Page 81 of The Chosen One Universe: Volume One

“Hello? Anyone up there ready for lunch?”

Jack took a deep breath as Papa’s voice drifted up the stairs.

“Me!” Ollie darted for the door, and Jack listened to his footsteps tromping down the stairs while Papa fussed at him to slow down.

“Don’t worry,” Ben said quietly. He put his hand on Jack’s shoulder as Natasha took Henry’s hand. Emily leaned against him. “We’ll figure this out.”

“Santa Claus won’t know what hit him,” Henry said.

A slight breeze started in the room, and Jack couldn’t help but smile. Ever since Henry had begun learning to use his magic more, he’d been really working on ways to get better at it. Jack had even heard Zaire say that Henry was the strongest mage she’d ever seen.

“You guys coming?” Papa asked.

“On our way!” Natasha nodded and turned for the door. They all followed behind her, their missions in their heads. Jack hung close to Ben and his big brother kept a hand on his shoulder.

Papa noticed, because he always noticed little things like that.

“Okay, Jack?”

Jack shrugged. He wasn’t supposed to lie, but he didn’t want to talk about it either. Papa gave him a hug. “I’m here if you want to talk. Or if you just need a hug.”

Jack hugged him tight. Papa hugs were special and always made him feel better.

Nana made them turkey pinwheels for lunch, which was one of Jack’s favorites. He had a hard time enjoying them, though, ‘cause Nana kept humming the song under her breath in the kitchen. Jack was getting more scared by the second.

You better not cry.

What did this Santa guy do that would make them cry? This was serious business.

He sees you when you’re sleeping.

Jack gulped. His siblings shared a look. They’d have to start a watch like they used to. One of them would stay awake all the time to make sure they weren’t taken by surprise. Jack hated keeping watch. They hadn’t had to do it at all since they came to live with Daddy and Papa. The Jerrick pack had grownups that kept watch, and they had a super strong ward that Aunt Zaire put up.

Nana got distracted by something in the kitchen and stopped singing, but not before she added the line about being good. Being good at what? Nana was definitely trying to give them clues about this.

She kept smiling at them and nodding her head like they were supposed to be getting her clues, too. The only thing Jack could figure out was that they had to keep this Santa guy away. And one of them had to stay awake the whole time or something.

Ben would probably have better ideas. And Natasha was super good at making plans.

“No one’s eating,” Nana said suddenly from beside them. Everyone looked around guiltily. They’d all been thinking about the clues she was giving them, trying to make sure they remembered all the words so they could work on their plan.

“Sorry, Nana,” Ben said with a small smile.

“We’re focused, Nana!” Ollie beamed up at her and she grinned back.

“That’s my good boy. Focus on your lunch for a while, okay? I made you some celery sticks with peanut butter.”

“I like peanut butter,” Ollie said. He grabbed one from the tray in the middle of the table and chomped down on it.

Ollie was excellent at distraction. Papa said so all the time. They’d probably need to add that into their plan. Jack looked at Natasha, who had that look in her eyes that said she was thinking about something important. She’d probably figured it out too. Ollie would definitely be part of their plan.

After lunch, they went back to the schoolroom. Papa let them have some free time to work on their arts and crafts, but really they used it to start planning. Ben got out a clean notebook from the box Grammy had given to them.

“Okay, what do we know?”

“December twenty-fifth,” Ollie said loudly. “I remembered!”

“What?”