Page 8 of Run, Run Rudolph
“No talking to humans,” Prancer said. It sounded as though he was quoting a list of rules.
“Hugo did,” someone said.
“He’s a traitor. A hypocritical, two-faced narc,” the one named Donner snapped. He had something green in his antlers, and I realized it was a lot of holly and mistletoe.
“Wait,” I interrupted, scanning the name medallions. “Which one of you is Hugo?”
“I am!” came a muffled voice from my trunk.
“Oh. Nice to, uh…” I was going to say ‘nice to meet you’ to the elf, but I didn’t make a habit out of lying. I pulled my toque a bit further down on my head as a blast of icy snow hit me. We really needed to get off the road.
“How does she see us?” one whispered to another, dark eyes watching me. “She saw his nose, but didn’t have to touch him first.”
“The wall between worlds…?” Prancer said pointedly. There was a warning in his tone, and it sparked a collective inhale, followed by a rise in overlapping chatter I couldn’t follow.
“Look,” Donner said loudly, and the side-chatter died immediately. He smelled like beer and corn chips. “She locked Hugo in the trunk.”
I shifted nervously, and considered popping the trunk, aware these guys could easily paw and stamp me to death with their big furry hooves.
“So, she can’t be all that bad,” he continued.
Wait. Had I scored a few points by immobilizing the rude elf, even though I’d basically run down their leader?
The group of dark reindeer eyes with their beautiful long lashes studied me.
“So, to the barn, and then call a vet? Because I know a guy. He’s really good.” I felt like a stuck record. But the more I thought about our predicament, the more I wanted someone like Haden checking Rudolph over. I might not adore the man any longer, my childhood crush and infatuation long ago squelched, but I still admired his skill set and calming strength in emergencies.
A riot of reindeer arguments for and against calling in a vet swirled around me like a sudden windstorm. My phone rang, and I stepped out of the circle of antlers to answer it.
“Hello?”
Char launched into conversation, sounding a bit breathless. “Estelle says Santa’s reindeer are real.”
I rolled my eyes. “I figured that out, thanks. They also talk.”
“Of course they do. Why wouldn’t they?”
“I don’t know. They’re reindeer?”
“Anyway, she’s going to call Santa. I hope it’s okay I gave her your number to pass along.”
“Yeah, no. Of course.” I wiped my forehead with a mittened hand, relieved to know that this mess would soon be in someone else’s capable hands. “What do I do until he calls?”
“I don’t know.”
“You didn’t ask?”
“No.”
“So what do I do?”
“I don’t know. Make sure Rudolph doesn’t die, so you don’t ruin Christmas?”
“Thanks,” I said dryly.
“You could make a wish, and have Estelle fix it.”
“Never.” I nearly ended the call on that note. There were some things I never wanted to experience. And being in debt to the magical world and having a drooling ogre eye me up like I was his next lunch… I shuddered just thinking about it. Even though Estelle said her ogre buddy was vegan, I wasn’t sure I believed it. Real-life vegans were known to make exceptions. What if eating a human was an ogre’s version of a cheat day?
