The North Pole Challenge (Flea's Five Christmases, #1) (14 page)

             
“Don’t listen to her, Flea, cheating is not a very elfish thing to do,” Minko said. “Rome is being selfish and only looking out for her own best interests. You shouldn’t hold yourself back for anyone.”

             
Flea nodded, as the sound of Minko’s voice brought him back to reality and allowed his mind to think clearly again. While Flea would have loved to help these two get through school to become full-fledged builder elves, he was worried about what would happen to him if he intentionally did poorly in class. It seemed obvious that he was
supposed
to succeed in school, so if that didn’t happen soon, Flea wondered if those responsible for bringing him to the North Pole would change their minds. Besides, if Flea were kicked out of school and the North Pole, then Minko and Rome would be out of luck anyway.

             
Flea was starting to learn that he might not be able to trust Rome. If he purposely did bad and Rome quickly improved, there was a chance that only
she
would pass, leaving Flea and Minko stuck in elfish purgatory.

             
“I think you two are giving me much more credit than I deserve,” Flea said, attempting to ease Rome’s concerns without exactly rejecting her plan. “You saw how long Vork bashed my toy chest. I’m sure I still have a long way to go, too.”

             
“Based on how you did today, I have no doubt you’ll be a top-of-the-tree level builder in no time,” Minko said. “And with a talent like yours, you deserve that chance as soon as possible. You better make sure you try your hardest in class at all times.”

             
“
Fine
, be a
card elf
for the rest of your life,” Rome snapped at the pudgy elf, as if it was Minko’s fault that Flea had such talent. “But just imagine being Vork’s age without ever having seen the inside of the toy factory. It’s really amazing inside, you don’t know what you’re missing.”

             
With that, Rome took a Christmas tree ball from her pocket and wore it like a necklace, which seemed strange to Flea since it didn’t match her outfit very well. She marched away from the two boys, who watched her enter the big glass doors of the nearby toy factory.

             
“That was just mean,” Minko said matter-of-factly, though Flea was sure the pudgy elf never would’ve admitted that if Rome were still standing with them.

             
“How is she allowed access to the toy factory if she never graduated from elf school?” Flea asked. “It doesn’t seem fair that she can go inside if you can’t.”

             
Minko shrugged his shoulders, not nearly as upset by this fact as Rome would’ve been had the roles been reversed.

             
“I guess she gets special treatment since she’s friends with important elves like Niko. He’s very close with the boss, you know, so he can bend the rules if he wants. And since some of the others seem to think that Rome is attractive, I’m sure that helps her cause,” Minko said as he continued to stare longingly at the toy factory. “But I’m pretty sure Rome doesn’t do any real work in there. I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t want to be in the toy factory if they only gave me idiot-proof jobs, like building yo-yos or something.”

             
Minko started to walk again but Flea couldn’t pull his eyes away from the bright colors just inside the factory doors.

             
“You’ve
never
been inside?” Flea asked. “Not even once?”

             
“I’ve heard plenty of stories but I don’t have access,” Minko said. “It’s not
all
bad, though. Sometimes, the other elves sneak out some of the coolest and most popular toys for me, so it’s not like my dorm room is missing anything that cool. One of them even brought me this shirt, which just so happens to be the hottest fashion trend from what I’ve heard. This shirt here is an original but I’ve made myself a couple others just like it.”

             
“Those shirts are the hottest trend
here
? At the North Pole?” Flea asked.

             
Minko stopped for a moment, visibly deep in thought.

             
“Actually, no,” he said, surprised by this realization. “The other elves told me that these shirts are the hottest trend in the
human
world. I guess none of them can pull off a human look like I can.”

             
Flea had a bad feeling that Minko had been the target of a cruel joke by the other elves. Minko seemed too happy about the blinking shirts, though, so Flea didn’t want to burst his bubble. Besides, Flea had more important questions he wanted answered.

             
“I don’t understand why you just don’t walk into the factory and take a look around,” Flea said, glancing around the North Pole to see that nobody was watching them.

             
“I wish it was that easy,” Minko chuckled. “But come on,
you
can give it a try.”

             
The two walked toward the factory but when they got close, Minko stopped and gestured for Flea to continue toward the entrance. Flea hesitated at first – he didn’t want to start any trouble but Minko assured him it was okay – before walking the last few feet to the door. He never reached his destination, however. Another groundswell of snow shot up, creating a blockade of faceless, connected snowmen in front of the door. The way they suddenly formed from the snowy ground reminded Flea of the snowmen guarding the ice bank. But that was the end of any similarities between the two varieties of snowmen. Flea tried to climb up and over and between the blockade but the snow shifted with his every movement; he obviously wasn’t getting past them.

             
Flea took a step back from the blockade and was surprised when a snowball soared past him and exploded the faceless head of a nearby snowman. Upset, Flea turned just in time to see Minko toss another snowball at the blockade. Minko threw just about as well as he built, but his snowballs still traveled fast enough to blast another hole in the blockade.

             
“What are you doing?” Flea asked.

             
Minko could see that he was upsetting Flea so he pointed to the blockade. “Look, it doesn’t bother them.”

             
Flea turned back to see that both holes in the blockade had refilled already. Minko explained that he would never attack any of the smarter snowmen and that the blockade’s only function was to stop those elves not permitted into the factory.

             
“Aren’t
you
the only one not permitted to enter?” Flea asked.

             
“I
was
until you showed up here,” Minko said. “But we would need nothing short of a snow-bomb or two to blast through the blockade and I’ve never even held one of them. Besides, even if we managed to sneak into the factory and get past the secretary in the front, the other elves would notice us right away since they’d be jealous of our style.”

             
“Just so I get this straight, the other elves
don’t
wear the same outfit as mine?” Flea asked.

             
“Nope, most of them wear plain clothes like Vork or those strange outfits like Rome,” Minko said.

             
It was now obvious that Niko had tricked Flea into wearing this ridiculous outfit. Flea figured it was his punishment for having led Niko on the wild chase through the elf dorm. Flea no longer wanted to hang around the factory to meet elves so he convinced Minko to show him other parts of the North Pole –
empty
parts – and the location of his job post. As they walked through the deserted village, Minko explained that the elves had only received their first work orders a few hours ago so it would be a
long
time before most of them emerged from the factory.

             
“Some of them don’t take a single break until all of their orders have been filled,” Minko explained. “Finishing first is a prestigious honor that the top-level elves aim for, especially when they win Santa’s prize. In human time, those elves build for weeks straight without taking a single break.”

             
“
Weeks?
How can they do that without collapsing from exhaustion?” Flea wondered.

             
“Building season is the time of the year that elves are most excited about – at least the rest of the elves who contribute to Christmas,” Minko said glumly, as he wasn’t part of that group. “Everyone sleeps for several weeks straight before Christmas Eve to be ready for building time. 11:59 is the start of our year.”

             
Flea glanced back to the toy factory clock, as the time served as a reminder about how late it was and how tired he felt. He certainly hadn’t hibernated for the last few weeks so his body still ran on human time. It had been more than twenty-four hours since he slept last. If Flea had a bed near him, he had little doubt that he could lie down and pass out from exhaustion in a matter of seconds. But he still had way too much to see and learn before he could seriously consider resting. Plus, a part of his mind couldn’t escape the idea that this was all a dream – albeit a very
detailed
dream – and Flea didn’t want to take the risk of waking up just yet.

             
“Speaking of 11:59, how does Santa actually slow down time?” Flea asked.

             
Minko suddenly stopped walking and a serious expression formed on his face. The pudgy elf looked all around to make sure that nobody could hear them before he leaned in much closer to Flea. When he spoke, his usually boisterous voice was no louder than a whisper.

             
“I probably shouldn’t be telling you this since you’re new and all, but you seem like the kind of elf I can trust,” Minko said. Flea nodded his head in agreement but the pudgy elf still glanced around one more time. “You didn’t hear this from me, but Santa stops time by using…magic.”

             
Flea was tempted to laugh until he realized that Minko wasn’t being sarcastic.

             
“I figured it was magic, but what
kind
of magic? What exactly does Santa do?” Flea asked.

             
Minko broke into his usual smile again.

             
“If I’m not even allowed inside the toy factory, do you think they would trust me with the secret to Santa’s magic?” Minko laughed.

             
In the distance, Flea spotted the tiny security building and wondered if Minko could shine any light on the North Pole’s security issue or the army of snowmen crossing the red holographic line. But Flea remembered Niko’s warning to keep his mouth shut about what he’d seen and he highly doubted whether Minko knew anything important about security. Instead, Flea returned his focus to the other North Pole building that most intrigued him.

             
“Tell me about the ice bank then.”

             
Minko’s knowledge of the ice bank was also very limited, as he knew little information beyond the stories he’d heard from other elves. The ice bank was the most heavily guarded of the North Pole buildings, despite the rumors that it only protected a single object. Unfortunately, nobody knew exactly what that object was. The only elves allowed entrance to the ice bank were Santa and his family, though the main guard sprung up regardless of who got close.

             
“Wait, did you say Santa’s
family
?” Flea asked.

             
“Yes, of course.”

             
“I didn’t know that Santa had a family,” Flea said, as he tried to think through all the popular Christmas songs. He couldn’t recall any mention of Santa’s family.

             
“Really? Because you’ve already met Santa’s son,” Minko said. “I can’t believe that Niko didn’t tell you that Santa Claus is his father.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN