Chapter 7 Fallon
FALLON
Clea wouldn’t look at me. I had to run my equations and edits by her since Drake was off for the afternoon on a family matter.
It had been a week since the flight test. Keir was sending memos for daily updates. Asking us to work faster. He wasn’t a bossy boss; he used humor to de-stress tense situations. But I could tell he was under a lot of stress himself.
I had some clue as to why Clea hated me.
Keir gave me a lot of attention. I couldn’t help but flush when he was around.
He affected me in a number of ways. His authority made me a little intimidated.
I was still getting used to working for Santa’s Sleigh.
Also, his energy inspired me. His looks attracted me.
I couldn’t allow any of that to interfere with the job.
He’d just been by to go over the cloak math with me. Pages and pages of it. I had worked long hours to perfect it and he even sat beside me to read every line and double-check.
The heat of him made me feel like I was rushing headlong into something wonderful.
When Keir got up, he said, “We’ll finish in my office over lunch. I’m very impressed.”
I smiled up at him, my eyes warming. Enthusiasm shook my entire body.
A minute after he left, I heard footsteps walk behind me. “Suck up.” It was Clea.
I turned. “No, I—”
“You what?” Her mouth turned down. “I’ll tell you what. You work too fast. Slow down. You’re a greenhorn. No one expects you to turn in assignments at lightspeed.” She tossed her long brown hair. “When you do that, the rest of us get nervous. You won’t like working with nervous people.”
“But it needs to be done and I’m fine. I’m working at my own pace, not trying to out-do anyone.”
“Trying or not, you are out-doing everyone. Are you trying to get Keir’s attention on you more? Do you think you’re better than us?”
All I could do was shake my head.
Lunchtime arrived. I didn’t rush out along with everyone else. Clea and Drake left together. When the room was empty, I stood and stretched my legs. Keir hadn’t said where we would meet.
I glanced up at the big screen on the wall.
It showed a live shot of the sleigh. It was a gorgeous piece of equipment, bright red with gold trim, the runners gleaming.
In the hangar, the sleigh sat on a raised dais, the crowning glory of all of Santa’s Village.
There was a separate team that saw to the sleigh’s physical upkeep, repairing, cleaning, polishing as needed.
It always looked brand new, sparkling, pristine.
The dashboard of the vehicle had its own network which could be monitored and corrected from Control.
But there was something extra. The Santa magic allowed it to actually fly without engines or wings, all on the power of eight flying reindeer.
No one understood how that happened. It had nothing to do with nav or cloaking or time continuums. It had everything to do with the kind of being Santa was, separate from shifters, elves and humans.
I loved the mystery. What a thrill to be part of what most humans on Earth called a myth.
“You look deep in thought,” said a voice behind me.
Keir stood about six feet away, hands on his hips, smiling. That smile sent a shiver of pleasure through me.
“Just looking at the sleigh.”
“It’s incredible, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir—um, I mean Keir.”
“You didn’t leave for lunch with the others. I looked for you and then I realized I hadn’t told you where to meet me.”
“I was about to text you.” As the boss, we all had access to him in many ways. Email. Text. In person.
Keir gestured at the screen. “Would you like to see the sleigh close up again? We can get our lunch to go and eat in the hangar.”
Weeks ago, I had sat on that sleigh’s cushy seat, the dash right in front of me. But I’d been so overwhelmed by everything, especially Clea’s shocking remarks, that I remembered none of it. My brain had shut down.
“Can we really do that?”
“Sure.” He gestured with his head.
I followed him out of Control to the cafeteria.
I couldn’t help but glance about, nervous that I might see Clea.
Why did I let her get to me? She was one person.
But she was also above me. Technically in charge when Keir wasn’t around.
She had the power to recommend or cause strife.
I wasn’t too sure how much power she had, but I feared she could cause me to lose my job if she was unhappy with my work.
Luckily, neither Clea nor Drake were within view.
Keir and I both got our food in bags, grabbed parkas and scarves, and he led me out of the building and down the dark lane where candy-cane streetlights lit the way.
It was December now. The long nights were dark and, when storms cleared away, the night sky was nearly white with the blaze of faraway galaxies.
The constellations were like white swirls above us.
“Beautiful,” Keir said under his breath. “We can only hope for a night like this on Christmas Eve.”
“Weather never deters Santa, though. At least, that’s what I’ve heard,” I said.
“No, but it can interfere and make our job harder behind the scenes. We have to be prepared to send him changes in data and fixes on command. We make it look perfect if we can, but it’s not.”
I chuckled. “I love this job.”
“The stress of Christmas Eve will be a test. You haven’t been through it yet.”
“But knowing we can help. It’s wonderful.”
Keir laughed. “Spoken by someone born to do this work.”
“I love equations. Each challenge is a chance to write a new one and hope for a good outcome.”
We got to the hangar in minutes. As we entered, a gush of warm air nearly knocked me over. More lights came on as we entered. The spotlight on the sleigh remained the brightest light in the building, framing it in a golden glow.
There were platforms in various spots around the space, and tall cabinets. Benches. Golf carts in one corner. Machines I couldn’t identify.
Keir dragged a bench close to the edge of the dais. “Let’s eat first.” He dropped his bag of food on the seat.
As we ate in front of the magnificent craft, we talked shop.
He asked me more questions about my cloaking equations and ideas that I’d been working on this morning.
I brought out my phone to show him stuff I’d been working on.
I wasn’t trying to brag, but I was so proud of some of my work.
And excited. Nothing lit me up more than this subject.
Keir and I had been sharing knowledge since the moment he’d hired me. He was one of the first people I’d met who understood me. Even in online classes I was mostly on my own.
After we ate, he took me on a tour all around the sleigh, explaining everything, then we sat on the soft leather couch again and he turned on the dashboard.
I could barely breathe. I was actually sitting in Santa’s sleigh and helping with technical details to improve it.
This was my element. I was safe and comfortable.
Working beside a man I admired. And who was beautiful.
I tried not to look directly at Keir, which was a challenge.
His long silken hair and bright eyes made me breathless and then I would forget what I was thinking about.
I let the analytical parts of my brain take over. Problem solving. Leaning into solutions that had the cloaking program working perfectly by the time we were done.
I looked up at the big Christmas clock over the hangar entrance. It said it was late in the afternoon. We’d stayed long past the lunch hour.
A small gasp went through me. “Lunch has been over for a long time.”
“Yes.” Keir smiled.
“I should get back?” I framed my statement as a question.
“We’ve been working. You don’t have to worry.”
“But I work with the team.”
“Of course. I understand. But today I think you worked better away from there.”
Had he seen my discomfort? Did he know Clea was unhappy with me?
Had they spoken? My mind began flash with different scenarios, always starting with the worst case.
It was the way my brain worked. Taking over when I was confronted with a mistake I might have made.
It wasn’t like this for me all the time.
Only about things I really cared about. Like this job.
“What do you mean when you say I work better away from there?” My heart rate revved up.
“Honestly?”
“Yes, please. I don’t understand.”
“You’re a think tank all by yourself. A bit above the others.”
“But I’m not above anyone. I just started working here.”
“I meant it only as a compliment. The others see it. It makes them unsure.”
“I can work with others. I promise. I get along with everybody.” Back home, that was the truth. I simply hadn’t hung out with reindeer shifters much.
“Fallon, don’t overthink what I said. I’m glad you’re here. And you’re welcome to work in Control with the others. But I think you do better directly one-on-one with me.”
My heart fell. Did this mean I was going to be sent somewhere else? I wanted to work here. For Keir. And Santa.
“I want to work for you,” I blurted.
“No.”
“What?”
“I didn’t say work for me. I said work with me.”
“Huh?”
“I’m thinking about the office right across from mine. It’s perfect. We’ll have immediate access to each other’s work. No interference from a public room with lots of—noise.”
I thought about Clea and Drake and some of the others. They were not going to react well to this. I had always been an outsider, raised by elves when I wasn’t one, working for my mom and having to deal with other elves thinking I was getting special treatment.
“They’ll hate me,” I whispered.
Keir’s eyebrows popped up. “Who?”
I looked away. “No one.”
Now I would have less of a chance to make reindeer shifter friends. But in truth, it had been difficult in Control. That was stressing me more than the work itself.
“I know it’s hard to settle in at first. I’m not blind,” Keir said softly. “You never complain, but I can tell you… Clea can be difficult. I don’t want that to interfere with your work. But you want to go back to Control, you can. I just thought—”
My mind whirled. My own office. Working with someone who could keep up with me.
Who understood. Keir was giving me my dream on an even better level.
Suddenly, I wondered why I was worried about the others.
I had hoped to make friends, but this was everything I’d ever wanted.
Plus, working with Keir made my stomach tighten, my blood rush.
“I want to work with you. I have so many ideas. You don’t have to give me a whole office. Just a quiet corner and a computer.”
Keir laughed. “The office space is available. And convenient.”
“Wow. I’m honored, sir. I mean, Keir.”
“Just don’t go after my job, you hear?” he said with a quick grin.
My mouth dropped open. Mortification dripped its toxin into me. “I would never.”
Keir clapped me gently on the back. “You say that now.”
But I meant it. That wasn’t how I operated. But after a minute, I realized he was being sarcastic.