Fraud at Snowfields Page 18

  When he opened the door to the bathroom, he was instantly hit by Freddy’s good-natured chatter.

  ‘Good morning, Will, and what a glorious morning it is. It’s so exciting, ain’t it? The great day is finally here, and we’ve all got to help with the delivery of the presents. Oh, I do so hope that everything will go smoothly and that all the children get the right presents, all the things they’ve put in their letters to Father Christmas, and that we manage it all by tomorrow morning before the children get up, and not be late, but that’s what the Christmas Clock in the Plaza is for, isn’t it, so that everything can be done in time, which, of course, wouldn’t be possible in normal time, and…. Blub…. Splutter…. I’d have to…. Blub....’

  The rest of the sentence—for it all had been one single sentence, as the part of Will’s brain that had not shut down out of self-preservation noted—was drowned out, as Freddy stuck his head under the running water to wash his face, which of course did not keep him from going on talking. This was fine by Will, who was already breathless again—something that happened regularly when he listened to Freddy. He laughed.

  ‘Yes, Freddy, you’re right. I’m rather excited too, and can’t wait to get started,’ he said when Freddy emerged from under the water. ‘I hope I’ll be chosen to help on a sleigh.’

  ‘Yeah,’ answered Freddy, positively aglow with excitement. ‘I hope that too. That would be soooo wonderful, that’s actually the best job you can get, flying around on a sleigh, visiting the festively-decorated homes, distributing the presents and placing them in the stockings and under the Christmas trees….’

  ‘Okay, okay.’ Will held up his hand. ‘Let’s get ready quickly.’ As he went into one of the stalls for a quick shower, he could hear Freddy’s chatter pour over his next victim.

  Although Will enjoyed the hot water and the Christmas shower gel he had chosen—it smelled of fir trees, of baked apples and marzipan—he washed quickly, as he longed to go to the Plaza and for it all to begin. He towelled himself dry, dressed in his red Christmas working robe and got down to the Ferum for breakfast. Bianca, Annabel and Spencer were already sitting there. Will joined them at their table and helped himself to rolls and jam.

  ‘Are you ready for the great day?’ asked Annabel and grinned.

  ‘You bet! Finally it’s here.’ Will grinned as well. ‘I was already assaulted by Freddy’s excitement in the bathroom.’ The others at the table laughed, as they were quite able to imagine what he meant.

  ‘Well, it is the great day. And I bet even you are excited. Go on, admit it!’ Annabel nettled him.

  ‘Okay. Yes, I am excited too.’

  They were joined by the rest of their class, and wolfed down their breakfast as fast as they could.

  ‘Well,’ Spencer said, ‘everybody ready? Then we should get down to the Plaza so we can find a good spot in the front. I want to see everything and not just other folks’ backs.’

  ‘Yes, yes!’ cried Freddy, who had been bouncing on his seat already, barely able to wait for the others to finish. ‘Let’s go!’ He sprang up like a tightly coiled spring that was suddenly released.

  They all got up and hurried out of the Ferum, through the entrance hall, and down School Lane in the direction of the Plaza. The whole village was richly decorated. Christmas trees were everywhere, with thousands of tiny lamps, great red, silver, or golden globes, candy canes, and tinsel. Garlands of fir were strung across the streets along with twinkling lights and intricate red bows.

  Bianca marvelled at their surroundings. ‘Look, it’s so beautiful!’

  They went past the street to the main production sites. For the first time ever, Will saw no activity there—none at all. No one was working there on this special day. There were no lights on in the buildings; even the constant gleam of Bluerin was absent. Just one or two of Caretrus’s goblins were sweeping the storage areas, wearing special Christmas outfits.

  The students continued over the bridge and down the street until they turned left towards the Plaza. Everyone in the village was gathering there around the great Christmas clock tower. Quite a few of the inhabitants of Snowfields were already there: teachers, goblins, students, Bluerinics, magicians, and other creatures that lived and worked in Snowfields. A grandstand had been erected next to the clock tower for the top personnel, like the directors of the different departments, the vice chancellor, and the teachers.

  Will and the others arrived quite early, so they found a place rather close to the stand and the tower. Of course Richard shouldered his way right to the front with Michelle in tow as usual. Will could see the teachers and directors on the grandstand. Beltorec sat right at the front. Lektrarissima, Blues, Factorius, and Securitas sat next to him, all in their best outfits. The Plaza was getting fuller and fuller as the other workers and inhabitants of Snowfields arrived. Finally the clock struck nine and chimed a merry Christmas tune. Beltorec got up, stepped out onto a small platform in front of the grandstand, and held up his hands, asking for silence. The crowd obeyed him immediately.

  Then Beltorec started to speak: ‘Dear colleagues, dear workers, goblins, helpers, students, and everybody else. The great day is here once again. The day of days, the one we’ve been working for all year long.’ He made a dramatic pause. An expectant silence hung over the Plaza. Then Beltorec roared: ‘It’s Christmas Eve!’

  A huge cheer went up from the crowd, and Will and the others joined in.

  Beltorec smiled. ‘As you know I’m not one for long speeches. Therefore…let’s get cracking! But before we start, I’ve got a special guest for you.’

  Will stood on the tips of his toes, trying to see above those in front of him, trying to see who this special guest might be.

  ‘Magicuras, if you would, please.’ Beltorec nodded towards the head of the magicians standing in front of the clock tower.

  Magicuras nodded, turned towards the tower, and started to form intricate patterns in the air in front of him with his wand while chanting softly. A mist formed in the sky above the clock tower. It grew in size and finally settled into the form of a huge rectangle hovering in the sky. Then the middle of it turned luminescent, so it looked like a huge, silver screen. And on it an image was forming, getting clearer and clearer.

  Will held his breath. He could not believe it. The image was…Father Christmas himself!

  ‘Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas, everybody!’ Father Christmas smiled warmly as he looked over the crowd gathered in the Plaza. ‘My best season’s greetings to all of you. You have all done a wonderful job during the last year. So let’s bring it to completion and then have a great party tomorrow! Ho, ho, ho!’ He slowly looked around again, as if he could see the whole Plaza. Will had the feeling that Father Christmas was peering at him directly. He felt so warm and comfortable inside.

  ‘And now,’ Father Christmas went on, turning more serious, ‘I hereby invoke for this place the beginning of Christmastime! Let…the time…slow!’ He gestured, and brilliant fireworks exploded from the clock tower. A deep chime rolled over the Plaza. On all four sides of the tower the clock faces started to glow with a bright, inner light. The hands shone golden, and the second hand just stopped as if frozen in place. Will and the others looked wide-eyed at the clocks. They were not moving anymore. The hands stood still. Christmas-time had started! Even Freddy only managed an astonished, ‘Oh!’

  ‘Now then,’ said the image of Father Christmas, ‘I wish you all a merry Christmas! Ho, ho, ho!’

  The screen dimmed and faded away slowly. A huge wave of applause swelled up all around the Plaza, and everyone cheered excitedly. Will found himself jumping up and down, hollering along beside Freddy, who was, of course, the loudest by far. Beltorec stood on the platform again, and waved his hands until the turmoil finally died down.

  ‘Very good. Christmas has started! Now please, all of you go to your assigned positions and posts so we can start the distribution. To the great success of our ventures!’

  ‘To great success!’
was repeated all around the Plaza. The crowd broke up, and everybody hurried off. Will found Annabel in the throng.

  ‘We should hurry back to the school! Where are the others?’ he asked her.

  ‘Yes, lead on, I’ll follow. Freddy is over there, and I can’t see the others anymore. Except Richard and Michelle—they just elbowed their way past me. Anyway we’re supposed to be assigned our tasks in the entrance hall, so I don’t think we’ve got to wait for the others.’

  Will carefully pushed through the crowd in the direction of the school. Annabel followed so closely behind him that she bumped into him when he had to stop or move around somebody. He briefly thought that the members of the forging group had probably also been right there on the Plaza. But of course he had no way of detecting them. He thrust these thoughts from his mind. It was neither the time nor the place for them—it was Christmas Eve! And nothing else mattered. He would be busy enough as it was without trying to play detective.

  Will and Annabel hurried down School Lane and went into the school building. Several desks had been set up inside the entrance hall. Above them were signs denoting the different classes. Will and Annabel went over to theirs. Miss Dustfall stood behind the desk and nodded at them in greeting.

  ‘Miss Winston, Mr Burns. Merry Christmas to you both.’

  ‘Merry Christmas,’ they replied simultaneously.

  Miss Dustfall smiled. ‘Let’s see then.’ She looked at the lists in front of her. ‘Ah, here it is.’ She looked up at them again. ‘You are allocated together. You will go with Mr Contractus on a sleigh to deal with wrongly distributed parcels. Good luck, and enjoy yourselves.’

  ‘Wow, great!’ Will gripped Annabel’s arm in excitement and beamed at her. ‘We’re on a sleigh together!’

  She grinned back. ‘Yeah, that’s fantastic. We’re going to ride on a sleigh again.’

  Miss Dustfall laughed as she saw their excitement. ‘Off you go then. Go to the lawn at the back of the school. Mr Contractus will be there. If he isn’t then just wait by the sleigh. He will find you there.’

  Will and Annabel went along the corridor to the back of the school. On their way they went past Richard and Michelle, who had obviously been assigned together, but were quite as obviously not happy at all with their allocation.

  ‘Hey, Richie, Annabel an’ me are going with Contractus. We’re on a sleigh to deal with stray parcels,’ Will told them brightly.

  ‘Yeah, great,’ Richard replied caustically. ‘We’re to oversee the distribution on one of Cloudy’s platforms.’ He turned around abruptly. ‘Come, Michelle, let’s get away from these gloating fools.’

  ‘Have fun,’ Will called after them.

  ‘That wasn’t nice,’ said Annabel. Then she giggled. ‘But they deserved it.’

  They hurried on towards the lawn at the back of the school, their red Christmas robes flowing behind them. On the platform just outside, they stumbled to a sudden halt. And stared. The lawn was full of sleighs. All of them were brightly and festively decorated with red ribbons, ties, golden and silver bells, and fir garlands. Four proud reindeer were hitched in front of each sleigh. They were also outfitted most festively with shiny, brown tack with silver bells and red ribbons. Even their antlers were polished and almost gleaming with an inner light.

  Students and teachers scurried across the lawn, loading sleighs and getting ready to leave. Will and Annabel watched, spellbound, as a sleigh took off just a few feet away from them.

  ‘Can you see Contractus anywhere?’ Annabel asked after the sleigh had gone.

  ‘Hmm.’ Will scanned the area. ‘No, there’s too much bustle out there.’

  ‘What now?’

  ‘Well, Miss Dustfall said to wait by the sleigh. Contractus will find us there.’

  ‘Yes, he will indeed,’ said a deep voice right behind them, making them jump.

  ‘Hello, Annabel. Hi Will,’ said Contractus as they turned around. ‘Sorry I’m late, but I had to pick up our flight plan on the way here, and there were quite a few others there who wanted the same. However, I’m here now, and’—he rubbed his hands together—‘I’m happy that I have the pleasure of working with you two today.’ He grinned. ‘I have to admit that even I, even after all these years I’ve been here, get excited on Christmas Eve. After all, this is what we work for all year long! So let’s get started. We’ve been allocated one of the toughest areas. There’ll be loads of work waiting for us already. Follow me!’

  And he led them onto the lawn, finding his way around the parked sleighs and through the chaos of students and teachers hurrying everywhere. Will and Annabel hurried after him, trying not to bump into other people. Contractus led them to one of the beautifully-decorated sleighs. He helped them up onto the rear seat and then jumped up onto the driver’s seat. He shook the reins, and the reindeer took a few quick steps forwards. Will and Annabel gripped the railings beside their seat tightly. Then the sleigh smoothly lifted off the ground. It quickly gained height, and Contractus flew a wide circle, passing over the school and then over the village of Snowfields. The sleigh glided through the air easily, so Will loosened his grip on the railing. But then he had expected that Contractus would be a good pilot.

  He looked over the side of the sleigh and saw the school and the village getting tinier and tinier as they spiralled upwards. Suddenly Will felt a jolt, and an urgent-maintenance sleigh from Cloudy’s overtook them at high speed. It went by so closely their sleigh was hit by the slipstream.

  ‘Oi,’ Contractus shouted after it. ‘Watch it!’

  But it was already far ahead of them, heading as fast as it could to wherever the problem was.

  Rising higher and higher, he guided the sleigh in a helix so they were soon as high as the mountains surrounding the village. Above the mountains was a huge circle of clouds. Contractus flew the sleigh along the face of the clouds until they reached a wide tunnel that led through them. It did not take long to fly through, and they passed two other sleighs that were flying back towards Snowfields. The other drivers waved at them cheerfully. Soon they had cleared the tunnel, and Will could see the snow-covered countryside far below.

  ‘Where are we going?’ he asked.

  ‘In front of you is a small screen, the grey rectangle. If you tap on it, you’ll see a map,’ replied Contractus.

  Will looked in front of him, at the back of Contractus’s seat. There was a grey, smooth, and rectangular surface there. When he tapped a finger on it, it lit up, and he saw a map just like on a tablet computer. The map showed a part of the country. He could see lakes, rivers, hills, villages, and towns. Part of it was enclosed by a red line.

  ‘Can you see it?’ asked Contractus, looking back over his shoulder.

  ‘Yes, I can see it. The area inside the red border is ours?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘It looks rather small,’ said Will dubiously.

  Contractus laughed. ‘Remember what I’ve told you before! That sector is the worst, for there are so many areas in there where Cloudy’s coverage is just terrible. We’ll have enough to do for sure. Well, hold on, it will take us a while to reach the sector!’

  They flew high above the snow-covered countryside. Will enjoyed the flight greatly, taking in all the sights. He enjoyed the cool air on his face and, he realised with a start, also the company of Annabel sitting so close beside him. He sneaked a stealthy look at her from time to time, and—to his relief—she also seemed to enjoy being close to him, though he turned slightly red at this thought. He decided he’d better concentrate on the countryside again.

  Finally Will felt that they were losing altitude. Suddenly there was a chime, and the screen in front of him lit up. In the corner of the map, a small, red square had appeared and was flashing.

  ‘Oh, great,’ said Contractus, who had heard the chime as well. ‘The first call, and we’re not even there yet. Will, if you’d please have a look at the message?’

  ‘Sure. Er, how do I look at it?’

&nb
sp; ‘Just press on the red square, and the message will pop up.’

  ‘Okay.’

  Will pressed a finger onto the red square in the corner of the screen. Promptly a window opened on top of the map.

  ‘It says here: “Job 01, Area F8, Code blue-3. Please confirm.” That’s all,’ Will told Contractus. Annabel had been reading the message as well and nodded.

  ‘Okay,’ replied Contractus. ‘I assume you recall what a “blue-3” is?’

  ‘Sure,’ said Annabel. ‘A failed delivery, but quite near the target, in a perimeter of five to ten yards around it.’

  Will nodded as he recalled the lectures that had so bored him in the autumn, but now he could see how important they had been.

  ‘Good!’ replied Contractus. ‘That’s correct. A blue-3 should mean little trouble for us, as it’s so close to the target. So let’s go there. If you’d please confirm the job, Will? Just press the confirmation button.’

  Will pressed the button marked ‘confirmation’. The window closed, and a red, flashing dot appeared on the map. On the side of the screen, a small window opened in which Will could still see the job description.

  ‘You should now see a flashing dot on the screen. That’s our goal,’ said Contractus.

  ‘Yes, we can see it,’ replied Will.

  ‘Okay, then let’s go,’ said Contractus, and steered the sleigh into a tight turn to the left. ‘I guess it’ll take us ten minutes to get there,’ he told Will and Annabel after a glance at his own screen.

  They flew on over the snow-covered landscape. Will could see them nearing their goal as the blue dot on the screen, representing their sleigh, was getting close to the red flashing dot. Contractus angled the sleigh gently downwards. He turned slightly round to Will and Annabel.

  ‘Okay, you two. I’ll activate full screens and security measures for now, as it’s still broad daylight and there’s no sense in letting Father Christmas appear at this time of the day. His domain is the night. So the two of you will also need full coverage.’