Ivy's stomach dropped as they accelerated. Ice and snow blurred around them. The sleigh rushed forwards and upwards at a speed that would have killed both the passengers and the reindeer, were it not for the magic.

Two minutes of clutching-the-armrests-until-her-knuckles-turned-white later, they were there. The warm air was flecked with cooler raindrops. Deceleration flung Ivy forwards, making her catch her breath and intensifying her nausea. Around them, blurs of light and shadow coalesced into Durban's skyline; they flew over the pale oval of the Moses Mabhida stadium, a shining moon among a galaxy of city lights which curved away along the sweeping arc of the bay. The sea was dark, dotted with the occasional bobbing lights of ships, like lonely fireflies.

Beside her, the other elf, Eiden, leaned forward. "Look at the view! I love flying."

"I think I'm going to throw up," muttered Ivy.

"C'mon, I'm not that twee."

She clamped her hand over her mouth. "Travel sickness."

The sleigh took this as its cue to dive like a falcon, plummeting through the night towards Berry's GPS location. It hovered, invisible to human eyes, above Shell Avenue. Berry hailed them from the main sleigh, parked on a nearby rooftop. They glided in to land beside it.

Noel, relaxing in the back seat, next to the other elf, with his feet propped up on Berry's headrest, greeted Ivy with a casual wave. In the front, Berry picked up a walkie-talkie. "SLEIGH 01 TO SLEIGH 02, DO YOU READ ME?"

"Keep it down!" said Mrs Claus. "And you don't need that thing. I'm right here."

"POLICE ARE - Police are investigating the crime scene, ma'am!"

"Have they found anything?"

"They've taped off the area, ma'am!"

"Yes, I can see that! What have they found?"

"What I said before! Explosives, a fuse, and -" He swallowed. "They've found a body, ma'am."

"A - you mean -" 

"Someone died in the explosion, ma'am!"

"No," she whispered. Ivy and Eiden were the only ones close enough to hear. "No. Not Nick, no...," Raising her voice again, she asked "Any other updates?"

"News crews are on site, ma'am! This will make the papers tomorrow!"

Mrs Claus stared at the taped-off wreckage for a few moments longer, then took a deep breath and straightened up. She pulled off her thick jacket - even in the rain, Durban was a lot warmer than the North Pole - and called Mission Control on the touchscreen control panel of the sleigh. The elf who answered did so with a combination of terror and relief.

"Mrs Claus! Thank goodness! I was just about to call you, you know, I mean, you need to know, what with your being in charge and all-"

"Need to know what? What's happening?"

"Well, you see, there's been - Eve was on the computer, just keeping an eye on stuff, you know, and that's how she noticed that there's been, uh,  well, it's past one now, here, I mean, obviously, and -"

"Slow down, dear. What's going on? Has Robyn told people about our magic?"

"I - they - yes!" Even his voice quivered with nerves. "Everyone, it's all over the Internet, and on news networks, and some - some places say that several countries have already sent out their military to capture it, and, and they're coming here! And they're going to attack us, and take the magic, and use it as a superweapon and fight other countries, you know how powerful it really is, and they're going to start World War Three and use magic to destroy the world like an apocalypse or -"

Mrs Claus interrupted mid-flow. "It's okay, dear, it hasn't come to that. Do they know they can't command the magic? That it will only answer to Santa?"

"No, but it's not much help, well, what with Santa missing, and they'll still attack us anyway, and if Santa dies, like, without a successor, then anyone could take control, and - and he might even already be dead, no offence!"

He stopped to draw breath. Mrs Claus seized her chance. "None taken. We think - we think he probably is. They found a body in 13 Shell Avenue. Someone died. For now... it would be safest to assume Santa Claus is dead."

This news performed the unthinkable. It shocked the elf into silence. For all of six seconds.

"So - so does that mean - what must we do now?"

"You said that various armies are launching attacks on the Pole?"

"Yes. Have launched. They've launched attacks already, I mean. I know that most of the USA army's paranormal division are currently flying to the North Pole, and I expect they're not the only ones. This sort of thing, it's an arms race."

"In that case, we'll declare an emergency."

"You declare an emergency?"

"Yes." She sighed. "I declare an emergency."

"Just checking!" The elf turned away from the screen, yelling, "Mrs Claus has declared an emergency!"

"Must we push the emergency button?" asked the elf at the desk next to him.

"Button? Which button?"

The elf gestured to a large red button on the wall. "That one. The big red one labelled...," Even from this far across the room, it was easy to read the writing. It was dark, and heavy, and printed in capitals. "Press only in case of an emergency".

"That one? I don't know, it's only for emergencies, it says not to push it except -"

"This is an emergency!" interrupted Mrs Claus, over the video call. "I declare an emergency! For the third time now!"

"So we can push the emergency button? It's enough of an emergency? A real emergency emergency?"

Mrs Claus sighed, shaking her head. "Just push the damn button."

He obeyed. It made a small, satisfying click.

"That's all?" he said, in the incredulous voice of someone cheated of their rightful climactic drama. "I thought there'd be, like, flashing lights or a huge loud siren -"

The lights turned red, and started flashing on and off. The wailing noise that came over the speakers could have been aptly described as a huge, loud siren, although, for some reason, it sounded rather like the tune of 'Jingle Bells'. A collective gasp went up. Some elves screamed.

"There's no smoke effects," muttered the elf who had pressed the button. "I always thought there'd be smoke effects..."

"Our first priority is the safety of the Pole. I'm putting Merry in charge of that. Defend the Toy Factory and the magic however you see fit. Berry, if you lot could take the main sleigh back up to the Pole, that would be great. They'll need reinforcements."

"Where are you going, ma'am?"

"I'm going to find Robyn." Her voice was icy as she watched the police cars' flashing lights illuminating the ruins of 13 Shell Avenue.  "She jeopardized our mission. She put the Factory in danger. She's trying to unleash a weapon that could destroy the planet. She -," Her voice caught. "She murdered Nicholas. I won't let her get away with this."

Mrs Claus turned off the call and lifted the reins. Rain drifted down, cold specks on Noel's skin. Berry followed Mrs Claus's lead, picking up the reins. 

"READY FOR LIFT-OFF? SEVENTY-TWO, SIXTY-FIVE, ARE WE SECURE?"

"Secure, sir!," said Noel's companion, Elf Sixty-five. "Actually, though, I was thinking... maybe one of us should stay here, sir? I hear Durban's very nice at this time of year... We need a field team, I mean. To keep an eye on things, on the house, what's going on with the police, that sort of thing. I mean, there's no point us all going back, if there's some kind of siege, we'd just get in the way. I mean...,"

"Orders were to return to base!"

"You know," put in Noel, "he has a point."

"Yes!" said Elf Sixty-five. "The sleigh will be lighter without all of us, too."

"And we wouldn't have to put up with one another all the way."

"Right!" said Berry. "Seventy-two, you can stay! Sixty-five, are we ready for launch?"

"What?"  exclaimed both elves simultaneously.

"You heard me! Seventy-two, you're our field team. Wait here."

Elf Sixty-five bit his lip, bracing himself. Defending a beseiged Pole was not part of his original holiday plans. Noel sighed and climbed out of the sleigh.

"ON, DASHER! ON, DANCER! DASH AWAY, ALL!"

Berry's voice grew fainter as the sleigh bounded into the air and away. Noel headed towards Mrs Claus's sleigh, slipping slightly on the slanted tiles. "Hey, could I join -"

Mrs Claus didn't notice him. She closed her GPS app and called to the reindeer, "Dash away, all!"

The sleigh followed the first one, gliding with deceptive lightness into the night air. 

Sorry... I know the ending's not the best, but I just wanted to post. Hope you're having a wonderful holiday!