to ride that, are we?” Flea asked. “Because I don’t really like heights.”

             
Niko muttered to himself and shook his head angrily, as if this had been the worst possible thing Flea could’ve said.

             
“Don’t worry, we aren’t going on the coaster, you have nothing to be afraid of,” Niko said. For the first time, his voice softened with reassurance, though Flea knew fakeness when he heard it. “Actually, we’ll be using
that
to travel to your floor.”

             
In the corner was a large, black metal tube that reminded Flea of an oversized canon. The feeling of dread remained in his stomach at the sight of this huge tube but Niko walked straight into the tube’s opening. Flea relaxed about the possible danger. He only hesitated a moment before entering, feeling much better upon seeing a row of lights lining the tube’s inner wall. Flea wondered if the tube led to some kind of elevator system but quickly saw that it didn’t. Instead, there were two seats at the back, the sight of which started Flea’s stomach doing back-flips again. He suddenly had the feeling that the ‘hopwell’ would’ve been the better travel option.

             
“What is this thing?” Flea asked.

             
Niko sat down in one of the chairs and patted the other one next to him. Flea wanted to turn and run from this tube but his feet brought him forward and he sat down.

             
“Is there some kind of seatbelt on this thing?” he asked.

             
“That would sort of defeat the purpose, don’t you think?” Niko asked. This time, the lighter tone to Niko’s voice sounded genuine.

             
“Defeat the purpose of what?” Flea asked.

             
Niko lifted his hand and pressed his palm against a small square plate on the side of the tube. He told Flea to do the same, which Flea did against his better judgement. He heard a sudden
whirring
sound from behind his seat as the tube began to turn and tilt back. Once the
whirring
and movement stopped, the next sound was that of a metal coil being tightly wound. Even if Flea wanted to escape from the tube at this point, the sheer gravity of being pressed against the back of his seat would’ve stopped him. The new voice that spoke had a mechanical tone, which Flea understood to be a computer. What he
didn’t
understand was the meaning of its words.

             
“The spring is ready.”

             
Before Flea could ask, a large hologram appeared before his very eyes, a number ‘5’ floating in the air in front of him. The holographic number soon changed to a ‘4’ followed by a ‘3’.

             
“What is it counting down to?” Flea asked, panic filling his voice.

             
Niko merely chuckled in response, as he was clearly intent on letting Flea find that out for himself. Once the ‘1’ faded away, Flea got his answer.

             
The spring released behind them and shot their chairs forward so quickly that Flea would’ve missed the trip through the tube had his eyes been able to blink. Flea was soaring through the air before he knew it, his body no longer attached to the seat that shot him out of the tube. Flea screamed in fear, his mind unable to process any words or thoughts at the moment as the two soared directly toward the speeding roller coaster. It looked like they might crash right into one of the track’s loop-dee-loops but their flight through the air slowed just enough for Flea and Niko to pass perfectly through the center of the loop. Although that was one potential obstacle out of the way, Flea still zoomed straight toward the lobby wall.

             
Seconds before impact, two small holes appeared in the wall and they each soared perfectly into one of them. Flea was unaware that he was still screaming until he heard the sound of his voice echoing inside the narrow tunnel he now slid through. Before he could figure out what had happened, Flea’s slide came to an abrupt end as he passed through a chute and tumbled clumsily onto the floor of a white-and-red striped hallway. He turned around just in time to see Niko emerge from the chute, though the elf landed perfectly on his feet. Flea’s heart still pounded wildly. His head spun and he was in no condition to stand just yet. Niko, however, was not very sympathetic.

             
“There’s no time for resting,” the elf said. “How many times do I have to remind you that I’m in a rush?”

             
Niko took Flea by the arm and helped him to his feet. Flea’s legs felt like rubber for his first few steps but Niko obviously didn’t care as he continued walking quickly down the hallway. Flea’s mind was still loopy but one thing about the hallway doors made even less sense to him now than when he’d first noticed.

             
“How can the elves tell the difference between rooms if they aren’t numbered?” he asked as they walked past countless unmarked doors.

             
“They just
know
,” Niko said. “Finding your room isn’t rocket science.”

             
Had Flea known there was no way to really tell, he would’ve started counting the doors the moment he stumbled out of the chute, even though his brain still rattled in his head and made
simple thinking
difficult let alone counting. As Flea passed each door, he listened for any sign of life, hoping that his quiet room might be easier to identify if it was the only one without noise. But the only thing he heard was his own pounding heart and Niko’s footsteps.

             
“Where are the rest of the elves?” Flea asked. “This dorm seems way too big to have nobody else living here.”

             
“Believe me, you’ll wish this place were much bigger when the others are around, especially since you live on one of the highest floors. This is where we house some of the more… interesting characters,” Niko said. “But the reason it’s so quiet now is because one way or another,
all
of the elves are getting ready for Christmas.”

             
This didn’t make sense to Flea since he remembered one of the final things he’d seen in his bedroom before passing out.

             
“But it was 11:59 when I fell asleep and came here…or when you took me here. Actually, how did I get here?” Flea asked. Niko kept walking quickly and seemed in no hurry to discuss the kidnapping so Flea focused on his original line of questioning. “Are you already planning for
next
Christmas?”

             
“Time doesn’t really work the same way at the North Pole as it does in your world, at least not on Christmas Eve. The night before the big holiday, certain… steps are taken to ensure that we have plenty of time to finish preparations,” Niko explained.

             
“Steps? You mean like stopping time or something?” Flea asked. That idea would have seemed ridiculous to him a few hours earlier but Flea was quickly learning that
nothing
around here was impossible.

             
“Stopping time is impossible,” Niko said. But before he explained any further, he stopped in front of a door that looked exactly like all the others. “Now enough with the questions, I’m sure you’ll learn plenty when you go to school.”

             
“School?” Flea asked.

             
Once again, he thought back to the buildings he’d created on
The Great Build-Off
and recalled one of the bigger ones near the back of the North Pole.

             
“Did you
really
think you would be given a free pass into the toy factory because of the limited amount of building you did in shop class?” Niko laughed, making Flea feel so stupid that he could think of no response. “Now I need you to go into your room and change into proper elf attire. But hurry up, you don’t want to be late on your first day, do you?”

             
“And you’re sure this is
my
room?” Flea asked when his hand touched the handle. He still had no idea how Niko could tell the difference and Flea didn’t want to intrude on anyone else’s personal space.

             
Niko sighed and opened the door to the empty room. After having seen the other rooms filled with toys, Flea felt sure that this empty room was indeed his. Niko closed the door and waited in the hallway while Flea looked around the empty room for his elf outfit. He was just about to ask Niko where to find his new clothes when he spotted a closet on the far side of the room. When he opened the closet door, Flea saw a single outfit on a hangar. He was shocked by what the clothes looked like. He took the hangar off the rack and laid the clothes – as well as the shoes – on his bed. Flea shook his head and walked back toward the door.

             
“Are you sure I can’t wear what I already have on?” he called out.

             
“Do you
really
want to stick out like a sore thumb?” Niko answered from the other side of the closed door.

             
Having worn mismatched, second-hand clothes his entire life, Flea knew a thing or two about ‘sticking out’ on his first day. He hoped that wearing these clothes would help him fit in better so he quickly changed into them, shaking his head with every new piece of elf clothing that he put on.

CHAPTER TEN

Snowmen Problems

Flea felt ridiculous when he and Niko walked back outside. The snowfall had lightened enough for him to view more of the North Pole, though he still saw no other elves out and about. Although he was interested to meet some of the others, Flea wasn’t exactly looking forward to anyone seeing him dressed like this, even though Niko promised it was the standard elf apparel.

I wonder if everyone else feels so itchy wearing this junk,
Flea thought. The inside of his closet had contained a mirror, but Flea tried to forget the image of himself wearing this outfit. The ensemble consisted of a big green jacket over a white puffy shirt, bulging green shorts with high golden socks and silver shoes with curled tips and jangly silver balls at the end. It was all topped off with a large red Christmas hat that nearly hung over his entire face.

             
“Are you sure I don’t remind you of a leprechaun?” Flea asked as he pulled up his golden socks for the tenth time.

             
“I’ve met plenty of leprechauns,” Niko said. “Believe me, they dress
nothing
like that.”

             
Flea was about to ask more about leprechauns, but he noticed a smile on Niko’s face and figured he was joking. Unfortunately, Flea wasn’t sure exactly
what
Niko was joking about. Despite snow soaking through the cloth-made shoes, Flea was able to enjoy his surroundings as they walked toward several of the life-sized buildings that he’d built in a smaller scale. The first was the ice bank, more beautiful in person than he could have imagined. Sunlight broke through the clouds as they walked past, causing light to reflect off the icy structure. Flea felt unusually drawn toward the building but when he wandered too close to it, a surge of snow rushed up from the ground and formed several snowmen guards.

             
“What’s kept inside there?” Flea asked upon seeing the high level of protection around the building.

             
“That’s information that
you
have no reason to know,” Niko said. “Very few elves know about it. There are plenty who’ve been here for years and years that aren’t privileged to such important North Pole secrets. You make sure you stay
far away
from that ice bank at all times. I promise you, there’ll be serious trouble for you if you try to get near it.”