Book Six: Chapter 103

She nodded, then winced. When the blow never came, she turned toward the Krampus and was surprised that he had turned his back to her. His gaze was on the Northern Lights above, his whole body swaying from side to side as if hypnotized by them.

“He knew you would find out,” he said, his voice barely legible over the storm. “That’s what he kept telling me, while I was down there. Warned me over and over again that you would find out, that it would change everything. But I kept telling him it wouldn’t matter.”

“Found out what?”

“We’re alike, you and I. Power incarnate, under appreciated, under utilized. If you wanted, you could freeze the ocean, could bring mankind to its knees! Yet here you stand, a glorified snowcone maker, trapped in the North Pole.”

“I’m not trapped,” Jack argued, but the Krampus waved her off.

“Aren’t you? Maybe you weren’t trapped like the others, but you refused to leave. Why is that? Why not seek your fortune elsewhere, make a big