Yeah, so, this whole "internet" thing isn't working out in the Bx household, and we don't know why. Which is why all of you, my devoted fans, have been deprived of my presence these past few days. Weeks, even. But we've still got some tricks to try and, if they work, I'll be back online before you can say "Azukar's got a whole lot of work this semester and I mean really got a whole lot of work what with EER409 and the other compressed subjects because they're going on prac in 9 weeks' time so he probably won't be online much anyway but we can live in hope".

 

If not... Well, there's two new Night After Christmas chapters rearing to go, and two Maisy and Tugelbert vignettes, so at the least I might be able to drag my sorry thumbdrive down here and give you something to tide you over until I come back.

Chapter Four - Frost and Fire
December 26

"Thanks for the lift, Jack."

"Don’t mention it Charlie," Jack Frost replied, hoping he was facing the right way. If he concentrated, he could see where an occasional snowflake landed on the figure of the invisible person, or where the faintest of footprints appeared on the ground. Anyone walking past would have thought he was alone in the park. "There was no point you walking in this kind of weather anyway." Behind Jack, his horse snorted quietly.

"Well, there are some downsides to meeting at the North Pole. If I may ask, how do you feel about this new plan?"

Jack caught a snowflake on his outstretched hand, and regarded it solemnly. "It is difficult to say. We may lose out no matter how it resolves itself, and yet, it might be our best option."

"I’ll make sure we get the full approval of the Invisible Friends. We should be able to keep things under control."

"We will need the assistance, I’m sure. I think I will meet with Santa Claus early tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me; there’s a lot to figure out before we start. Anyway, I’ll let you go. Thanks again for the lift."

Jack took a step back. In front of him, the space between two of the tall stone pillars that dotted the park flared and became a portal. There was a brief ripple as Charlie passed through, then it went dark again.

Jack turned and placed a hand on the flank of the horse, which shivered, and crumbled into a mound of snow. He walked onward into the darkness of the park. A moment later, he had vanished.

-----

A high note rang out in the silent darkness, clear as a bell. It went on, and was joined by others, forming a beautiful melody which rose and fell in slow waves. A shape appeared in the darkness, and became an elemental, her long hair draped around her body like a shroud. Her head was bowed as she walked forward, arms held by her sides.

Four other elementals appeared in the darkness of the clearing. They formed a square around the first, who was standing perfectly still. Persephone watched as, in unison, they began dancing around the unmoving central figure, ducking and weaving in a wide circle. As the tempo slowly increased, other dancers appeared, creating a swirling mass of moving bodies in which patterns formed and broke like a kaleidoscope. Arcs of light flew from their fingertips toward the centre of the circle and the motionless elemental, where they spun gently around her.

Persephone smiled wistfully and leaned against a tree, listening to the music wafting through the forest and watching the whirling dancers. A few early autumn leaves drifted down from the trees, spiralling to the ground. Around the edge of the clearing, she could just make out other shadowy figures watching the dance.

A snowflake landed on her shoulder. She turned, and came face to face with Jack Frost.

"Well hello there," she said, holding out her arms. Jack Frost took her hands in his, leaned forward and kissed her.

"Good evening my dear," he said, after breaking away. "I thought you might come here."

"I thought you would be another hour or so. It’s a beautiful dance tonight."

"Which dance are they performing?"

Persephone and Jack turned to the dancers. "It’s a mourning," she replied with a hint of sadness. As they watched, the outermost dancers lay down in a broad ring. The middle figure still had not moved. The streamers of light almost encased her. "They’re foretelling their death."

Jack sighed. "Again? Why are they not healing?"

"Healings cannot keep up anymore," said Persephone, wrapping her arm around his. "You should come here more often and see; the damage is growing so fast…"

"You know the elementals prefer that I do not come here too often. Winter has little place here, hence why they favour your company."

"Some know better than that. They would be comforted knowing that you sympathise with them."

Jack nodded. "I do sympathise. How is the season progressing?"

"I’ve decided to be more adventurous this year. I’ll do some more tropical storms, and start some new droughts. It should give you some ideas for when winter comes around. How did the meeting go?"

"Not very well. The Easter Bunny pushed his manifestation plan again. I can’t help but fear he is going to overreact and try something ill-conceived if we can’t resolve the problem ourselves. And Lavender, it seems, has not inherited much of her mother’s intelligence."

"That’s rather a harsh thing to say. She’s only young, and new to the business. Give her some time, at least."

"Time is what we are running out of, sadly."

"No-one has proposed a good plan yet?"

Jack’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Yes," he said, "and no. The ghost has the outline of a possible plan, but we still need to discuss the specifics. I am going to meet Santa Claus tomorrow to talk it over with him."

"Shall we go home then? You can tell me more on the way; the dance does get depressing after a while."

The pair turned, and vanished into the darkness, while behind them the sorrowful dance spiralled onward among the falling leaves.

Time passed.

-----
Addendum:
My mum has a Puma brand polo shirt, upon which the washing instructions read exactly thus:
"Wash this when dirty".
Instructions obviously designed with today's sport fanatic in mind.

Chapter Three - Black and White
December 26

Lavender stepped out into the snow, locking the door behind her. Far off, the clock tower was chiming midnight. The cold hit like a knife.

Brook and Crystal were shivering at the side of the icy road, scanning up and down. "Where is she?" Brook asked, her teeth chattering in the cold. Treading carefully in her heels, Lavender squeezed between the girls to keep warm. "She should be here by now."

"Come on Deana… Come on…" Crystal called out softly into the snow. "She said midnight, right Lav?"

Lavender nodded mutely. Even with her thick fur coat, the cold went straight to the bone.

The girls shivered and waited. "What are we even going out tonight for?" Crystal chattered. "We’ll freeze to death first."

"We won’t get another chance before the end of the year, and it should be big," Lavender replied.

Suddenly, a bright glow appeared through the mist. The sleigh that pulled up on the road beside them was jet black, very sleek, and very shiny. The glass horse snorted and shook its shining black mane. Crystal gasped as the door opened and Deana stepped out and grinned at them.

"Crystal, Lavender, Brook, dahlings," she said in a put-on posh voice. "So good to see you all tonight." She was interrupted by the girls hurrying over and wrapping her in a tight group hug. "Deana!" Brook practically squeaked. "You got it! You bought it after all!"

"Geez, how did you get your mum to lend you the money?" Lavender looked over Deana’s shoulder to the inside of the sleigh. The seats had leather trims! And there was a pair of giant fluffy dice on the front!

Deana grinned her wide grin. "Oh, I just put on my halo and reminded her of what a good girl I am," she said innocently. "You know, such a hard studier at university, and all that."

"Oh," Crystal replied with a smile. "I bet you even batted your eyelashes at her and gave her the puppy-dog eyes."

"Oh no, is that what you think of me? Puppy-dog eyes are for my dad, silly. He can’t stand to see his little girl upset. So, are we all ready? I’m freezing!"

"Let’s go!" said Lavender. "Shotgun front!"

The four girls piled into the sleigh, running their hands over the trims and seats. "Very posh, De," Brook said, as Deana gently tapped the reins and the glass horse lumbered into a trot.

"I guess," Lavender said after a few minutes, "that the Pole isn’t the best place to show this thing off."

Deana peered into the snow, the sleigh barely crawling along. Shops appeared in the darkness like icebergs, only to vanish again. The only light came from the street lamps, and the cool blue glow of the horse. "Too bad it’s not a flying model, we could take it down to your parents’ place and really test her out."

Lavender looked around. Snow was flowing around the invisible bubble over the top of the sleigh. Crystal was reclining in the back with her legs crossed and her handbag in her lap. She was running a finger along the silver trim. "What do you want to call her?"

Brook gasped. "That’s right! Does it have a name?"

"Do we really have to name the sleigh?"

"Of course you do!"

Crystal looked up. "You could just name the horse. I’m glad you got the glass one; a metal horse would’ve looked cheap."

"No expenses spared for De’s first sleigh," Lavender added.

"It’ll be my last if I crash it in this bloody weather," Deana said distractedly. "Oh, listen: we’re almost there."

Lavender strained to hear. There was a chatter of voices ahead, and the low rhythmic sound of music.

They turned a corner, and saw the club. Light from the flashing sign above the doorway illuminated a line of people, all shivering and stamping their feet in the snow. Deana slowed the sleigh down as they passed along the queue, scanning the waiting people. "There’re a lot of fairies out tonight," Crystal remarked. "Might see someone there you like Lav," she continued, turning to Lavender with a wink. Lavender scowled.

"Lots of elves, too," Brook added. "Probably all came from Santa’s factories to kick-start their holiday month. I swear he works them to the bone."

"Shush," said Deana, still squinting ahead. "Look for somewhere I can park."

Minutes later, the girls stood at the head of the queue. The people waiting in line behind the red rope eyed Lavender warily as she approached the massive bouncer.

"Evening Barry," she said with a charming smile.

"Oh, Tooth Fairy. Good to see you tonight; please, come right through." Barry reached over and unhooked the rope. Lavender did not take her eyes off him as she stood aside and the girls stepped demurely onto the carpet.

"Thank you Barry," she said in the same sweet tone, and the four girls stepped into the club, leaving the rest of the partygoers in the cold.

"You go girl!" Deana whispered as the walked down the short hall to the glass doors. The muted pulse of the music seemed to be coming up through the floor.

A fairy in a top hat and tails was standing near the doors. "Take your coats, ladies?" he asked. The girls shrugged off their coats and handed them over. He handed Brook a ticket with a smile, then pressed a button on the wall.

The doors slid open, and the room exploded into sound and light. Lavender ran to the railing and looked down over the mass of people dancing below. No wonder there was a line up, she thought. The place was packed!

"It’s packed!" Crystal shouted to be heard above the music, looking around.

"Let’s get a drink and find somewhere to sit!"

"No, let’s dance!" Brook linked arms with Lavender and Crystal and headed for the stairs.

"Can’t we warm up first?" Deana sighed as she followed the other girls down into the pit.

They bought drinks, and navigated their way around the dancers to a couch under the balcony.

"Yuck, it’s so smoky over here," Crystal waved a hand through the smoke haze as she sat down.

"It’s not going to get any better my dear," said Brook, "we didn’t bring gas masks."

"How’s you mum these days?" Deana asked Lavender, as the other two chatted away.

Lavender nodded. "She’s not bad. I’ve taken on a third of the tooth rounds, mostly in the cities where it’s so much busier. Me and dad are doing almost all of the paperwork, between us, so she can rest more while she’s at home."

"But she’s recovering, at least?"

Lavender looked wretched. Deana slid her hands across the table and held Lavender’s. "Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. It’ll take more than a little knock like that to shake the Tooth Fairy. Senior, I mean."

"I know, I know. The worst part is the doctors are telling her she needs to rest more, and you know her: try and tell her she’s not as young as she used to be and she just has to prove you wrong."

Crystal put an arm around Lavender’s shoulder. "Lav, come on, you heard it. No kid is going to put your mother out of action for long. Hah, I bet she’ll be out of bed soon and be back down to that kid’s house to take all the rest of his teeth!"

"Sounds like mum to me. Anyway, enough about bad news." She looked over at Crystal, and stifled a laugh. "Crys, the wind! It blew out your fringe!"

"Oh geez," Crystal groaned, trying to look up at her own hair. "Look, I’ll just go fix it. Don’t go anywhere, okay? Mind my bag."

Crystal hurried off toward the bathrooms. Brook turned back to the table and said, "You know, I could have sworn she wanted her hair to look like that."

Lavender casually looked around the room. There were a lot of fairies in the club. A group was dancing near the edge of the floor; wings huddled protectively close to their bodies. A pair of bogeymen dancing near the middle of the floor stood out like hairy icebergs, standing head and shoulders above the crowd. There were even elementals, looking down on the dancers from the balcony.

When Crystal returned, she had a strange expression on her face. Lavender looked suspiciously at her as she sat down. "What’s that look for?" she asked.

Crystal put her fist in the middle of the table, palm up. She opened her hand for a fraction of a second, long enough for Lavender to see she was holding four off-white pills.

"Crystal! Where did you get those?" Deana looked scandalised.

"There’s someone over in the corner near the toilets."

"How did you pay for them? All your money is in your handbag."

Crystal clasped her hands. "Not all of it."

Brook looked at Crystal’s skirt and top. "You haven’t got any pockets."

"Well, I didn’t keep it anywhere that someone were going to go looking for it, did I?"

Deana kept looking at Crystal’s clasped hands. "But… I didn’t think you could get those anymore," she said quietly. Lavender looked around. The elves on the lounge next to them did not look like they would overhear. "Are they genuine?"

Crystal opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again as a pair of fairies walked past the table. "You can tell – these are manufactured. They’re real. We can sort out the cost later. Pinkies, ladies," she said, holding out her little finger.

"Crystal…"

"Oh come on Lav, you need to unwind. Your busy season is right around the corner; enjoy the holiday while you can."

Lavender sighed, and hooked her pinkie around Crystal’s. Brook and Deana joined the knot of fingers.

"Girls, remember," said Crystal. "Let’s none of us go home with any creepy men." She broke the tangle of fingers, and slid a pill across the table to each girl.

Lavender picked up her bottle in one hand, and her pill in the other. "Cheers," she said, raising the bottle. She delicately placed the pill on the tip of her tongue, and the room dissolved into colour and sound.