A Boy Called Christmas by Matt Haig

Author:Matt Haig [Haig, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782117902
Publisher: Canongate Books

The Scariest Thought

Nikolas tried to ignore the threat of death, and the troll’s giant grey, warty neck-strangling hands, and turned again to the Truth Pixie. He was still a bit frightened of her, but knew that being frightened wasn’t a very useful thing to feel. He also knew that if he wanted answers there had to be no better place than this particular prison cell. ‘If I ask you questions do you have to tell me the truth?’

She nodded emphatically. ‘Yes, I’m a Truth Pixie.’

‘Of course. Good. Right. Okay. So, let me think . . . Do you know if my father’s alive? He’s a human – obviously – and he’s called Joel.’

‘Joel who?’

‘Joel the Woodcutter.’

‘Hmmm. Joel the Woodcutter. It doesn’t ring any bells,’ said the Truth Pixie.

‘What about Little Kip?’

‘Little Kip! Yes. The little elf boy. I’ve heard of him. He was on the front page of the Daily Snow. It’s an elf newspaper, but some of us pixies over in the Wooded Hills like to read it, just in case we read about any elves that have eaten hewlip and exploded. Oh, and for the recipes. And the gossip.’

‘Did Little Kip’s head explode?’ Nikolas asked.

‘Oh no. He was kidnapped.’

‘Kidnapped?’

‘And not by pixies or trolls either. I don’t think it would have been such a big deal if it had been pixies or trolls or even a Tomtegubb. But no. He was kidnapped by humans.’

Nikolas felt a sudden chill. ‘Which humans?’

‘I don’t know. A group of men. Forty-one moons ago. They came here and everyone eagerly welcomed them. Vodol ordered a special feast in the village hall in their honour and they were invited to stay for as long as they wanted, but in the middle of the night they kidnapped an elf child, and they led it away on a sleigh and escaped before the sun rose.’

Nikolas’s heart skipped a beat. ‘A sleigh?’

He felt properly terrified now. It was like falling while staying still. He took his father’s hat off his head and stared at it. Even scarier than the thought of being killed by a troll, even scarier than being locked in an elf prison, was the idea that his own father could have been one of the men who had kidnapped Little Kip. He didn’t want to say this out loud, but it was a truth in his mind now, and he wanted to make it right.

He wanted to make everything right.

Nikolas looked up at the tiny dark hole. ‘Truth Pixie, do you know what that hole is in the ceiling?’

‘Yes, I do. You see, this didn’t used to be a prison. This used to be a Welcome Tower, back when Mother Ivy was in charge.’

‘I know. Father Vodol told me.’

‘Elves were always welcoming creatures. This place used to be full of friendly elves giving out free plum wine to everyone who came here. Which was no one, but the thought was there. This room was the furnace. They used to have a fire here, which

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.