The North Pole Challenge (Flea's Five Christmases, #1) (30 page)

             
“They broke up, huh?” the mechanic asked Flea. “That explains
a lot
.”

             
“We
didn’t
break up because we were never together,” Minko said angrily. “Rome, mistletoe and I would
never
go together.”

             
“What did you mean before?” Flea asked Wrench. “When you said ‘that explains
a lot
’, what did you mean?”

             
“I just saw her a few minutes ago. She looked pretty upset, she was crying I think,” Wrench explained.

             
Wrench excused himself and headed off toward his garage for the eventual unveiling. For the second time in the last hour, Flea scanned the crowd for any sign of Rome. But his chances of spotting her this time were even more distant, as the huge snowfight made it impossible to spot anyone.

             
“We should find Rome,” Flea said.

             
“She’s
not
my girlfriend!” Minko snapped.

             
“You think I don’t know that?” Flea chuckled before turning serious again. “Still, I think we need to find her and make sure she’s okay.”

             
“Why? She’s probably just hanging out with Artimus and her friends, laughing about what they did to me,” Minko said. “Do you really want to look stupid in front of them?”

             
“That’s a chance I’m willing to take,” Flea said, though it was obvious that Minko wasn’t quite as certain. “Besides, what if she
wasn’t
lying to us? How would
you
have felt if she smashed your Christmas ball for no reason?”

             
“What does it matter? The ornament was worthless,” Minko answered right away. But after a second, he sighed. “Fine, let’s go look for her.”

             
Flea and Minko braved the crowd, searching through all the smiling faces, getting hit in the head with several mounds of snow for their efforts. Flea resisted the urge to fight back but Minko couldn’t stop himself from retaliating a few times. By the time they reached the Christmas tree, Flea and Minko were half-covered in snow. Still, they saw no sign of Rome. Just when Flea thought they would have to make a second trip through the chaos, Minko tapped him on the shoulder and called out a single word over the noise of the crowd.

             
“Artimus!”

             
He pointed to a much smaller group beyond the tree. Artimus and his friends stood apart from the rest of the crowd, undoubtedly concerned about what flying snow might do to their clothes and hair. Minko bent over and picked up two snowballs, handing one to Flea. The two marched toward the gang, ready for a fight if it came to that. When Artimus saw them approaching, he snapped his fingers and his bigger friends took a defensive position in front of him. Once the gang leader felt safe, he pointed to Minko and started to laugh.

             
“You forgot to take the bow off your head,” the bully called out.

             
Minko’s hand instinctively reached for his head, though there was no bow stuck to him. Still, Artimus and his gang had a good laugh at Minko’s expense, especially when the pudgy elf turned red.

             
“You and Rome think you’re
so
clever setting me up like that,” Minko said. He was so angry that he failed to notice that there was one elf missing from the group. “Too bad you had to bring your friends with you to get the job done. If you’d come alone, I guarantee that
you’d
be in a box in the back of Santa’s sleigh.”

             
Flea watched his friend’s throwing arm tense so he immediately grabbed it to stop a fight from breaking out.

             
“Did you say that
Rome
was clever?” Artimus asked. He was clearly confused at first but soon forced a chuckle. “The idea of Rome having
any
sort of intelligence is downright laughable.”

             
Flea’s heart sunk as he whispered to Minko that Rome was nowhere to be found.

             
“Where is Rome?” Flea asked Artimus, afraid that he already knew the answer.

             
“She could be kissing a reindeer’s backside for all I care,” Artimus said, causing another round of laughter from his friends. “I figured she would be with you two freaks.”

             
Minko tried to throw his snowball but Flea caught his friend’s hand, causing the snow to melt to slushy water.

             
“Come on, she’s not here,” Flea said, pulling his friend away.

             
Artimus and his gang threw several snowballs but Flea stopped each of them. Flea finally launched one of his own, though it smashed to the ground just inches in front of Artimus’s feet.

             
“If you try to throw another one or follow us, I won’t purposely miss my next throw,” Flea said. This made the well-dressed gang pause just long enough for Minko and Flea to escape.

             
“We’ll settle this at
Snow Wars
!” Artimus called out. “
If
you two losers can convince a
third
loser to join you.”

             
Minko was in a shocked state as they rushed away from Artimus. He muttered the same sentence over and over, as he finally realized the damage he’d caused.

             
“I can’t believe I smashed her ornament.”

             
Flea grew more and more nervous when Rome was nowhere to be found. Red-robe’s warning screamed inside of his head. All of the happiness and fun occurring around him made Flea feel overwhelmed and anxious. Despite the fact that he wanted to avoid Niko at all costs, Flea decided to head to the security building. However, he spotted another familiar face – or at least another familiar
hair-do
.

             
“Is everything okay?” Grinder asked, a look of concern on his face. “I just saw your friend rushing away. I tried to ask her what was wrong but all she said was how much she hates being at the North Pole.”

             
“Where did she go?” Flea asked hurriedly.

             
The green-haired mechanic turned and pointed toward the southern part of the village. The elf dorm was the only building located in that area. Flea prayed to the snow gods that Rome was simply going to her room to sleep off her misery but he had a bad feeling that this wasn’t the case. Flea thanked Grinder and dragged Minko even farther away from the party. Since the snow was falling harder and the North Pole’s entire elf population was located in the village center, a fresh blanket of snow covered the ground leading toward the elf dorm. Only one set of footprints led away from the party and Flea was certain that Rome had made them.

             
“Maybe she’s just really mad and is tying pieces of white cloth on all the door handles,” Flea said hopefully.

             
But before they reached the building, Flea’s worst fears were confirmed: Rome’s footprints turned away from the dorm and headed due south. He desperately tried to spot her through the falling snow but had no such luck.

Rome was gone and headed straight toward the South Pole Army.

-         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -        -        -

              “What is she thinking going that way?” Flea asked nervously, continuing to follow Rome’s tracks. “Didn’t Niko tell everyone to stay away from the area south of the North Pole village?”

             
“I guess, but I doubt anyone took that warning seriously,” Minko said. “After all, he never told us what –
or if
– anything was even out there.”

             
“It’s the South Pole,
they
are waiting out there,” Flea said.

             
“What are you talking about?” Minko asked.

             
Flea’s first instinct was to keep Niko’s secret from his big-mouthed friend. But since he was going to be kicked out of the North Pole anyway, Flea decided that it was only fair for Minko to know the danger he was about to get himself into. Flea told him everything – from the advancing snowman army to the fierce animal leader to Flea’s assumption that his presence at the North Pole had increased the danger from the South Pole. By the time Flea was finished explaining, Minko could hardly believe what he’d heard.

             
“I thought all those stories about the North Pole having an enemy were just make-believe,” Minko said.

             
“I assure you, it’s all true,” Flea said. “I’ve been in the security building on two different occasions and saw all of this with my own two eyes.”

             
When Minko realized what this could mean, he trudged through the snow even faster as they followed Rome’s footsteps. Flea struggled to keep up with his bigger friend, especially since the snow was deeper this far away from the village.

             
“Do you think Rome could’ve wandered outside the safety zone?” Minko asked. “Niko always told us to stay within the North Pole village, he never explained how close we should stay before it became dangerous.”

             
Flea tried to recall specifics from the hologram map but couldn’t remember if there was any hint of how far away the village was from the Army. Only one elf would be able to give them that information.

             
“Maybe we should stop and find Niko,” Flea said as he glanced back toward the village, which was becoming harder to see through the snowfall. “He could figure out how far we have to go if Rome is in trouble.”

             
“There’s no time for that,” Minko said, continuing to rush forward. “If you want to turn around for any reason, I would understand. But I can’t go back, not if there’s a chance that Rome is in trouble.”

             
Flea knew that heading back to tell Niko was probably the smarter, more responsible choice. But there was no way he was going to abandon his two best friends in their greatest time of need, regardless of the possible danger.

             
“Of course I’m not going to leave you now,” Flea said. “If there’s going to be a fight, you’ll need me.”

             
Within minutes, the joyous sounds of the elf celebration faded away and the bright glow of the Christmas tree was no larger than a tiny dot on the horizon behind them. The snow fell heavier and the temperature felt cooler the farther they walked. The
howling
wind seemed to warn them of bad things to come. Flea and Minko started to call out Rome’s name but their voices were severely muffled by the wind. Eventually, the two even had trouble following Rome’s tracks, which began to fade beneath the blowing snow.

             
“How far do we go?” Flea called out over the
howling
wind.

             
“As far as we
have to
,” Minko yelled back. “Like I said, I’ve only traveled
north
of the village, never
south
. But Rome couldn’t have gone much farther, the wind would’ve blown her away.”

             
Flea worried that the end of the safety zone was not far. He watched closely not just for any sign of Rome, but also the first line of Army snowmen and the biggest cause for concern.

             
“Make sure you keep an eye out for an animal that looks like a giant polar bear!” Flea yelled.

             
“I thought you said the Army was made up of snowmen!”

             
“It
is,
” Flea answered. “But the polar bear is in charge of the Army, like some sort of general. The bear is no regular animal, either. It walks upright on its hind legs and looks like it can communicate like a regular person… or a regular elf. I think the bear might be in charge of the entire South Pole.”

             
Since they’d started tracking Rome’s footprints, Minko hadn’t slowed at all, at least not until Flea’s last comment. He stopped in his tracks and turned to face Flea.

             
“Until today, I never thought the elf tales about the South Pole were true,” he started. “But from the stories I’ve heard, the leader of the South Pole is
far worse
than some animal that walks on two legs.”

             
“Not just
some
animal, a
polar bear
,” Flea said. “A monstrous, mean-looking
polar bear!
”