Christmas with Nick Klaas

Part 28: Unceremonious Goodbyes

Everything had to be precisely timed, in an exact order, and with specific proportions. Three concentric circles surrounded the giant effigy. The largest ring had thirteen demons, each battling against seven masked townspeople. The middle ring had seven on five each, while the inside ring contained five against three. At the base of the statue, Nick, Fanny, and Noelle stood with lit torches in hand. The ceremony started thirteen minutes before sunrise, marked with a rooster's crow.

The outermost circle started moving first, rotating in a counterclockwise direction as the participants began a dance to mimic fighting. The second circle rotated clockwise, while the innermost one spun in the opposite direction again. The three torchbearers in the center stayed still.

Fanny led the singing.

The traditional, Scandinavian Christmas carols started slow and melancholic before gradually picking up tempo and spirit. In the background, the mock struggle between good and evil was expertly executed, as though it had been meticulously choreographed and practiced. The participants knew their roles, and when the time came for the demons to be vanquished, the song went quiet and they all fell flat on the ice in unison.

After a few, silent beats, Fanny raised her chin and began to vocalize a haunting melody. She performed several bars before more and more people joined in. Noelle got goosebumps. Whether from just the beautiful sound or if there really was magic in the air, she couldn't tell. But it was certainly apparent that something big was about to happen.

The wind howled, threatening to extinguish her torch. The flame precariously flickered, casting long shadows across the ground. The ice crackled, expanding and contracting under their weight. On the other side of the statue, Fanny began to walk clockwise, and Nick and Noelle immediately followed. The trio made five passes around the effigy before stopping and raising their torches. As the singing ended, they touched the tips to the straw, igniting the structure.

The thin strands of packed, dried stems easily took the flame. The yellow and orange fire spread upward with a whoosh, and Noelle had to step backward to avoid being singed. All was quiet, except for the roar of the inferno until the ice cracked again, this time as it began to melt. The crowd around the statue gradually moved back, allowing the fire to consume the effigy from above, while the lake slowly devoured it from below. The flames reached the tips of the horns just before they sank into the icy depths. By Noelle's estimation, the entire pyre was gone in less than five minutes.

The water undulated and bubbled from the disturbance. But in addition to something going down, there was definitely another thing coming up.

Noelle gasped. A body in a stiff, horizontal position floated to the surface, the golden blonde hair spreading around the beautiful, sleeping face. As the crowd watched in awe, Avery—wearing pink, flannel pajamas—continued to rise into the air, levitating several feet above the water. When Fanny who'd been standing at the edge of the gaping hole nearest to land raised her arms, Avery's reclining form slowly floated into them. Gently cradling the near frozen girl, she carefully lowered her to the ground.

As soon as Avery touched the dark earth, the spot changed. The previously soot-stained, mushy soil refroze and became covered with powdery snow. The transformation continued, moving outward like a ripple from a pebble thrown into a lake. It headed through the trees on its way toward the buildings of Keskitalvi as the black magic's power waned.

Previously rooted to the place she stood from shock, Noelle ran over just as Avery began to cough. The fit of spitting out water woke her, and she looked from face to face, bewildered.