The end-of-day whistle had just blown when Lacey and Peter walked up to the workshop. Inside, elves bustled around, tidying up and packing their things away for the night. Lacey gently elbowed Peter, subtly pointing out Elf. He was cradling a bunch of individual wooden wheels in his arms, and shuffling over to return them to wheels bin.

  ‘Hey Elf!’ Peter lightly called, walking over.

  Elf’s head flew up, his foot accidentally catching on a table leg. Peter jumped forward to help, but he was too late. Elf tripped, his arms flying open to catch himself, and releasing a rain of wheels on the workshop floor. Lacey watched helplessly as the wheels rolled in every which direction. You had to admire the craftsmanship. Not a single one of them wobbled or caught – instead they scattered like silver dragées from a tipped-over jar.

  Pushing himself off the floor, Elf gave them a baleful look. Somehow, it felt as if he blamed Lacey personally. ‘Now see what happened,’ he said with a huff. ‘How am I supposed to get all of that put away now?’

  ‘We’re sorry,’ Lacey said. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll help you get it all picked up.’

  He sighed loudly, and then began moving about to collect the wheels. Lacey and Peter fell in with him.

  ‘I didn’t see you yesterday,’ she said. ‘Everything all right?’

  ‘What, you’re the hall monitor now?’ Elf replied.

  Lacey felt like giving a loud sigh of her own. Instead, she crawled under a table, reaching for a little purple wheel that was sitting between the legs of two benches.

  ‘No,’ she said from underneath. ‘We’re just checking in to see if you need help with anything.’

  ‘If you must know, I came down with a tummy bug. Bad chicken,’ he muttered. ‘Still don’t feel well.’

  ‘Oh,’ Peter said. ‘Did you talk to Mathilda? She’s got a very good ginger and honey infusion that really helps. She can also make you some toasted rice water, if you need.’

  This time he glared at Peter. ‘It’s fine,’ he grumbled.

  ‘All right,’ Peter replied.

  They collected the rest of the wheels in silence. By the time they were done, only a handful of elves remained in the workshop, tidying the last of their things. Peter walked over to a small elf with large eyes, standing by a bench close to where Albyrne had been painting. She was vigorously scrubbing the surface of her bench – cleaning up a paint spill.

  ‘Hi Minky,’ he said. ‘Have you seen Albyrne around today? I need to ask him something.’

  Rinsing her scrubbing sponge, she said, ‘Hi Peter, yes. He was here till about mid-afternoon. Then he got called away by Santa. Sounded like Santa wanted him to add some luck to the Christmas Eve projections and route.’

  ‘Hmm,’ he said, rubbing his chin. ‘That’s going to take a while. Never mind then, I’ll catch him tomorrow.’

  Outside little snowflakes was sifting down again, a delicate blanket of clouds obscuring the lowering sun. Lacey held out a hand, watching the delicate fluffs landing on her glove.

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  ‘What shall we do now?’ she asked.

  ‘How about we go see what Icy and them are up to?’

  ??

  They found the four elves in the village square, putting up a temporary stand to one side.

  ‘Ho there, Icy,’ Peter called. ‘Preparing for the festival already?’

  ‘Ho there, Peter,’ he responded. ‘We’d better – the eight maids a-milking are arriving this Starday.’

  ‘It’s that time already? The days go by so fast.’

  Lacey frowned. ‘The eight maids a-milking?’

  Icy looked at her strangely, his light blue eyes like frost. ‘You haven’t seen them before?’

  She silently sighed. Here was another thing she should’ve known as an elf. She needed to stop asking these questions in public. Shrugging, she replied, ‘I guess I didn’t get out very much over in Aurora. Accounting and such, you know.’

  ‘What a sad life,’ Icy said. ‘No wonder you’re such a strange elf.’

  Wait, he thinks I’m a strange girl? You’re one to talk, little buddy sockhead. Luckily, Peter jumped in before she could actually say something.

  ‘The eight maids a-milking do a tour of the different settlements during the twelve-day countdown before Christmas, coming here on day 8. There followed by the nine ladies dancing, the ten lords a-leaping, the eleven pipers piping, and the twelve drummers drumming. It gives them all a chance to smooth out their performances for the twelve days on Christmas on Earth.’

  Curiosity overcoming her slight annoyance, she said, ‘Oh, I can’t believe I’ve never seen it, then! It sounds like a lot of fun!’

  Peter smiled. ‘Well, here’s your chance.’

  Icy impatiently glanced back to where the Tinsel, Blinky, and Huey were hammering in nails. ‘Did you need something, Peter?’

  ‘Actually, yes. It’s about Jinxy. Do you mind if we asked you guys some questions quick?’

  ‘Sure. Let’s get it over with,’ he said, motioning the other three to join them. Lacey carefully studied them as Peter handled the introductions.

  Tinsel was the tall one. He had slightly cadaverous look, with a wiry build and sunken cheeks. True to his name, Blinky blinked often, briefly squeezing both eyes shut before opening them again. It gave him a perpetually startled look. Huey was already a little out of breath from their work, his coat buttons straining over his portly figure.

  ‘Did any of you happen to see Jinxy out by the Ice Dove Trail last Starday when you were helping Icy with his block?’

  They looked around, conferring with each other. ‘Did you?’ ‘Me? No.’ ‘Were we there?’ ‘Yes, remember the dancing crows.’ ‘I didn’t see her. How about you.’ ‘Nah ah.’

  Conclusion reached, Tinsel faced Peter and said, ‘No, sorry. We didn’t see her then.’

  Blinky blinked up at the sky, his eyelids fluttering up and down.

  ‘And at any other time on Starday?’ Lacey added.

  This question triggered the same reaction, the little group questioning and answering each other, before finally deciding on their response.

  This time, Blinky spoke. ‘I’m the only one who saw her that day. My cottage is close to hers and I saw her walking by to the workshop in the early morning,’ he explained to Lacey. ‘That was the last time.’

  ‘All right,’ Peter said. ‘We won’t delay you any further. Good luck with your work.’

  The four elves spilled back over the structure, continuing the work on the stand, while Lacey and Peter slowly walked away.

  Peter shoved his hands deep into his pockets with a frown. ‘I suppose that’s it for today. Albyrne’s busy and its too late to even think about the Wasteland.’

  ‘I suppose so,’ Lacey said with a sigh. ‘Is it just me, or are we not getting anywhere?’

  ‘At least not tonight, we’re not. Shall we swing by the Healing Hall and pick up Mathilda? If you want, I can try to get her to make us star-melt for supper. It has thin ribbons of starmelt dough, in a thick milk mix with sugar and cinnamon. It’s a great meal for a night like this.’

  ‘Sure, sounds good,’ she replied, not feeling like food at all. Even though Santa’s village had the most delicious Christmas food she’s ever had, eating was becoming harder and harder under the cloud of Jinxy’s disappearance. But she’ll put on a brave face and try to get something into her stomach. She needed her strength to keep pursuing the mystery.

  Peter was also feeling the vibe. Watching the sun starting to lower behind the reaches of the candy-cane fields, he said with a with a sad vibe, ‘She’s broken her record now, you know. The last time she disappeared, she turned back up on the fifth day with her Christmas orchids. We’ve surpassed that now.’

  Lacey softly blinked away the tears forming behind her eyes as her heart yearned for the faint possibility that Jinxy was still okay.

  ??????

  rating or quick comment helps the story reach more cosy-mystery readers. ???

  Question for you:

  Which of today’s little encounters do you think will end up being the most significant – and why?

  Elf’s tumble? Minky’s hint about Albyrne? The four elves’ reactions? Something in the festival preparations?