Chapter 14

14

She was curvy and beautiful, a sexy polar bear,

And I felt slightly inadequate. I couldn’t compare.

With a sneer to her lips and a toss of her hair,

Anjij let me know I was right to despair.

She spoke a few words, but I couldn’t let her distract,

As Anjij ordered her army, I needed a plan of attack.

With more courage than I felt, desperation made me brave,

I scrambled for an answer and gave her a wave.

“Yoohoo, Mrs. Krampus,” Dancer yodeled, loudly she should add, given the fight happening on the factory floor. When she’d entered and seen the waiting army, she’d immediately, and smartly, clambered up the nearest ladder to reach a catwalk that sat at a ninety-degree angle from the twins’ mother. Although the term mother seemed misplaced in this situation. What kind of woman terrified her own children? Not that the girls looked that scared. More peeved. They glared at Anjij and had their expressions set in stubborn disapproval.

Seeing Dancer, Anjij’s lips pursed. “How did you escape the yoke? All you doe-eyed idiots are supposed to be hauling the barrels so that they’re ready for tonight.”

“I don’t work for despots,” Dancer replied.

“Yet you toil for Santa,” Anjij said with a sneer, having to practically shout to be heard over the snarling and thumping happening below them.

“Hardly a chore since Santa’s always treated me right.” Sure, he kept giving Rudolph first lead, but even she had to admit a shining bright nose to guide trumped her horns.

“I’m not surprised your oat-sized brain can’t see how he’s made you his slave and forced you to do his bidding.”

“You mean like you forced poor Jingles to do yours?”

Anjij’s chin lifted. “I didn’t make him do anything. He was my partner.”

“Partner?” Dancer snorted. “Everyone knows Jingles never had enough candy corn inside that head of his to ever imagine doing any of this.” As Dancer spoke, she neared the other woman, her steps slow and measured. She didn’t like how close Anjij had the girls standing to the edge of the catwalk and the vat below. While not steaming, the liquid would be deep enough to drown, not to mention, who knew what poison she’d dumped into it? What had she concocted? Dancer could see the aforementioned barrels ready to be loaded onto a wagon, her friends and coworkers, heads slumped, yoked, waiting for the order to pull.

“Jingles might have lacked the vision to grasp my plan, but he was involved every step of the way,” Anjij declared.

“Did that include him agreeing to be turned into a monster?” Dancer reached the turn from her catwalk onto Anjij’s.

“Neither of us knew what to expect when we came across Mastermind’s recipe, but Jingles was excited. To go from diminutive and mocked by humans to fearsome was a dream of his.”

“And you took it, too?” The very thought boggled the mind. Everyone knew Mastermind’s concoction killed as many as it transformed. Even those who survived the experiment oftentimes suffered.

“Of course I tried it. All it took was a tiny drop to make me into the Queen of the North with everyone obeying my command.”

“You control the animals,” Dancer stated to clarify.

“It would seem the potion recognized my bodily superiority, hence why it unlocked the compulsion ability within me. Once I give an order, the simple-minded have no choice but to obey.”

Dancer glanced at the chaos on the floor below caused by the animals under Anjij’s control. Wolverines, walrus, and even a few birds were rabidly attacking, but not necessarily winning. While Nanook fought, he didn’t do so alone. He’d been joined not just by their original party, but the elves as well. Everyone who could wield a weapon—or claw, or teeth—participated. Felicia the snow fox darted about nipping at hind legs. Gertie the musk ox head-butted, knocking down a walrus for the elves to pounce on with sharpened candy canes. Several polar bears slashed and snarled as they handled the frenzied wolverines. Even Leroy the snow goose dive-bombed the animals who couldn’t stop themselves from attacking. Only Santa was missing. Probably dealing with the Yeti.

Thinking of him had her blurting out, “Why did you have Santa hooked up to that machine, draining his blood?” She’d been curious upon seeing it, but given the urgency of her task—eliminate Jingles—she’d not stayed to ask her unconscious boss.

“Isn’t it obvious? I sought the reason behind his immortality. Everyone knows the man doesn’t age.”

“Looks pretty old to me,” Dancer replied.

“And yet he’s the same as he was ten years, ago, twenty, a hundred. Something stopped his biological clock, and I aim to find out what. Once I discover the secret to his longevity, I shall rule forever.” Her declaration only lacked a villainous cackle.

“A simple blood sample wasn’t enough? You were draining him dry.”

Anjij shrugged. “But how much is enough? Better I take it all since keeping him prisoner would have been too dangerous. After all, he is a tricky fellow. Once I’d taken what I needed, the plan was, and still is, to eliminate him.”

“Thereby depriving millions of children of the joy he brings every year.”

A sneer tugged Anjij’s lips. “As if I care about their feelings. And who says I won’t have a surprise for the little beasts Christmas morning?”

The comment had Dancer glancing at the vat. “I assume this is the surprise?”

“Not just for the children. The liquid in there will bring about the dawning of a new age. Once those barrels are poured into the water reservoirs of the world, humanity will either change or perish. Either way, there will no longer be humans hunting our kind. No more hiding what we are. No more weak species. Predators shall rule the world.”

The claim widened Dancer’s eyes. “That’s insane. You’re talking about poisoning billions.”

“Well, you know, climate activists do keep saying the Earth is overpopulated. I should think I’ll be celebrated for solving that problem.” Anjij, with her twisted mind, somehow managed to see herself as a heroine.

As the fight on the floor began to die down, the number of animals greatly diminished, Dancer kept Anjij talking as she inched closer. “Why did you steal the children from the encampment?”

“Because Jingles got overzealous. His orders were to grab my progeny, but then he decided, why not take all the children? Annoying things, keep whining they want their parents.”

Wait, had Anjij been trying to save her cubs from her devious plot? “You wanted to keep the twins safe from the poisoned water?”

“On the contrary,” Anjij said with a laugh. “My daughters will be the first I transform that they might inspire others to join us.”

“Over my dead body,” an impressively naked Nanook roared. He stood in front of the vat, glowering.

Unlike Dancer, Anjij didn’t appear impressed. “Dead is how I would prefer you, but like a gnat, you just can’t stop pestering. So annoying. I’ll be glad when I’m rid of you.”

“Don’t you hurt my Dada!” Siku huffed.

“Quiet. I didn’t say you could speak,” Anjij spat, her expression far from maternal.

“You’re a mean lady,” Sesi stated. “I don’t like you.”

“Is that any way to talk to your mother?” Anjij snapped, squeezing Sesi’s arm. Rather than flinch, the child scowled.

“Already told you, not our mama,” Siku stated stubbornly.

“I am, and you will obey me.”

“No, I won’t,” Sesi exclaimed. “Want my Dada.”

“Me too.” Siku’s lip jutted.

“You can’t have him.” Anjij got a look of concentration on her face, and the reason why smashed its way inside a moment later. The Yeti must have had their fill of fruitcake. Despite looking annoyed at being summoned, with their beards and mustaches shedding crumbs, they stomped their way toward Nanook, who not once looked over his shoulder. He kept his gaze on his ex.

Nanook crossed his arms and grimaced. “I’d say I regret marrying you, but the twins are the best thing to ever happen to me. You, however, should have stayed gone. This won’t end well for you, Anjij.”

“I never planned to return. However, I needed Santa’s factory and his ability to deliver around the world. A world that needs a good smack. Sunbathe just once as a polar bear and people start screaming, followed by the guns coming out. So annoying. Once I realized I couldn’t live as I wanted, in my furry skin, I knew I had to change how things were.”

The Yeti were within grabbing distance of Nanook, and Sesi shrieked, “Dada, abomminy monster behind you!”

Despite the danger, Nanook didn’t turn. He stared at his girls and Anjij intently. Conveying last words of love? Glaring deadly daggers at his ex? Why didn’t he fight?

Unlike him, Dancer couldn’t stand still. She bolted for Anjij, who controlled the Yeti. Kill her, stop the problem.

Anjij didn’t look worried one bit. Then again, she only had to say, “Are you really going to murder me in front of my two innocent daughters?” for Dancer to halt in her tracks.

On the one hand, Dancer didn’t want to traumatize the girls. On the other, if their dad died and mom got custody, they’d hate life even more. And that was only if they survived the splash into the vat their mom promised to deliver.

While she debated what to do, Nanook grunted as a Yeti grabbed hold and lifted him, preparing to make him a polar snack.

Sesi glanced at Siku, and something passed between them. Something that had them both nodding, and to Dancer’s astonishment, they whirled on Anjij and yelled, “Not our mama,” before shoving Anjij into the vat with their tiny little hands!