Book Six: Chapter 118

He walked down the stairs to the workshop, pausing to properly survey the room. It felt even bigger without the others, and he walked over to the table with the big map.

“Hmm.” He studied it for a few minutes, then decided it would be best to roll it up. Convinced that Santa would have some sort of storage tubes squirreled away, he started digging through the drawers and shelves of the workshop to find one. While doing the menial task, he allowed his mind to process the past twenty-four hours, going over the details in the hopes that he hadn’t missed something obvious.

Santa’s home creaked as if struck by a heavy wind, causing him to wince. He assumed the house wasn’t just settling, and decided it would be best if he sped things up. Moving across the room, he opened and closed drawers with no more than a cursory glance, quickly overlooking anything that wasn’t tube-shaped. The map was too big to fold.

“Some lucky kid must have wanted a fishing rod, and those are a