Jake & The Gingerbread Wars (A Gryphon Chronicles Christmas Novella) by E.G. Foley

Author:E.G. Foley [Foley, E.G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Foley Publications
Published: 2013-12-03T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Chilling with the Ice Princess

Butlers and waiters across the civilized world wore black and white tuxedoes as their uniform; therefore, the children were only marginally surprised when the Snow Maiden’s servants turned out to be funny little penguins.

Jake could not imagine who had trained them, but they were surprisingly efficient, carrying in his meal on silver trays, skating around easily on their little yellow feet when it came time to clear away the dishes.

Better still, Isabelle was able to communicate with them, thanks to her telepathic gifts, which worked especially well on animals. She reported everything the penguins had told her when they were reunited three hours later, summoned from their rooms for an audience with the bored Snow Maiden.

“You’re not going to believe this,” Isabelle whispered as they gathered at the top of the slippery castle stairs, still groggy from their naps. “She’s Santa Claus’s granddaughter.”

“What?” they exclaimed in hushed tones.

“Santa and Mrs. Claus have a granddaughter?”

“And a grandson!” Isabelle nodded emphatically. “Jack Frost! That’s the prince Humbug mentioned. This is his castle!”

“You have got to be joking,” Jake said.

But Dani started laughing in delight.

Archie furrowed his brow. “No wonder that girl’s so spoiled, then. Santa’s granddaughter? She probably got everything she ever asked for, year round.”

“Until lately,” Isabelle said, beckoning them closer. “Turns out Snow Maiden always helped her Grandfather Frost deliver toys, especially across Russia and Eastern Europe. She’s very famous in those parts.”

“Gigantic country, Russia,” Archie mused aloud. “A lot of ground to cover. I should think Santa could use a little help there.”

“Right, and she was always happy to help him deliver toys when she was little,” Isabelle said. “But according to the penguins, now that she’s growing up, she wants no part of Christmas anymore.”

“Santa’s own granddaughter doesn’t like Christmas?” Dani exclaimed.

Isabelle shrugged. “I’m not sure exactly what the penguins meant by this, but they said that these days, the Snow Maiden’s too cool for Christmas.”

“Too cool…?” Archie echoed with a look of confusion. “As in temperature?”

“I don’t know. Apparently that’s some sort of slang term in the local dialect or something.”

“Hmm.” Archie tilted his head. “One of my anthropologist friends in the Royal Society once told me that Eskimos, or should I say the Inuit people, who live in these latitudes, have fifty words for snow. Maybe this ‘cool’ comes from them. But who knows?”

Dani shook her head. “I’m still in shock to hear that Santa’s own granddaughter doesn’t like Christmas.”

“The penguins said she’s bored of it, and jealous of all the care and attention Santa gives to everybody else when Christmas comes,” Isabelle reported. “She’s been undermining him a lot in recent years, but the penguins said the last straw came earlier this autumn, when the Snow Maiden switched a bunch of names between the Nice and Naughty lists just for fun.”

Jake chortled. “Nice prank.”

“Santa didn’t think so, with Christmas right around the corner. They got into a great family row.”

“Well, the holidays can have that effect on families,” Archie said. “It’s a shame.

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