Chapter 15

As Ivy got dressed, her mind was a jumble. What had happened to Bruce?

She was thankful that Zara was okay and definitely extremely thankful that Knox had intervened and prevented Frost from taking her magic entirely and replacing it with his dark magic.

When they were on the way to the security office, she said, "I'd like to talk to my dad and Alder too."

"Of course, as soon as we deal with whatever the hell is going on."

They reached the end of the hall, and he opened the door to the corridor that would take them to the security building. Ivy rubbed her stomach as a knot of unease formed. "Do you think Bruce is okay?"

"I don't know, sweetheart."

"Did I…leave him behind?"

"What do you mean?"

"If he got taken and was in one of the other cells, then I left him behind."

Knox held the door open for her and she stepped through. Before he joined her, he gave her a long, quiet look.

"You didn't know. You are not in the least bit responsible for whatever fuckery Frost is up to. He stole you from me when I was trying to keep you safe, and I wish to hell that I'd killed him."

"I wish you had too, although that would open up other problems."

He took her hand, and they walked down the corridor. "What kind of problems? Doesn't getting rid of Frost keep the Well safe?"

"Well sure," she said. "But Frost heralds winter. It's his job. And he and his wife never had children, which means he doesn't have an heir. If he were to die, that would leave the position of Jack Frost open."

"Couldn't Santa handle it?"

"No. Santa can't take on the mantle of Jack Frost. It has to be someone from the Nicholas family, so if something happened to Frost, that would mean that Santa would have to bring someone from the family into the job."

She'd never seen an ascension ceremony, but she'd read about it in school. Essentially, only someone in the Nicholas family could be Santa or Frost, the two working together to bring about winter and Christmas, both meant to be caretakers of the Well of Magic. The next in line for either position would approach the Well of Magic along with several elf elders, the oldest of her kind. There, at the Well, whoever was taking over either position would pledge themselves to the position with an ancient spell. The spell would grant the person the power of the position.

"So when Saint Nicholas took over the position as Santa from his father when he was ready to step down, Saint used the spell and took on the mantle of Santa. Then Angel did the same when he was old enough to take over the Jack Frost position from their uncle."

"Who would take over for Jack Frost if he were taken out?"

"The whereabouts of their family are kept secret from most everyone," she said. "Santa knows, but Frost doesn't. Santa moved their family members into hiding when Frost turned to dark magic and tried to kill Santa the first time. When I was in school, there were rumors of cousins to Santa and Frost, but where they are is anyone's guess."

"Santa hides them to keep Frost from taking them out?"

"Yes."

They reached the security office and Knox looked down at her. "Sweetheart, I'm so glad that you're safe and with me."

"I'm glad too. We have some stuff to talk about with the leap?"

He nodded. "After we deal with this."

Twisting the knob, he opened the door and she heard her dad gasp.

"Thank stars, you're safe." He hugged her tightly and the sweet embrace made her eyes sting with tears.

"Thanks for joining Knox in coming to get me."

When her dad had finished hugging her, Alder gave her a hug. "We got to kick some evil follower butt and help your mate save the day. We're definitely glad we could be there."

"Are we here about Bruce?" she asked.

"How did you know?" Maverick asked, turning in the chair at the desk.

"He was apparently at the portal when she and Zara were going through before she was taken," Knox said.

Santa strode into the room.

"You're looking well," he said, smiling at Ivy. "How do you feel?"

"Like I've been asleep for a day. But good."

"Excellent. Now, what's the emergency?" Santa asked.

Maverick spun in the chair and tapped on a few keys. One of the large screens on the wall flickered on and an image of a security camera feed appeared.

She could see the perimeter of the town and the Northern Lights dancing in the sky. And in the distance, a purple glow.

Knox's heart sank. "Is anyone missing but Bruce?" he asked, even though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

"No, everyone else is accounted for," Declan said, folding his arms. "The only reason that we realized something had happened is that he didn't show up for his shift. I was out scouting and found a glove. When I showed his brother, he said it was Bruce's. Maverick rolled back the footage and we saw him."

"Can I see?" Ivy asked.

She moved around the desks to the wall and Knox joined her.

Another screen turned on, and the image of the Entrance appeared. It was glowing, which told her that it was activated because she'd opened it for her and Zara to get through. Bruce was standing at the Entrance, looking at a pad of paper in his hand. When the portal opened, he was startled to see them there.

Then there was a red flash that looked like smoke, and hands reached through and pulled Bruce into the portal. The portal flashed as it closed, and all that was left was a bit of red smoke and Bruce's black glove on the snow.

"Can we get to Bruce?" Alder asked. "Frost is clearly putting on a show by taking Bruce's magic where we can see it."

"It's too far," Santa said as he stared at the screen. "And it's already too late. Look."

The purple glow flashed so brilliantly that Knox had to look away. And then when he looked back at the screen, there was only darkness.

Ivy let out a soft sob and covered her mouth with her hand. Knox put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

"I left him behind," she whispered.

"No, you didn't," Santa said. "You didn't know that he was there. This is absolutely not on your shoulders. But we need to find out how the hell they knew where you and Zara were. They pulled you through from the portal down in the States, not up here."

She looked at Santa. "I don't know, I only remember feeling like something was wrong and when I looked behind me, there was a bright red flash, and the next thing I remember is waking up in the cell. Frost said he was going to keep me until the solstice to replenish his magic. But he was also waiting for me when I got free. I think he knew I'd make a break for it when Azure came to get me. I think he decided not to wait to take my magic."

"He's a showman, that's for damn sure," Maverick said. "And such an asshole."

Knox hugged Ivy a little closer. "We need to shut down the Entrance."

Santa looked at him. "What?"

"Just until we figure out how they knew where the portal was in the States. I mean, of all the places they could be when a portal opened, they picked Kentucky where Ivy and I had just gone through hours earlier. I mean, it's weird, right?"

"Indeed."

Santa hummed and stroked his beard, his brow furrowed. "I need to look at the Entrance."

Knox left Ivy with her dad and brother in the security office and headed out to the portal with Santa and several other Guardians. He scanned the snowy landscape as they made their way to the portal.

The Entrance was made from the bones of some ancient creature. It was twelve feet in diameter and glowed brightly when someone was using it, either to leave Northernmost or arrive. Now, it was a dusky gray, illuminated partly by the security lights around the perimeter of the town, the glowing Northern Lights in the sky, and the Well of Magic.

For Frost to take control of the Well, he had to kill Santa. When Santa died, his magical protections that prevented anyone with dark magic from coming across the perimeter of Northernmost would disappear and anyone—dark or light—could approach the Well.

Santa did occasionally leave Northernmost, as he'd done recently when he helped Storm get his mate Seren back from Frost. Generally, though, he stayed where it was safest.

Except, of course, for Christmas Eve.

Frost had never attacked Santa while he was delivering gifts. He always waited until dawn on Christmas Day, when his magic was most depleted just before he returned to Northernmost.

That didn't stop the fucker from constantly attacking during the month, attempting to lure Santa from the safety of Northernmost and also gathering elves and other magical people to steal their magic and turn them evil.

Like he'd almost done with Ivy.

On a whim, Knox took the flashlight from Maverick and strode around the back of the Entrance. He swept the high beam around the ground, not really sure what he was looking for. And then he saw something: footprints.

They didn't look like the boots the Guardians and security team wore, which had a particular kind of tread. He knelt down and peered at the prints that were just outside of the perimeter, which was marked with security cameras and motion detectors every few feet.

The footprints were angled toward the Entrance.

He spun and aimed the beam at the structure, the light illuminating…something.

"What are you doing back there?" Hunter asked, shielding his eyes when the beam strayed off the Entrance for a moment.

"Sorry. There are footprints outside of the magical perimeter. And there's something on the Entrance. I don't know what it is, though."

The group, including Santa, came around the back of it. When it wasn't activated, it looked like a big bone arch.

Gabriel reached up to touch the portal, and Santa grabbed his hand. "Don't touch that, it's dark magic."

Santa explained that the powdery residue was a dark magic element that tracked whoever used the item the powder was on. It essentially covered anyone who used the Entrance like an invisible tracker.

"So that's how Azure knew where Ivy was when she tried to come back to Northernmost," Knox said. "She was being magically tracked. Me too?"

"Only magical people," Santa said. "I'm going to bet that Azure is the one who planted the powder. He probably stopped right there at the edge of the perimeter and tossed it over. It was too fine to trigger the motion detector."

"Is it still on Ivy?" Knox asked.

"I'm sure it is, I'll remove it," Santa said, "after I remove it from the Entrance."

"Do we need to shut the Entrance down and not let anyone come through?" Maverick asked.

"No, it will be safe once I remove the tracking powder." Santa turned and stared toward Frost's lair. It wasn't visible in the darkness.

"Could we go after him on the solstice?" Declan asked. "When he's weakest?"

"Not until I bring family here to take his place. And to be clear, I won't kill my brother. But I can strip him of the Jack Frost mantle and counteract his dark magic in some way, prevent him from harming anyone else." He made a grumbling sound, like he was fighting an internal battle. "I need time to think. From now on, Guardians patrol around the Entrance too, not just looking to see if it's fine, but checking the back of it."

"I'll make sure everyone knows," Maverick said.

Santa looked at Knox. "I'll go to the security office and remove the tracker from Ivy. Do you need to go back to Kentucky?"

"On the full moon for the night, and then not again until after Christmas."

"We'll make sure your shift is covered. We can't have any weak spots since Frost is getting trickier."

Santa performed a spell that removed the magical tracker from the Entrance, and then they headed back inside. They found Ivy with her brother and dad, and Santa removed the tracker from her skin.

"Ew, he was tracking me?" she asked, looking at her hands. "That's so weird and gross."

"It's gone now," Santa said. "I need to replenish my magic at the Well."

"We'll go with you," Alder said. "See you for dinner, sis?"

"Sure thing, at the cafeteria."

"We need to talk," Knox said to his mate.

"Good things?" she asked.

"Leap things, and yes, for the most part."

"Oh gosh, with waking up after being unconscious for a day and worrying about Zara and then Bruce, I totally forgot."

"Let's go chat, sweetheart." He put his arm around her. "Then we'll see where the day takes us."

"I have some good ideas for that."

His leopard purred. "I bet you do."