Chapter 1
The elves chatter excitedly as they finish wrapping presents. Marie watches boredly from her beam in the ceiling. Her legs sway casually as she watches her favorite elves, Jack and Holly, walk past gossiping.
She smiles sadly, one day she won’t be their friend, she’ll be their boss. According to her father, there was no time for friends, presents need to be made and they need to be made now.
“Marie!” Her father booms and she jumps, scrambling up to face him.
“Yes, father?”
He looks at her with a huge smile. “Why don’t you have Jack and Holly take some time off for a night out? How’s that sound?”
“Oh,” Marie is speechless, her father rarely lets her go out, for fear of her investigating.
“Well? I’m sure they’re dying to take a break.”
Marie nods. “That’ll work.” She slides down the banister and races up to her friends, waving them over from their present-stacking.
“Father says we can leave!” She exclaims, and the trio cheer. They pull on their coats and boots and trudge out to the village, waving to people as they whisper about her presence.
“It’s Marie Claus!”
“What is she doing here?”
“You think Santa’s mad at her?”
“Or she’s in trouble.”
Marie ignored their comments, instead trucking along to the end of the village, slipping through the candy cane poles and leading her friends down the hill to the frozen over lake.
She grabs their ice skates that had been tucked away and pulls hers on. “How is work going for you guys?” She asks, after a journey of almost complete silence.
“It’s great!” Holly squealed.
Marie nodded, then gave Jack a glance.
He shrugs. “The usual, you know, make the presents, box them up, put them in Santa’s sleigh. Not much else to it. The break is nice, though.”
“How long do we have?” Holly asks.
“That’s a good question, I never thought to ask.” Marie sighs. “We’ll just head back to the workshop after a few laps around the lake, sound fair?”
The elves nod and they push off into their graceful activity. Marie spins and her long silver and red skirt flows out around her. The three have a skate-off before collapsing onto the snowy riverbank and laughing.
“I think it’s time to head back, now. Wouldn’t want to get caught outside of the North Pole.” Holly pulls her skates off and laces up her boots.
“Yeah,” Marie and Jack do the same, and the trio runs up the hill and squeezes back into the village. Santa can never know his daughter was outside of the North Pole, he would throw a fit and ground her for life.
Of course, she was always asking what the other holidays did, considering she never celebrated them. Halloween? No. Easter? No. Ever get money from the tooth fairy? No. Valentine’s? Never.
She slipped into the workshop with her friends and said her goodbyes as they went off to work again. She climbed the grand staircase to her bedroom, and went to bed with rebellious ideas in her mind.
After all, she’s fifteen now.
She is woken by the smell of fluffy pancakes, and she wanders down to the kitchen for some delicious breakfast.
Her father reads a newspaper across from her, his spectacles low on his nose as he chuckles at the winner of the local reindeer games.
“Father?”
He looks at her, his baby blue eyes locking with hers.
“May I go out to explore later?”
“Explore, meaning?”
“Just to look around the village, interact with the elves I’ll one day govern.”
Santa sighs. “I don’t know, Marie. Last time you did that, Jessaebelle caught you trying to sneak out through the gates.”
Marie’s mouth drops open. “I won’t do that again! I have nothing to do here!”
Santa sighs, looking at Mrs. Claus.
“Oh, dear,” Mrs. Claus smiles. “Let her go, she hasn’t a thing to do here!”
“She could bake with you.” Santa suggests.
“But-” Both Marie and Mrs. Claus protested.
“That’s enough, I’ve heard enough, no means no. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to check on the reindeer.” Santa folds the newspaper and leaves the room, a large ball of contained rage.
Mrs. Claus sighs, giving Marie a sly glance.
“I’m sorry, mom, I’ll leave you alone, if you wish.” Marie sighs and finishes her sticky pancakes and Mrs. Claus smiles sadly, looking to see if Santa had in fact went outside.
“You’re my daughter, too.” She sighs as she pulls out a chair across from Marie, and Marie stares at her in question. “I also have a say in whether or not you do things. Go out, Marie. Have fun, but don’t get hurt, or lost. And, most importantly, do not visit other holidays or the tooth fairy. Are we clear?”
“Yes!” Marie exclaims. “Thank you so much!” She hugs her mother before scurrying out the door and avoiding the reindeer stables so she can slip out to the lake, and then further on to see Halloween.
She shouldn’t be disobeying her mom’s kindness, but she couldn’t help herself. She’s never seen anything from the other holidays, only her father has, and she couldn’t wait until she’d attend the meetings and meet those in charge of said holidays.
She skates across the lake, twirling here and there, just for herself.
She skids to a stop at the snow embankment, replacing the skates with her boots, and tucking the skates neatly away into the cabinet hidden by the snow.
She walks a little further and sees pavement. She runs to it excitedly, seeing it leads to sand. Lots of sand…
Marie approaches a castle made of sand, except this one was larger than one you’d find at the beach. She walks through the open door, unaware of the whispering sands falling around her forming a being behind her back.
“Hello?” She calls, and is scared to hear the formed creature behind her back.
“Hello, young one. Whatever brings you here?”
Marie turned to see an older man wearing a hood and long robes, with his arms folded and a raspy voice. She stammers, “Uh, I wanted to see what Halloween looked like, and I guess I’m in the wrong spot?”
The man walks towards her, sand falling out of his robes. “No, you are not. I represent what you seek, unfortunately. You see, Halloween is a once a year thing, October thirty-first, every year time after time. I put children to sleep every night of the year, those who are misbehaved and need bad dreams to keep their progress straight.”
“What does that mean?” Marie asks, taking in her surroundings, now.
“Say you are a bad child, and you never listen to your parents.”
Marie’s heart skips a beat, but she ignores it, as does the Sandman.
“I would make you have a dream about your rogue fantasies going awry, do you understand, now?”
Marie nods. “I do, so, where does civilization begin? How come you’re all the way out here?”
“I live in seclusion because many doubt my existence. I wish to keep it that way, or there would be no work for me. Now, I’ll send you to harass someone else, I have foreseen what you’re seeking, as one should. I’m sending you to Loveland.”
“Cupid?”
“You guessed it. Goodbye, young one, and once you’re satisfied with your results, you should head home.”
Marie nods as sand falls onto her head, covering her and releasing her in a bright pink and white heaven like cloud land.
She looks around, taking in all the colors and the beauty.
“Hello!” A girl calls, approaching Marie quickly. “Are you lost or lost in love?”
Marie stares at the girl dumbfounded.
“I take it as the former. Sorry, it’s my dad’s catchphrase.” She smiles at Marie. This girl had long blonde hair that appeared to be tangled, and her blue eyes reflected Marie’s confusion. “Daughter of Cupid, here.” She waves. “My name’s Amriel, one day I’ll make people fall in love.” She smiles again, waiting for Marie to say something.
“That’s really cool,” Marie says, snapping out of her shock. “I’m Marie, Marie Claus.”
