A Krampus Country Christmas: Day 22

 

Chapter 22: The Heart of the Forest

The Red Forest pulsed like a living heartbeat around them. A slow, deep thrum like the world itself was waiting for something to break. Holly clutched Max close as the Keeper loomed overhead, antlers scraping the glowing canopy, eyes burning with judgment older than winter. Nick had vanished into that crack in the earth minutes — or hours? — ago. Time didn’t work right here. Everything felt stretched thin and trembling.

“Mom,” Max whispered, voice small, “is Nick coming back?”

Holly didn’t answer. She couldn’t. Her throat was too tight.

The forest rustled. A fissure of red light tore open in the ground. And Nick stumbled out. Not the perfect, controlled Nick she’d known. Not the gentle, awkward man hugging cocoa mugs and clipboards. This Nick was battered. Bleeding. His fur matted with soot; his horns cracked at the tips. His eyes burned brighter than ever but the light behind them was tired. He staggered, caught himself, and looked at her with something like disbelief.

“Holly,” he rasped. “You’re still here.”

She ran to him before she could stop herself, catching his arm as he fell to one knee.

“Of course I’m here,” she whispered. “You came back.”

His claws trembled as he reached up, as if afraid to touch her.

“I wasn’t sure I could.”

Max slipped between them, arms tight around Nick’s waist. “I knew you would.”

Nick shuddered — not from pain, Holly realized, but from the weight of being believed in.

Before she could say more, the Keeper’s voice rumbled like thunder cracking a glacier:

“THE SECOND TRIAL BEGINS.”

Nick stiffened.

Holly’s breath froze. “You gotta be kidding me.”

The Keeper lowered its great, burning face toward them.

“KRAMPUS, SERVANT OF THE LIST: YOU HAVE FAILED TO TAKE THE BOY.”

Nick snarled softly. “He is not wicked.”

“YOU DEFY THE PURPOSE YOU WERE SHAPED FOR.”

“I choose my own purpose,” Nick growled.

The ground glowed brighter beneath them. Symbols crawling across the soil like living runes. Holly felt cold seep into her bones.

“What’s happening?” she demanded, her voice cracking.

The Keeper’s antlers began to pulse with red fire.

“THE TRIAL OF THE HEART: CHOOSE.”

Nick’s breath hitched. Oh no. No, no, no.

“CHOOSE,” the Keeper repeated, the word echoing like a drumbeat through every tree,
“BETWEEN YOUR DUTY… AND THE MORTAL CHILD.”

Max grabbed Holly’s hand. Nick froze.

Holly whispered, “Nick, don’t listen. Don’t you dare.”

Nick’s voice was barely a whisper. “I must.”

“No,” she said, tears pricking her eyes. “You don’t. You don’t owe them anything.”

His face broke — actually broke — something inside him cracking open as he whispered:

“My kind exists for duty.”

“Your kind,” Holly whispered, stepping close, “has you, and that makes you different.”

The Keeper rose taller, antlers burning.

“THE BOY IS NAUGHTY. HE BELONGS TO THE NIGHT.”

Max sobbed. “I’m not!”

Nick moved instantly, pulling Max behind him, snarling up at the towering shape.

“He belongs to me!” Nick roared.

Silence slammed into the forest like a falling tree.

The Keeper’s eyes widened. They were ancient, shocked.

Holly’s heart seized.

Because Nick hadn’t said the boy belonged to the List. Or to the forest. Or to the night.

He’d said: He belongs to me.

To his protection. To his care. To his heart.

Holly couldn’t breathe.

“Nick…” she whispered.

He turned — and in that moment, she saw the full truth in him. The fear. The love. The desperate vow he’d never meant to make but had carved into his soul anyway.

“I will not take him,” Nick said to the Keeper. “Not now. Not ever.”

The Keeper inhaled — the sound like collapsing mountains.

“THEN YOU BREAK THE ANCIENT ORDER.”

“I break it,” Nick said.

Max squeezed Nick’s hand. “Then we break it with you.”

Holly stepped forward, grabbing Nick’s claw with hers. “Whatever this is? You don’t face it alone.”

Light erupted around them — blinding, burning, red-gold fire shooting from the forest floor straight into the sky.

The Keeper reared back, roaring:

“THEN LET THE FINAL TRIAL BEGIN.”

Holly shielded Max as Nick stepped forward, chains rattling, horns glowing.

And through the fire, through the roar, through the ancient magic tearing the forest apart —

Nick whispered to her:

“Don’t let go of me.”








My new comedic sci-fi novel, Someone Else's Book Club, is available on my website or through Amazon! 

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