They always calmed Lucas, Christmas songs. Especially during the Christmas season. One earpod was plugged into his left ear, playing 'Jingle bells' to help him cope through a boring lecture. He had his left elbow on the table, his hand concealing the earpod while also cushioning his face. But he didn't know when sleep came over him, neither did he know the importance of what would happen next.

In the darkness stood a man. Though the closer Lucas peered, the more this 'man' resembled a monster. Towering over an orderly group of tiny men. Their eyes flashed a sinister red as they gazed up at the figure. The creature was large and hunched with eyes lit by blazing fire. Slowly, long palms rubbed together, fingernails like talons. The only reason Lucas thought that this creature was human at first was because hitherto he was behind the creature; examining the draping maroon fur coat over the figure's body. But now he was in front and he didn't know how he got there. It was so instant.

Looking down, he realized he was hovering above the tiny men. Their ears looked kinda pointy.

"Ha...ha…ha…" the monster dragged with a blood-curling voice. "What do we have here?"  Flaming eyes bore through Lucas's. "It's been ages! Ages since I felt a presence like yours."

Fear was swelling up inside the boy, his tongue remained tied.

Teeth like razors flashed at him as the creature's lips curled in a twisted smile. "Have you come to stop me? To challenge me to a duel? You believe you are that powerful?" Bone-chilling laughter pierced the air, worsening Lucas's state.

"No response?" The monster snarled all of a sudden. "We have an arrogant mage on our hands. Arrogance is a naughty trait. Destroying you is now on my Christmas wishlist–right under my meeting with Grýla."

The long bony palms of the monstrous creature spread open and a ball of fire formed in between. The further apart the hands became, the larger the raging fireball grew until it was finally hurled at Lucas.

"Ahhh!" Lucas woke up and fell off his seat. His legs hung on his desk, displaying his Adidas colour splash shoes. His jean jacket was half-removed and so was his white t-shirt as his torso-up made contact with the Classroom's tiles, eyes squinting at the lights directly above.

Everyone erupted in laughter, enough to make the class clown jealous–everyone except the teacher.

"Mister Marcus !" The voice of Mrs Jenner made Lucas groan.

It would really be fun to ride off in a one-horse-open sleigh right about now. He thought.

"My earpod!" Lucas adjusted into a crawling position after feeling the lack of weight on his ear. His eyes scanned the ground around his desk until Mrs Jenner cleared her throat. He froze, and another round of laughter followed.

Everyone's looking at me. Great. Just great.

"Mister Marcus, care to explain yourself?"

This is not the kind of attention I've been daydreaming about. He stood up and brushed his blue jean jacket, trying to act cool. He looked far left at Fiona's usual spot, and it was empty. What a relief she wasn't around to see this.

He looked to his right at the seat beside him, but his best friend wasn't in class–again.

The teacher was becoming impatient, and Lucas tried for a compliment. "Might I say you teach like a college professor, Mrs. Jenner?"

"Coming from you, I can't tell if that's an insult or a compliment, but–"

RIINNNG!

He was saved by the bell. The symphony of chairs being pushed against tiles signified the students' departure. Lucas was about to slip into the crowd, but Mrs Jenner snapped. "Lucas!"

He groaned inwardly before turning around to face her. He was already wincing when he did. Mrs Jenner wasn't the school's kindest teacher.

To his surprise, she just rolled her eyes and strolled to her desk. "I'm letting you off with a warning–only because it's Christmas."

Then what was the point of calling me back? Lucas argued in his mind but flashed a toothy grin before disappearing into the hallway.

He caught a popular clique giggling at him. Pretending not to notice, he picked up the pace, rounding up at a corner. In a matter of seconds, he had reached his locker, finally feeling secure in the sea of chattering voices. Like an insignificant drop of water in an ocean.

He took a glance at the next two lockers to his right. The closest one belonged to Clyde while the other one was Fiona's. Perhaps it wasn't a bad idea to hang around the locker until Clyde showed up.

As Lucas was facing his locker, he saw a hand from the corner of his eye slam on Clyde's locker. The sudden noise startled him. Snapping towards the source, he looked at his ginger best friend who was wearing a black turtleneck shirt that showcased his slender form. Clyde's freckles moved when he wore the faintest smile—his ‘I'm relaxed’ face—with his hand still on the locker.

"Lucas," He said between pants for air. "Came just in time for the next class, eh?"

Lucas frowned. "Dude, school is over. Where have you been?"

A peek over Clyde's shoulders revealed that Fiona was now at her locker, twisting away at the combination while trying to steady her breathing. Her light blue wavy hair swooshed as she turned shortly to meet Lucas's gaze with her ocean blue eyes. Brief as the eye contact was, it made the boy blush.

Clyde cleared his throat to capture his friend's attention. "I uhh, had an emergency to take care of."

A straight face was back on Lucas, his focus now on the medallion that dangled over Clyde's neck. Its design was unlike anything he had ever seen; the chain, a mix of silver and gold. The pendant itself, pure white and engraved with a weird yet beautiful pattern along with the carving of a rose.

"You know, ever since you got that medallion, you've started disappearing a lot."

Clyde's smile faded, and he was back to his signature stoic expression. He crossed his arms. "There's a…perfectly good explanation for that–Ugh!" He wobbled forward, almost losing balance. Fiona steadied him with a clamp on his shoulder before he could fall.

"Sorry for bumping into you, Clyde." A hint of sarcasm was in her tone.

Say hi, Lucas. The boy's mind probed him. Say…hi!

"Say hi—I mean hi, Fiona." He flashed a smile at her.

She returned it effortlessly with ten times more charm, Lucas almost melted on the spot. "Hey, Lucas. How've you been?"

"Me?" He dug his hands in his pockets. "Good, good. Umm, there's something I've been wanting to tell you."

"Sorry, it might have to wait." She flicked her wrist, and the sleeves of her pink sweater gave way for her wristwatch to surface. She glanced at the time. "I've got an emergency to attend to. But I'll see you around."

"Yeah," He muttered, watching her as she briskly walked away. "See you... around."

Clyde ran a hand through his spiky orange hair. "I've…got to get going."

Lucas's eyes narrowed as he watched his best friend slowly backtrack in the direction Fiona Snow went. That piqued his curiosity.

"Are you heading home? I can walk with you, I live close to your place."

"Oh, no need to. We have all week to walk to school together."

"Tomorrow's the last day of school before winter break," Lucas stressed. "How can you not remember? We always looked forward to the last days of school."

Clyde stopped. He pressed his fingers on his forehead like a headache was building. Or maybe it was a mental battle. Maybe he was trying to figure out what to say. Maybe he had something to hide…

"Okay, how about this? I promise to tell you everything tomorrow. Where I've been going, what I've been doing. I'm sorry I kept you in the dark about it for so long, it's just–" he sighed. "Tomorrow okay? Promise."

Lucas crossed his arms, not content with the fact he had to wait even longer to find out why his best friend was giving off superhero vibes.

"Are you some kind of superhero?" He couldn't help but ask. He was replied with a thumbs up and "Tomorrow, promise."

Was the thumbs-up a yes?

At this point, Lucas would believe anything. Clyde had already ducked into a corner, and as the seconds trickled by in slow motion, it was getting increasingly hard not to follow him.

Whatever Clyde was hiding, he must have been charged not to reveal it to anybody. There was no other explanation for why he hadn't told him. The two told each other everything, they were like brothers.

Is he a teenage spy? Lucas wondered. Or is he part of some secret society?

The only way to find out was to tail him. Tomorrow was too far.
Curiosity killed the cat, but that was just a saying.

Lucas didn't even know when his body started moving forward. He rounded the corner just in time to catch a glimpse of Fiona's light blue hair in the crowd of students, followed by a momentary view of reddish-orange hair.

Are those two going in the same direction?

He mixed with the crowd, squeezing his way through as quickly as possible. After almost a minute of perseverance, he thought he'd lost them. But hope reignited when he glimpsed a hair the colour of Clyde's speed into another corner.

He was pretty sure that path led to the janitor's closet– in other words, a dead end.

Clyde, what are you doing in the janitor's closet?

The crowd had thinned out, allowing Lucas to chase his suspicion. He skidded to a stop when he reached that corner. There was nothing but three walls; the ones to his left and right, stretching forward. And the other one some distance in front of him with a dark brown door crafted onto it.

The door was opened, just a crack. It was perfect, simply peek and go. Curiosity had eaten him up long enough. So he began to tiptoe. When he was close enough to pick up the smell of cleaning supplies, he thought he could hear whispers coming from inside. The voices, they sounded like Fiona's and Clyde's. But the two barely knew each other. Or did they?

To Lucas's dismay, his eyes saw no one through the small space. If only it was a little wider.

His hand was slowly reaching for the knob. Inches away, a word froze him in his tracks. Clyde had said the word 'Gryla'. Maybe this wasn't what he thought it was.

Only one way to find out.

The moment his fingers felt the cold metal knob, a burst of golden light illuminated the room, seeping out through the open space. Bewildered, Lucas jumped back. The voices had stopped. What happened?

He took a deep breath and swung the door open, only to be greeted by a tidy janitor's closet, which had no soul in sight.