Someone Is Stealing Christmas Wishes, Charlie Boone! - 2. Chapter 2

The others returned with the luggage, and they took the bags to their rooms. They had been given four rooms, two-and-two across from each other, the doors aligned. Charlie and Kip shared a room, as did Rick and Adrian, and Horace and Amy. Uncle Bob was odd man out, so invited Browbeat to bunk with him.

Charlie turned on one of the lights by the king-sized bed, and smiled at the colorful Native American motif of the the huge down comforter that covered it. He patted Castor through his shirt at the reminder, and thought then that he wanted to call Will Whitesaw and Rip Shannon and touch base with them before the holiday. Castor responded with a blaze of warmth, and some mental pictures of the forest in Alaska they had visited, and Charlie sighed at the brief return to that very beautiful place.

It reminded him of why they were here in this wooded place, to search out the loss of some of the town's wishes. There wasn't time for daydreaming now. He patted the medallion briefly, and the imagery faded away.

"What are you doing?" Kip asked, smiling at the look on Charlie's face.

"Oh, that comforter reminded me of Will, and that reminded me of Rip, and--" Charlie sighed. "I don't want to forget to talk to both of them before Christmas."

Kippy's smile broadened. "Maybe they'd like to attend a Christmas dinner with Santa and his elves? I'm sure Nicholaas wouldn't mind if we brought them."

Charlie smiled at the idea. "I know Will would enjoy it, and so would Rip." Charlie laughed. "It might wind up as the next chapter in his book!"

Adrian stuck his head into the room then. "Should we unpack now, or are we going out?"

Charlie glanced at his watch. "We can unpack later," he decided, and waved through the door at the others across the hall. "Let's get something to eat, and then get started looking around."

They closed up their rooms and went down to the lodge's restaurant. It had gotten dark outside now, and was close to the dinner hour, so they ordered evening meals and pushed two adjoining tables into one. The special that evening was Yankee Red Flannel Hash, made with cubed potatoes, cubed pastrami, onions, beets, and lightly fried eggs sprinkled with parsley on top, all doused with Louisiana hot sauce for good luck. As a side order they got butternut squash with maple syrup, and French bread. Dessert was either maple sticky buns or maple cookies, maple being a Vermont specialty, of course.

Amy eyed the repast brought to them with doubtful eyes. Elves believed in good value for the money, so the quantities of everything were generous ones. "I can feel myself gaining weight just looking at it," she told Horace.

The ghost hunter laughed, and patted his own tummy. "Once in a while won't hurt us, my love. It's Christmas!"

Amy smiled at that. "Yes, it is, isn't it?" She picked up her fork. "Okay, let's roll!"

And it was good food, too. Charlie found the hot sauce just hot enough, the fried eggs just done enough, and the whole meal done just so perfectly that he couldn't find a single objection at all. That seemed to be the consensus, too. That everyone was enjoying the food seemed obvious, and they talked quietly as they ate, feeling the cheer of the room and the town all around them. Charlie had felt this same special quality every time he had visited here, and knew it was the elves themselves that provided the sense of good feeling.

Charlie had finished the main course and was contemplating a sticky bun or a cookie, when Kip leaned closer and gently tapped him with an elbow. "Don't look now, but--"

Charlie glanced up at the double doors leading into the great room, and saw Kiley and Kiri standing there with their father. Brin Snorkum, the mayor of Twombly, was wearing his trademark top hat and long coat, and could have just stepped from a Dickens novel. The man saw them looking, and started towards their tables, and Kiley and Kiri exchanged worried glances, and followed him.

The mayor spread his arms as he neared. "My friends! It's wonderful to see you again!"

Charlie stood and walked around the table, his hand extended, and took the mayor's in a firm handshake. "It's wonderful to be back!"

"But you're eating," the mayor said, sounding regretful. "This can wait until you're done."

Kippy stood up then. "Pull up some chairs. There's room."

Charlie nodded, and indicated the tables. "We were about done, anyway. Come and sit."

The mayor looked around at faces, and then smiled weakly. He went to the next table and got a chair, and moved it over by Charlie. Charlie scooted his chair closer to Kip's to make room, and the man sat down beside him. Kiley and Kiri came to stand behind their father, declining to sit.

"So," Mayor Snorkum said, nodding. "You've come back to us to visit. It's wonderful to see you all again."

"We told him," Kiley said then.

"We had to," Kiri added.

The mayor gave a brief nod at those admissions."That's right. My children have told me about their reasons for asking you to come here." He squeezed his hands together briefly. "They are good reasons."

Charlie felt surprise. "You knew what was happening?"

Brin Snorkum turned his head to look up at his son a moment. "No. We didn't." He turned back to Charlie. "That's why I think my children's reasons for asking you to come were good ones."

"That seems a surprise, if I may say," Horace said.

The mayor nodded. "Since we got the full range of our powers back, most of us have...struggled with them. It's not as if we had them once, and then they were returned. They are brand new to us. Most of our kind grow up with these talents. We weren't able to do that. We've had plenty of assistance from those on the other side of the portal, and while we feel we have been doing very well with learning these skwish talents" -- he sighed -- "there are still some holes in our coverage, so to speak."

Kippy smiled at that. "Welcome to the club."

That seemed to make the mayor relax. "My children have told me about the theft of wishes from the town, but I have not told anyone else. And I do not intend to tell anyone else, for the present."

"That seems a surprise, if I may say," Horace said again, smiling.

Mayor Snorkum's eyes smiled, though his expression remained a serious one. "News of your return has spread fast. I have simply put the word out that you are here on a short vacation after a troubling journey, and that you wanted some rest. That will cause my people to respect your distance and leave you be." He managed another weak smile. "For the most part."

"How did you know?" Adrian asked. "About our troubled journey, I mean?"

"I sensed it. Not in all of you, but in enough of you to make the statement a truthful one." The mayor leaned forward on the table. "I want you to have a free hand to make your investigation here."

Charlie was amazed that the elves would defer to them on a matter so plainly a magical one. Or, a skwish one, that is. "That surprises me," he admitted. "Kiri and Kiley felt that we might help with this without worrying you or your elders. But I felt if you found out, you'd want to handle it yourselves."

The mayor sat back in his chair. "The thefts were undetected by the elder council here. No one knows. Kiley's sense of the town's taba - its physical self - is second to none. Kiri's gift of the eye of the world is a rare one, and the only one present in our town at this time. If my children feel it was better to summon you than to alert the elders, I must abide by that intuition." He looked around the table. "You see, this seems to me to be playing out as it is supposed to happen." He nodded at Uncle Bob. "Just as when I originally saw your name in the trade paper as a töframaður ótrúlega -- a magician extraordinaire -- and asked you to come to Twombly to perform for us. I simply knew then that you were the right man for the job. Just as I know now that my daughter and son calling for your aid was the right thing to do."

"Will you help us?" Kiri asked.

"We'd be thankful if you did," Kiley added quickly.

All three elves fixed their eyes on Charlie, who blinked at the sudden attention. He turned to Kip, who smiled at him, and then looked around the table at the others. There were more smiles, and some nods, and Charlie turned back to the mayor and transferred those smiles to him. "That's why we came. We'll do what we can."

Browbeat came off Uncle Bob's shoulder and landed in the middle of the table. "You won't regret it, I promise!"

For the first time, Mayor Snorkum really smiled. "And who have we here?"

"I'm the new guy! Browbeat's my name!"

Mayor Snorkum's eyes showed his surprise at the name, but also his ready acceptance of it. "I am very pleased to meet you, Browbeat. I'm Brin Snorkum, mayor of Twombly."

"I could tell you were the boss!" Browbeat returned, tittering. "It's the hat, I think!"

There was a round of laughter at that, and then the mayor sighed. He and his children all looked at ease again.

Charlie reached out a hand and dropped it on the mayor's arm. "Never be shy in asking for our help, if you feel you need it. We're friends. We will always come, if called."

Brin Snorkum nodded. "Be aware that the reverse is also true. Thank you." He smiled around at the group. "Well, let me leave you be for now. Get settled into your rooms. I left instructions with Miss Mili that they are to be on the town."

Charlie opened his mouth to object, but could see the ready look to argue his case appear in the mayor's eyes. So instead, Charlie smiled. "Thank you. We love staying here."

"Wonderful!" The mayor pushed back his chair and stood up. "Please let me know if you learn anything of import." He turned to Kiley and Kiri. "Stay. Help if they wish it, or stay out of the way, as the situation calls for. But this is your project, okay?"

The two looked delighted. "We'll do our best," Kiley promised.

"To make sure this is solved," Kiri added. The two beamed at Charlie, who couldn't help but to smile back.

The mayor tipped his hat around the table, and then turned to go. But he stopped then, and turned back to lean over the table towards Browbeat. "I sense good things from you, my friend!"

The flyer looked surprised, and then delighted. "I'll do my best, too!"

The mayor nodded, and left them, whistling a cheerful Christmas tune as he went.

Kippy sighed happily. "That couldn't have been a better vote of confidence!"

"Daddy loves you guys," Kiri said, grinning. "He says you make your own magic, better than anyone he's ever met."

"So, what do we do now?" Kiley asked. He turned to his sister than. "We should do another count."

"Yes, we should." Kiri closed her eyes, and Charlie and the others watched in silence as several seconds went by before she opened her eyes again. "Oh, Kiley! There are another 79 wishes missing!"

Both the elves looked upset.

Kippy patted Kiri's arm. "They're just wishes, honey."

Kiri shook her head. "You don't understand! Every wish that comes here has a chance of being granted at some point later on. If they're taken, then the people that wished them will never get what they asked for!"

"Those wishes come here because they trust us," Kiley said solemnly. "We're supposed to protect them!"

Charlie nodded at that. "Then let's go out and walk around the town and see what we can sense. If there is someone here that's not an elf, we should be able to sense it."

"What if we don't?" Kiri asked softly.

"And what if it is an elf that's stealing them?" Kiley asked, just as softly.

"Then we'll find that out, too," Charlie said quietly. "But let's not form any preconceived notions just yet."

They got up from the table. Myrna, the restaurant's proprietor, appeared as if by magic -- causing Charlie to grin at the very idea of the notion -- and began waving plates, utensils, and bowls towards the kitchen. The dishes formed a line, and sailed serenely through the air towards the counter and through the window behind it into the kitchen.

The woman smiled at them. "I don't get to do that with my normal guests. I have to carry them all, myself!"

They laughed at that, thanked her for the wonderful food, and moved back to the great room.

"We'll need our coats and hats if we're going outside," Kip said to the elves. "If you wait a minute, we'll be right back with you."

"We'll be by the fire," Kiley said, spinning a finger around in a circle as he did so. His coat and hat, and Kiri's, too, which had been left on a stand outside the dining room, sailed across the room and into his hands.

Kippy sighed, and smiled at Charlie. "I could do that, but we left our stuff upstairs."

Charlie just shrugged. "We'll be right back, guys."

"I don't have a coat," Browbeat said. He lifted into the air and sailed across to Kiley. "Mind if I land on your shoulder?"

The boy looked enchanted. "Please, do!"

Browbeat settled to a rest, and smiled at Charlie. "I'll be right here with my new friends!"

Charlie laughed at that, and then led the way up to the rooms. The group split up upon arriving and headed for their own doors.

"I have no idea how one would even steal a wish," Kippy said to Charlie, as they paused in front of their door. "I don't even know where to start."

"It's something we'll have to figure out, I guess," Charlie replied, sliding his key into the lock. "We'll just have to play it by--"

He broke off then, as a sound from within the room reached his ears. A soft sound, a sort of rustling, unlike anything he'd ever heard before.

Kippy looked alarmed. "Someone's--"

He barely got started before Charlie quickly turned the key and thrust the door inward.

The room was dark, even though Charlie remembered leaving a light on beside the bed. And chilly, as if the heat had been turned off. But there was a soft glow in the room from the Christmas wish lights that framed the building outside, and in that off-light, Charlie could see that the window -- one with two halves that pushed outward -- was slightly open. Even as he watched, the rustling sound came again, and two tiny figures leapt to the window sill and vanished through the opening between sides.

Kippy moved in a flash, hitting the switch for the overhead light, and charging into the room. Charlie caught a brief glimpse of their suitcases, opened now, and with the contents pulled out, before Kippy had grabbed their hats and coats off the bed and was throwing Charlie his own. "Come on, Charlie!"

Kippy threw the window wide, and made an impatient motion with his hand for Charlie to come to him. "They're getting away!"

Kippy shrugged into his coat and slapped his hat onto his head, and Charlie unfroze then and ran to his boyfriend's side, managing to get his own coat and hat on as he did.

Outside, they could see the two small figures racing across the snow towards the forest beyond. Charlie felt something grab him then as Kip used motion skwish to take hold of them; and then they were through the window and diving towards the ground after the two fugitives. The two small figures passed beneath a tall pine tree and briefly disappeared, and Kippy took them rapidly around the tree, to catch them on the other side.

The two intruders were amazingly speedy, though, and on the other side Kippy had to turn into a chase once more. Charlie noted the incredible nimbleness of the fleeing pair, the sense of lightness they displayed as they literally bounded over the snow. There was something familiar about that movement, but Charlie just couldn't place it. Kippy put on a burst of speed and was just about to catch the two runners when another pine tree loomed ahead of them, an outlier to the forest just beyond. Once again Kip was forced to circle the tree while the fleeing pair ran beneath it. The boys raced around the crown trying to catch them on the other side.--

But when they got there, the two intruders were gone.

"What the hell?" Kippy said, turning back to the tree. He lowered them almost to the snow and circled the tree at ground level. The first branches were a good five feet off the ground, giving them a good view beneath the tree. But their two mysterious visitors were not to be seen.

"Land," Charlie instructed. "Look for footprints."

They dropped to the snow-covered ground. Charlie pulled his key ring from his hip pocket, which had a tiny LED flashlight on it, and lit up the snow around them. They circled the tree to the other side, to the spot where they thought the two runners had passed beneath the branches. There were a number of markings in the snow, as well as a lot of pine needles and a few small cones, but nothing that resembled foot prints. They walked all the way around the tree, but there was no evidence that anyone had been there at all.

"That's weird," Kippy said. "There should be marks of some kind here. Those two weren't flying, I'm sure!"

Charlie examined the ground again, and then heard a voice call, and Rick and Adrian landed nearby.

"Stay there!" Charlie called to them. "We don't want to lose any footprints that might be here."

"Someone went through our suitcases!" Adrian said, looking around them in the soft light from the town's wish lights.

"Did you see anyone? Charlie asked.

"No, but our window was unlocked. We think they came in there."

"They got into Horace and Amy's room, too," Rick added. "And my uncle's room."

"But no one actually saw anyone?" Charlie asked.

"No."

"They came in through the windows of all the rooms," Kippy decided. "And escaped that way, too. That says something, but I just don't know what."

"Must have been able to fly, if they did," Rick said, shaking his head. "There's a tiny ledge outside our window, but no way to the ground. It's a good twenty-foot drop, too."

Charlie nodded. "Your stuff was out of your suitcases, laying on the floor?"

Adrian shook his head. "No. Our suitcases were closed, just as we left them. I only know someone was in them because I packed them."

Charlie frowned at that. "What about the others?"

"Amy said someone was in their suitcase, because she knew how she packed it, and things were moved around. But it was like someone looked, and then closed them up again. Only in your room were the clothes out on the floor."

Rick nodded. "Right. We wouldn't have checked ours at all if we hadn't seen yours like they were."

Kippy spun to Charlie. "We must have been last, and we caught them in the act. They tried to hide the fact they'd been in the other's suitcases, and very likely we would not have noticed, and just written off anything odd to the suitcases being moved around." He turned to look back at the ground around the tree. "Another few minutes, and they may have gotten away with it. We might have never known they were there!"

Charlie shook his head. "But...what on earth were they looking for? We don't have anything on our luggage but a few changes of clothing."

"They couldn't know that," Rick offered. He reached into the pocket of his coat, and produced a flashlight and switched it on. "Damn. I had this and forgot."

The beam was much broader and brighter than Charlie's small flash, and they once again moved carefully around the tree, examining the snow. But there just seemed to be nothing that resembled footprints or a trail. There were plenty of odd markings in the snow, but the snow cover itself was too soft and had been windblown, and was full of pine needles and other things that had been blown across the surface. Nothing like a track pointing back to the lodge could be found.

Charlie closed his eyes and tried to picture his brief glimpse of the two intruders. They had been small certainly, and their figures indistinct. And dark, even black against the snow, which had further blurred their outlines. The way they had moved, though, as if they were very light and very strong for their size had impressed him. But what they could be, he just couldn't imagine.

Skwish beings, of some sort?

Kippy sighed. "Beats me." He turned to Charlie. "They disappeared like they were teleporters. But if they could teleport, why run from our room at all? They could have simply vanished from there to begin with." He frowned at that idea. "And I didn't sense the sort of skwish usage I think I would have felt if they had teleported from under that tree."

"So, where did they go?" Adrian asked.

Kippy turned to look up in the tree. Unlike the first tree they'd passed, this one was almost to the forest. There were several others of equal height or larger close by -- close enough so that their branches touched the branches of this one. He turned back to Rick. "Shine your light up in this tree."

Rick grunted, but turned the light upwards and slowly roamed it through the branches while everyone watched. "I don't see anything."

"Me, either," Adrian agreed.

Charlie didn't either. He turned to Kip. "You think they climbed the tree?"

Kippy shrugged. "They're not there now. Rick, shine your light up into that next tree."

Rick did that, but they couldn't see anything among the branches there, either.

"What are you thinking, Kip?" Charlie asked.

His boyfriend sighed, and smiled at him. "Just a wild idea. But even I think it's nutty." He pointed back at the rear of the lodge. "Let's go back. It's cold out here."

Charlie nodded, and turned to Rick. "Go over that way before heading back to the lodge. I want to avoid walking over any trail we just can't make out tonight. We'll look again tomorrow in the daylight."

They looped around and returned to the lodge, and circled the building back to the town's main street, and went inside.

Kiley and Kiri were surprised to see them come in that way, and they and Browbeat hurried over to meet them.

Charlie and Kip told the two elves what had happened upstairs, and Browbeat lifted off Kiley's shoulder and fluttered about anxiously. "And I missed it all!"

"If you had been there, you might have caught them," Charlie agreed. "But let's not get upset about it. I have a feeling this will not be the last we see of our visitors."

"They weren't people," Kiri said, sighing.

"They weren't elves," Kiley elaborated. The two seemed happy to hear that.

"But what were they?" Browbeat asked, coming in for a landing on Charlie's shoulder.

"We don't know," Kip admitted. He smiled encouragingly. "Yet."

Rick shook his head. "Something odd about this."

Adrian laughed. "That seems to be the only kind of adventures we get anymore. Odd ones!'

They all laughed.

Charlie scratched his chin a moment. "Let me go upstairs and get the others, and then we can walk around the town. But I'm starting suspect that we won't find our visitors actually in the town itself."

"I'm going with you," Kippy said. "I want to see our room again."

"We may as well all go," Rick decided. "I want a look, too."

They climbed the stairs and returned to the upper floor, and found the others standing outside their rooms.

"Did you catch them?" Uncle Bob asked.

"No," Charlie replied. "They were fast, I'll say that. They disappeared rather mysteriously, too."

Horace looked interested. "Skwish of some sort?"

"Didn't feel that way. But we can't be positive. It all happened very quickly." Charlie looked around at the others. "Anything taken from your luggage?"

"It doesn't seem so," Amy said. "I know what I put in our bags, and it's all there."

Bob Travers shrugged. "My stuff is all there. Looks like they pulled things out, looked through everything, and then put it back mostly the same way. I probably wouldn't have noticed at all if all this other stuff hadn't happened."

"I want to check our room," Kippy said. "We went after the intruders so quickly I didn't get a chance to sense anything." He smiled at Adrian, then at Amy. "I want your impressions, too." And then he just shrugged at the group. "All of you, in fact. We don't know which of us my pick up a clue."

They re-entered the room that Charlie and Kip shared. Charlie went right to the window and closed it, shutting off the flow of cold air. Bob Travers appeared beside him then. "Let's have a look at that lock."

Actually, the sash was secured by a simple levered latch that did not lock, the height from the ground, and the lodge's place in the town itself, being the best defenses against entry. The elves were very sensitive to things that were out of place, one reason Charlie was so amazed they hadn't detected the theft of the wishes. And Miss Mili, certainly, had a sense of her own establishment, and normally should have been expected to detect intruders.

So, why didn't she?

Bob bent closer to examine the latch. "It's scratched, but that could be from normal usage." He leaned closer to examine the window sill itself. Like the rest of the lodge, it was constructed from treated logs and lumber, made to look very rustic while also being extremely durable. It had some sort of clear coating on it, but no paint, allowing the golden color of the wood to shine through.

"Look here, Charlie. See the scratches on the sill? They look fresh to my eyes."

They were hardly even scratches, just light markings in the coating on the wood, as if something sharp had briefly rubbed against it. But a couple of the scratches showed distinct parallel lines, and Charlie bent closer to count them.

"Five of them," he said, to no one in particular. "Like five little fingers, maybe, with claws on them?"

Rick came up behind them. "That might explain how they got up to the rooms -- and escaped - in the first place. They simply climbed up the logs of the building."

Charlie closed his eyes, and recalled the small figures he'd seen as they raced across the snow. But they were unlike anything he had ever seen before. "I've been wondering if these are some form of skwish creatures."

Rick frowned, but then shrugged. "This is an elf town, Charlie. Just about anything is possible here."

Charlie nodded at that, and turned to go back to Kip and the others. His boyfriend, Amy, and Adrian had their eyes closed, while Horace seemed to be watching them closely. He held up a hand as they arrived, indicating silence was required for the moment.

But Amy opened her eyes then, and turned to look right at Charlie. "You only saw two of these intruders?"

"Yeah."

The woman shook her head. "There are more of them than that. Many more of them than that."

"How do you know?"

Amy closed her eyes again, and then shook her head. "That's just what I sense. A...a very great curiosity, and a slight sense of alarm now. Far too much of each to be attributed to only two individuals."

Kippy shook his head. "I'd swear there were only two of them in the room."

Charlie had to agree. "I saw them pretty distinctly as they went through the window. There were just the two of them."

Amy nodded. "There were two of them here physically. But they were not alone in spirit."

"What does that mean?" Adrian asked.

Amy laughed softly, and held up her hands. "I actually don't know."

Kippy frowned then. "I'm sensing traces of skwish here. The two that were in the room definitely had it."

"I think so, too," Adrian agreed. "But--" He made an uncertain face then, and gave his head a little shake. "It doesn't feel like any skwish I've ever encountered before."

Kiri spoke up then. "It's not. Whatever was in this room was not like us at all."

Everyone turned to look at the elf. "You're certain?" Charlie asked.

Kiri looked embarrassed by the attention. "Yes. Whatever was in this room was very different from us. But--" She blew out her breath then, and looked a little mystified. "Whatever was in this room belongs here, too."

"As in, belongs in this room, or as in belongs in the town?" Kip asked.

The girl shook her head. "I just know that these were not intruders from somewhere else. They came from here. They belong to Twombly."

Kippy sighed. "Well, that narrows it down to nothing."

Kiri's face showed her upset then. "I'm sorry. That's all I can tell you."

Kippy immediately looked contrite, and went to the girl and gave her a little hug. "It wasn't a criticism, sweetheart. I just meant that we are still left wondering what we're looking for."

"It's not a skwish entity of any variety that I'm familiar with," Horace said. "Not a genius loci, certainly." He nodded. "But I also sense that skwish is in some way involved."

"This room feels strange," Kiley put in then. "I have a good sense of the town. There is something here that was not here before."

Charlie looked around the room. "You must mean on some level besides the obvious."

Kiley closed his eyes, and turned his head slowly, as if sensing the room. His eyes opened then, and he looked frustrated. "I don't know what it is, or where it is, but it's here."

"Do you feel this room is unsafe?" Charlie asked point-blank.

Kiley's eyebrows immediately climbed upwards. "Oh, no. Not like that." He smiled. "I think you'll be safe here." He leaned forward then. "I think it's friendly, whatever it is. Just shy."

Charlie frowned at that. "Shy?"

Kiley sighed. "That's all."

"It's a mystery," Browbeat said, smiling around at them. "The best kind of fun!"

"Well, we won't solve it by standing here," Rick said. "Shall we go out and wander around a little?"

"Can't hurt," Uncle Bob said. "I could use a good dose of holiday cheer, myself!"

They donned their coats and hats, made certain their windows were latched, and locked their doors behind them. Charlie didn't think that their guests would be back, having already been caught at it once. But just in case, they locked their suitcases, too.

There were less people on the streets now, perhaps as the dinner hour wasn't quite over. But the shops were still open, and the people that were out were cheerful, and the snow had turned to a steady fall that tinted the town's lights with winter magic. Charlie couldn't get over how restful it was just to walk the length of main street, cross to the other side, and walk back towards the lodge again. The people they met all smiled and wished them well. The tiny tinkle of bells came from somewhere, and the faint lilt of someone singing White Christmas drifted on the still air from one of the shops.

It was as if the world had receded from them, and Twombly was the only place left. And Twombly was a place of peace and security, where wishes might come true, and surely would if they could be safeguarded until their times were ripe. Charlie understood then how the elves felt about the wishes. They saw them as the hopes and dreams of the world beyond, come a-calling in the hope that magic would come their way. In a world where so many had stopped believing in things, magic still held some power to cause them to wish for something better.

"This place," Uncle Bob said softly, with a sigh. "It gets to you, doesn't it?"

"It does," Kippy agreed, nodding. "It's peaceful."

"It's home," Kiri said, with a happy sigh.

"It's the home many would wish for, I think," Horace added. "The problems of the larger world seem not to touch this town."

Amy smiled at him, and took his hand in hers. "You old softie."

"We don't let those problems in," Kiley acknowledged. "Why should we?"

"You can't hide from the problems of the world," Kippy pointed out.

Both elves laughed. "Oh, we don't hide from them," Kiri said. "We simply don't let them run our lives here. They are not permitted space to do that. But we do deal with them as needed, and we don't fear them at all."

Kiley nodded at that. "Many problems are afraid to come here, because they know we will take care of them for good. We don't interfere with the world outside our town. It's not our right to do that. But we won't let that world outside interfere with our happiness here, either."

"Skwish," Uncle Bob said, laughing. "Just what the doctor ordered."

And that was basically it. Elves had removed themselves from the human earth ages past because 'normal' humans couldn't get along with them. The world the elves had made for themselves on an alternate earth was ordered, peaceful, and safe for all. The sorts of problems that humans dealt with every day in their world simply didn't exist in the elf world. The weren't allowed to. Elves believed in solving problems immediately, before they could mature into dangers.

And even so, the elves had made it one of their duties to continue to look out for their brethren back on the mother world. They watched, and only took a hand if it was crucial that they did so. And they kept Christmas as a special day, and shared it with those in the human world as best that they could. Nicholaas, and all those that worked with him, saw to that.

Charlie just couldn't imagine one of the elves of Twombly being willing to upset the order here by stealing wishes. He knew now that he had never really suspected one of the elves of doing this. The visitors to their room had not been human, he was sure of that. But who these new players in the game could be, he had no idea.

"I don't know how much we'll sense just by walking around the town," he admitted now. "All I really feel out here is how peaceful everything is."

"I think that's why no one noticed wishes were missing," Kiri offered. "You can't feel it happening. Only because Kiley has such a strong sense of the way the town is supposed to be did he notice something was amiss."

Charlie stopped then, and the others pulled up around him. "You sense the way the town is supposed to be," he said to Kiley. "That means you could feel that the wishes were missing."

"That's right," Kiley agreed. "It's called taba. It's an awareness of all the parts that go into something that make the whole."

Charlie nodded. "It works to let you know when things are missing." He leaned closer to the elf. "Does it also let you know when things have been added?"

Kiley smiled. "I feel that all the time. New things are added every day. Like what I felt in your room a while ago. Something new, even if I don't know what it is."

"So, have you felt anything unusual added of late? Besides what you felt in our room?"

Kiley's eyes widened, and he looked surprised. "If you mean anything sudden and different, no."

Rick grunted. "Would you notice something small that appeared, and just grew slowly over time?"

Kiley and Kiri looked at each other. "It would depend on when that happened," Kiley finally said. "I've only really gotten a good hold on my sense since the portal to the old world was reopened to us. A lot of things that happened before that, I was too young and too untrained in my talent to really understand."

Uncle Bob frowned at at that. "Are you suggesting, Rick, that this may have all started sometime back, and we are only just now seeing the results of some change?"

Rick smiled, and turned to Charlie. "Was that what we were thinking?"

Charlie laughed. "More or less. I'm just wondering if some sort of skwish beings could have taken up residence here in the past, and no one noticed because they didn't act out before now."

Kiley licked his lips, obviously thinking about that. "It's possible. There have been things I felt in the past, that I just didn't know what they were. Those things have been part of the taba of Twombly for years now. They seem normal to me."

"Even the things where you don't know what they are?"

The elf nodded.

Amy raised a hand. "I have an idea."

"A good one, too, I'm sure," Horace said immediately, smiling.

Amy made a face at him, but pulled his hand she was holding tighter against her. "One of my talents is for finding lost things." She turned to Charlie. "Is there some way I could sort of look through Kiley's mental record of his, um, taba of Twombly, and see if we can spot something unusual?"

Kippy turned to Adrian. "Any idea how we could do that?"

The other boy shook his head. "Not right off. But...I don't see why it couldn't be done...somehow."

Uncle Bob smiled. "Somehow."

Browbeat tittered. "Somehow!"

Kippy leaned up against Charlie. "Put that encyclopedia in your head to work and think of an idea."

Charlie felt surprise at that, but nodded then. "I think I just have."