The North Pole Challenge (Flea's Five Christmases, #1) (27 page)

             
“He probably wanted to finish his orders as soon as possible so he can get back to his real job: harassing us,” Rome said.

             
Artimus knocked Addy’s yellow Christmas ornament to the ground and put his in its place. He didn’t bother to pick hers up as he turned and waved to his three enemies.

             
“Let’s get back to building and not give him that chance then,” Flea said.

             
The Christmas tree was massive so the few ornaments hanging from its branches did not seem like much, but the three students knew that would change quickly, especially since more elves were emerging from the factory.

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Flea needed sleep, but he built for days straight without leaving the school.  His friends were relying on him and failure wasn’t an option – nor was returning to his big, soft bed in the dorm. At one point, Flea pushed together two of Rome’s toy chests and used that as a bed, though it was so uncomfortable that he barely got an hour of rest. The three of them pushed harder and built with more urgency than ever, but still had no idea if they were close to the end.

             
With every present that Flea completed, he grew increasingly disappointed –
and
worried – each time a new hologram appeared above his green Christmas ball. The only good part about the constant orders was that Flea’s mind remained totally focused on one track; he had no time to worry about the South Pole Army or the ice bank incident or Red-Robe’s meeting with Santa. Flea was a well-oiled building machine and though he was under constant pressure to build faster and faster, he actually enjoyed the work. The thought of his friends graduating school and becoming full-fledged elves spurred Flea on, although it wasn’t the only source of motivation to keep him going. Flea thought of the hundreds of children who would be receiving the gifts he built, kids like him who might not have much and would be thrilled with any present on Christmas morning.

             
“I’ll go check on the tree,” Rome said. Though her building pace hadn’t suffered, Rome’s voice was low and sullen when she spoke, fatigued by the countless hours in the production room.

             
Ever since the students discovered the Christmas tree standing in the village center, they took turns checking on it every few hours to see how many more ornaments had been hung. Unfortunately – though not unexpectedly – they found more and more Christmas balls hanging on the tree every time they went outside. It was only natural that their confidence began to drain.

             
Before Rome made it out of the room, she stopped just long enough to say what all three of them had been thinking for a long time.

             
“There’s no way we’re going to finish in time.”

             
“Don’t say that, we have to stay positive,” Minko said, though he seemed to believe his own words as much as Rome did. Still, she forced a smile and nodded her head before leaving.

             
For several minutes, Flea and Minko continued building in silence. But Rome’s negativity was contagious and it wasn’t long before Minko started to question the future, too.

             
“Do
you
think we’ll finish?” he asked Flea.

             
Flea was too exhausted to pretend that he was totally confident.

             
“I really don’t know,” he answered. “But I
do
know that we’ll all work as hard as possible, which is the most that we can do.”

             
Minko went back to building but his loss of confidence quickly showed in his work, as he split a piece of wood with an errant nail.

             
“I just want to say I’m sorry in advance,” Minko said. “Just in case we fail because of me.”

             
“You have no reason to apologize,” Flea said. “Obviously, there’s nothing I want more than to graduate elf school and be able to stay at the North Pole. But if that doesn’t happen for
any
reason, then I can leave here satisfied that I made two
real
friends and had the experience of a lifetime.”

             
Flea truly meant those words. He glanced at Minko and saw that the big elf had tears in his eyes. Flea had the feeling that a big bear-hug was coming his way at any moment so he quickly changed the subject.

             
“What’s taking Rome so long? She should’ve been back by now,” Flea said.

             
Minko looked toward the production room door, which remained closed. Checking on the Christmas tree usually didn’t take longer than a minute or two since it was so big and easy to spot. Flea had checked on it last and reported the tree just more than halfway covered with ornaments, as the village center was becoming more and more crowded with partying elves. Like usual, Artimus and his gang had been hanging around close to the elf school, watching for any sign of the students.

             
“Do you think Artimus could have done something to her?” Minko asked worriedly.

             
“I doubt he would do anything bad with so many elves outside the toy factory now, too many witnesses. Besides, I’m pretty sure Rome can take care of herself,” Flea said, though his friend still looked concerned. So despite there being plenty of building left to do – at least as far as they could tell – Flea knew that Minko wouldn’t be able to concentrate. “Let’s go take a look, we could use a five-minute break anyway.”

             
Normally, Minko would have balked at the idea of taking a break, as he never tired and constantly wanted to build. But for the first time since Flea had known him, Minko was first out the door. Outside, the party had grown even larger. Many more elves had finished building and hung their ornament on the tree, which was now closer to three-quarters full. Other decorations had also been set up all around and several groups of elves had banded together, singing well-known Christmas carols. There were even a few snowmen – Flea couldn’t tell which variety – dressed up in costumes, entertaining the elves by acting out famous Christmas tales. Flea was too far away to hear the words being spoken by the snowman actors but he could still tell which play they were performing. The first snowman looked big and mean and wore a fancy top hat while the other was tiny and pathetic and leaned on a crutch. They were obviously supposed to be Mr. Scrooge and Tiny Tim from
A Christmas Carol
.

             
The elves that seemed to be having the best time were those stumbling around the village, singing the loudest – and the worst. All of these party-elves had one thing in common: each held large candy canes that they drank from.

             
“Oh great, it looks like they’ve busted out the candy-cane cider,” Minko said as he spotted the obnoxious elves. “Now the party is going to get crazy.”

             
“What’s candy-cane cider?” Flea asked.

             
“It’s what I like to call loopy juice,” Minko said. “I’ve never actually tried it because I’m not old enough yet; the drinking age for cider is 100. But from what I’ve heard, the cider is strong and extra sugary and makes you go loopy with energy. Elves have to be careful how much they drink or funny things can happen. And the highest-level master builders are usually the craziest. I guess all that time working without a break makes them that way. One time after drinking a few too many canes, they covered one of their friends in snow but then forgot about him for an entire week. When they finally remembered to dig him out, his skin was completely blue and stayed that way for months.”

             
Perfectly on cue, a cider-fueled elf approached Flea and threw an arm around his shoulder. Flea had never seen him before but this elf seemed to know him.

             
“Youdon’tseemas…dangerousas…everyonesays,” the elf said, his words spoken so rapidly that they slurred together.

             
“And why do they think that?” Flea asked, humoring the friendly – yet extremely hyper – elf.

             
The loopy elf took a long drink from the candy cane and promptly burped. Flea couldn’t turn his head in time and got a big whiff of the elf’s breath, which reeked of a combination of strong peppermints and rocket fuel.

             
“Ican’twaitfor…Santatoleave, watchinghimtakeoff…isthe…
coolest
,” the hyper elf said, ignoring Flea’s question. He took another long sip from the candy cane, spilling a large amount of cider down the front of his shirt. “Youwant…a…sipofthis?” he asked, offering the cider. But before he gave Flea the chance to answer, the hyper elf scowled and pulled back the candy cane. “Areyouatleast…onehundredyearsold? Youbetternotbe…tryingtotrickme…togetmycider.”

             
“No, I don’t even want to – ”

             
Flea was interrupted by another cider-fueled elf who rushed by, singing loudly and quickly. It took Flea a moment to recognize the song “Blue Christmas” but his new ‘friend’ quickly followed the other singer, joining in the horrible rendition of the song as they sprinted off into the party.

             
“Do you see Rome?” Minko asked as he scanned the growing crowd.

             
Flea didn’t see her
or
Artimus’s group, which normally should have concerned him. But somehow Flea knew that she wasn’t in danger. Instead of worrying, he tried to absorb every detail of the celebration. It was such a festive atmosphere that Flea wanted to join the crowd and just enjoy the party, make enough memories that he could hold on to during a lifetime in the human world. Flea feared that trying to complete his orders – which seemed an impossible task – would risk him never taking part in this celebration.

             
“What is she doing with
him
?” Minko asked, snapping Flea out of his momentary party trance.

             
Minko pointed through the crowd where Rome stood talking to Artimus, her Christmas hat off her head and in her hands. Flea and Minko had been expecting an attack from Artimus’s group ever since the snowball brawl and ice bank incident but nothing had happened yet. They were worried that Artimus was planning something
big
against them for revenge.

             
“Does it look like he’s giving her a hard time?” Minko asked. He picked up a huge handful of snow. Flea didn’t bother to remind Minko that his arm was too weak to hit Artimus from here. Regardless, it didn’t look like Artimus was threatening her.

             
“It looks like they’re just talking,” Flea said.

             
Minko frowned. Flea had to admit that he was also confused. Artimus hadn’t shown the slightest hint of remorse and Rome hadn’t said a single word to them about forgiving her friends, making this sudden conversation between them all the more suspicious.

             
“I don’t know what they could
possibly
be talking about,” Minko said as he dropped the snowball to the ground.

             
Minko’s statement wasn’t totally true. While neither Flea nor Minko said it aloud, both elves thought back to the moment when Artimus told Rome that she would come back begging one day to rejoin their group of friends.

             
“Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll let us know,” Flea said hopefully. “Come on, we better get back to our orders.”

             
Minko took one final glance toward Rome and Artimus before following Flea back into the elf school.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Wrapping Time

Flea and Minko were in the middle of completing more orders when Rome strolled back into the production center several minutes later. Her hat was back on her head and she didn’t appear quite as sad as when she left.

             
“What took you so long?” Minko asked.