Dark Celebration

"Sara, I can't find my wings," little Emma said, running down the hall, her curls bobbing. "I looked everywhere." "Trav took them," Chrissy volunteered. "He said Emma was no angel and he was going to throw her wings away." Her too-large eyes were very solemn, waiting to see what terrible punishment the adults would mete out over such a crime.

Sara rolled her eyes when Emma started to wail. "I am an angel. I am! Trav is a bad, bad boy, isn't he, Falcon?"

Falcon scooped her up and whirled her around before her wail could turn into a serious crying jag. "I think Trav is a mischievous boy, not a bad one. What could you possibly have done to keep him from thinking you're an angel?"

"He always wants food and I took his sandwich and gave it to Maria's dog. Trav doesn't need the sandwich as much as Maria's dog does. Trav can just go in the kitchen any time. That's what Sara said, right Sara?"

"That's right, Emma," Sara agreed. "There's always plenty of food to go around, but you shouldn't take Trav's sandwich. If you want to give Maria's dog something to eat, get it from the kitchen."

Falcon cleared his throat. That could be downright scary. She's liable to give the dog a roast next time.

"What I mean, Emma, is ask Slavica or Maria before you take anything from the kitchen. They know what dogs should eat," Sara hastily added.

Emma was four, and Sara was fairly certain the argument would go on forever if she didn't find a way to change the subject. "We have to hurry and get all of you children over to the inn. Everyone is waiting to see the show."

"I need my wings, Falcon," Emma declared. "I can't be an angel without my wings." Her lower lip began to tremble.

"We'll find your wings, little one," Falcon assured her. He looked across the room and smiled at Sara.

She had done this, created a miracle for these children. Now they were on the road to health and slowly beginning to believe they wouldn't have to steal for food and would always have a roof over their heads. It was never easy. Sara had rescued seven gifted children who had been living in the sewers in Romania and brought them to the Carpathian Mountains. Sara and Falcon rose as early as possible, and stayed up as late as they could in order to be with the children. They were lucky enough to find several human women willing to work for them, caring for the children during the hours they had no choice but to be asleep.

Falcon had never imagined he could love so much, but sometimes, like now, it seemed it spilled out of him and fill all the empty spaces in the room. He hugged Emma again, ignoring her squeals, and led the little group to the chair where Travis sat, trying to glare at the others. Falcon winked at the boy and held out his hand. "Let's go. This is a celebration dinner and the quicker we get the play out of the way, the quicker you get to eat. I know Corinne and Mrs. Sanders are fantastic cooks. You won't want to miss this meal."

Travis sighed and stood up, dragging the wings out from under his bottom. "At least I don't have to be the angel." He suddenly grinned up at Falcon. "I get to be king."

Falcon dropped a hand on the boy's shoulder. Travis was the oldest and at eight, had carried a lot of responsibility over the others, picking pockets, trying to get food to feed them, always trying to protect them from the older, larger bullies on the streets and in the sewers. He was tall for his age and very thin, with a mop of dark hair he refused to cut. When Falcon had wanted to insist on having the hair cut, Sara had pointed out the boy was trying to be like him, so he left it wild and untamed. After that, Falcon spent time trying to give the boy a few pointers on keeping his long hair groomed. Tonight it seemed he had done a better job than usual. Even Emma didn't have anything to say about Travis's hair.

"You look great tonight."

"Sara said everyone was coming from the church to the inn."

"Yes, they went to midnight service and they will be coming for the dinner. Did you

want to go the service?" He glanced at Sara, trying hard to keep a straight face.

Travis scowled at him. "Not me. I'm not going."

"I didn't think you wanted to, but figured I'd better ask, just to keep your options open. We'd better get going or we'll be late."

"Falcon," Emma asked as they headed out the door. "Is St. Nick really going to come? Will he have a present for me?"

There was a sudden silence, and he realized his answer was important to all of the children as he looked down at their upturned, expectant faces. Even Travis looked hopeful, although he tried to appear indifferent. They'd never had a Christmas tree, or enough food or even a roof over their heads, let alone a Christmas present.

"I certainly believe he is coming," Falcon said, a lump in his throat threatening to choke him. He exchanged another look with Sara. It was easy to understand why she had needed to rescue at least these children. She could only save so many, and she had done her best to provide a good home for them.

"Come on, everybody, let's go. We're riding in a sleigh this evening," Sara announced. "Make certain you have your hats and coats and gloves."

"Like Santa's sleigh?" Chrissy asked. At five, she was the oldest girl and took her role very seriously. There was wonder in her voice, and Sara was instantly grateful Falcon had thought of a sleigh ride.

"Well, we'll have horses instead of reindeer," Sara said, "but it should be fun. When you get in, pull the heavy blanket over you, so you stay warm."

They couldn't put seven children in one sleigh, so Sara rode with the four boys so they could "take care of her" while Falcon looked after the three little girls. Travis took the reins and, looking very grown-up, gave the command to start the horses. Jase, the youngest boy, only three, gripped Sara hard and squealed with delight as they skimmed across the snow toward the inn.

Falcon scanned the area around them. He knew there had been several attacks on the women and one directed at the prince, and his apprehension grew as they proceeded through the heaviest part of the woods. A flutter of movement overhead pulled his gaze upward and he saw several owls winging their way overhead. The horses snorted, blew streams of vapor into the air, heads tossing as they eyed the wolves pacing along beside them, the leader running parallel, ice-blue eyes blazing.

"Our escorts," Falcon called out, laughing. Warriors everywhere, flying above them, running beside them, watching over the children and Sara. He saluted them as the sleigh raced over the snow, runners gliding easily.

The sleigh bells tinkled with every step the horses took. The children's cheeks were red and rosy, eyes wide with excitement, and their laughter was music to his ears. I love you, Sara. Thank you for giving me life.

I love you right back, Falcon. Thank you for being you. No other would have taken on these children and embraced them the way you have. You are a remarkable man.

The inn was lit up, colorful lights shining from the balcony and around the door. The horses pulled right up to the entrance and the innkeeper, Slavica, one of the women who often cared for the children, came out to greet them. Hugging each, she took them into the huge dining room where they had set up the stage. Falcon and Sara took their seats, Sara gripping his hand hard, fingers crossed that the children would have fun putting on their performance for all the adults.

The pageant went off with only a few hitches. The play went well, although the angel kicked the king in the shins, and he jumped around the stage for a minute before remembering he had an audience. Josef sang a stirring rap song, his own Christmas version of "Jingle Bells," which was actually quite good and had the audience clapping along until, in his enthusiasm, he nearly fell off the makeshift stage.

Falcon wrapped his arm around Sara's shoulders and put one hand over her stomach where their unborn child rested. "You are an incredible woman. How did you put this all together? The children are so happy and look at them up there. They're all little performers."

Mikhail nodded his head. "It was a fantastic performance, Sara, I had no idea. You must have put in so much time preparing them." He looked around him at the faces of his people, all smiling, the worn, grim faces of his warriors relaxed and happy, most of them saluting the children with a thunderous applause.

"Didn't they do a wonderful job?" Sara was beaming for her children. "What did you think of Josef's rendition of a rap Christmas carol? He really worked hard on that number. And Skyler sang beautifully. I was shocked when I heard her voice for the first time. Paul and Ginny did a great dance performance, and of course no one plays the piano the way Antonietta does. I'm just so happy about all of this."

"And having the Dark Troubadours sing for everyone went over big," Falcon added. "I think our guests were very happy with the show."

"In all honesty, Sara, I never expected anything near this production," Mikhail admitted. "When did you have time to put it all together? I knew you were practicing with the children, and even the teens, but this really was a far larger performance than I ever imagined."

"It was fun, Mikhail. And the children really needed to feel a part of the event. I don't want them to feel different. Any of them. It's important that the adults see them and

acknowledge their accomplishments."

"Don't they do that?" The smile faded from his face. They didn't do that. As important as the children were to them, as treasured and as precious, the rest of the Carpathian community saw to their health and safety, but not necessarily anything more. It hadn't always been like that.

"Not just their parents," Sara said. "Carpathian males have struggled alone for so long without families they've forgotten what it is like to have them. Their life is war, not home, not wife and children. There is education, not just books, but teaching them the ways of the Carpathians, how to shapeshift, safeguards and even battle. Who does that? We've never established that. The children are so few and no one thinks to bring them together like this where they can all get to know one another, become friends and have adults accept them."

Mikhail remembered his own youth, the warriors stopping to give him a word of advice here and there, a gem caller taking him into the caverns to show him how it was done, others working with him on shapeshifting and even battle tactics. Sara was right.

"I will give what you say some thought, Sara," he said. "It makes sense. The children look happier than I have ever seen them. I had a brief visit with Joie's mother, Mrs. Sanders, and she mentioned that you hand-sewed those costumes. I would have provided help had you asked."

"I had help. Corinne sews as well. And we wanted to sew by hand rather than the Carpathian way in order to show my girls and boys how it can be done. Falcon and I try to integrate the two worlds as much as possible. Colby De La Cruz told me she and Rafael do the same thing for Paul and Ginny."

Mikhail took Raven's hand and brought it to his mouth, teeth scraping gently back and forth over her knuckles. "There seems to be many things I haven't considered. We've learned a lot from your party, Raven. Several of our people do have to incorporate the human ways along with the Carpathian ways. As more of our warriors find mates among human women, it will happen with more frequency. It's best if we learn how to integrate human and Carpathian families now."

He drew her away from the others over toward the tall Christmas tree. Several people had made ornaments to hang on it, bringing them to Slavica from all around the village. He leaned over to brush the corner of his lifemate's mouth with a kiss. "Look around you, Raven. You did this. It is the first time in centuries I have seen so many Carpathians gathered in one place with our neighbors. The children are laughing and running around, all excited, and the men are relaxed. Well," he amended, "alert as they should be, but so much more relaxed than I have seen them." His gaze went to Lucian. "Look at him, Raven. That man has spent his entire life in battle, yet now, he is at peace."

Raven's answering smile was gentle and filled with understanding. "Of course you needed to see this. You have to be reminded occasionally what you're fighting for, Mikhail.

All the effort you make is for them. If you never see a payoff, the workload begins to weigh far too much."

He felt the ache in his throat as he stared around the room. There were so many of them, his warriors, tall and straight with their signature long black hair, eyes restless, but laughing now. He looked beyond them to the other males, some in the dining hall, a few in the bar, most outside where he could feel them. On the edge. No lifemate to bring them out of their barren existence. Would this help them? Give them hope? Or would the gathering only accentuate their loneliness?

Raven leaned against him, sharing the warmth of her body. "We're not just a people, we're a society. But how can we be a society if we never interact with one another?" She reached up to touch his face, so lined with worry. "The old ways are gone forever. They are, Mikhail, as sad as that is. We have to find a way to bring these people together with new traditions. We have to make our own history now. We have enemies, yes, but we have this." She swept her hand around the room to encompass all the Carpathians as well as their human friends. "We have so much and you've done that. Gregori used to snarl about your friendship with your priest, Father Hummer, yet now, one of his best friends is Gary Jansen."

The mention of his longtime friend, a priest murdered by members of the society for his association with Mikhail, saddened him. He forced his mind away from the past.

"Sara mentioned that we've fought so many battles and been so long without children, we are not giving them the proper tools they need. Do you think she's right?" Mikhail's black eyes rested on Raven's face. Lifemates did not lie to one another, even if the telling was painful. He saw the answer in her face, the way her fingers tightened around his and she looked momentarily distressed.

"You cannot think of everything, Mikhail."

"I have no choice, Raven. That is my duty, my responsibility. These children are all Carpathian, and those who are not yet-soon will be. You are right in saying we're not just a people. We are a society and we need to start acting like it. Our enemies have managed to keep us focused on them, instead of paying attention to the details of our lives that are important. Our children are everything. Rather than be annoyed by their antics, as I have been with Josef, we should all be helping them learn."

"Honey," she said softly. "Josef would try the patience of a saint."

A small smile flirted with his mouth. "Okay, I'll concede that point. That boy is so old in some ways and so young in others. None of us have dealt with children, not in centuries, and trying to find the tolerance and patience is going to have to become a priority, especially now that some of our women are pregnant."

Raven nudged Mikhail as Jacques and Shea entered the room. "She looks strained. Do

you think she's in labor?"

"Jacques told me she's been fighting it. I asked Syndil to choose a birthing place and to enrich the soil for Shea and the baby, hoping that would help Shea relax enough to give birth."

"I'm surprised she came."

"She was to meet an online friend here tonight. One of the guests. Eileen Fitzpatrick is her name. Have you met her?"

"No, but Slavica mentioned her. Apparently, right before she came she had an operation for cataracts and she's spent most of the time in her room. She only came to meet Shea and would have put it off, but she's up there a bit in age and was worried this might be her only chance."

"Jacques told me Aidan investigated her. She's supposedly legitimate, but I want to take extra precautions with Shea. At this point, I do not trust anyone near her-not even harmless old ladies with cataracts."

Shea and Jacques made their way slowly through the crowd toward Mikhail and Raven. Mikhail stepped forward to greet his sister-in-law with a kiss on the cheek.

"You are certain you shouldn't be resting?" he asked, looking at Jacques, one brow raised in inquiry.

"I'm definitely in labor," Shea admitted. "This baby has decided he will come tonight whether I want him to or not. It's easier and faster if I stay on my feet as long as possible. I wanted to see the performance, but I moved a little too slow."

Raven hugged her. "I can show it to you in my mind, every detail, especially the fun parts. The little ones were so cute and I had no idea the teenagers were so talented. Josef really does have a good voice and he's always so inventive."

"Josef sang? And I missed it?" Shea asked.

Mikhail sighed. "If you call what he did singing. He does have a good voice, and I cannot understand why the boy doesn't sing a song one can actually understand. And what were all those gyrations he was doing up there?"

"Gyrations?" Jacques echoed, looking to Raven for an explanation.

"He looked like he was having a convulsion," Mikhail explained.

"He was dancing," Raven said, sending Mikhail a quelling look.

"Is that what it was? I couldn't decide whether he was doing striptease without stripping

or needed medical aid immediately. As no one raced to his aid, I remained in my seat. He spun on the floor and threw his body around like a caterpillar on the floor."

"Break dancing," Raven interpreted for Shea.

"And the striptease?" Shea asked.

"That would be freak dancing without a partner, I think," Raven said. "I'm not exactly up on the terms, but he did look as if he was... er... Well, you know."

"I don't know." Mikhail shrugged. "He nearly fell off the stage at that point."

Shea laughed, one hand pressed to her stomach. "I knew I should have been here, just for that."

"It was worth seeing," Mikhail agreed, "although I didn't understand a word he was saying or why he was spitting and grunting while he sang."

"You're not with it," Jacques stated.

Raven and Shea laughed together. Mikhail looked injured. "With what? I'm with it. I happen to know that is not dancing. Paul and Ginny were dancing and Antonietta played real music and Skyler sang like an angel. The Troubadours sang a couple of wonderful ballads and no one, not even Barack, spit while they did it."

Jacques shook his head sadly. "There's no hope of modernizing you, bro."

Shea pressed one hand to her stomach and reached for Jacques's hand. "The contractions are really beginning to strengthen. Laughing is making it worse."

Both men looked so panic-stricken Raven had to hide a smile. "She'll do fine, Jacques. You're so pale. You did feed tonight, didn't you?"

"He's just being a baby," Shea said. "He fed. He wanted to be prepared in case I needed blood." She smiled at him. "Which I won't. Everything is going well."

"Not for me," Jacques admitted. "I have no idea what it feels like to give birth. Sharing the experience is plain frightening."

Mikhail nodded in agreement, but he was looking to his warriors, the unattached Carpathian males. They were the guardians tonight, as they so often were in foreign lands, only this time, they had the responsibility of guarding one of their women about to give birth. The men moved through the room, probing and scanning and searching the surrounding region for enemies.

"I actually am very excited to meet one of the guests who flew in from San Francisco. Her name is Eileen Fitzpatrick and she may be a relative of mine. We're both interested in

genealogy and since I don't really have any relatives from my side of the family, I'm really hoping she is related to me," Shea said. "She sent word through Slavica that she wasn't feeling very good tonight and wanted me to meet her up in her room so she wouldn't have to be down here with all the chaos. I thought it was a very good idea."

"Absolutely not," Jacques said.

"No!" Mikhail was adamant.

Shea made a face at them. "I'm not made of porcelain. She's elderly and she just had an operation and she came all this way. The least I can do is climb the stairs and go see her."

"Not alone. She'll be here more than one night, Shea," Jacques coaxed. "You do not need to see her tonight." He placed his hand over her stomach, rippling once more with a contraction. "You have other things to do tonight. Raven, if you would be so kind as to ask Slavica to send word that Shea is in labor and will arrange a visit in a day or two."

"Well, I'm not going to miss out on Gregori playing Santa Claus," Shea said firmly, aware that the stubborn set to Jacques's jaw meant he wouldn't change his mind. "So don't think you can hurry me out of here."

Gregori. In spite of the gravity of the situation with Shea so near her time, Mikhail couldn't keep the taunting laughter from his voice. Shea is close to her time and she wishes to see you parading around in your jolly red suit before she has the baby. So get on with it, my son. Mikhail gave the order on their private mental path established centuries earlier through a blood bond.

You cannot rush St. Nick. This is a busy night for him, Mikhail. Even you, my prince, cannot command his time.

Mikhail flashed Jacques a small grin and tugged at Raven's long hair. "I need to speak with some of my men. It will not take long. You can walk around with Shea and see that she behaves herself."

"As if I could do anything else," Shea replied.

Mikhail sauntered away, moving through the villagers, guests and his people to reach the ancient he had spotted. Dimitri was in the bar, in the shadows, his cold eyes following Skyler's progress as she moved around the room.

"How are you doing?" Mikhail asked.

"I am better. She is not so distressed and it helps. I thought I would torment myself for a few minutes and then go back to my patrol. If I can do nothing else, I know I can keep her safe."

"If she is Dragonseeker as Natalya suspects, she is much more than a powerful psychic.

It would explain the things Francesca says she can already do."

"And it also means she suffered far more trauma even than we already know."

Mikhail clapped Dimitri on the back. "You are an honorable man, Dimitri, and more than deserve a rare gem as no doubt our Skyler will be."

"Let us hope you are right."

Mikhail left him alone, standing in the shadows where he lived most of the time. Sadness seeped into the prince, sorrow for his warriors, so alone, most without much hope, but living their lives to the best of their abilities.

Manolito De La Cruz was standing just inside the door, and Mikhail approached him. "Do you suspect any of these men of being the mage? You came closest to him, entering his burrow and possibly finding his scent."

Manolito shrugged his shoulders. "I cannot find a single man who could be the mage we seek. All of us have been through the rooms, listening and scanning and even probing, but all the guests appear to be legitimate."

"What do your instincts say?" Mikhail asked.

"That the enemy is close," Manolito answered.

"Mine say the same thing." Mikhail shrugged. "Keep looking. Tell the others to do the same. We cannot afford any mistakes."

Manolito nodded and made his way once again around the room, giving the prince's message verbally to the warriors present. He didn't trust their common path of communication not to be overhead if the mage was in league with a vampire. As he neared Nicolae and Vikirnoff with their lifemates, he risked a quick glance at MaryAnn.

The sight of her took his breath away. She sat at a table near Colby and Rafael, talking to Ginny, Paul and Skyler, laughing at something they were telling her, and she looked so beautiful it hurt his eyes. Her skin seemed to glow and he was mesmerized by her mouth and eyes. The sound of her voice played down his spine. Need slammed into his body, tightening his muscles, hardening his groin so that he stopped moving and stood still, forcing his gaze away from temptation. It wouldn't do to be caught staring at her, or even thinking about her. He had to keep his mind fixed on his objective-ferreting out the dark mage.

"Mikhail still feels the threat is very real with Jacques's woman so close to her time. He asked that you both remain on high alert." He delivered the message, keeping his mind in battle mode, knowing both would test him. They had been probing the minds of as many of the unmated males as they could. Several times they had touched his thoughts.

Colby looked up and smiled at him. "Are you all right? Rafael told me you were injured defending the prince."

"It is nothing, little sister, a scratch, no more." He had felt nothing for this woman other than through his brother when Rafael had first brought her home, yet now he could remember all the little things she did for him and his brothers. She often shared her thoughts of laughter and warmth with them and the antics of Paul and Ginny, hoping to make their existence a little brighter. Now he could feel real affection for her.

He casually dropped his hand onto Colby's shoulder. "I checked on Riordan and Juliette. Nothing has disturbed their slumber." His gaze flickered to Paul and Ginny. "Juliette would have loved to see you two dance. She always mentions that her sister used to enjoy dancing so much. Hopefully she will get a chance to see you perform." He glanced at MaryAnn, gave a slight bow and walked away without a flicker of expression on his face.

MaryAnn stared after him. "My God, that man is handsome."

Colby nodded. "He is, isn't he? All of the De La Cruz brothers are. There are five of them and when they're all together they are quite the sight. Most women just drool around them."

MaryAnn stared after the man, feeling a little jealous over the missing women. Manolito certainly had the attention of the single women in the room, but he never so much as glanced their way. It wasn't that she wanted a man of her own, but she wouldn't have minded being noticed by him. "What did he mean about Juliette's sister? Why doesn't she dance anymore?" She wondered if Manolito had ever seen Juliette's sister dance. And she wondered why it bothered her to think that maybe he had.

Colby sighed heavily. "Juliette's younger sister, Jasmine, was kidnapped by a group of jaguar males. They..." She broke off, looking at her brother and sister, and shook her head. "Did things to her. She won't come out of the jungle or come near the ranch. She refuses even to see Juliette if Juliette is with Riordan. Juliette is so distressed she's been talking about leaving the ranch, our home, to try to help her sister. Rafael was just saying to me that you'd helped Destiny so much and maybe we could find Jasmine a counselor. Although, out where we live, that might be very difficult."

MaryAnn found herself watching the tall Carpathian as he glided through the room with utter confidence stamped in the very line of his body. He was fluid and graceful, almost elegant. The spot over her breast was aching again and she pressed her hand tightly over it. The sensation spread, making her breasts tingle and her nipples tighten. Warmth spread down her belly and between her legs. She swallowed hard, trying to tear her gaze from the sensual mouth and the image of it moving over her body. "I guess there aren't too many counselors near your ranch."

"No." Colby frowned. "From what Juliette says, Jasmine was never a strong person. And they have a cousin, Solange. She detests men and Juliette hasn't been able to combat her influence. It's all very sad."

"Perhaps I'll have a word with Juliette when she rises," MaryAnn ventured.

"Would you? That would be so helpful. Maybe you could just try to give her some advice on how to approach Jasmine to at least accept the men in our family. They would die to protect her. That's just the way they are."

"I'll be more than glad to help," MaryAnn said, her gaze once more straying to the tall, handsome Carpathian who was obviously on guard.

"Excuse me, Colby," Paul interrupted, "but you promised to introduce me to Gary Jansen. After all, he could be my uncle."

Colby squeezed Rafael's hand. "I did, didn't I? Let's go talk to him and see what he has to say." She led her brother over to the table where Gary Jansen sat with Gabrielle Sanders, her brother Jubal and her sister Joie. Joie's lifemate, Traian, rose when she approached, as did the other two men.

Gary stared at Colby, shaking his head. "You look so much like my sister it's amazing. She was older than me by quite a few years and left home when I was about ten. I never saw her again. But I swear, you look just like her."

Colby sank down in the chair beside him after introducing Paul. She noticed Gabrielle's mother walked away quickly, a small scowl on her face. "I'm sorry, did we upset her?"

"No, I'm afraid she doesn't like anything jaguar, although in all honesty, I don't believe I am," Gary said. "I never heard that we had jaguar blood. In fact, I never heard of the jaguar race until I became friends with Gregori."

"Don't worry about Mom," Gabrielle added. "She'll come around. She just has to get used to all of this."

The double doors from the dining hall leading to the balcony suddenly swung open, and a short woman dressed as an elf with pointed ears and a wealth of blue-black hair stood in the center of the open doors. "Ladies and gentleman, may I have your attention, please? Many of you may not know this, but I happen to be a magician. Come here to me children. May I have the children here on the balcony? I'm about to show them one of the greatest magicians of all times. He is a well-kept secret."

All the children, both Carpathian and from the village, pushed forward and the adults crowded behind them. Paul lifted Emma onto his shoulders, and Skyler took Baby Tamara while Josef lifted young Jase up. Travis grabbed Chrissy by the shoulders and held her close, while Ginny held the hands of Sara and Falcon's other two young boys. Josh, feeling quite grown up, had the responsibility of the last girl, young Blythe.

As she spoke, small pulses of colored lights twinkled all around her and snow drifted down without ever touching her. The world around her appeared dazzling and majestic, swirls of fog covering her feet as she danced along the balcony railing with her little elf

boots, her hair swinging around her like a cape, her face a little fey in the silver moonlight. Crystals hung from the eaves and pulsed with the same colors, soft reds and greens and blues and yellows, turning the night into a light show.

A collective gasp went up from the children, and Travis had to grab Emma as she wandered out onto the balcony, staring in awe up at the lights. Savannah turned in a little circle and jumped back down in front of the children. "Oh, dear, I think I've forgotten my wand. I need it to reveal St. Nick to you." Her voice lowered dramatically and she looked right and left as if confiding only in them. "He always comes in under cover of the cloak of night using storms like this one to keep children from spotting him." She looked around again. "If only I had my wand."

"But Savannah," Chrissy ventured, "it's in your hand."

"It is?" Savannah managed to look surprised and she raised the glowing wand, swiveling it in a small circle. It rained sparkling pixie dust all over the snow-covered balcony. "Oh, good. It's working. Let's see. Look up to the sky and I'll try to remember how to do this. I've only done it once, you know, but for you, I'll try again."

Savannah waved the wand in a sweeping gesture as she danced across the railing again. The falling snow drew back like a curtain. A large snowman with coal for eyes and a carrot for a nose whirled around, looking guilty, and raced away over the ground into the village.

"Oh, dear, that's the wrong one. That was Frosty the Snowman. Let me try again," Savannah said.

The children laughed as Savannah brought back the snow, did another whirling dance and once more sent pixie dust flying as she opened the curtain of snow.

The children-and even most of the adults-gasped again, some of them putting their hands over their mouths, in an effort to stay quiet. Up in the sky, where the stars twinkled and the moon shone, a gleaming sleigh raced across the night, drawn by reindeer. A man with a white beard dressed in a fur-trimmed red suit commanded the deer. In the sleigh was an enormous bag bulging with toys. Bells on the sleigh chimed softly, and the pulsing lights that lit the snow now lit the sky around the reindeer-drawn sleigh, so that one moment Santa's jolly face could be seen clearly, and the next it was softened by a pale pastel strobe.

His eyes appeared to be as black as coal. There was snow in his beard and on the fringed and silver-studded red saddles of the reindeer. The sleigh circled above their heads. A hush fell on the crowd as the deer descended lower and lower in a wide circle to finally settle to earth on the roof above them. No one moved. They could hear the sound of hooves prancing above their heads. Silence. Then heavy boots walking.

Everyone turned their heads to see Santa by the tree, piling presents everywhere. He stopped once to grab a handful of cookies as well as some carrots Sara had her children set out for his reindeer.

Emma was the first to move, wiggling until she was put down to race across the room to Santa Claus. She halted, rocking back on her heels, staring up at him. "Did you bring me a present?"

Santa rummaged in his bag. "I believe I did. Now where did that go? Elf! I need you to help find Emma's present."

Savannah put her finger to her lips. "Santa Claus thinks I'm a real elf," she whispered to the children. "I'd better go help him." She tiptoed through the crowd, her elf hat bobbing, her little green boots making no noise on the floor.

Santa sat down and beckoned to the children forming a line. As little Tamara was placed in his lap, yanking at his beard, Santa sent a smoldering glare to the elf. I'm so getting your father back for this.