Free bedeviled & beyond 06.5 - bedeviled & bah humbug by sam cheever

censure through my mind. Glynus, he’s going to be king of the whites someday, you really shouldn’t call him that.
    What? He likes it. The elegant black dragon threw back her head and screamed, the sound bringing the rogue green out of its dive, its head jerking upward in alarm. When the green saw my tadpole heading straight for it with fire in her pretty eyes and her contingent of faithful white dragon subjects, the rogue gave a single, alarmed bellow and veered off, leaving me to deal with the future queen of the white dragons and her fiancé, the gorgeous and humble Spencer.
    “Is that Glynus?”
    I turned to find Ralphy standing right next to me. “Yes. And her boy toy, Spence.”
    Ralphy’s small face was pointed to the sky, his expression awed. He’d put his charred hat back on and it sagged pathetically. “She’s gotten big.”
    I smiled sadly. “She has, hasn’t she? And beautiful.”
    We watched as Spencer shot fire into the sky and roared at his guards to hang back, then he and Glynus headed straight for us.
    Ralphy took a step back. “Has she learned to land better?”
    I laughed. “I’m pretty sure she has.”
    The elf frowned. “Pretty sure?”
    “You might want to just step into the trees in case.” I was teasing him of course. Glynus was no longer the clumsy, gawky teen he’d met the previous year. She’d grown a lot in the last months, as dragons tended to do. But then I realized she was going to try to land in an area that wasn’t even as wide as her legs. Um, Glynus?
    Yes, Mother halfling?
    I don’t think you and Spencer are going to fit.
    But they just kept coming.
    I think you’ll be surprised.
    Glynus...
    They neared the tops of the massive trees.
    Glynus! 
    I looked at Ralphy. “Okay, I was kidding before, but I’m not now. They’re about to crash and burn. You’d better step into the trees.”
    Ralphy shook his head. “It’ll be okay, Astra.”
    The two dragons were ten feet higher than our heads and half a block away when their massive legs dropped and they spread their wings to slow their momentum.
    “Glynus, no!” I started toward her at a full out run. Not sure what I was going to do to save her, but going on pure instinct. I’d been her protector for two years and it was a hard habit to break.
    To my shock, Glynus laughed in my mind. It’s okay. Really, Mother halfling. See?
    To my amazement the two dragons landed safely and gently, only the wind from their wings creating a stir as the trees in the wood somehow gave way to their enormous bulk. In fact, as I watched in amazement, all of the trees disappeared around us, leaving behind a vast wilderness of frigid, white beauty as far as the eye could see.
    “It’s an enchanted forest, Astra. It was never really here.” Ralphy supplied helpfully.
    I glared at him. “Thanks for telling me. After I almost had a heart attack.”
    We were back in the vast wasteland surrounding Santa’s workshop. And in the distance, without the obscuring trees to hide it, a single mountain range loomed.
    The Grinch’s mountain.
    High in the central peak, a dark archway rose in jagged splendor. And standing at its center was a small green and red speck, whose hostility somehow wafted across the space between us.
    The Grinch.

CHAPTER 3
    The air above the vast wasteland that is the North Pole was even more frigid than the air on the ground. Glynus’ heat kept me from turning into ice, but just barely. At the moment it seemed ridiculous to be worrying about the North Pole warming.
    Flying solicitously close beneath us, Spencer spread an impressive set of glistening, white wings and all but disappeared from view against the snowy ground below. Only the vibrating red and green rodent riding on his back, wearing a charred stupid hat, broke the endless span of sparkling white.
    Ralphy clutched one of Spence’s spikes in both gnarly little hands, his knuckles bright white. His eyes were tightly closed and his formerly rosy face was almost