Page 110 of The Nightmare Before Kissmas
“Uh-oh,” Kris says. “Unsuccessful?”
“Psh.” I dig the paper with my notes out of my pocket and hold it up between two fingers, eyes shut. “Don’t doubtmyskill.”
Someone takes it from me.
“Then what’s wrong with His Moodiness?” Kris asks, and I can hear him settling at my desk, likely starting to organize where these letters are going.
The bed sinks next to me, at the edge of the mattress. It thrills me to no end that I know it’s him without needing to open my eyes. I know the catch of his breath, I know the weight of his body, and I blindly sit up and drop my head into the bend of his neck. Hex leans into me, and though it’s Iris and Kris, I fight forsomedecorum and hold there against him.
“I don’tknowwhat’s wrong,” Iris drones. “None of you willtell me.”
“You shouldn’t even be in here,” I say into Hex’s shoulder.
“Coal.”
The dip in Iris’s tone is so ripe with reprimand that I pull back to look at her before I can think not to. She’s glaring, and guilt surges over me.
“Mom,” I shoot back.
She smacks my head. “I know you’re trying to keep whatever you’re doing separate from Easter, but I’m not just my Holiday. I’m yourfriend.And I want to help you with whatever this is. It’s changing you, Coal, and I gotta say—I’m liking it. Plus, itwouldaffect Easter, eventually, wouldn’t it? So let me help now.”
I point at her, half leaning into Hex, but when I say, “No,” I hear how weak it sounds.
Iris drops into a chair. “That wasn’t a question. I’m staying. What are we doing?”
Yeah, okay, she’s right, itdoesinvolve her andwouldaffect Easter. So… how bad would the fallout be if this backfires on her too? She said her court wouldn’t force her dad to abdicate based on something like this, but…
Easter. Halloween. Christmas. Up in smoke because of me.
Really putting my degree in Global Affairs to good use here, aren’t I?
The joke hurts. And I see news bulletins scrolling on a bar TV—
With a long, miserable groan, I start at the beginning and give her a quick summation of how god awful my dad has warped Christmas into being. I talk about contacting the winter Holidays, inviting them here for the Christmas Eve Ball, then confronting my dad with a united front and forcing him to make changes. I tell her about the blackmail with Halloween, but not the specifics of it—it’s not mine to tell.
Iris is, unsurprisingly, slack-jawed when I’m done. She wilts in her chair, a slow head shake making her braids tumble over her shoulder. Her reaction is ripe with resignation though. The same poisonous vein that pulses through me, wanting to be surprised but no, none of this is really surprising.
“Would that work, you think?” I finally acknowledge the rush of hope that wells up behind that question. “It’d still benefit Easter, so it’d appease the assholes in your court who have it out for you, if we can convince your dad to join in. But gettingmydad to fold first will be the biggest obstacle, and if he does, I don’t see why yours wouldn’t join the collective out of at least self-preservation. It’d work, wouldn’t it?”
It’d get us both out of this marriage. It’d alleviate some of her stresses about Easter’s own shit by giving them a safety net.
Iris reads the hope straining behind my words, in my face, and shrugs, but her posture of shock and resignation doesn’t change.
“Maybe, Coal,” she whispers. “I—maybe.”
My racing heart stutters on a sharp inhale. “You’re okay with me doing this? If you think it would fuck up shit for you…”
God, I have no other ideas. This is everything I’ve got rolled into one potentially disastrous Hail Mary, but if she thinks it’d do more harm than good, I’dtry,fuckingtryto find something else—
Iris gives a soft smile. “Yeah. I am. Just—it’s a lot to take in.”
I don’t know what kind of reaction I expected. Jumping up and down in relief? When the fuck has Iris ever jumped up and down inher life. This cautious exhaustion is way more understandable, and I nod at her, wrestling up a reassuring grin.
Kris spins around in my desk chair, cutting through the thick energy. “So we’re good to deliver these letters? Then we wait, I guess. Terribly exciting stuff.”
“How will the other leaders send their responses?” Iris shakes herself upright.
I stare blankly at her.
