Fraud at Snowfields Read online

  He saw people moving in the streets, but could not make out any details. There were also vehicles of all sorts, mainly carts and sleighs. Spaced throughout the whole village were quite a lot of small gardens and green areas, with lawns, beautiful trees, flowers of every colour, ponds, and fountains.

  It was by far the loveliest and most picturesque place Will or Annabel had ever seen in their lives. Lektrorius turned around smiling at his two passengers.

  ‘Great, eh?’ he asked them.

  Will could only nod in agreement.

  Lektrorius guided the sleigh into a curve and headed for the southern end of the village. There stood a very large building, or rather a complex of several buildings, surrounded by a large park, which included the gently curving river that passed through the grounds on its way into the forest.

  ‘That’s your school over there,’ said Lektrorius, and pointed towards the complex. Will peered over the side of the sleigh and looked in the direction Lektrorius was pointing. As the sleigh flew in a wide circle along the front of the school, Will could see it had a magnificent façade of the same red brick as the other buildings he had seen. Windows with golden frames glinted in the sunlight. In the middle of the wall was an elaborately carved door, very tall and made out of brown wood polished to a perfect sheen. But before he could make out any more details, they had gone past and were flying over the rest of the school buildings. ‘Look at those lovely towers and turrets over there,’ said Annabel, ‘and that structure with the glass roof right at the back near the forest looks really out of place—more like laboratory or factory.’

  They reached the other side of the complex. The façade was similar to the one at the front and there was also an extensive lawn edged by trees and bushes. Then they were over the main house again, flying lower and lower, and Will could see that the school also had a small landing platform. Lektrorius headed straight for it and landed the sleigh on it with hardly a bump.

  ‘Well, here we are,’ he told them. ‘I hope you’ve enjoyed the flight and the view of Snowfields. And that you’ll have a good time here. Perhaps we’ll meet again sometime.’

  He grinned, got down from the sleigh, and helped Will and Annabel down. Then he took off his top hat, bowed to them each in turn, and politely said, ‘Thank you for using Cloudy’s Transportation Service. Always your obedient valet.’

  He hopped back onto his sleigh, shook the reins, and was gone.

  Will and Annabel looked around the surrounding roof until they saw a door in the wall next to the platform. They looked at each other, and Will shrugged his shoulders. ‘Let’s go then.’

  And they walked towards the door. They were still a few yards away when it suddenly opened, and a woman stepped out onto the platform. She was of medium age, not very tall, and quite slender; she had blond hair and wore red-rimmed glasses that formed quite a contrast to her long, rather plain dark-blue dress. When she saw Will and Annabel, she stopped, smiled, and nodded to them both.

  ‘Hello, you two. Welcome to Snowfields. Miss Winston.’ She looked at Annabel, extended her arm, and shook her hand. ‘And Mr Burns.’ She also shook Will’s hand. ‘I am Miss Dustfall, and I want to wish you both a successful time here at Snowfields school. If you’d please follow me, then I’ll take you down to where the other new students are waiting.’

  She turned round and went back inside. Will and Annabel followed her. They went down some stairs, and she asked them about their journey. While they were talking, Will thought he rather liked her. They came to the foot of the stairs, went down a few corridors, then two shorter flights of stairs, and reached a great foyer. Then they walked along another shorter corridor and came to a large double door made out of clear and milky glass forming a tasteful pattern.

  Miss Dustfall opened the door and said, ‘Please wait inside. We’ll continue when all the students have arrived.’ Then she left.

  Annabel stepped into the room, and Will followed her. It was quite large, with rows of tables and chairs. There was a fireplace at each end of the room, and a merry fire burned in both of them, but there was none in the large fireplace opposite the door. Two girls and three boys sat at a table not far from the door, and looked up when Will and Annabel came in.

  A red-haired girl waved at them and said, ‘Hello. Are you new here?’

  They both nodded and walked over to the table.

  ‘So are we,’ the girl continued. ‘We arrived here only a few minutes before you, and were just getting to know each other. My name is Bianca—Bianca Lane.’

  Will and Annabel introduced themselves.

  ‘My name’s Wesley Limerick,’ said the dark-haired boy sitting next to Bianca. He was quite tall and muscular, though he seemed to be a bit shy.

  The boy sitting next to him had straight, blond hair, wore blue-rimmed glasses, and was small and slim. He jumped up to greet them. ‘Hello, nice to meet you. Fredorgius Bagshot is my name, but please call me Freddy. Everybody does.’

  He grabbed Will’s hand and shook it vigorously while he went on talking: ‘I believe we’ll have a great time here at Snowfields. Corny made it all sound absolutely fantastic. We’ll be helping to arrange Christmas every year, and we’re going to work for...for Father Christmas himself!’ His voice was filled with awe. ‘Just imagine it. I can’t wait till we start. There must be such a lot for us to learn. I—’

  Will held up his free hand to stop Freddy. He rather felt as if he were drowning in words. ‘Freddy,’ he said. But that had no real effect—Freddy just kept on talking. So he said it louder: ‘Freddy!’

  This worked. Freddy broke off in mid-sentence, an embarrassed look spreading over his face.

  Will laughed. ‘Freddy, it’s really nice to talk to you, but before we continue, could you please let go of my hand? I’m going to need it in future.’

  Freddy looked down and realised he had been shaking Will’s hand the whole time. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m just a bit excited that I’m finally here at last, and when I’m excited I tend to babble without end, and I—’ He realised he was doing it again and clamped his mouth tightly shut.

  Will laughed again. ‘That’s quite all right. I believe I’m at least as excited about all this as you are, and I hope they’ll tell us more about everything soon.’ He turned to the third boy, who so far had been sitting still and quietly at the head of the table.

  ‘Hi, I’m Will,’ he said, and extended his hand.

  ‘Hello. Richard Loxley.’ And that was it. He completely ignored Will’s hand.

  Annabel turned to the second girl, who smiled at her. ‘My name’s Wendy. I am so glad to meet you and Bianca, ’cause before I got here, I thought there’d be mainly boys.’ She grinned when she saw Annabel’s understanding smile. ‘I see you know what I mean.’

  Will and Annabel sat down with the others, and they talked about their expectations. They had only been sitting there for a few moments when the glass door opened again, and another student came in. She looked around, and when she saw them sitting at the table, she came nearer and asked, ‘Hello, are you new here as well?’

  They all nodded, and she laughed nervously. ‘Good. I’m feeling a bit lost right now.’

  Freddy also laughed. ‘Don’t worry about that, we’re all feeling much the same way.’

  The others grinned or nodded.

  ‘Oh, sorry, I didn’t introduce myself. My name’s Sabrina Bluetonic.’ She held up her hands. ‘Don’t ask me how my parents got that name, I never understood their explanations at all.’

  The others all introduced themselves, and Sabrina joined them at the table. Will noticed she had nice, deep-blue eyes that formed a perfect contrast to her long, blond hair.

  Freddy picked up the conversation again. ‘So, what do you think?’ he asked. ‘Will we be allowed to help Father Christmas as soon as next Christmas?’

  ‘Well,’ said Bianca, ‘from what I’ve heard so far, I think the organisation is quite extensive, and Snowfields is just a small section of it. I’m not
even sure that Father Christmas is here, and I’m quite certain we’ll first have to finish this training before we’ll get to do any real work for the organisation.’

  Wesley added, ‘And there’ll surely be tests and exams we’ve got to pass before they’ll let us do anything outside the school.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Sabrina, ‘and of course we’ll not be helping Father Christmas directly, or even be anywhere near him. Those positions will be reserved for the best senior members of the organisation. We’ll probably not even see Father Christmas for quite some years.’

  Freddy looked a bit disappointed.

  Then the door opened, and a rather good-looking, relatively large man, probably in his mid-forties, entered the room and smiled at them.

  ‘Hello.’ He walked over to them. ‘I’m Argius Contractus, one of your teachers. I hope you all had an interesting journey here. I bet you enjoyed the sleigh ride, eh?’ He smiled as some of them nodded shyly. ‘I bid you all a very warm welcome here at Snowfields, your new home for the next few years.’ He made a wide, sweeping gesture with his hands. ‘You’ll like it here, although,’ he winked at them, ‘there are also loads and loads of things waiting for you to learn.’

  The students grinned nervously.

  ‘Now then.’ Contractus clapped his hands. ‘I hope you have already made yourselves known to each other?’ He waited for their nods. ‘Good. As I told you, my name is Contractus. I’m the master for the acquisition of the basic materials we need here, and I’ll be your teacher for that and for the basic processes of our production of presents. But furthermore I’m your guide at Snowfields. I’ll show you around, and help you get settled in and started in our school. And I’ll be there for you if you’ve got any problems. Don’t hesitate to call on me. That’s my job, and I’ll always be there to help you.’ He smiled at them again. ‘So first of all, please tell me your names. Best you start.’ He pointed at Annabel.

  After they had all told him their names, Contractus smiled again. ‘Jolly good. Now let’s go and explore your new school—and your new home. We are now in the Ferum. Here meetings are held, the meals are served, and it is the main common room.’

  They looked around the large room once more.

  ‘Okay, so follow me. We’ll come back here later.’

  He ushered them out through the glass doors. They went down the corridor and came back into the great foyer through which they had passed on their way to the Ferum. Will looked around. It was spectacular. And stylish. The foyer was a large, round room. Corridors or stairs led from it in all directions, except on one side where there was a set of huge and heavy wooden doors decorated with fine engravings. Scattered throughout the foyer were white benches with gold cushions on them, looking rather comfortable as well as elegant. Set between them were large Christmas trees, heavily decorated with glowing red globes, lots of tiny, glittering lights, tinsel, sugar canes, and all the other things that belonged on a proper Christmas tree. Grand white columns were integrated into the walls. Gold-coloured festoons were chiselled into them and wound their way right to the top. Decorative, bright red and green tapestries hung from the ceiling. An imposing glass dome formed the roof, and sunlight filtered through it, glittering on the golden festoons on the columns. The floor was made out of large, polished, cream-coloured marble tiles fitted together seamlessly.

  ‘This is our great entrance hall.’ Contractus looked around admiringly. ‘Rather beautiful, I think. Don’t worry, this is the only place in Snowfields where there is always Christmas decoration the whole year round. Oh, this and the Plaza in the village, of course. Everywhere else is only decorated at Christmastime.’ He pointed to the wooden doors. ‘Those are the entrance to our school. Outside lies the rest of Snowfields. Finding your way around the school can be a bit difficult at first but you’ll get to know the different passages in time. Now follow me and I’ll take you to your rooms.

  They climbed several flights of stairs and passed through a confusing number of corridors until they finally reached another large door.

  Mr Contractus moved in front of it and mumbled something, and Will thought he heard another voice answer. But he could not see anything, for whatever Mr Contractus was doing was hidden by his body. Will guessed he was opening the door with a key. At any rate he was much too busy looking around to pay proper attention to what the teacher was doing.

  The door opened, and they followed Mr Contractus into the room. There were high-backed, upholstered chairs, deeply-cushioned sofas, and tables with chairs around them. A cosy fireplace dominated the room. Colourful tapestries hung here and there from the walls, while the spaces between were either grey stone or brown wood. Will felt quite comfortable in here. The room exuded a sense of homeliness, ideal for relaxing or for sitting together with friends.

  Contractus made a sweeping motion with his hands. ‘Now we are in the part of the school that will be exclusively yours. This will be your new home. We are standing in your personal common room, where you can spend your free time.’

  Then he headed towards a door, and they went into the next room. Will could easily tell that they were now standing in the study: desks of all sizes were scattered everywhere. The chairs had straight backs and only minimal upholstery. The walls were covered with high bookshelves, all filled to the very top. There was even a ladder on wheels to reach the top shelves. This room spoke of hard and sober work, and they left it rather quickly.

  Just as they were stepping out through another door and into the corridor behind it, an enormous grandfather clock to their left emitted a loud, deep, and penetrating ‘gong’. Will and the others jumped at this sudden sound, and they turned around and went to the clock. It was by far the most impressive grandfather clock Will had ever seen, made out of dark, polished wood, and with heavy, golden weights. The face was richly ornamented and the golden hands stood out clearly. But the most interesting aspect was the sign underneath the face—red letters on a white background. Will read: ‘Lunch in five minutes’. He looked at the time. It was twenty-five minutes past twelve.

  Mr Contractus laid a hand on the side of the clock. ‘Ah, yes, the clock. You’ll surely have noticed the sign underneath the face. You see, every time the gong sounds, a sign like this will appear telling you what’s up. And, of course, to remind you if you’re late, or even in the surely highly unlikely case that you should have forgotten the next lesson. It will notify you at mealtimes, when the lessons start, and so on. It’s actually quite useful when you’re buried in your studies, as I presume will most often be the case.’

  The students’ faces fell when he mentioned all the work. But then Will saw that Mr Contractus was winking at them. He waved them onwards. ‘Let’s go and have lunch then.’

  And they followed him back to the Ferum.

  Chapter 4

  When Will and the others entered the Ferum this time, it was full of people. Contractus led them to the only free table.

  ‘Enjoy your first meal at Snowfields. I’ll join my colleagues at the head table. After lunch I’ll pick you up again and show you more of the school.’ And he walked towards a table at the end of the room where the other teachers were sitting.

  Will and the others sat down at the table and waited. All around them the older students were talking. From what he could hear, they were mainly telling each other about their holidays or talking about the new term. Then a man stood up at the teachers’ table and tapped a spoon against his glass, waiting for the students to quieten. Will thought he was quite an impressive figure. It took him a while to realise he was in fact quite small, for there was such an air of authority surrounding him, he easily dominated the room. He wore matching dark blue trousers and a shirt. A silver cape hung from his shoulders. He had no beard, and in fact had not much hair at all, only a ring of short, silver strands that surrounded a bald top. When the room fell silent and he had everybody’s attention, he cleared his throat.

  ‘Hello again, back at Snowfields, and welcome to our new friends!
I’m pleased to see you all here for a new term. I would especially like to welcome all our new students. I am Beltorec, vice-chancellor here at the school. It is my honour to accompany you during the next few years and to provide you with the best possible training for the White Christmas Organisation. And now….’ He cleared his throat and, to Will’s utter amazement, started to sing:

  I hold that in our school

  A teacher’s word should rule

  And that his word is regarded with respect

  This is as little as of you we do expect

  That is as little as of you we do expect

  That of you we do expect!

  I believe in joy and fun

  And I don’t think all must be done

  By just telling you to dumbly react

  This is as little as from us you can expect

  That is as little as from us you can expect

  That of us you can expect.

  All the teachers had stood up during the song, and bowed at the end of it. Then they sat down again—all except the vice-chancellor, who smiled benignly. He clapped his hands together and said brightly, ‘I wish you all a successful new term here at Snowfields! And now we come to one of the most important events of this day—let the feast begin!’ Then he bowed deeply and his cape caught the sunlight. It gleamed and rippled like molten silver.

  A score of goblins entered the hall, all clad in bright-red garments, wearing golden top hats and each carrying an enormous turkey on a huge, silver platter. The goblins went to each table and put the turkeys down. Then they picked up silver knives and forks, but did not start cutting. Instead they all looked over to the teachers’ table expectantly. Two goblins had carried the largest turkey there, and had placed it in front of the vice-chancellor. They handed him a knife and fork, and he smiled with satisfaction, eyeing the turkey. Then he cut into it.

  But when he touched the turkey with the knife, it exploded with a loud bang, and a silvery cloud floated from the platter. Where the turkey had been a second before there was now a rabbit, sitting quite calmly and nibbling on a piece of lettuce, and two white doves launched themselves into the air, passed through the silver cloud, and settled on the shoulders of the goblins who had served the turkey. The blast, the flash, the overall surprise, and especially the rabbit and doves left everybody in a stunned silence. Only the goblins seemed not perturbed at all, for they were all doubled over, roaring with laughter. Will was flabbergasted, and not for the first time on this day, as part of his mind noted dryly.