Fraud at Snowfields Read online

  Puzzled, Freddy took a few steps backwards, and as suddenly as the wall had appeared, it vanished again. There was no trace left; it looked as if it had never been there at all. Freddy, of course, could not leave it alone, and took a few slow and tentative steps towards the window. And promptly the wall of holly was there again. Will and the others walked carefully over to Freddy. He was touching the holly curiously. Suddenly he jerked back his hand.

  ‘Ow! Dad sftufff really forney,’ he said, sucking his thumb.

  Will studied the wall. He had never seen holly this thick before. It formed a massive green wall, and he could see only one or two inches into it, then it just turned dark—that was how thick it was. He could also see lots of the nasty, spiky thorns Freddy had discovered.

  Will offered: ‘Well, at least we didn’t get wet with this one.’

  ‘You can talk,’grumbled Freddy.

  ‘It seems to me that all the important buildings are rather well-protected in Snowfields,’ added Bianca.

  ‘How stupid,’ said Freddy, still eyeing his thumb. ‘I never get to see the interesting things.’

  ‘Never mind,’ said Annabel. ‘I’m sure they’ll show us everything in due time.’

  ‘But I want to see it now,’ replied Freddy sullenly.

  ‘Well, you can’t,’ countered Bianca.

  Freddy glared at her.

  Will didn’t want them to start another argument, so he quickly said, ‘Let’s just move on. There’s so much we still have to discover.’ He was just turning away from the building when he saw something. ‘Look!’ he called and the others stopped to see where he was pointing.

  ‘Well, that seems to be Richard and Michelle, doesn’t it?’ Spencer said.

  And indeed, in a partly closed-off yard to the side of the building Will could see Richard and Michelle, talking to a goblin. Strange as this was—for why should they know a goblin at Snowfields well enough to talk to?—even stranger was the fact that the goblin was holding a small box with something blue inside. It was sparkling and gleaming. Will had never seen anything like it. Then suddenly a door in the building banged open and Beltorec, their headmaster, burst out of it, jumping down the steps two at a time. The goblin cringed and Beltorec tore the box from its hands, shouting something incoherent. The goblin fled. Then Beltorec turned towards Richard and Michelle, growled a few words at them, glanced around quickly, and when he saw Will and the others down the road, he roughly seized Michelle and Richard by their arms and dragged them inside the building. The door slammed shut behind him.

  Will looked at the others around him.

  ‘What was that about?’ he asked.

  Freddy shrugged his shoulders: ‘Don’t know. But they do seem to be in trouble,’ he grinned wolfishly.

  The others laughed.

  Annabel turned around: ‘Well, let them be in trouble, fine with me, but I want to see more of the village. Let’s move on. Spencer, which way?’

  Spencer consulted his map. ‘Well, down here is only the Bluerin production. We should go back and follow the cloud conveyor belt. The centre of the village is in that direction.’

  They walked down Workers Lane with its small but neat houses, past the harbour and the landing site for raw materials and stopped next to a shabby-looking building.

  Spencer consulted his map. ‘Security Office,’ he said, rather dubiously.

  ‘Well, security doesn’t seem to be a big issue here judging from that pathetic place,’ said Bianca.

  Will said, ‘What crimes would you expect here? A stolen wooden train? A pinched doll? If crime were a problem, they surely wouldn’t have the school here. I’m a bit more interested in the next building.’

  Behind the security office loomed a rather more impressive edifice that had caught Will’s interest. It was not nearly as large as the ones they had seen before, but it had brilliant white walls and the now familiar large windows and red roof tiles.

  ‘What’s this then?’ asked Freddy.

  Spencer looked up from his map. ‘That’s the local headquarters of Cloudy’s Transportation Service.’

  ‘Oh, right. There’s a sign up there saying “CTS”.’

  ‘Also looks quite grand,’ said Wendy.

  ‘Of course. Surely they have to be one of the biggest departments here in Snowfields. What with the large amounts of raw material they need and, of course, the delivery of the presents. That alone has to be a huge task to manage, I’d think,’ replied Will. ‘What’s that building on the other side?’

  ‘That’s the department for Letters to Father Christmas.’

  It was also a rather impressive and tall building. Will thought it looked a bit like a post office, but then, he reflected, it actually was one—at least sort of.

  ‘Hey, Freddy, want to have a look inside?’ Bianca nudged him and gave him a thumbs-up.

  ‘No, thank you,’ he grumbled. ‘Have a look yourself.’

  ‘I did warn you, you know.’

  ‘Knock it off, will you!’ He glared at her.

  ‘Why, no reason to get grumpy.’

  Freddy turned away from her.

  The students passed between the immense buildings until they reached another junction.

  ‘The Plaza is to the right now,’ said Spencer.

  They turned in the direction he indicated, dwarfed by the department for the Letters to Father Christmas. Then they reached a wide-open space. It was beautifully decorated with Christmas hangings, Christmas trees, lights, and all the other decorations they had already seen in the school. The square was paved with white marble that shone beautifully in the light.

  ‘Well, this is it,’ Spencer noted.

  Right in the middle was the largest fir tree of all, richly decorated and hung with great red globes, loads of tinsel, red bows, candy, and seemingly millions of lights. On the side of the Plaza to their right was another impressive sight: a remarkable clock tower. It was made out of the ubiquitous red brick, inlaid with slabs of sandstone on the sides, with detailed Christmas motifs chiselled into them. At the top, on each side of the tower was a large clock with a white face. The hands were golden and massive.

  The only other sight the Plaza had to offer was an expensive-looking inn, the Golden Sleigh. Following Spencer’s lead, they reached another junction. He pointed down the left-hand road. ‘Down there are mainly living quarters, also for the goblins and elves. That building over there is for Cloudy’s goblins.’ He pointed towards a massive complex. Mainly it was an oblong block, but the single living units and levels were staggered. There were no sharp corners, and everything was brightly-coloured.

  ‘Looks a bit like a Hundertwasser building,’ said Will.

  ‘Yes,’ replied Sabrina, ‘but I think it’s rather fitting for Cloudy’s goblins.’

  Will had to agree, thinking about his experience with the goblins on his way to Snowfields.

  ‘I’m sure we can have a look inside that one,’ said Freddy, stressing the last words. ‘After all there’s nothing special to hide or protect in there, is there?’

  Sabrina said with a mischievous grin, ‘Why don’t you have a go at it then? We’ll watch.’

  Freddy straightened up. ‘I will indeed!’ And he marched off in the direction of the complex.

  The others stayed where they were and looked after him with interest, waiting for whatever might happen this time. Freddy walked up to the entrance, but then he stopped. Will looked closely, but he could see nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing had sprung up in Freddy’s path, and the door was not blocked. As far as Will could see, nothing had happened at all.

  Sabrina called, ‘What is it, Freddy? Why are you stopping? Afraid, eh? Just go on inside!’ she teased him.

  ‘I can’t!’ Freddy called back, sounding frustrated. ‘When I got closer to the building, the first step to the door got higher and higher. I’m standing right in front of it now, and it must be at least twelve feet high! I’m coming back,’ he said. And he walked away from the building and went
to where they were waiting.

  ‘What was that?’ asked Sabrina when he reached them. ‘From over here we could see nothing happening at all. The building didn’t change a bit.’

  ‘When I was right in front of it, the first step of the stairs was at least twelve feet high! I even touched it, and it definitely felt most solid,’ Freddy answered. He shook his head. ‘Let’s get moving. No need to waste more time here,’ he said sourly.

  The others grinned.

  ‘Which way?’ asked Wesley.

  Spencer looked at his map. ‘I’d say back in that direction, back to the school. Down this road are only living quarters, and I’m not really interested in them. Are you?’ he asked the others.

  They shook their heads and muttered their agreement.

  It was getting late when they got back to the school, stamping their feet and glad to be out of the cold.

  ‘Well,’ said Bianca, ‘that was a good look around the village.’

  Freddy replied with his usual enthusiasm. ‘Yes, it looks really great. It will be fun living here and exploring everything. What do we do now?’ He stood on the tips of his toes because he was so excited and eager to be off again.

  Spencer had been looking at the clock on the wall of the entrance hall. ‘Well, I’d say we’d best have a wash or a shower, and then it will be supper-time anyway.’

  Freddy looked disappointed. Seeing this, Bianca laughed. ‘Hey, Freddy, cheer up. Tomorrow will be another day to explore and learn more about this place. And of course we will be staying here for the next few years. So there should be enough time.’

  ‘Yes, of course you’re right. But I’d like to see everything now,’ Freddy replied.

  The others laughed.

  ‘Oh, come on Freddy, you have at least supper to look forward to,’ said Wesley.

  Freddy brightened up visibly. ‘Oh, yes, that will be great.’ The others laughed even harder, and they started walking back to their common room.

  Chapter 6

  Will sat in the production lesson early on Thursday morning, expecting another boring lecture about the structure and organisation of the production of Christmas presents. Mr Worker taught them exciting aspects like four-shift models for the workers, the organisation of a steady flow of basic materials, and the magnificent details of the configuration of conveyor belts. When Will had heard that he would learn about the production of Christmas presents, he had been most excited. He had expected things like jolly little gnomes working away happily, and presents appearing almost by magic. He had certainly not expected such dry topics.

  But this morning he was in for a good surprise. Mr Worker came into the classroom and walked up to his desk. But instead of opening his book, turning to the blackboard, or pulling out some of his ever-feared overhead projector slides, he just stood beside his desk. With a broad smile, he announced: ‘Today we are going to do something special. First of all you’ll have to put away your books. You won’t need them today. Instead I’m going to show you something: the most important thing we have in Snowfields!’

  He paused dramatically before continuing. ‘I’m sure at least some of you have been wondering where we get all the presents from. One possible answer would be that we produce them just like everything else is produced in the outside world. But that would be a bit difficult. We would need huge factories, machines without number, thousands of specialist workers, enormous amounts of parts, storage room for them, and so on. As you can see, we don’t have any of these in Snowfields. But, as you know, we have very big stores with all kinds of presents in them. And, in a way, we really do produce all these presents here. But we have our own way. The secret—some would say the secret our whole organisation is based on—is Bluerin.’ He smiled in satisfaction as he saw the students’ puzzled expressions. ‘Ever heard of it before you came here? Any idea what it is?’

  Almost everyone shook their heads.

  ‘See, that’s how secret it is. Bluerin is very fascinating stuff. As you can guess from the name, it is blue. It looks like mist. We keep it in something like a very big fish tank, which is made out of a special kind of glass. This glass was created by our magicians in the development department and doesn’t react with Bluerin, as nearly everything else does. Including skin. Your skin! So, and this is important, be sure never to touch Bluerin with your bare hands. Use it only with the greatest care, for nobody can tell what will happen if you get some of it on your hands, as it always reacts differently. Don’t ask me why.’

  Mr Worker held up his hands in defence. ‘The magicians tell me it has to do with the way Bluerin is embedded in the structure of time, energy, and matter, as they all are the same, but I don’t even understand the basics of what they’re trying to tell me. If you want to know, you can ask them yourselves. But you’re the ones asking for headaches.’ He wandered around the classroom while he talked. Now he went back to his desk, opened it with his key, and removed a small, black box from it.

  ‘Let’s get to the interesting part then.’

  He opened the box and took out a smaller box made out of glass. Something brilliant blue shimmered in it. But when Will looked at it, it was also a pale blue that he could look right through. And in the next instant it was also the darkest blue he could have imagined. While he looked at it, it changed through all possible hues of blue, and even some that were impossible. Looking at it hurt his eyes in the first moment. But then he was drawn into it. It was the most beautiful colour he had ever seen. The students all stared at it, caught by its beauty.

  ‘This,’ Mr Worker said, raising his voice to catch their attention, ‘is Bluerin! The stuff dreams are made of. Now, where do we get this fascinating stuff from…? Well…? Anybody?’ Finally Sabrina raised her hand tentatively. ‘Ah... Well, Miss Bluetonic?’

  ‘You collect it from all around the world... You take stuff like sand, stone, and water and mix them all together.’

  ‘Right you are!’ He beamed at her, and she turned red. ‘We have specially trained people all around the world looking for the raw materials and sending them here. They look for stone, earth, wood, sand, water, and so on. We even have some people at rubbish tips and destructors. But it’s rather more difficult if we use materials from there, for they have to be sorted and broken into their basic components before we can use them—although of course it’s much more eco-friendly. Mainly we have our people in remote areas all around the world, where the loss of hundreds of tons of stone or several million litres of water won’t really be noticed. So we get all these raw materials sent here, and then our specialists working in the Bluerin Production Palace make sure they’re mixed properly in the right amounts, and in the end we get our marvellous Bluerin.’

  He handed the small container of Bluerin to one of the students and let it circulate round the class. There were many ‘ohs’ and ‘wows’ while the container went round. When it finally reached Will, he looked deeply into the blue mist. It passed quickly through different blue shades, sparkling and shiny. Will nearly lost himself in the colours. Finally he regretfully passed the container on to Freddy, who kept nudging him excitedly, not willing to wait any longer.

  When the container got back to Mr Worker, he took the box and looked pointedly at everyone still talking, until all the conversation had died down and he had their full attention. He took out his wand and concentrated on the box in his hand. Then he performed a spell and touched the lid of the glass container with his wand. The top sprang open with a tinkling sound.

  ‘Oh,’ Sabrina murmured, and another girl gasped.

  Mr Worker glanced around and gave them a quick wink. Then his brow wrinkled, and he concentrated on the open container. He murmured softly, performed a long and complicated spell, and pointed his wand at the Bluerin. It shimmered and wavered. Then, in the blink of an eye, it was gone, and in the glass container there was a small but highly detailed model of their school!

  Everyone was amazed. Freddy exclaimed, ‘Wow, did you see that?’

  Mr
Worker grinned and handed the model of the school to Spencer, who was sitting in the front, so the students could have a good look at it. When Will took it from Annabel, he felt it was quite solid and heavy. It was highly detailed as well. He could even make out the windows of his dormitory. It was hard to believe that moments earlier this solid model had been some sort of blue mist. He passed it on to Freddy, who took it eagerly. When the last of them had had a good look at the model, Mr Worker took it back.

  He said, ‘Okay, that’s Bluerin for you. During the next lessons, I’ll show you how the transformation of Bluerin into presents works. We’ll start in the next lesson by visiting one of the workrooms, where there’s a huge Bluerin tank and where the specially trained Bluerinics create the presents. Good day to you.’ He walked out of the classroom.

  ‘Wow, that was great!’ Freddy exclaimed, and Will had to agree.

  ***

  Later Will was sitting at a desk in the working area of his quarters. He was reading a rather boring treatise: ‘The History of the Underlying Principles of the Overall Structure of the Sorting and Reviewing of Christmas Lists and the Subsequent Allocation of Parcels, i.e. Christmas Presents, Based on Principles Deduced from the Last Two Centuries.’ He had already started yawning after he read the title. He had to read it three times before he understood it. But he needed to read the article to complete the homework Parchementinus expected for the following week. Will was nearly nodding off when he heard someone coming near. He looked up: Bianca and Wendy were walking up to him.

  ‘Hi, Will,’ Bianca greeted him. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Oh, sorting through this treatise for Parchementinus’ homework.’ He tossed the paper on the desk in front of him.

  ‘Oh, that.’ Wendy nodded gloomily. ‘I haven’t had the nerve to start on it yet.’

  ‘I certainly didn’t, but there’s no help for it. I’ve got to do it sometime. And the sooner I’m done with it the better,’ replied Will.