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10 years after the defeat of Garnok
Catherine shivered as she awoke in her little bed with its blue linen. She snuggled deeper beneath her blue doona, hoping that her mother wouldn’t come in and wake her. She didn’t wanna go to school today, it was too cold to sit in a classroom all day. She listened in the tense warmth that only children waiting for their parents to wake them could feel.
But nobody came, and Catherine was able to fall back to sleep.
When she woke up this time, Catherine felt very refreshed, and padded out of her bedroom, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She headed for the living room, where she knew her parents would likely be on a cold day like today. Or, at the very least, her daddy would be in here, maybe her grandpa too.
A large white fox spirit rested in front of the fire, her tail over her nose as she curled up. Catherine grinned and ran over to her, burying her face and hands in the snowy white fur.
“Mama!” Catherine squealed, grinning. The fox lifted her head, yawned, then smiled benevolently, her tails wagging lazily.
“Good morning, Cath,” Zelda cooed. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah,” said Catherine, nodding. “Mama, you forgot to wake me for school!”
“No school today, sweetie,” said Zelda, and laughed at Catherine’s look of utter delight. “Today is a snow day, so school is closed.”
“No way! No school? Yes!” Catherine cheered, and began running circles around the room, shifting between fox and human. Zelda chuckled and got to her paws, which quickly turned into feet as she took her human form to capture the naked child.
“Careful with your shifting now, sweetie, you’ll catch a cold in this weather,” said Zelda, scooping Catherine up and tickling her. Catherine squealed with laughter, kicking her legs.
“Isn’t that a myth?” asked Justin as he walked into the room. Catherine squealed again, loudly, and Justin covered his eyes and turned away. “Alright, alright, I’m not looking!”
“Mama said it’s a snow day!” Catherine announced happily as she pulled her red pyjamas back on. “Can I go out and play with my friends, please, daddy?”
“Hmm, I dunno, you were running around naked,” said Justin.
“I’ll stay like this, I promise,” said Catherine. Justin chuckled.
“Alright, sweetie, you can go and play with your friends,” said Justin. Catherine cheered. “But dress warm, okay? And if you get too cold, head straight inside.”
“Isn’t the mother supposed to be the overprotective one?” Zelda teased, wrapping an arm around her husband. She gave him a kiss, and Catherine made a face.
“I am not looking forward to her getting her first boyfriend,” Justin muttered. “I don’t think my heart could take it.”
“Or girlfriend,” Zelda corrected. “Keep an open mind.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Justin. “Go get our little girl dressed before my hair starts turning grey.”
“Bit late for that, it’s been greying for years,” said Zelda with a laugh, and Catherine laughed too, seeing her father self-consciously checking his reflection in the TV as she was led into her bedroom.
Half an hour later, Catherine skipped up to the door of her good friend Ramona’s house. She’d tried looking for Joan, but she’d already left, so Ramona it was. She knocked, then stood on the doorstep, not even flinching at her spooky surroundings. Ramona’s parents lived in a cemetery, over in Golden Hills Valley in a spooky place called Scarecrow Hill. But the scarecrows had been safe for years now, or so the mayor and his witch wife said.
“Do you wanna build a snowman?” Catherine trilled after knocking again. She heard someone muttering angrily in the house, and then the door opened, revealing the little mummy girl.
“Mummy doesn’t like it when people sing that song at her,” said Ramona, shyly peeking outside.
“No, I mean it, it’s a snow day! Wanna build a snowman with me?” said Catherine, grinning at her friend.
“Will there be other people there?” asked Ramona. The little mummy girl didn’t like being surrounded by strangers, they all tended to stare at her freaky appearance.
“Only our friends,” said Catherine. “Ellie and Joan and Rosa and Ruth and Becky and Michael and Lucinda if I can find them.”
“Oh, okay,” said Ramona, brightening considerably now. “Where are we going?”
“Duh, to the magic Christmas Village we go to every year,” said Catherine. Ramona grinned.
“Yay!” she cheered, then she ran back into the house, calling for her parents. Catherine smiled as she distantly heard Ramona calling ‘mummy, daddy, can I go out with Cathy, pleeeease?’
Pounding footsteps heralded the arrival of her panting friend.
“She said yes!” Ramona cheered, and Catherine squealed in excitement and waited for Ramona to get some warmer things on before they left in search of Ellie, who lived nearby in the fishing village with her two mothers.
In the end, nine little children piled into the sleigh behind the creepy little Christmas helper. Much chatter and laughter could be heard from amongst the presents, Michael even sang a little to them, much to the delight of the eight girls. Even Ramona swooned, because Michael had inherited the voice of his mother and the musical talent of his father.
They all piled out of the sleigh after it had landed, climbed onto sleds (two on each), and sledded down the slippery slope, where helpers had to dive out of the way of them to avoid being run down. The children got off their sleds, still laughing, and carried them over to a snowy spot, where Lucinda promptly laid down and started making a snow angel. When she triumphantly got up and grinned down at it, her black hair sticking out at crazy angles, she pouted at the devil horns and tail that had appeared. Rosa giggled, hiding the hand that glowed with magic.
“Becky, what are you doing?” asked Ellie, peering at her fellow brunette who was busy looking at a tree.
“Daddy said that it’s always important to know your surroundings, especially all of the trees,” said Becky.
“And what tree is that?” asked Ruth, looking quite out of place in her pale pink faux fur coat and matching hat and mittens.
“It’s… a tree!” Becky announced quite proudly. Ellie and Ruth both giggled, amused at the little girl trying so hard to be like her ranger father.
Ramona hummed the song that her mother hated while she constructed her snowman, rolling snow into large balls. Lucinda rolled snow into a smaller ball, aiming to throw it, but she dropped it when a snowball hit her in the face instead.
“Hey!” Lucinda snapped, glaring at the giggling Rosa. The two had basically grown up together, both being the daughters of former Dark Riders, so everyone knew that their rivalry was only friendly and not malicious in the slightest.
“Can you turn into a fox?” Joan asked, staring at Catherine with big, round eyes.
“Mama said I have to stay in one form or the other when I’m out in the snow like this,” said Catherine, sadly rolling a large ball for the base of her snowman. “And I can’t build a snowman with paws.” Joan giggled.
“If you rolled down a hill, you’d be a snowball,” said Joan. She gasped, her eyes big. “We should try that.”
“I think we should build a fire to keep the heat out,” said Becky, eyeing the sky carefully. “It might snow more.”
“Mum said it’s been like this for years,” said Ellie. “It never changes.”
“But it might,” said Becky. “That’s why it’s important to always be aware of your surroundings, and keep an eye on the weather.”
“Becky, does your mother have you in the Jorvik Rangers yet?” asked Ruth, her blue eyes bright with curiosity.
“Of course, I’m in the Junior Rangers but daddy says I’m gonna be the best Jorvik Ranger in the group when I get a bit bigger,” said Becky quite proudly, standing up tall and grinning.
“Do you think I could join?” asked Ruth.
“You? But you’re so girly you have pink in your veins!” said Ellie.
“I know, but sometimes mama tells me about adventures she’s been on,” said Ruth. “And they sound cool.”
“So does my mum,” said Ellie. “Both my mums. That why I always go exploring the mountains around home.”
“I don’t know if daddy would let me join the Rangers,” said Catherine, walking past as she rolled the second part of her snowman. “It might be too dangerous.”
“My dad says that your dad worries too much,” said Joan.
“He does,” said Catherine. “Mama says that if he worries too much, he’ll start going grey. But he’s already going grey!” They all laughed.
As snow continued to drift down, the children separated into pairs to complete their snowmen, with Ruth overseeing them and providing her input, as the daughter of one of Jorvik’s most famous models.
Ramona blushed when she realised that Michael had ended up helping her with her snowman. He was the most handsome boy at Jorvik City school, he could have quite easily been friends with anyone. But her blush wasn’t obvious beneath her bandages.
“Hi,” said Ramona quietly.
“Hi there,” said Michael, picking up stones to use as the snowman’s eyes and mouth.
“I like how you sing,” said Ramona, her voice barely a mumble. The bandages that were wrapped around her covered everything but her eyes and mouth.
“I like your eyes,” said Michael. Ramona blushed, casting her amber eyes downward.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
“Ramona and Mikey, sitting in a tree!” Lucinda taunted. Rosa gently punched her in the shoulder, causing Lucinda to fall into the snow with a squawk.
“Hey, play nice,” said Becky.
“You’re not my mum!” Lucinda and Rosa both shouted at her, and the rest of their group giggled, even Ramona, who had frozen at Lucinda’s teasing.
“Well, hurry up and finish your snowmen,” said Ruth. “I need to judge them.”
“Ours is done,” said Catherine, standing behind her snowman that she’d constructed with Joan’s help. It even had two little fox ears atop it made of leaves, and Joan had given it a top hat that she’d conjured with the magic that her father had been teaching her.
“Ours is almost done,” said Ellie, sticking cat whiskers into her snowcat while Becky watched.
“I dunno, it doesn’t look much like a cat,” said Becky. “More like a snowman but with whiskers.”
“Well then, it’s a snowcatman,” said Ellie.
“That’s not even a word,” said Becky.
“Mum says I’m allowed to make up words,” said Ellie.
“My dad says the same thing,” said Michael.
“Well, I say that it’s a pretty good snowcatman,” said Ruth, standing in front of it with her hands on her hips. “Hurry up, you two.”
“Don’t rush us,” said Michael. “Good things take time.”
“Daddy will probably call me home soon,” said Catherine. “So hurry up, mona.”
“Okay, okay,” said Ramona, quickly pushing the stones in anywhere. Michael laughed as he joined her in finishing the snowman.
“It’s just missing my dad’s chain now,” said Michael.
“I could make it look like my dad,” said Ramona. Michael laughed.
“Not after you put so much work into making the head,” said Michael. Ramona giggled and, after putting in the last stone, stepped back to admire her handiwork.
“Hmm,” Ruth hummed thoughtfully as she examined the three snowmen and one snowcatman. “Well, you had to build a snowman, not a snowcatman, so Ellie and Becky are out.”
“Aww,” Ellie whined. A blur rushed past them, and suddenly half of the snowcatman had been demolished by Lucinda jumping on it. Ellie whined louder.
“Don’t worry, I took a photo of it,” Ruth soothed her, showing her the phone. Ellie pouted, but at least she was no longer on the verge of tears.
“Thanks,” said Ellie, smiling at the picture. Ruth was the only one of them allowed to have a phone, because her fashionista mother said that a social media presence was very important.
“So that just leaves these three,” said Ruth, studying the last three snowmen. “Hmm. I like your one, Ramona and Michael, even if the mouth is a bit lopsided. But Cath and Joan have the traditional hat, even if it does also have fox ears.”
“What about our one?” asked Lucinda.
“It has claws,” said Ruth, looking at the sticks that Lucinda had stabbed into the sides as arms. “It’s scary.”
“Not as scary as my mum when I’m in trouble,” said Lucinda. Rosa giggled, having seen that before.
“Well, I hereby crown Cath and Joan the winners,” said Ruth. Cath jumped up and down excitedly, squealing, with Joan, while Ramona looked sad and Lucinda jumped on her own snowman to destroy it after Rosa plucked the sticks out.
“No, don’t kill it!” Ramona squealed as Lucinda rushed at her snowman, and she whined as the pint-sized she-demon destroyed the head.
“Well, now it looks like your dad,” said Michael. That made Ramona laugh. She laughed even harder when Ellie pegged a snowball at Lucinda, sparking an all-out snowball war that even Ruth joined in on. All nine children laughed as they played in the snow, the air filled with the delightful sounds of children playing. It didn’t even matter that three were the children of ex-Dark Riders and one was an adopted mummy daughter, or that three were the children of famous people. The children barely noticed those differences, and if they did, it was only to note something cool that their friends could do. Maybe they’d grow up and develop new powers, not all good ones, but they had at least one parental figure to guide them and show them the path of light. And they had each other, to teach them the power of friendship.