Page 4 of Run, Run Rudolph (Fairy Godmothers and Other Fiascos #2)

“What other reindeer has a blinking red nose? And I know it’s almost Christmas. He should be…I don’t know. At the North Pole!” Not on the road. Not injured. “I didn’t make a wish! Why is the magical world revealing itself to me? Why—why—was he on the road? I hurt him!”

I rubbed my forehead, trying to pull myself together. Boys and girls around the world were going to be devastated if Santa didn’t come tomorrow night. Christmas was a magical time, and I loved the spirit of the holiday. But that didn’t mean I wanted a one-on-one with it.

“Tell me everything,” Char said calmly. “From the beginning.”

“Fairy godmothers are real. So Rudolph has to be real, too, right?” I was blubbering now, talking fast, probably not making much sense, my car still angled across the road.

“Except that it’s the night before Christmas Eve, and I just hit Rudolph, and he’s lying there with his nose blinking, and I don’t know what to do. ”

“You hit Rudolph with your car,” Char repeated back slowly. There was a gravity in her voice, and I had a feeling she’d been smacked by the cold, hard hand of sobriety. “Is he still alive?”

“He was breathing and his nose was glowing.” My voice sounded small.

I was not the independent, strong, capable, take-charge-of-anything-and-come-out-on-top woman I’d sometimes thought I was since moving home again.

I’d had a good run of faking it with renting a farm, and taking care of my elderly landlord’s horse for him.

But now that reality was hitting the fan—or my bumper—it turned out I wasn’t so bravely handling my life after all.

“Is Santa there?” Char asked.

The question was so ludicrous, I would’ve laughed twenty minutes ago, but now I found myself hopefully craning my neck, looking behind my car.

Santa! Of course. He must be around. Right?

Right?

But he wouldn’t be doing his Christmas Eve deliveries for another full day, so why would he be here? Then again, why would Rudolph? And where had the rest of the reindeer gone? There’d been at least half a dozen of them, maybe more.

I scanned the dark road, illuminated intermittently by my car’s flashers. The snow had let up a tiny bit, but the visibility was still crap.

“I don’t see him,” I said. “I saw all of his reindeer, and now I don’t see any of them. Except Rudolph.”

“Is there a sleigh?”

“No, they were all on the loose.” The image of them bouncing around me like a dropped bag of marbles had my voice shaking again.

There was a long silence. “Let me get in touch with someone,” Char said finally.

“Not the funny farm!” I blurted out before remembering who I was dealing with.

She was the one person I knew in this universe—other than our friend, Josie, who was a walking contradiction with her logic-loving mind and her passion for all things romantasy related—who would believe just how real this was.

“Hey,” Char said gently, “you didn’t call them on me when I told you about Estelle. I’m not calling them on you.”

Satisfied, I hung up the phone before realizing I didn’t actually have a solution and didn’t know who she was calling. It wasn’t like she had Santa’s phone number.

Probably.

Something—or someone—knocked on my window and I jumped, squealing, tossing my phone in the air. It clattered somewhere behind me as it fell.

The person at the window was short, their rapping knuckles only reaching part way up the door. Was there a child outside? In this weather? What new madness was this? I quickly opened my door, careful not to whack them with it.

The person stepped around the edge of my door and I squeaked, shoving myself against the console between my seat and the passenger side. I wanted to reach for the door and shut it, but the snarly-looking elf was now between the handle and my seat, a stubby finger pointed accusingly at me.

“Who are you?” He had a gruff, masculine voice that didn’t fit his tininess.

“Nnnhn. Nhn.” I was nearly hyperventilating. Elves were supposed to be cheery. Adorable, cute, and cuddly. This guy was none of the above.

I mean, I was pretty sure he was an elf. He had the ears for it, and was wearing a green-and-red striped pointy hat, a green button-up shirt with a red vest that was embroidered with fat, white snowflakes, and the most unstylish squarish green pants shoved into fuzzy brown boots.

I’d met some scary creatures last summer when Char had gone through the thing with Estelle, and I’d learned enough about the magical world to be terrified of all that I didn’t know. And you could fill a library or two with that.

This guy might not even be an elf. He could be something evil. Add to that, I was a female on the road alone. In the dark.

“Well?” he demanded.

My mouth wasn’t working properly. I was not holding it together.

I hadn’t really held it together last summer, either.

Even with Char standing beside me, her shoulders pushed out wide, ready to protect me as we met her fairy godmother.

She’d practically had to carry me when my legs went all weird and jellylike after meeting what I still believe was a real-life witch.

Right now I was alone, and with no BFF backup. It was just me, and I wasn’t made for this.

I wanted to close the car door, lock it, and ignore the elf’s existence.

But if I tried to move past him, I’d have to get dangerously close, and he looked like a biter.

I’d been meaning to get my tetanus booster shot and hadn’t.

What would happen to you if you got bitten by an elf?

It would be so much worse than a kindergartener, I was sure of it.

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” he demanded. He leaned alarmingly close, trapping me, his finger jabbing the air around me.

“Let me out!” I snapped, lifting my foot like I planned to plant it in the elf’s chest. Really, I just needed to keep his snarly face away from anything biteable, such as my entire being.

He stepped back, and I popped out onto the road, scooting away from him. The cold snow crunched underfoot, and I darted a glance over my still idling car and toward the hurt reindeer. Nose still blinking.

“Who are you?” the elf asked.

“Are you with Rudolph? Is he going to be okay?”

The elf made a funny noise. “Rudolph? Who’s that ?”

“The—the—” I pointed toward the deer, then touched my nose with a mittened hand. “His nose. Isn’t that Rudolph?”

The elf leaned back, eyes narrowed. Then he was on the attack again, pushing me back with every step, a finger jab aimed at my kneecaps. “How can you see him? Who are you?” Every word out of his mouth was cut off, as if he was out of patience and brimming with anger.

Then again, I suppose this was the elf’s busiest time of year, so I should allow him a bit of room to be stressed out. Especially since I’d apparently taken out Santa’s lead reindeer the night before Christmas deliveries began.

The heavy feeling in my stomach grew worse and my breath hitched unsteadily.

“How can you see him?” the elf repeated.

“I don’t know. I just can.” When I’d gone with Char and our three friends to meet Estelle at the offices of Your Fairy Godmother, only Char, Josie and myself had been able to see the magical appearing door.

Theoretically, it was because we believed.

Samantha and Gabby didn’t, so they hadn’t seen the door.

They’d also stayed outside in an alternate reality when the rest of us had entered the building.

Was something like that happening to me right now?

I could see something that others might not?

“How can I see you?” I asked.

“My choice. Why did you hit Rudolph? Who sent you here?”

“It was an accident.”

“You’re trying to ruin Christmas,” the elf announced, a quiver of fear in his voice.

“I’m not,” I said calmly. “Truly. I’m not. I’m a big fan of the holiday.”

“You’re ruining it and trying to keep them apart.”

“Who?”

“You know who!”

Beneath the elf’s toughness, I caught a hint of bluster. He was scared. And rightly so. A human had just mowed down Rudolph out of season. Not that there was likely a season for mowing down Santa’s herd.

Now that I was standing and no longer cornered, I realized the elf was about the size of a kindergartener. Maybe even shorter, reducing his threat level, despite the appearance of a creature who’d enjoy biting someone.

Time to get this little magical creature on my side.

“Um, well, I’m going to check on Rudolph. Do you want to help me?” I reached into the cab and popped my trunk as the snowflakes started falling faster again. Poor Rudolph was still on the road, and was probably getting cold as the snow piled on top of him. If he was alive.

No. Positive thoughts only. It was Christmas. Miracles happened. They had to happen.

“How? By running him over again? Where did you learn how to drive?” the elf sniped at me. “Did you get your license from a crackerjack box?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.” I slammed my car door and whirled on the elf, causing him to take a step back.

That’s what I thought. Tough, but most of it was bluster.

“I almost ate it. Good thing I didn’t.”

Moving around to the trunk, I tried to tune out the elf’s constant stream of abuse, focusing instead on the things I could do to help Rudolph.

I had a blanket and a First Aid kit which had been pushed onto me by my mom years ago as part of my car’s winter safety kit.

She’d even found one in the tones she believed my future wedding theme colours would be—teal and black.

Yes, she was stuck in the nineties. As well as on the dream that I’d soon marry, even though at the moment I felt terminally single.

With shaking hands, I pulled out the kit, blanket, and a lantern I’d forgotten about, leaving the trunk open. The elf was starting to get under my skin, his unrelenting verbal assault reminding me a bit of Kade.