The North Pole Challenge (Flea's Five Christmases, #1) (22 page)

             
Flea was surprised that they’d be having class elsewhere.

             
“Mr. Vork, I have to get my metal glove!” Flea called back.

             
“Leave it!”

             
Farther down the hallway, Flea found less light and more broken toys littering the floor. Vork, Minko and Rome waited inside one of the final classrooms, which Flea discovered wasn’t as small or simple as the other one. In fact, this place looked less like a classroom and more like a production center. It held a seemingly endless supply of materials as well as an old conveyor belt. There were a pair of machines at the end of the conveyor belt, one of which looked exactly like the laser card-writer.              

             
“We are here today because Minko has completed most of the basic fundamentals tests and Flea and Rome clearly know how to…
work together
to get things done on a timetable,” Vork said. Flea and Rome looked at each other, both wearing similar expressions of guilt. “Did you really think I wouldn’t figure out what you two were doing?”

             
“What
were
you two doing?” Minko asked.

             
“Flea was helping me get better,” Rome said, oversimplifying their cheating.

             
“If Flea was smart, he would’ve worried about helping
himself
do better, setting
himself
apart from you two to make sure that he graduated,” Vork lectured, causing Flea to blush. “But because of your dishonest actions, it has been decided that all three of you will either pass or fail
together
.”

             
“Then I’m sure Minko and I will step up and help Flea,” Rome said confidently. “We can
do
this, guys, I know we can.”

             
Flea turned and smiled at Rome, who seemed self
less
instead of self
ish
for the first time.

             
“The two of you
better
because neither of you has as much to lose if you fail,” Vork said cryptically. “You two will always have a place here, regardless of the terrible jobs you’ll return to. Flea, however, will lose his chance to stay at the North Pole. It’s just too dangerous for him to be here if he’s unable to prove himself useful. Do the three of you understand what’s on the line?”

             
Rome and Minko nodded though Vork’s words had a much greater impact on Flea. This sudden change had undoubtedly been Niko’s doing and Flea felt pressured to perform up Vork’s lofty expectations. Now that there was no threat of him graduating alone and leaving Minko and Rome behind, Flea didn’t have to hold back.

             
“So what do we have to do?” he asked.

             
“The orders for some of the most sought-after gifts this holiday season came during the last few days before Christmas Eve,” Vork explained. “These orders were the direct result of a television program that aired in the human world a few days ago, a show that introduced a new line of products.”

             
“
The Great Build-Off
,” Flea interrupted. He already knew where this was headed.

             
“That’s correct. The entire elf building-force has been working on the rest of the world’s orders – and have made
serious
progress toward finishing – but they haven’t yet touched any of the products offered at www.shopteachergoods.com. So in order to pass elf school
and
prove your worthiness to build in Santa’s toy factory, the three of you must complete all of these orders before the factory-whistle blows, ending the Christmas building season.”

             
“And when will that be?” Flea asked.

             
“We’ll never know,” Rome answered. “It will be whenever the last elf finishes his or her last order.”

             
“So we’ll be left guessing the whole time?” Flea asked, his stomach already beginning to churn with anxiety.

             
“The Christmas Tree ceremony will be our only hint,” Minko added. “When the village center is filled with elves and the North Pole’s Christmas Tree is covered with ornaments, we’ll know that time is almost up.”

             
Flea knew nothing about tree ceremonies or hanging ornaments but Rome and Minko both seemed to know what they were talking about.

             
“If I were you three, I’d spend less time talking and more time building,” Vork said.

             
“How do we begin?” Flea asked.

             
The teacher called Rome to him and demanded that she hand over her access pass to the toy factory. She hesitantly gave her small Christmas ornament to Vork, who smashed it on the floor. “You’ll either never step foot in the factory again or you’ll become a proper elf.” Vork then looked straight at Flea. “Maybe Rome can help
you
for once.”

             
Vork handed her three Christmas balls, each of them very plain-looking. Rome accepted them with awe though, and Minko quickly rushed to her side. Neither seemed to notice when their teacher left the room without further instruction. When Flea came closer, he thought he saw Minko’s eyes glistening.

             
“Which one is mine? How do we know?” Minko asked.

             
“I’m not totally sure, I’ve never had one of these before,” Rome said. “My old ornament was nothing more than a pass to get by the blockade snowmen guarding the factory. I can’t get a clear feeling about one while I’m holding all three.”

             
Rome rushed over to a nearby table and gently placed down the three Christmas balls – one red, one green, one blue.

             
Although the two North Pole elves stared at the simple ornaments like excited little children on Christmas morning, Minko pulled himself away from the table and turned to his friend. Flea was clearly confused.

             
“I think Flea should choose first,” Minko said. “If it wasn’t for him, neither of us would have this opportunity.”

             
Rome had trouble pulling her eyes away from the Christmas balls but she eventually stepped aside.

             
“You’re right,” she said quietly. “Besides, it doesn’t matter which one of us goes first. Only one of the ornaments is destined for each of us. Still, you need to hurry up and choose, Flea. I’ve been waiting for this moment so long, I don’t know if I can hold out much longer.”

             
“How do I know which one is mine?” Flea asked.

             
“From what I’ve heard from my friends, you’ll
know
when you’re holding your ornament,” Rome said.

             
Flea approached the table but didn’t understand all the fuss about the ornaments. He picked up the blue one and held it for several seconds.

             
“Well?” Minko asked.

             
“Nothing, at least not that I can feel,” Flea answered.

             
“Trust me, you’ll
feel
it. Choose another one,” Rome said.

             
Flea picked up the red one but still nothing so he finally tried the green Christmas ball. Flea’s head tilted back as warmth rushed throughout his entire body. A blinding white light shined from above and flowed directly into the ornament in his hand. Once his eyes adjusted to the brilliant light, he noticed a stream of translucent toys within the bright whiteness. When the last of the light was sucked into his Christmas ball, Flea’s surroundings came back into focus and he realized that he’d been holding his breath.

“Whoa,” he said after taking a deep gulp of air.

              “Now
that
is your ornament,” Rome said. “Yours forever.”

             
Rome quickly picked up the blue ornament and Minko the red one but it was obvious that neither had a reaction. When they switched, though, both had amazed expressions on their faces. Flea couldn’t see their white lights and figured that only the ornament’s owner could witness the bright spectacle. Once Rome and Minko took their deep breaths, all of the ornaments simultaneously flickered to life. Hovering just inches above Flea’s green Christmas ball was a tiny holographic image of a birdhouse, one that was very similar to those he’d built in shop class for Mr. Strick. In human time, that had only been a few days earlier but Flea had done so much since then and felt like a completely new person.

             
A completely new
elf
,
he corrected himself.

             
Flea looked at Minko and Rome and saw that both of their ornaments also displayed similarly tiny holographic images. Rome tapped her hologram with a single finger and the image became much bigger, allowing her to better see every detail. When she swept her hand through the image of – shockingly enough – a toy chest, the image returned to its much smaller form. Flea tried to do the same with his hologram and was impressed by how well the image responded to the lightest of touches. These ornaments were amazing but Flea still didn’t quite understand their purpose.

             
“These Christmas balls aren’t
just
your pass into the toy factory,” Rome said. “They’re what provides gift orders to proper builder elves.”

             
“So I have to build this?” Flea asked.

             
“We
all
have to build what appears from our ornaments,” Rome said. “And there’s no time to waste. Minko, start the conveyor belt.”

             
Minko followed Rome’s order and within moments, the conveyor belt coughed to life and slowly began to turn. Minko also powered on the card-writer but he didn’t know how to work the other machine. Rome approached that machine and instantly turned it on.

             
“How’d you know how to do that?” Minko asked.

             
Rome blushed but didn’t answer. Instead, each of them retrieved the supplies they needed to build their first orders. Flea only required a brief glance at his hologram to mentally process every detail but he second-guessed himself and touched the image to make it bigger. Both Rome and Minko started their orders before Flea even picked up a hammer and nail. Now that he truly had something to lose, he found himself incredibly nervous to make the first simple move. But he thought about Rome’s words of encouragement – the same words he’d said to her long ago – and eventually picked up the first piece of wood and started to build.

             
No longer weighed down by the clunky metal glove, Flea built quicker than ever as his right and left hands worked together seamlessly. His natural building instincts almost had trouble keeping up with the speed of his hands and it wasn’t long before Flea’s first birdhouse was completed. His movements had been such a blur to him that Flea was ready to closely compare his work with the holographic image. But he didn’t even get the chance to enlarge the tiny hologram. The image grew to full size on its own and drifted over the actual birdhouse, the two aligning perfectly. The hologram promptly disappeared and when Flea looked back toward his ornament, a new image was being displayed.

             
“What should I do with an order I’ve finished?” Flea asked the others.

             
Minko and Rome both looked at him – and the completed birdhouse – in shocked awe. They’d gotten a head-start on Flea but Rome was barely halfway through her project and Minko was even further behind.

             
“Put it on the conveyor belt,” Minko said. “It leads into the tunnel system that ends at Santa’s sleigh. Congratulations, you’ve officially contributed a gift to this Christmas season.”

             
Minko got back to work as Flea carefully carried the birdhouse to the belt. Minko’s words sunk into Flea’s mind. He could hardly believe that this birdhouse – something he’d made with his own two hands – would be opened by someone on Christmas morning. The conveyor belt was moving quickly but the birdhouse remained steady as it swept toward the first machine. Flea watched it disappear inside, followed by the
crinkling
sound of paper. A second later, it emerged perfectly wrapped. Next, it moved on to the laser, which printed the recipient’s name on the attached card. From there, the present sped through the hole in the wall and disappeared, not to reappear until Santa placed it under someone’s tree. Flea now understood why Rome had known how to turn on the gift-wrapping machine.

             
Flea proceeded to build his next birdhouse even quicker than the first, despite this one having additional details. As he brought it to the conveyor belt, Flea noticed that Minko was having trouble with his first assignment and was quickly growing frustrated. Rome had also slowed down and Flea watched her stop building to fix her hair and brush sawdust off her fancy shirt. They were barely a few minutes into the most important job of their lives and the three had already reverted back to their form from the very first day of class.