"Well, I think we've been here long enough. It's time to bring you home", Alea smiles.

It is first now that Johnny and I look around the room that is now lit up. It is just a bare room, with nothing in it, a bit like a padded cell in which crazy people are sent to, except that the walls are not padded, but made of stone. And there is no window or door anywhere.

"And how are we going to get out of here?" I ask Alea, seeing as there is no exit to be seen anywhere. 

"Through a portal of course", she smiles, as if it is that obvious that we are going to leave through a portal.

"But what about Lucy? She is locked away in some dark room and the ghost said that he would kill her, if we didn't succeed in the test", I explain, looking worried, because I did not really see any test we could pass here anyway. And I did not want anything to happen to Lucy. I had promised her that we would get out of her alive after all.

"What is the test exactly anyway?" Johnny asks, as if he had heard my thoughts. "There is nothing here that I can see. It is a bare room, with nothing in it. What could possibly be our test here?"

'Of course', I say to myself, realising exactly what this test is about. "You are right Johnny, there is nothing here, it is a bare room. Which means there is also no door or window. So, the only logical explanation for this is that our test is to find a way to get out of here", I say proudly and look at Alea for reassurance that my assumption is right. She is nodding and looking very pleased with my answer.

"That is exactly the test, Kathy. Well done", she smiles. "And that way out is going to be through a portal I will create. Just step back a bit and wait for me to tell you to move", she points behind her to a place for us to stand.

Johnny and I walk over to the place behind her without hesitation and let her concentrate.

She stretches her hands out and mutters something. A ball of yellow light starts to form in her hands, first pretty small and then it grows bigger and bigger. Carefully, the ball starts to float out of her hand, hovering above her. She mutters something else under her breath and the ball floats in front of her, stopping a few inches away from her. She is still muttering something, and the ball just hovers there for a while.

Johnny and I are looking at it closely. It looks beautiful. The whole sight is beautiful and so magical, it is almost as if we can feel the magic in the room. Maybe we really can...

Then Alea moves her one hand up into the air and the other she moves slowly towards the ground. By doing this movement, the ball starts to stretch. First upwards, in sync with Alea's hand and then downwards, also following Alea's hand.

The yellow thing that was a ball just a few seconds before is more shaped like an oval now. Alea carefully takes her right hand that is pointing upwards and brings it back down again. Once it has reached the height of her chest, she moves it towards the right, the oval shape stretching to the right as she does so. The same movement she does with the left hand and the oval shape is now pretty much a circle, which is bigger than any of us.

Alea's final step is muttering another thing under her breath and then blowing into her hands, as if she is blowing someone a kiss. As soon as this hits the circle, it starts sparking. It looks absolutely beautiful.

Alea turns to face Johnny and me. "It's time. Go now", she says and motions for us to walk to the circle.

Johnny looks at me and holds out his hand, which I take without hesitation. Then we both walk past Alea to the portal. In front of it I stay standing with Johnny right beside me and turn to face Alea once more.

"Thank you for getting us out of here", I say and smile at her. 

"I should be the one thanking you. You set me free. It's the least I could do for you. And if you ever need any help, just ask. Now go", Alea answers and smiles at us.

We turn towards the portal again. "Time to go home again", Johnny smiles at me and I smile back. Then we face the portal again and walk into it.

Slowly, the room begins to fade, so does Alea and suddenly we are standing in the field in front of the old house, belonging to the ghost of Santa.

Just as we realise this, the ghost of Santa appears in front of us. "Well done", the ghost says. He snaps his fingers and suddenly Lucy is standing beside him. "Here she is again, as promised", the ghost tells them.

I run up to Lucy, who is at the same time running towards me too, so we kind of meet in the middle. "Thank god you're alright", I tell her, hugging her tightly. She hugs me back, relieved to see me.

"Hey Lucy", Johnny says, coming up behind me. 

"Johnny! I am actually glad to see you for once too", she laughs and takes him into a big hug too. 

"And I'm glad to see that you are alright", he answers, smiling.

Once we have all hugged, we turn our gaze towards where the ghost is standing, or more where he was standing a few minutes ago, because now there is none other than Santa standing there, the real Santa, alive and healthy.

"Thank you so much, children. You have lifted the curse that was put on me and my elves", a cheery and bubbly Santa says. 

We turn our gaze towards the old creepy house that is now no longer an old and creepy house, but Santa's little hut. All in a bright red stone wall and a light brown roof. There is smoke coming out of the chimney and little elves are running around, carrying toys, presents and tools in their tiny hands.

It all looks so nice and welcoming here. And so full of life. Santa sees us staring at the hut and the elves. "You broke the curse and turned everything back to the way it was", he explains cheerfully.

Just then the door of the hut swings open and standing in the doorway is no one else than Alea.

"Alea", I say, happy to see her. 

"Hello Kathy", she answers, smiling at me and then at the others.

"Love, these kids help lift the curse of this place", Alea explains, talking to Santa.

"Wait, love? Are you Santa's wife?" Johnny asks Alea, trying to hide the shock in his voice.

"Yes, I married the most amazing elf that has ever lived. Come here sweetheart", he holds out his hand and she comes over, giving him a big kiss on the cheek. 

"And I married the most amazing man that has ever lived", she answers.

"Wow", I cannot keep it in and before I know it, it is too late.

"Well, I think these kids have been through enough for a day, don't you", Alea turns to Santa, who nods in response.

"It's time to take you kids home again", he tells them, while ordering on of the elves walking by to come over. "Get my sleigh ready", he whispers to the elf, who hurries along. A few minutes later he appears again with a sleigh, pulled by reindeers.

"Shall we", Santa asks us, as the reindeers stop in front of us. He gestures for us to get on board, then gets ready to climb in himself after us. 

"Thank you, my dear", he says to the elf, who quickly bows his head, then goes off to help the other elves again.

"Goodbye and I mean what I said. If you ever need any help, just ask and I will do the best I can", Alea answers.

"Goodbye", we all say in sync and wave at Alea, who is waving back. The sleigh takes off into the sky. It is wonderful up here. So peaceful and the stars look amazing.

"Okay, here we are at your house Lucy", Santa announces as the sleigh comes to a halt on the ground. 

"Thank you, Santa", she answers, smiling at him. She smiles at Johnny and me, before she gets out. "I will see you guys soon. Have a nice Christmas day", she says. 

"You too", Johnny and me answer and blush for saying the same thing at the same time.

The sleigh starts to lift off again. "Merry Christmas, Lucy", Santa calls to her. 

Then the sleigh shoots of, only to stop a few seconds later in front of my house. Johnny's house is only a few houses away, so he gets out here too. "Thank you, Santa", we say in sync again.

"Oh, you're welcome", he beams. Then he lifts off into the sky. "And a merry Christmas to both of you", he calls down to them. 

"Merry Christmas Santa", we call after him and then he is gone.

"That was one hell of a strange day I say", Johnny laughs. 

"Yeah, you can say that again", I start laughing too.

"Well, you'd better get inside. Your father is probably worried sick about you", Johnny smiles at me. "Merry Christmas, Kathy", he whispers and kisses me.

I wasn't expecting it, but I kiss him back. This is what I've been waiting for. I wanted Johnny and me to be more than just best friends, but I didn't want to take the risk by telling him how I really felt.

But it turns out that he feels the same way about me. This is the best Christmas present I could have ever wished for. "Merry Christmas", I whisper back.

Then we kiss again.

The End

Okay guys, so this was the last chapter of the book. I really hope you enjoyed it and I would love it, if you guys gave me a quick feedback on what you thought. It is only a short story, but I hope you enjoyed it never the less.

Thank you all for sticking with me and my book :)

If you really enjoyed this book, then you should definitely check out my other books and see, if you like them too. Thanks for all the support guys, you are great!!!