The ballroom shook. An ornament broke. Tella heard the glass shatter above her, followed by the servants’ sharp exhales, and the quick scurrying sounds of cleaning up.
A flicker of something like worry creased Scarlett’s forehead. The snow globe had been tilted.
A flurry of snowflakes blew into the Holly Jolly Holiday Ballroom and danced around the ice carousel as Tella held her breath.
She was unaware the world had just briefly tipped to the side. As far as Tella was concerned, her entire world was about to fall apart, so it didn’t seem strange to her in the least that she’d briefly lose her footing as she waited for her sister to answer.
Scarlett replied diplomatically, “I can’t change the date of a holiday.” “Of course you can,” Tella said. “You’re the empress of the Meridian
Empire. You can do whatever you like. It’s just a holiday. If another royal created the holiday, then you can surely move it a few measly days as a favor for your sweet baby sister.”
Scarlett’s expression tightened. It was subtle—a slow intake of breath, a quiet press of her lips. Scarlett wasn’t moved to anger often. But just now Tella could see that she’d struck an unexpected chord.
“I know a lot of people don’t think holidays matter, but they do,” Scarlett said. “People need holidays. They need happiness, they need joy, and they need reasons to give and to love. You know I would do most
anything for you, Donatella, but I can’t do this to everyone else. The Great Holiday is only two days away. Everyone in the Empire is preparing for it. Tonight, little children all over won’t be able to sleep, because they’ll be so excited for Great Holiday Eve. Don’t you remember when you were a child, you’d spend all night singing songs to the Merry Queen about what you planned on wishing for?”
“I only did that once,” Tella grumbled.
“Well, maybe you should try doing it again this year, because I’m not changing the date.”
“Please,” Tella begged, clasping both hands together as she pleaded. “You’re right. It’s not just a holiday. I know that, and I also know this is a large request. But I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t absolutely vital to my survival.”
“I thought you said you were only in a small stitch of trouble?” Scarlett’s eyebrows slowly drew together. She looked as if she wasn’t sure whether she should be genuinely frightened that her sister was in trouble, or frustrated because of the extreme nature of the request.
Both were arguably valid responses. Although Tella doubted her sister would see it that way once she heard her full story.
Scarlett hadn’t even heard part of the story and already she was looking more skeptical than concerned. The white of her dress turned an unhappy shade of gray as she asked, “What’s wrong, Tella?”
Nervously, Tella reached toward a nearby Holiday tree festooned with small white candles and dotted with colorful sugar cookie ornaments. She stole a smallish ornament shaped like a mitten and nibbled one corner before she admitted, “I haven’t found a gift for Legend yet.”
“You … need a gift for Legend?” Scarlett looked immediately disappointed. For a minute she didn’t say another word.
Tella could easily imagine some of the words that her older sister was thinking—selfish, careless, inconsiderate.
But Scarlett would be wrong.
Tella had considered other people, and it wasn’t that she believed she was more important or more deserving than all these others. But she did imagine that she wanted things more than them. So many people seemed
content to sit in their homes and wait for things to happen—for knocks to pound on doors, for letters to arrive, for magic to swirl down through chimneys and turn cottages into castles.
Tella believed these things could happen—anything could happen. But in her opinion, truly wonderful things were also far more likely to happen if they were given a nudge or a healthy shove. She believed if people wanted things as much as she did, they wouldn’t simply sit by and wait for a chance. They would knock down doors and crash through windows. They would battle their fears as if they were dragons. They would do more than they’d believed they were capable of in pursuit of their dreams.
Tella wasn’t being selfish. She was being passionate and proactive.
“Tella,” Scarlett said calmly. “I know this is the first Great Holiday that you and Legend are celebrating together, but what you get him really doesn’t matter. It’s the thought that counts.”
“If you think that, then you don’t know my brother,” said a familiar voice. Julian’s voice. The love of Scarlett’s life.
Scarlett’s eyes filled with hearts as he swaggered closer, a dark green cape fluttering around his shoulders as his mouth tilted into a smirk. “Everything is a game with Legend, including gifts.”
“See?” Tella said. “Julian agrees with me. I need to get Legend the best gift that anyone has ever given him.”
Scarlett grimaced at her sister. “I feel as if you’re missing the entire point of this holiday. It’s not about winning or giving the best gift. It’s really about love.”
So is this, Tella wanted to say. It’s all about love!
Stupid, stupid love.
Tella watched the way that Julian and Scarlett swayed closer to each other without even seeming to realize it. Their knuckles brushed and then suddenly they were holding hands.
Tella and Legend had been like that, too. After Legend had first said he loved her, he’d been unable to keep his hands off her, always touching her, holding her, kissing her. But now …
Now Tella didn’t even know where Legend was. As the Great Holiday had drawn closer, he had grown more distant. Legend spent far more time working than he did with her now. He’d told her he was busy preparing for the next Caraval. But she had a difficult time believing that was all that he was doing, especially since he never talked about any of his plans for this alleged future Caraval.
Legend was pulling away. Closing off his heart.
When Legend had fallen in love with Tella, he’d given up his full immortality. He possessed magic—he could still weave his flawless illusions—but he could also die. And if one of his players died during Caraval, Legend could no longer bring them back from the dead.
Loving her had cost him, and Tella feared that Legend was regretting it now. This was the true reason why her gift mattered so much, why the entire Great Holiday mattered.
Tella needed to prove to Legend that love was worth more than anything else in the entire world. She needed to make sure that he didn’t regret his
choice. Therefore, she needed to find a gift that would show him how very much she loved him and knew him.
The problem was that a part of her feared she perhaps didn’t truly know him, after all. If she really knew him, then shouldn’t she have already found him the perfect gift?
“There’s still time,” Scarlett said reasonably. “You have a day and a half before everyone exchanges gifts at midnight tomorrow.”
Julian snickered. “That’s not nearly enough time.”
Scarlett turned toward him. They were already close, but now they were mere inches apart as she tilted her head and gave him a smile that was full of both sugar and spice. “If you don’t think my sister can do this on her own, then maybe we should help her?”
Julian looked as if he’d rather eat a handful of broken ornaments, but of course he would never say that to Scarlett. He smiled down at her adoringly.
He never gazed at
anyone but her like this. His brown eyes looked as soft as they could for a scoundrel like Julian, as he calmly replied, “That would be cheating, Crimson.”
“It’s not as if Legend plays fair,” argued Scarlett. “Exactly!” Tella agreed.
Although her true fear was less that Legend was going to win this particular game, but that he wasn’t playing at all, regardless of what Julian said.
Legend had told Tella he didn’t really much care for the Great Holiday, and despite her best snooping efforts, Tella had not found a single gift.
This was why love was stupid. It made her worry about things she’d never worried about before.
And yet, she couldn’t stop herself. Tella wondered if this was how it felt to be Scarlett, who worried all the time.
Another flutter of snow blew into the ballroom. This time it was dusted with silver that sounded like bells as it swirled around Scarlett’s arms and dusted Julian’s cape.
“Have you tried all the Holiday fairs?” asked Scarlett.
“Every single one. I’ve also visited Candy Cane Court, Sugarplum Way, and Snow Angel Lane.”
“You’ll never find a gift at those places,” said Julian, his cape still fluttering because of a pair of snowflakes that were a little more spirited than the rest. He swatted them quickly before saying, “If a vendor is selling dozens of them from a pushcart, it’s not a gift for my brother.”
“Have you tried Garland Street?” asked Scarlett.
“Is that the one where they sell all the eggnog?” asked Tella. “I think that’s Nutmeg Alley,” said Julian with a frown.
“Garland Street is a little out of the way,” said Scarlett. “And its most famous shop is only open for one day.”
“If it’s famous, why have I never heard of it?” asked Tella.
“The street has fallen a bit out of fashion as of late,” said Scarlett. “I haven’t been there myself, but Aiko* told me about it when I was first trying to think of a gift for you. She said that a hundred years ago, Garland Street was the only street where anyone shopped. It had the best candies, the prettiest hats and gowns and stockings, and the greenest Holiday trees. But it was really known for Mr. Garland’s Toy Chest.”
“This sounds like a children’s story.”
“It probably is,” said Scarlett. “Every year, Mr. Garland’s Toy Chest opened for one day only on Great Holiday Eve Eve. Aiko said that people would start lining up the week before, turning Garland Street into one of the merriest places in all of Valenda as they waited for the Toy Chest to unlock its doors.
“It’s said that no two toys inside were alike. Mr. Garland spent all year creating them, and when the shop opened each year on Great Holiday Eve Eve, people were let in one at a time and given the chance to buy one gift, and one gift only, from Mr. Garland’s collection.”
“That doesn’t sound like a smart way to do business,” Tella said under her breath.
“And yet it worked,” Scarlett chimed. “Every year, before the sun would go down on Great Holiday Eve Eve, all of the items were sold.”
“So then why did it stop being popular?” Tella asked. “Did Mr. Garland kill someone with one of his dolls?”
“Oh no, Mr. Garland never hurt anyone.” Scarlett’s expression turned somber. “But eventually, he died. No one knows for sure how, or even exactly when. The story goes that about fifty years ago, the week before Great Holiday Eve Eve, just as people were beginning to line up in front of the shop, a new sign appeared that said Under New Management. Then just beneath it was a framed letter from Mr. Garland. He had died and left the shop to his toys.”
“I’m not sure how I feel about this.” Tella grimaced.
“You’re not alone in that,” said Julian. With a smirk, he reached toward the Holiday tree and stole a sugar cookie ornament that looked like a jester- in-a-box painted with red and gold icing. “The Toy Chest still opens up every year,” he said, “and every year it’s supposedly full of new magnificent creations. But many people are too afraid to buy them. They worry about where the toys all come from, and what they might do if taken home.”
“Would Legend be afraid of one of these toys?” asked Tella.
Julian snorted. “If my brother is ever afraid of a toy, then he no longer deserves to be called Legend.”
“Well then,” Tella said. “I suppose I’m going to Garland Street.” “Just make sure you take your guards!” called Scarlett.
But Tella was already walking away.
