Chapter 1 #2
My jaw dropped. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but it was still wild to see.
I had looked up to these two ever since before their tryouts when I was still in Flight School as a teen.
Before I was called the possible first Rookie to Rudolph, Felicity was the most likely to become a Rudolph in less than three Reindeer Games, a never-before-seen record.
In her first Reindeer Games, she had immediately ranked as a Dasher.
Meanwhile, Merrilee was confident almost to the point of arrogance, making her the embodiment of Prancer.
Yet, she was affectionately called Moose because she was an absolute fucking powerhouse and a star athlete.
Her form was a disaster and some of the lowest scoring in the history of the Game, but her scoring in speed, agility, teamwork, adaptability, durability, and poise was more than high enough for her to rank.
When I was studying the current Nine, I had taken the most notes on Felicity and Merry.
I knew every detail about how they launched, their flying styles, when they used their wind powers versus not, and so much more.
Coach Woods may or may not have said I was a little obsessed with them, but I always said they needed the extra study time.
They were my biggest competition, after all. I had to know my enemy.
It wasn’t like they would give me the time of day, anyway.
Not that that was what I was thinking about.
No, definitely not.
I reached into the pocket of my skirt, pulled out my phone, and snapped a few pictures of the lockers and me in front of them.
I had just hit send on my favorite ones to my family group chat when I heard voices approaching outside the door.
My stomach fell through the floor. If I got caught in here, not only would it be a scandal, but I could get kicked out of the Games before I even got to compete.
As fast as I could, I rushed into the only open locker in the room, Cupid’s, and closed the door softly behind me.
The inside of the locker was incredibly spacious, more like a wardrobe, likely due to female reindeer needing the space for their enchanted uniforms they wore when they shifted so they weren’t nude when they shifted back and change of clothes when they weren’t running.
An illustration of this point, Cupid’s locker was packed with clothes.
Eve was the member of the Nine with the most modeling contracts, but it still felt excessive.
I moved them along their rack, so I could lean as far away from the window as possible.
Then, the door opened.
“Wait, I know I saw someone suspicious come in here! I swear I did, Coach Tannebaum!” I heard Chrissy whine.
That bitch…
“I don’t see anyone in here, Beckett,” a deep female voice declared, her nonexistent patience clear. I had heard Coach Tannebaum could be a hard-ass, having been a five-time Rudolph herself, but she allegedly had a heart of gold.
“But—”
“I don’t have time for these shenanigans, and neither do you.
Instead of worrying about your competitors, you should be worried about your durability or adaptability scoring.
It’s pitiful. Now, get back out of here.
Once I finish with the other girls, I will be starting orientation, and anyone I don’t see there will be risking disqualification. ”
“Yes, ma’am,” Chrissy said dejectedly.
They left the locker room. I waited for a breath. Then another. On the third, I took a deep breath and blew it out to relax my nerves. When I still didn’t hear anything, I figured the coast was clear.
I pushed against the locker door, but it didn’t budge.
I shoved it with my shoulder, using all the momentum I could muster in the small space.
Still nothing. I even tried to use my air powers to mess with the locking mechanism.
But unlike my older sisters, I spent very little time breaking locks with my powers.
Desperate, I even tried to summon enough wind to push the door open.
Nothing. The locker remained closed, and I was stuck within it.
Well.
Shit.
I shook my hands out to expel some of my mounting energy.
I wanted to scream. I had come all this way, and now I was going to miss my chance because of a technicality.
Not because of how well I could fly or how long I had trained.
No, it would be because I missed Orientation.
I was going to be a laughingstock, an embarrassment.
Not to mention everyone I was disappointing.
All the little white-tail-deer-shifter girls who looked up to me back home, who called me Rudolph and said they never thought they could pull Santa’s sleigh…
My mom and sisters who had worked so hard at so many jobs to pay my way…
I would be a failure. I would be a loser.
I had never lost before.
I won every single game I ever competed in.
I was flying before I could crawl or even stand.
I was scouted by the best Flight Schools in the country before I could talk.
When I got into Saint Clarice’s Reindeer Academy for the Gifted, I was at the top of my class.
Every record I could, I broke: Fastest Launch, Best Landing, Best Form, Top Speed, Best in Strength, Best in Magic, and so many more.
Reporters called me a legend in the making to rival Rudolph with her powers over light and air.
No one had seen someone able to tame the wind like me, to push faster than was thought possible.
I was destined for greatness, and all without being a Legacy.
In fact, it was while having my father’s White-tail deer side. Many said I shouldn’t be able to do it.
The thing was, if you were chasing a Legacy, you weren’t nearly as motivated as someone like me who was chasing air I was supposed to breathe in the first place.
But none of that mattered now.
Because I was going to lose it all.
Just when I was about to spiral, my phone vibrated rapidly in my hand. I had forgotten that I was even holding it. Several notifications came from my group chat with my sisters called the Frosty Hotties.
It was their idea of the name. Not mine.
CAROLE (CAREBEAR): YOU’RE IN THE STABLE???
CAREBEAR: YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO CALL US WHEN YOU LANDED!!!
CAREBEAR: WHERE’S OUR CALL, YOU HEIFER?!?!
BELLE (JINGLES): Omg I can’t breathe. Is that the LOCKER ROOM?!
NORTH (STARRY): You little rebel.
STARRY: I knew you had it in you to break some rules. About damn time!
STARRY: Carebear owes me $10.
STARRY: I told her that you were a little rule-breaker, but noooooo.
JINGLES: Mom is going to kill you. You might not make it to the games at all.
I shook my head. My sisters and I were each two years apart, incredibly close, and told each other everything.
While I was an athlete, my sisters were heroes in their own right.
Carole was a doctor. Belle owned the most amazing handmade clothing boutique.
And North was an Air Traffic Controller.
I wouldn’t be who I was without them. They were my best friends.
I was about to text that my locker situation would do Mom’s job for her, but then one of the doors slammed open, followed by a rough moan.
“Fuck me, Moose…”
Moose?! No way they were talking about the Moose.
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to do, Red,” a dark chuckle rumbled through the locker room.
Pocketing my phone, I pressed my face against the iron bars. There were two women against the lockers across from me. I covered my mouth as I recognized them immediately.
Merrilee’s massive bronze-brown tattooed back and shoulders were obvious as they faced me.
Moose got her nickname from being solid as a rock.
She was over 6’7” and muscular as fuck, with biceps the size of my head, including my afro.
Her black hair was wavy and long, going down her back, even in the ponytail she always wore it in.
The sides were shaved in a clean design that helped to accentuate her chiseled jawline and high cheekbones.
She was one of the first indigenous members of the Nine, coming from Alaska.
Even before I saw her sharp eyes half-lidded in pleasure or her distinct beauty mark under her mouth, I knew that long, choppy sleigh-red hair anywhere.
Felicity was one of a few black members of the Nine, coming from Canada.
Her light-skinned arms and legs wrapped around Merrilee’s neck and waist as Merrilee kissed her way down Felicity’s neck.
When she buried her face there, another moan escaped Felicity’s full lips.
There had been rumors about this Nine’s Dasher and Prancer.
Fraternizing with your team members wasn’t technically discouraged, but there’d never been a public precedent either.
There had been talks of some past Sleigh Team members being items, but none were confirmed, not even after they left the Nine.
This, of course, only perpetuated the lengthy and often convincing theories online.
People had shipped members of the Nine together with some very well-written fanfiction—that I had not read, but North has told me existed—but that was as far as things had ever gone.
From what I had seen, if any of the Nine past or present were a couple, it would be Merrilee and Felicity.
Well, this settled those debates.
Merrilee and Felicity were together!
And I was about to…
Fuck.
Oh, fuck fuck fuck.
I couldn’t believe this was my life right now. I was about to miss Orientation and my chance to join the Nine because I had a front-row seat to Dasher’s and Prancer’s most intimate moment. I shouldn’t be watching this. If I was caught, no telling what would happen to me.