“No, it’s all settled! We leave tomorrow together,” Hermey said, pulling the blanket up to his chin. It was a struggle - the Island of Misfit Toys was low on supplies, and having three sudden visitors had stretched them to their limit, so he, Rudolph, and Yukon Cornelius were only allotted one blanket. Luckily, he and Rudolph were small enough that Cornelius hadn’t found it too much of a bother to let them share. But as part of that, Cornelius was strong enough to keep the blanket exactly where he wanted it. Though his arms looked small, all those years of throwing up the pickax had bolstered his strength to a degree that Herney would never be able to keep up with.
“But the Abominable will see my nose and get us all!” Rudolph argued, and Herney dropped what little purchase of the blanket he had with a sigh, crossing his arms. They’d been having this argument for what seemed like hours now with no purchase. “I’ve got to go alone!”
“Nonsense! It’s all for all and one for the, uh, I mean one for the… Bah! Let’s get some shut-eye,” Yukon said, pulling the blanket more toward his side. It pulled completely off Hermey, and the elf sighed again. He’d probably spend the night chilled, but at least the castle had heat, and he was too exhausted from their trek that he doubted it mattered anyway.
“But,” Rudolph started, but Hermey could feel his eyes already starting to close. They could have debated this all night, but King Moonraiser was expecting them out by dawn, and then they’d begin their long trek back to the North Pole. After all, it was a long trip, and it was getting closer and closer to Christmas. Even if Rudolph felt like he didn’t belong with the reindeer, and even if Hermey thought his talents were better served as a dentist than as an elf, they were both still hard-pressed to miss the most important day of the year. Especially not when all the toys on the Island of Misfit Toys needed them to bring the message of their existence to Santa so they could find new homes with children who needed them.
“It’s all settled,” Hermey said with more snap in his voice than he intended. He reached up and pulled the cord on the light. “In the morning, we’ll all head off together, end of discussion.”
He felt Cornelius’s body relax into sleep the moment the light turned off. Rudolph remained awake, his body tense as though he wanted to keep talking, but Hermey felt the embrace of sleep at the forefront of his mind. Tomorrow - they could talk tomorrow when they’d all had a reasonable night of sleep and were clear-headed. Even if Moonraiser kicked them out of the castle the moment the sun rose, the weather on the island was still reasonably temperate, and the threat of the Bumble was far off. There was no place safer than an island when your main threat can’t swim, after all. Even if the food supply was getting desperate here. Yes, tomorrow they’d all head off toward the North Pole so they could get these toys off the island before the situation became even more dire for them.
As sleep quickly gripped him, he felt Rudolph stirring but thought nothing of it. There was nothing he could do anyway as he drifted into unconsciousness.
✶✶✶
Hermey grabbed the threadbare blanket and tugged it, pulling it farther around him. The fact that it moved with no resistance was enough to make him pause, even if his mind wasn’t fully awake yet. Yesterday, hadn’t he not been able to move it at all? Hadn’t he been fully resigned to sleeping without a blanket?
He cracked his eyes open, wincing as the light hit his eyes. It was far past dawn. Hermey rose with a start, throwing the blanket off as he rushed toward the door. Luckily, he thought, the island hadn’t had any spare pajamas, and with the chill that ran down to his bones mixed with the lack of blankets, he’d opted to keep his clothes on, jacket included, so there was no need to change. He rushed down the hall toward the main reception.
Yesterday, the room had been quiet and slow, barely a toy around to act as a receptionist. Today, though, the room was a flurry of activity. He grabbed a toy that was quickly passing - the Charlie-in-the-Box, he realized, as the box underneath the toy bounced forward once more, leaving the toy at a dangerous lean. It was enough to get his attention, though - as he let the toy go, it turned to face him, a look of annoyance on his face.
“What’s going on?” Hermey asked, gesturing around to all the commotion. “I woke up and both of my friends were gone!”
“I would think you should know!” the Charlie-in-the-Box croaked. The toy’s voice hitched up and down like he was near tears, but Hermey knew that that was what his voice had sounded like yesterday, too. Perhaps that’s what made him even more of a misfit than being a “Charlie” rather than a “Jack,” he thought, but then cast the thought from his head. If anyone should understand being a misfit just because of the way they’d been born, it’d be him.
“Yeah, maybe, but I don’t,” Hermey said, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. “What happened?”
“Rudolph has gone missing!” the Charlie-in-the-Box said. “Yukon Cornelius already went to look for him, along with King Moonraiser and several of the toys. Those of us left are trying to create a signal for Santa in the hopes that he’ll come to find him. He might be okay with the elements, given his coat, but there are still other things to contend with! And if he makes it to the mainland, the Abominable is still looking for him!”
Hermey felt his heart drop with every word from the toy. Wasn’t this exactly what Rudolph had been saying he should do last night? Hermey had thought they’d been able to talk him out of leaving on his own, but he had been tired and maybe he’d been more dismissive than he should have been. But still, to go off on his own in the cold alone was nearly a death sentence, not to mention the Bumble. “Where did he go? We’ve got to find him!”
“That’s what we’re trying to do!” croaked the toy. “Here.” The Charlie-in-the-Box bounced a few times to a nearby desk. He pulled open a drawer and grabbed something, which he promptly shoved into Hermey’s hands. It was a flashlight and a small whistle. “We don’t have much for supplies, but we’ve got this left, at least. You’ll want them for a signal if you’re going out in the snow. If you find him or you need help, blow the whistle. If there’s something out there that would make it dangerous to use the whistle, signal to the others with the flashlight. We want to find your friend, but we don’t want all the toys to die because of it.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Hermey nodded, shoving the items into his coat. It was a coat built to withstand the North Pole, which he was happy about - most of the toys he’d seen yesterday had had nothing to prevent against the cold. He turned toward the main doors and hurried out, waving back at the “good luck” that was shouted from one of the toys. He didn’t need luck to find Rudolph. He needed a miracle. But still, he would try. Rudolph was the first real friend he had ever made, and he wasn’t about to lose that because he was too bull-headed to wait for them. Yes, he might have put them in danger had he stayed, but at least they would have been in danger together. Now, they were just wandering alone across the snow and ice.
He ran in a direction where he didn’t see any footprints. He hadn’t seen any hoofprints on his quick examination of the ground, but that made sense - Rudolph didn’t want them following him, after all. Fresh snow lay on the ground, crisply chipping away under his feet. He walked in a straight line, looking out at the barren land. Rudolph couldn’t have gotten too far, he thought - the island’s major problem was that it wasn’t that big, after all. But if Rudolph had been determined to get back to the North Pole, he would have already left the island. He crested a small snow hill, sliding down the other side. Maybe the best course of action would be to just find Yukon Cornelius and head for the North Pole themselves. If they were quick enough, maybe they could keep up with Rudolph.
Granted, Hermey thought, running as fast as he could across the barren ground, that would involve finding Cornelius as well. From where he stood, he could see nothing but snow - even looking back, the snow hill he’d just passed obscured the castle. He was well and truly alone out here, with no idea where either member of his party could be. It might have been easier to find Cornelius - his barking dogs would be a great beacon for his location, but with his sled, he was also much faster than Hermey could ever be. If he’d chosen a direction and went with it, like Hermey had, he’d be nearly impossible to catch. Maybe that was the cruel fate of this adventure, Hermey thought to himself as he braced against a particularly chilly gust of wind - maybe he’d been fated to finally find friends just to lose them in the snow.
Hermey came to another large snow hill and began to climb - maybe from the top, he’d be able to see to the edge of the island. If he could, and there was still no one around him, he’d run back, he thought. Maybe he’d miss Rudolph without going any further, but he didn’t want to get lost himself. Plus, he wasn’t even sure if he was heading back toward the North Pole - the castle had been reasonably close to the coast, after all, and none of this area looked familiar. Although, he realized, that could just be a result of the snow that was piled on from the storm.
Hermey crawled up the last few steps of the snow hill, the height of the drift making the climb too steep to just walk. He stood up, looking out onto the landscape, then turned back to look at the way he’d come. All around him was just blank, white snow - other than his footprints, there was no hint that any form of life had ever been here. And, he thought, turning back the way he’d been heading, he couldn’t even see the edge of the island. Had King Moonraiser spent much time exploring over here, he wondered. He’d talked about lacking supplies, but also about lacking space, and from what Hermey could now see, there was plenty of space on the island that was uninhabited. The first goal would still be to find homes for all the misfit toys, of course, but if they couldn’t do that, they could at least help him expand.
From behind him, Hermey heard a sound similar to a huge gust of wind. He braced himself, ready to have to fight against the wind to keep upright, but nothing came. After a heartbeat too long without the wind, Hermey slowly turned to look behind him.
Where there had previously been nothing but a huge expanse of snow, there was now a giant blue and black circle breaking the sky. Hermey froze, unable to look away from the swirling portal that now appeared. If Rudolph had gone through there, he thought, there would be no getting him back.
Suddenly, through the portal, he saw giant tentacles and a large snail-like shell start to emerge. It wasn’t like any creature he’d ever seen at the North Pole - he’d only ever seen birds in the sky, and even the Bumble couldn’t compare to this in size. But what emerged looked like a flying sea creature, three times the size of the castle on this island. It was the largest thing he’d ever seen in his life. Hermey watched for a moment more, but as the ship slowly approached him, he jumped back, throwing himself down the snowhill.
It wasn’t enough, he knew as he rolled down the snow. When he hit the bottom, he jumped up and started running as fast as he could through the snow. Here, in a valley between the snow hill he’d just been on and the next, the snow was almost up to his waist, making moving a monumental task. He still tried, though - that was all he could do, as the creature slowly approached him. He stared forward at the next snow drift, turning every so often to look behind him. The creature was headed straight for him, the tentacles drifting around as though seeking purchase in the snow. That was the one mercy of this environment, he thought - there was nothing for the creature to grab onto. Nothing except, well, himself.
Hermey finally reached the next snow hill and slowly started to climb up it. Though he’d had a full night of sleep, he was already nearly exhausted by his full sprint through the deep snow. He had to keep going, though, he thought, as the creature was almost upon him. No, not a creature, he realized, as he turned back once more. Where the eyes should have been, he saw panes of glass. Behind them, another creature, much smaller but still with tentacles, stood watching him.
Hermey paused, turning toward the ship. He knew there was no way that he could run up the snow hill by the time it reached him. He met the eyes of the creature inside the ship - he couldn’t determine the expression on the foreign face. But still, as a tentacle finally reached him, he wasn’t crushed as he’d expected to be. Instead, the flesh of the tentacle lightly grazed him, and he felt the peculiar sensation of his body turning to ash. He closed his eyes - the death wasn’t as painful as he’d thought it would be. Rather, it was a fizzy sensation, like he’d been dumped in a bucket of seltzer water. But then, all of a sudden, the sensation stopped. In fact, everything he’d been feeling stopped - he wasn’t even cold anymore.
Slowly, he opened his eyes. He was in what felt like a coffin with a large glass pane on the front. Before him, a creature like the one he’d seen in the window milled around a large cauldron filled with green liquid. The creature reached in and grabbed something from the cauldron and headed for another coffin with a woman inside of it. The woman wasn’t like anything he’d ever seen - she was tall and green, with pinched facial features. But still, she was someone else that the creature was holding hostage.
As the creature reached for her, Hermey yelled incoherently at it. The creature took no notice of him. It opened the glass of the woman’s coffin and she yelled as it placed something on her face. Whatever it was seemed to crawl toward her eye, but Hermey stopped paying attention when the creature turned to him. He wiggled in place, trying to free himself, but it was no use - his constraints held him tight as the creature pulled the glass off his coffin. In its hand, it held what looked like a small worm.
The creature reached out and pushed the worm against Hermey’s cheek, and he immediately felt it wriggling toward his eye. He shook his head, hoping to dislodge it, but it did no good. Like the woman, he yelled as he saw the worm open a leech-like mouth and grab onto his eyeball. Instead of devouring it as he assumed, he felt it slide its way up to the top of his eye and slowly wriggle its way behind it. It must have been planning to eat him from the inside.
Hermey fought his constraints again, but it was of no use. As the creature turned away from him, he finally felt his exhaustion taking over. Though sleeping should have been the last thing he’d be doing in this situation, he couldn’t help it as the darkness started to take him over. Whether it was all the running or the worm, he wasn’t sure, but though he fought it, he felt himself drifting into unconsciousness.