Christmas at the Lang's: Book Four

4

OK, it was past midnight now. Cassie sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. Her dad would be asleep by now.

She put on her fluffy slippers and walked out her room silently in her PJs. Her dad always put the presents in the attic so that Santa could put them under the tree when he came, because he thought it proved he did come. Actually, it just meant more work for Cassie, or before Cassie, her mom, and before her mom, his parents. Their efforts moving the presents kept her dad's belief in Santa Claus alive.

Yeah, it was a pain moving them all, but Cassie would do anything for her dad.

So Cassie became Santa, taking all the presents from upstairs and putting them under the tree as quietly as she could so she didn't wake anyone. Scott had gone crazy buying presents this year, and Hank, Hope, Janet, Maggie and Paxton had also contributed to the pile. Then there were the presents she had bought everyone and kept in her room to put there.

But just as she was taking the last few presents down, Loki opened the guest room door as she passed by.

"Ah, so you're the famous Santa Claus?" he asked, smirking. "Pleasure to meet you."

"If Dad asks, you never saw me," Cassie said, smiling despite herself. "Can't sleep?"

"Nope," Loki said. "What are you doing?"

"Keeping Dad's childhood alive by taking the role of Santa Claus," Cassie replied, sighing. "He must be the only adult in the world who actually believes in him."

"Well, some strange people believe in magic," Loki winked, and Cassie had to suppress a laugh. "You want any help with that?"

"Uh, yeah, actually, could you ask Mr Stephen if he bought any presents?" Cassie asked, putting the ones she was carrying down for a minute.

Loki crossed over to Stephen's bed and unceremoniously shook him awake.

"What?" Stephen mumbled into his pillow, still mostly asleep.

"Santa Claus wants your presents," Loki told him, speaking right into his ear, and Cassie was sure it was for no other purpose other than to annoy him even more.

"In the bag," Stephen mumbled, then put his pillow over his head. "Now tell Santa to go away."

Loki picked up Stephen's bag from the end of his bed and followed Cassie into the living room. With all the rest of these presents, there almost wasn't enough room under the tree.

Cassie heard Loki whistle behind her. "Wow," he said. "They're all for you and Scott?"

"Some of them are yours and Mr Stephen's," Cassie said, turning around to face him. "This really is your first Christmas, isn't it?"

"Yep," he said, and Cassie felt bad for him. "But now I'm feeling bad because I didn't get any of you anything."

"Well, you don't have to get anything, and it's too late now anyway," Cassie shrugged. "I don't mind and I'm sure Dad and Mr Stephen won't mind."

But Loki already looked like he was planning something. "Actually... maybe it's not too late," he said, with a suspicious smile.

"What do you mean? All the shops are closed now," Cassie said, confused.

"It doesn't have to be bought from a shop. You said that," Loki said, sitting down on the sofa and summoning paper and pens from nowhere.

"When did I say that?" Cassie asked, confused, sitting next to Loki on the sofa.

"I read your mind," Loki explained, starting to write something Cassie couldn't read on the paper. She supposed maybe she should get used to Loki doing that. "And I'm leaving a little something for your dad."

"I honestly can't even see what it is," Cassie said, squinting in the dark.

"Wait a minute and I'll show you."

Cassie waited about five minutes before Loki made some magic light to illuminate what he'd written. Cassie smiled to herself. Yep, that would definitely make her dad's day. "That's brilliant, Mr Loki," she said, honestly. "He will love that."

"Yep. Not much of a present, but oh well," Loki said, and conjured an envelope and slipped the letter inside. He put it on the mantlepiece next to the mince pie, milk and carrots. "And, let's be honest, humouring Strange bragging about his magic is present enough."

Cassie felt the excitement bubble inside her. "I can't wait for it! I did some research on Google, and..."

"Cassie, don't. Stop right there," he interrupted. "I don't know what it is with this family and this Google everyone talks about, but you can't trust it to tell the truth. It lies."

Cassie blinked. "Google doesn't lie. Google knows everything."

Loki raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. "OK, find out tomorrow the hard way."

Suddenly Cassie suspected that maybe the mirror dimension might not be at all like a primitive and undeveloped world you accessed through a mirror. Which is what Google had taught her.

Could it be...

Google didn't know everything?

"Oh," she said. "Oh."

"Oh," Loki repeated. "Now get some sleep Cassie. You're going to need it."