CHAPTER 22
At the Light Up Fest, Santa is in the centre of the mall square. He is the star attraction after all. I don’t see Anti-Claus around anywhere, but judging by the way Blizzard is looking around, I would think he’s here. She expects him to be here.
Santa is sitting in his grotto, ‘Ho ho ho-ing’ happily while he does a photoshoot for the local newspaper. Blizzard is in her full on elf costume, trying to get the crowd into some form of order.
Soon the boss of the mall will come down and do a speech, and Santa will get up and say something, and then he’ll push the big red button to turn on the Christmas tree lights and light up the mall and all the surrounding streets. The big red button is a lie though. It does nothing, it’s just for show. Really, there’s someone in radio contact with one of the mall staff, and when Santa pushes the button, the guy in the basement gets radioed and told to put the plug in, which he does in perfect timing with when Santa presses the button, and that’s how the Christmas lights get lit. You learn a lot of things when your dad works at the mall. I would never have suspected the button wasn’t for real unless Dad told me.
Blizzard seems to give up on her task and comes over to stand by Pippa and me. “Hi there,” Blizzard says, smiling at Pippa. “You must be Pippa. I’m Blizzard.”
“Wow,” Pippa says, staring at her in undisguised awe.
God, I wish someone would look at me like that. Even Pippa.
“Your sister has told me all about you,” Blizzard tries again.
“Hi,” Pippa says shyly. “I like your hair.”
“Thanks,” Blizzard twirls a stand of hair around her finger, like she’s self-conscious, but there’s no way she can be. Someone who looks like Blizzard couldn’t be self-conscious of anything.
“I wish Mum would let me do my hair like that, what do you think, Pips?”
“Mum would kill you,” Pippa says.
“Yeah, she would,” I agree sadly.
“You know, I didn’t even realise what a big deal hair colour was until I came here. People keep looking at it. Some of them have even said stuff like ‘how festive’ or that they can’t believe I dyed my hair just for this. Some of them look very disapproving. Up in the North Po— Er, up North,” she corrects herself quickly with a glance at Pippa. “Up North, everyone has bright hair. It’s totally normal there. All the elv—workers have green or red hair. Some have white or pink. It’s the done thing.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty much brown or blonde round here.”
“There’s a ginger kid in my class,” Pippa pipes up.
Blizzard laughs and I roll my eyes.
“Hey, what are you up to tomorrow?” Blizzard asks suddenly.
“Nothing,” I say. “Why?”
“Have you done your Christmas shopping yet?”
“Nope, no chance to shake the parental units yet,” I grin and Blizzard smiles.
“I have to work with Daddy tomorrow, but he said I can have a couple of hours off in the morning if you want to come here and do a bit of shopping?”
“Sure,” I say. “Sounds great. I know my mum won’t mind. We’re not exactly on the best of terms at the moment, so yeah I’d love to.”
“Don’t you know you should never buy a Christmas present for someone when you’re mad at them?” Blizzard asks. “It’s like going to the supermarket when you’re hungry.”
I shrug. “Don’t worry, it won’t be an issue. Wait, you have to buy Christmas presents?” I ask incredulously.
“Sure,” she says, seemingly aware of Pippa’s presence the whole time. “I mean, only small things, but I like to get something for everyone. Even just a huge bucket of sweets to put in the factories, that will keep the elv— workers, happy until Easter.”
I giggle. And I still have no idea whether she’s completely crazy or whether she really does work with elves.
The boss of the mall is on the makeshift stage (a milk crate and two phone directories) making a speech. I never really pay much attention to him. Usually what he’s saying is something about being kind to others and to yourselves, but he’s just a money hungry millionaire who wants people to buy what’s sold in his mall so his annual Christmas message never really means much.
Instead of paying attention to him, I notice a movement out of the corner of my eye, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. My eyes scan the room, and when I glance at Blizzard, I see she’s doing the same. Thankfully Pippa and everyone else seem to be enthralled by the mall guy’s speech, and no one notices when Blizzard knocks her shoulder against mine and nods to the left. As she glances over there I follow her gaze, and I’m so shocked by what I see that my knees nearly give out.
Right on the outskirts of the crowd, near the back and looking like he’s come from the entrance nearest where his grotto (if you could call it that) is set up, is Anti-Claus. He’s dressed in his full on Santa gear, but it doesn’t work for him because he’s young and skinny and seems to have a permanent sneer on his face. Doesn’t he know that Santa is supposed to be a jolly old podgy guy?
Standing right behind Anti-Claus is Seth.
He’s dressed in his chauffeur gear, a double-breasted suit, with a chauffeur’s hat tipped to the side, arms folded, glaring at the man on stage. Sure enough, it’s Seth.
Crikey.
He must be working for Anti-Claus. He says he’s a chauffeur, well, Anti-Claus must be his boss. No wonder he was being secretive.
“What’s wrong?” Blizzard asks, looking at me worriedly.
I look down at Pippa who is standing in front of me but seems to have all her attention focussed on the stage. I motion for Blizzard to put her head closer to mine so I can whisper. “See that guy standing behind Anti-Claus?” I hiss.
“Yeah, that’s his chauffeur,” she says. “Seen him around a couple of times now. I’ve clocked him making mysterious deliveries to Anti-Claus, haven’t been able to figure out what they are yet though. Why?”
“I know who he is,” I say. “That’s Seth.”
“That’s Seth? As in your mum’s boyfriend Seth?”
“The very same,” I sigh.
“Wow,” Blizzard says. “I had no idea.”
“And he’s working for the bad guy,” I say. “He’s helping the guy who wants to ruin Christmas. I knew he wasn’t trustworthy.”
“Okay, so now we know he’s bad news,” Blizzard says. “Hey Kait, what’s he like at home? Does he hate Christmas?”
I shrug. “I don’t think so,” I say. “He hasn’t said much about it actually. In fact he brought us a Christmas tree, so he can’t hate it that much.”
“Well, he must know who Anti-Claus is. He must know he’s working with the guy who wants to ruin Christmas.”
I shrug.
“I can’t believe that’s been him all along. That’s something I should have known.” She sounds disappointed and I don’t know why.
I wonder if Mum has seen him. Although even if she has, I doubt she knows who Anti-Claus really is. And she doesn’t particularly like Christmas herself so maybe she’d support him anyway. Who knows with her anymore?
Soon enough, Santa takes to the stage with the important-looking red button in hand. Blizzard whistles when he gets up and Santa grins and waves to us both. Loads of people in the crowd turn around to look at us and see who Santa is waving to. I blush and I see that Blizzard is too.
“Christmas is a time of love and joy and peace,” Santa says into the microphone. “A time to put all the struggles of the year behind us and enjoy the moment for what it is. Christmas can be magic, but only if you make it so.” He holds the pretend red button up and I can’t help looking around for the security guard on the radio, telling the guy in the basement when to push the plug in. “Happy Christmas Everyone,” Santa says in his loud jovial voice that doesn’t even need a microphone to carry right to the other end of the mall. He pushes the button and right on cue the giant Christmas tree behind him lights up like a
wave from bottom to top, millions of tiny multicoloured lights sparkle in unison, all followed by a ping as the star on the top is the last thing to light.
Turning around to glance through the nearest window, I see all the streets are lit up too. Every lamppost has lights wrapped around it, with hanging decorations strung up between every two posts, lit up depictions of Santa and his reindeer. I suddenly wonder why there has never been any mythology written about Blizzard. I mean, they write about Santa and the reindeer and the elves and Mrs Claus baking cookies, but none of the Christmas stories ever mention Santa having a daughter.
When I look over, Anti-Claus and Seth are still standing at the back of the crowd, wearing matching scowls on their faces. I knew Seth was untrustworthy. I knew it. Of course, the only issue now is how to make Mum see it too. I can’t exactly tell her that Santa and his daughter told me about the guy who wants to ruin Christmas and that Seth is working for him, can I?
After the big light up, all the excitement seems to die down a little. All the people start bustling and moving to get away and without me even noticing, Anti-Claus and Seth have managed to slip away.
“Don’t worry too much,” Blizzard says in my ear. “This doesn’t change anything. We can still use my plans to get rid of him.”
I sigh.
“Hello girls,” Mum says as she comes over to us. “Who’s your friend?”
“This is Blizzard,” I say. “Blizzard, Mum, Mum, Blizzard. Blizzard is the daughter of this year’s mall Santa so she’s hanging out here for a while this month.”
“Nice to meet you,” Blizzard says politely.
“What a pretty name that is,” Mum says. “Were you conceived in a blizzard?”
And just like that, I’d like the ground to swallow me up, thank you please. God, parents are so embarrassing. They just haven’t got a clue how to behave in public.
“Probably,” Blizzard replies sweetly, and in all honesty she seems completely unfazed by the question.
“How romantic,” Mum says.
“I think we should go,” I say quickly before this conversation gets anymore gross. “Can I have my pocket money in the morning?” I ask Mum. “Blizzard and I are going to do some Christmas shopping while she’s not working with her dad.”
“No problem,” Mum says.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow,” Blizzard says. “And nice to meet you both,” she says to Mum and Pippa.
“What a nice girl,” Mum says as we leave. “I’m glad you’ve made such a nice friend.”
I’m glad Mum likes her, but that’s not so important in the face of learning who Seth works for. I have to do something about it, now more than ever.