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“I’m sorry, what’s that?” I ask, lost. I have, obviously, never been to Hell. “What’s a glass storm?”
Elyon blinks at me for a second. “Why don’t you take another sip of tea…”
When he tells me what a glass storm is, how molten glass just shoots down from the clouds of Hell at random and can strip the very skin from your body, I can’t help it. I don’t care that I’m currently in Heaven. I let out a loud, shocked, “Holy fuck!”
* * *
We stand outsidethe Garden of Eden, having used a hand-drawn map Elyon made us in order to navigate here. The area is a walled enclosure, and the walls are made of ice blocks, cold and white and intimidating.
Despite its unfriendly exterior, I’m glad we’re here. Finally. It took three tries, even with a map, because clouds fucking look the same from above. At least in Christmas Village, there are actual mountains to the east so that you can always reference them, even amongst the endless white blanket of snow.
We land outside of a golden gate that shines pristinely, despite the fact that it’s wrapped in a metric ton of black vines. I slide off of Comet’s back so I can try the latch, but no matter how I yank, I can’t get it open.
I end up breaking a nail and wailing, yelling, “Dammit!”
A second later, I see Dasher running straight at the gate. He rams it with his horns but only manages to get one of them stuck.
He brays like a donkey when that happens, and for a second, I wonder if it hurts reindeer when their horns get scraped. I thought they were only bone, but who knows?
“Shh, it’s okay, Dash. It’s okay, sweetie.” I speak softly and pat his neck as I carefully guide his head so he can free his antlers. “There.” I kiss my finger and bop his nose. “Thank you for trying to help me.”
He makes noises like he thinks he’s actually responding to me, and it’s so darn cute that I have to smother a laugh. I nod seriously as if I can understand him. “You’re right. That’s the meanest gate in the whole universe.”
Behind me, the other reindeer snort and chuff.
I turn to glare at them. “Don’t make fun of Dasher. He got a boo boo.”
This does not seem to convince them to stop. Blitzen even falls to the ground, snorting and kicking as his chest heaves.
“Whatever, Dash. Let’s fly on in there and get that stick.” I put a comforting hand on his neck. He lets me climb onto him and then shoots the rest of the reindeer deer a look, something I would almost describe as smug, before we hop in a perfect arc over the gate and into the overgrown garden.
Ew. For being a part of Heaven, it’s icky in here. There are gray vines all over the place, like the plants just lost hope and shriveled up to die. Most of the vegetation looks dead, bushes empty of leaves. There are no flowers. The only things growing in here seem to be a massive red vine that slithers through the garden like a snake, branching off and spreading around until it almost looks like this garden is part of some anatomy project on the circulatory system.
Besides the vine, only a huge tree in the middle of the garden is left.
The Tree of Knowledge is not dead like the other plants here. It looks vivacious and healthy. Its trunk is as wide as Dad’s sleigh, and crisp leaves unfurl like little green stars from its branches.
“Can you hover?” I ask Dash, and he obediently kicks back up into the air and then floats next to one of the outer branches of the tree. My eyes roam over it until I find the perfect branch. Then I reach out and yank on it. Of course, the branch is strong and the tree is thriving, so the wood is supple and doesn’t break. “Oh, come on! I really need a piece of you.” I grunt as I pull harder.
“What the heck!” a voice booms, and I’m so startled that I nearly fall off Dasher’s back. Who was that? Is someone after us? Is it one of the demons, coming to stop me from fixing the cane? How did they know I was here?
The branch I’m pulling on curls and flicks me and Dash, sending us hurtling backwards through the air. Luckily, Dash rights us just in time for us to hear, “How dare you just attack me!”
I realize with a jolt that this tree has a face in its trunk. What I thought was a knot was actually a nose. Two giant eyes have opened, and what looked like a crooked saw cut in the trunk is actually a mouth that’s moving. It’s not evil demons speaking to me. It’s…it’s the tree! “Why in all the worlds would you just try and break me?”
My hand flies to my chest. “I’m sorry! No one told me you were sentient!”
“Of course I’m sentient, you imbecile. How else could I be a tree ofknowledge?” he huffs, flickering his branches almost as if he’s dusting his shoulder off.
“Oh. Um. Right.” Elyon soooooo did not prepare me for this. Backlit by the rising sun, the talking tree looks even more eerie, the sunrise painting the bark in shades of pink and orange. I’m sure there’s a joke about morning wood that I can make, but I’m too freaked out to think. “Look, I was told I need a branch from you in order to make a Christmas magic cane.”
“I thought there already was one of those,” the tree retorts.
“It broke?” This accidentally comes out as a question.
“You’renot sure?” His sarcasm is as rough as bark.
“Iamsure. I just need one branch, please…”
