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“I see you ahead, wait for me.”

Winter put the walkie back on his belt and turned to watch the wolf hurry toward him. “It’s too fast, don’t you think?” Sebastian asked.

“Something’s definitely going on,” Winter said. “Frost could be targeting Northernmost again.”

“But to what fricking purpose? It seems like he’s just wasting his power sending bad storms our way. The Well is protected by the perimeter, and Santa won’t leave until Christmas Eve. It’s been that way forever.”

“I don’t know,” Winter said.

They moved together around the perimeter, away from the Portal and the glowing Well in the center of the cleared space, and toward Frost’s lair. Somewhere out there in the frozen darkness, the second most powerful warlock in the world was plotting. And turning the dial up on the winter storm.

His bear rose in his mind and he heard Sebastian’s wolf growl.

The air seemed to shimmer in the distance with a faint glow, like a light had been turned on but the snow was too heavy to reveal it fully. They both stopped and stared.

A spark of violet light, brighter than the faint glow, erupted and vanished in a blink.

“Shit,” Winter said.

In the faint glow, they saw a figure, and Winter knew exactly what had happened. Frost had dropped another magic user out in the cold.

He didn’t think, he just ran.

Grabbing the walkie with Sebastian at his side, he passed through the perimeter, his gaze on the faint light that abruptly went out. “Frost just tossed someone out into the cold. Sebastian and I are on the way. We need backup!”

Sebastian clicked on the light attached to his suit, a flickering beacon that would lead the others to them. Winter turned his on as well. They moved as fast as they could in the direction they’d seen someone out there, guided by instinct and determination.

Behind them, several elves called that they were joining in, and Winter was glad he and Sebastian weren’t alone. No telling what they’d face if they found whoever it was in this storm. Wind whipped at them and snow swirled like it had a mind of its own.

They reached a figure, sprawled in the snow, already half-covered with fresh snow and sleet.

“Oh gosh, it’s Baz,” one of the elf security team members said when Winter and Sebastian rolled him over.

“Baz?” Winter asked.

“One of the elves from the kitchen. He disappeared in the fall, and we thought he was dead. We never found him.”

“Damn,” Sebastian said. He bent and hauled the unconscious elf over his shoulder and stood. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

The air suddenly went quiet, the wind and snow ceasing.

“What the hell?” one of the elves demanded.

Winter growled as a feeling of dread stole over him like a wet blanket. “Get back inside the perimeter!” He shoved Sebastian away just as something slammed into Winter’s chest like a block of ice.

Purple, misty magic coiled around his limbs and locked him in place.

Sebastian roared, shoving Baz at another elf and lunging for Winter as Winter struggled. A wall of ice rose from the ground, separating them. Winter fought the magic that moved higher on his body, his bear raging inside him.

Then something struck the side of his head and the world tilted.

The last thing that flashed through his mind before everything went black was a single, desperate thought: True.

True had spent the first part of her shift carving a giraffe for the wooden train and had plans for a lion next. After lunch, where she’d hung out with Zina and talked about living at the top of the world, she’d been asked to check in with the elves reviewing the letters to Santa to see if there were new additions to the wish list for wooden toys.

She left her tools on her workbench and followed a long underground hall to the main building, making a mental note to stop at the cafeteria on the way back to pick up some treats for the woodworkers. When she reached the offices, she checked in with Billie about an updated toy list.

“Hello, True,” Santa called from his office. He waved her over and she walked in.