Page 50 of Run, Run Rudolph (Fairy Godmothers and Other Fiascos #2)

~ Tamara ~

F or a moment, I thought I’d lost consciousness, even though I could still feel Haden’s hand tightly clasping my own. Everything had gone black, the temperature flashing between pleasantly warm, and the harsh cold of a western Canadian winter.

Then it remained icy, the world almost too bright for me to open my eyes.

Squinting, I took in our new surroundings.

We weren’t in the barn. Nor were we in the four-in-the-morning darkness of my yard.

We appeared to be on top of a long, sheared off mountain slope, the wind picking at our shirts, the sun already high in the sky.

“Are we on Rundle?” I asked, referring to the angled mountain that served as an iconic backdrop for the small town of Banff, Alberta.

I’m not sure why I thought we might be there, other than the sheared off slab of rock that went on forever, and the snowy drop offs that surrounded us.

Wind was wisping off the edges of the mountain, creating clouds along the cliffs.

I’d hiked up here one summer with a guy from Calgary, completely exhausting myself.

It had been our first and last date. In fact, at the time, it had made me miss Kade and his love of parties because I could opt out whenever I wanted, simply by sitting in a quiet corner and reading a book on my phone.

“Maybe. How long did we sleep? It’s already day.” Haden, his hand still clasped in mine, shifted, moving his body like a wall, ready to shield me from whatever we were to face. Or maybe he was just trying to protect me from the biting wind. Either way, I curled into him, accepting his warmth.

Here on the mountain, we seemed to be in a makeshift courtroom.

To my right, sitting in a snowdrift, was a judge’s stand, and in it, stood Mrs. Claus.

She was wearing a black robe over her red and white outfit, seemingly unbothered by the strong, cold wind.

To the left were two empty desks covered with a light dusting of snow.

And standing on either side of Haden and me were shadowy figures I couldn’t quite focus on.

Whenever I tried looking directly at them, they shifted, always seeming to remain just within the edge of my periphery.

Black magic.

There were no lawyers or a jury. It was the two of us humans, shivering in front of Mrs. Claus, the judge.

“Tamara Madden and Haden Powell,” Mrs. Claus said severely, and I swore there was a hint of joy in her voice.

“You have been summoned to the Magical Court of Rules. You have been placed on the naughty list for tampering with the magical world, interacting with its inhabitants without proper permission, as well as interfering with the holiday known as Christmas. On these accounts, you are hereby sentenced?—”

“Stop!” I hollered, startling Haden, my teeth chattering. “We didn’t do any of that with intention. We have been trying to help. Hitting Rudolph was an accident because of a weak shroud beyond my control, and I’ve been?—”

“You have also been brought here on the charges of brutality and kidnapping. The severity of these charges increases, due to the proximity to Christmas. The serious endangerment of Mr. Claus will also not be ignored, nor will your summoning of creatures from the North Pole with the intent of preventing and delaying Christmas.”

“You have it all wrong!”

“You are welcome to present your evidence at this time.”

“Evidence?” Haden asked me, his face turning white.

“There is no evidence, and she knows it,” I complained under my breath. The tips of my ears were starting to lose feeling, and my nose felt ready to fall off. Even if we survived this unfair trial, we’d go home with frostbite.

“We would like to speak to a lawyer,” Haden declared, wrapping me further in his warm embrace as I shuddered against the brutal, biting cold.

A lawyer? How we were going to find someone who understood what was going on and help us?

Make a wish.

I felt my spirit deflate. What other choice did we have? We didn’t understand what was going on, and we didn’t know how to get out of this mess. We needed someone on the inside. We needed a fairy godmother. My fairy godmother.

The only issue was that Mrs. Claus liked to brutally banish Estelle whenever she showed her face. But what had Sparkles, the fixer elf, told me about banishments? If I made a wish, Mrs. Claus couldn’t banish Estelle if she was helping me? But Estelle could banish Mrs. Claus….

And start a war.

“Fine. I have assigned you the goat,” Mrs. Claus stated, turning her head to one of the previously empty tables where an overweight grey and white goat appeared.

“Joulupukki? The Christmas goat?” I gasped.

Haden clutched me tighter, and I could tell that he knew the creature from Finnish folklore.

The goat was casually chewing its cud, looking bored and more like a barnyard animal than a lawyer about to extract us from this sticky mess. My excitement waned. He made me think of the Three Billy Goats Gruff from a storybook I’d read as a kid.

Didn’t one of the goats headbutt the troll at the end of the story?

Maybe the goat would make a good lawyer.

Having the goat as our lawyer was not good. I wasn’t sure how the legal system worked in the magical world, but if it was anything like ours, we were in a hot mess. The goat seemed infinitely more interested in gnawing on the table than helping us.

“Ask her what evidence she has of our intent,” I shout-whispered to the goat across the space that separated us. He stared at me, mindlessly chewing. “Well? Ask her!”

“Her mind is already made up. Make peace with it,” he suggested.

“But this is unfair!”

“ Life is unfair,” Mrs. Claus growled at me, her eyes flaring red.

I straightened my spine. “And it’s doubly unfair that you’re keeping Haden here. I asked him to help me. He would have had nothing to do with this situation, otherwise. He’s innocent, and I take all the blame.”

“Tamara! What are you doing?” he whispered hoarsely, gripping my arm and pulling me back as I tried to step forward, my voice trembling.

“Trust me,” I said, shaking him off. I couldn’t stop, or I’d chicken out, the way I had been doing all night. It was time to end this, even if it wasn’t in the way I’d hoped. Even if it meant giving up my own happily ever after.

“You need to let him go,” I said firmly. “He’s innocent.”

“I chose to help her. I’m a veterinarian.”

“He only came to help because I begged him to,” I said, the bitter wind almost stealing the words from my mouth.

“I had a choice,” Haden protested.

“I left him several panicked voicemails.”

“I could have ignored them.”

“I brought him into this, knowing I shouldn’t let him see Rudolph or the others. I knew what I was doing when I breached your rules.”

“Yes, that is a problem,” Mrs. Claus said mildly. She was staring at Haden as though mulling over the pros and cons of keeping him as a slave, or possibly feeding him to some beast such as a dragon.

I tried to keep my spine straight, to prove I was strong enough to take the punishment for both of us.

That I was the one worthy of her rage. The wind howled, numbing my ears, my chin, my hands.

My cheeks ached from the buffeting blasts of stinging snow crystals and, unable to help it, I hunched into myself, teeth chattering.

Haden gathered me into his arms, hugging me tight, his flannel shirt against my cheek as he wrapped himself around me like a shelter. I leaned into him, feeling his reassuring solid weight press back.

“I’m so sorry I got you into all of this,” I whispered with a shudder. Haden didn’t deserve this. He was a good man in every way, and I’d never forgive myself if he lost out on a single thing because of what I’d pulled him into tonight.

“Nah,” Haden said casually, “this has been fun.”

I let out a laugh. It hurt.

“Please, let him go,” I begged Mrs. Claus, my jaw trembling with the cold. “Punish me instead.”

“Tamara, stop,” Haden said.

“You don’t understand,” I told him, giving him a look I hoped he could read. I was not backing down. I was not going to let him lose his beautiful life, or have it tampered with because of me.

Even if it meant losing him. Even if it meant losing the love, I felt I was meant to have.

“Please,” I begged. I wasn’t even sure who I was talking to any longer. Haden? Mrs. Claus? God? Estelle? Myself?

I’d held off losing him as long as I could, but now we were at our magical crossroads, and it was time to say goodbye.

“TM, no,” he said softly, as though able to read my resolve.

“I’ll miss you,” I said into his chest, savouring the warmth coming off his body. I hugged him hard, a cold fist of dread seizing my gut as I stepped away. In my periphery, I could see Mrs. Claus raising her glowing finger, decision made.

I held in a choked sob as I released him, tears in my eyes, momentarily freezing my lashes together whenever I blinked. “Please don’t forget me. Don’t forget tonight.”

I vowed to myself that if I was still alive tomorrow, I’d find a way for us to stumble back toward the love we’d shared, no matter what.

“TM…” He reached for my hand, and I could see into those depthless eyes. I could see the love, and I held it in my heart, knowing I may not see it again.

I lifted the tips of my frozen index and middle fingers to my lips, hoping he knew I felt the same.

“Haden Powell.” Mrs. Claus said his name with the gravity of a legal summons, which, I suppose, in this world it was.

Cold dread swirled through me like an unexpected, powerful storm.

Mrs. Claus snapped her glowing red fingers. “Out!”

Haden vanished. I stumbled forward, screaming despite myself, terrified by the empty space where he’d been standing only seconds ago.

“Where did you send him?”

“I returned him to your world. And as for you…” Her finger was glowing again, matching the ruby colour blazing in her eyes.

My gaze cut to my so-called lawyer. He was currently curled up in a ball, napping in the snow, a belly full of desk.