Read The Yeti Uprising: An IPMA Adventure for Christmas 2013 Page 24
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In the helicopter, Josh was still very uncomfortable. He’d found a seat belt of sorts but he couldn’t get it to latch. So he just tied it in a bow on his lap as tight as he could instead.
Qanik was already leaning out the entrance opening on the side where Josh sat and beginning her plan. With a bit of light shimmering off her clothes and body like moonlight on the Arctic Ocean, she morphed into something even more beautiful.
The Sprite looked like a giant, dollop of water, only with arms. Her legs had sort of melted into a flowing-looking stream or waterfall. Josh supposed they still supported her but the form had molded into her torso such that she looked like some tower of water with a drop-shaped head and fluid, smooth arms and shoulders.
There were no words, no other action, but soon tiny mists of water started flowing from and around Qanik’s body and she seemed to be directing them out in a wavy pattern over the production and shipping facility below them.
“Now I need you,” Qanik said in a strong echo and with a truly friendly smile. “You must close your eyes. Imagine your favorite things. I will use your energy to ignite my water and it will look like a bright aurora to any magic creatures below.”
Josh looked at her for a moment and nodded. He closed his eyes for a few seconds.
“Is it working?” the boy asked.
A moment’s hesitation and then, Qanik replied, “No, Josh. It is not. I need you to really focus on something you love. Something that will make you very happy.”
It wasn’t working. He tried contemplating some of his toys, and that didn’t seem strong enough. He tried imaging being home with Mother and Father again, but while that did make him very happy it wasn’t quite getting the emotional effect Qanik needed to tap into.
“Josh!” Santa said and clapped his left hand on the boy’s knee.
Joshua opened his eyes and looked at Santa Claus. The bearded face was grinning ear to ear. It reminded him of the grandpa he had never really known. That’s how Grandpa would’ve looked, Josh thought to himself, wishing he’d been born a few years earlier so he could have known his mother’s father a little.
“Josh?” Santa said again. “I need you to imagine Christmas morning. Sitting around the tree with your parents. Your Mom is unwrapping the statue you made in art class this year. Can you do that?”
“Yeah!” Josh replied, smiling himself. “Yeah, I think I can.”
A few seconds later, Qanik spoke up again. “It’s starting to work. But you need to maintain it, Josh.”
Josh never heard her. He was concentrating on Santa’s vision he’d painted for him. And Santa explained some more.
“Now, lad,” the now familiar voice said. “I want you to think about what Christmas really means. Can you do that?”
Josh was lost in his vision. He looked around the room. He saw the decorations his mother used year after year. He saw his dad sitting in the arm chair and drinking hot cocoa, the only time of year he was willing to do so, and smiling about it. And there, on the piano top was the Nativity scene, carved in wood, imported from Austria. It was a gift from his father’s parents their first Christmas together Josh had been told.
He saw the display and seemed to feel a warmth emanating from the centerpiece of the scene.
“Jesus?” Josh asked. His eyes popped open for a moment and he caught Santa smiling his grandfatherly smile again.
Santa nodded vigorously and motioned with his free hand to close eyes again. Josh did so and was back in his scene looking at his mother and father again.
“It’s about Jesus, isn’t it? …And what he does for us, right?”
“Yes, Josh,” Santa answered. “What does he do for us?”
“He…” Josh was still entranced with his vision. His mother was hugging him and father laughing about the great gift Josh had just given Mom. “He brings families together.”
“That’s it, Josh,” Santa replied and then went back to the cyclic stick and started steering the Helicopter back and forth slowly up and down the length of the production facility while Qanik continued emanating the mist.
After a just a couple more minutes of flight, Santa asked again. “What else do you see, Joshua?”
Josh sat up in his vision and took in the scene. His mother’s belly was bulging. She ruffled his head and patted her round tummy. “It’s a boy, Joshy!” she said, and then started laughing and smiling at the same time. His eyes popped open and he took in Santa open-mouthed.
“My mom is having a baby?!” he yelled incredulously.
Santa turned his head briefly and with a knowing grin nodded again.
“Ah, ah, Josh!” Qanik said. “Stay in the moment!”
Josh quickly snapped his eyes shut. It took a second, but he regained the vision and kept it while Qanik worked, syphoning off some of his joy to power the vision in the mists she was creating.
Up and down the length of the facility Santa flew and thousands of Yeti stared up at him, seeing the brilliant aurora Qanik, with the help of Josh’s emotions, was creating for them. They’d gotten the attention they had wanted. It was then time for the last step.