Christmas with the Calvins

Chapter Seventy-One

"Hello, Jessica!" Quintin greeted his friend with a cheery smile as she stormed into the workshop.

"Hey Q." She smiled at hi, letting him know her frustrations had nothing to do with him. "What are you up to?"

"Just making sure that everything is ready for Mrs. Claus' family when they arrive." Quintin dropped his voice low so that no one nearby could overhear them. "Setting decorations is a really good cover for our operation."

"Of course." She nodded with understanding. "Listen Q, there's something else I wanted to ask you about. I just had a few questions that I can't seem to find the answers to in the Christmas Handbook and I think your department might have the information in the Research Archives. The regular archives. I'm supposed to be on the tour with the Newmans when they get here with Dad so I can't really get up there right now."

"Well what's the question? My team's practically done down here. I could go and take a look." He offered. He motioned for them to walk forward a few steps to the base of one of the staircases where they would be further away from everyone else.

"This is going to sound insane." Jess chuckled her best "I'm-not-that-worried-but secretly-am" chuckle. It was one of the many habits she inherited from her father and was something she found herself doing all too often these days. She gave the workshop floor a good once over to make sure none of the elves were paying them any attention. "I want to know more about the scope of Frost's power. The handbook is riddled with warning signs, you and Bernard don't trust him, I just need to know how bad things could get. Like, for example if Frost wanted to push someone off a roof with a gust of winter winds, is that something he could do?"

"Why is your family so obsessed with falling off of rooves?" Quintin asked, recalling how when Scott first became Santa one of his biggest fears was falling off a roof.

"Because I don't think that Bernard fell off our roof." Jess confessed. "And maybe the Santa before Dad didn't either. Listen I know how crazy I sound, but if Frost is as bad as all of the warnings, is this something that's outside of his abilities?"

"I-I don't know." Quintin shook his head. "I suppose we don't really know much about the other Legendary Figures and the Heralds of the Seasons are even more mysterious since they are usually only heard from during their season. Even this version of Jack Frost is one of the first to draw so much attention to himself."

"Well, we need to find out and we need to find out quickly." Jessica said. "Because if what I think is true, Frost is going to have a lot more to answer for than just some cardboard cutouts at Mini Malls."

"But why would he do it?" He questioned. "Even if he could, what would he gain from hurting Bernard or the last Santa."

"Well, Bernard used to know more about the Pole than any of us. If someone wanted to try and take over Christmas, Bernard would have to be out of the way." Jess frowned. She could only hope that Bernard hadn't been hurt because of Frost's own petty gain, but given everything else she knew it was hard to have that hope. "I haven't exactly figured out why he would want to get rid of the last Santa. I know that you aren't supposed to show me any of the files that you keep on the Santas or their families but do you think maybe you could look into that too? See if there's anything that might explain how he would fit into all of this?"

"I'll do my best to see what I can find out." Quintin promised. "You should go find Curits though. I think he had a few last-minute preparations he needed help with before the Newman's arrival."

When Carol's parent's finally arrived, the North Pole was introduced to Bud and Sylva Newman. Bud was a bit of a grouch who disliked Scott right away. It wasn't like anyone could blame him, from his perspective Carol lost contact with her parents when she moved to Canada with her toy maker husband. If he knew the real truth he might not have been such a naysayer about the inner workings of the "Canadian Factory." Sylvia on the other hand at least seemed to come into the trip with an open mind. It was the Christmas season after all, and Scott would be the father of their only grandchild. They should try to make amends.