Upside Down and Snowing (The Santa Clause/48 Christmas Wishes Fanfic)

Upside Down and Snowing

"He's supposed to be on vacation," Mindy muttered, looking at the closed door of her older brother's room—if one could call the room his, given how he'd gone years without leaving the North Pole, only for Santa to suddenly insist he actually take a vacation just like everyone else.

Vacation, in her mind, meant actually spending time with the family and not actually working when he wasn't in the workshop, yet her brother insisted that's not what Santa meant—the new Santa that is. There was that little voice in the back of her head that wondered why he used the words new Santa instead of just Santa, let alone what he could be up to behind the closed door.

His aunt said he was tinkering, which seemed strange to Mindy given the fact bedrooms weren't the place to tinker. "You've never been in Bernard's room, have you?"

She hadn't, as it felt weird going into his room when he wasn't even there.

"It's always been set up with a worktable for elf magic tinkering, because—well, he is an Elfbright elf."

"Yet he didn't become a toymaker elf," Mindy murmured.

She now sat across from the bedroom he used when he was home, looking at the bedroom door while sitting on her bed where she could view the door from where she was. "What is he up to?"

"You never mentioned you had a brother." Sammy pushed up her glasses, sitting on the bed just to the right of Mindy. "Why?"

"Because..." Mindy frowned. "Bernie isn't—" She thought about whether she should say it.

"Why don't we ask him?" Cam said from her left.

"What. No." Mindy's voice rose slightly, her head turning towards her other friend. Only, Cam was already off, heading straight for the bedroom door that Mindy didn't bother ever opening. "Cam!"

Too late it was, particularly since Mindy's ability to speed was cut off by some obnoxious magical wards that prevented certain kinds of magic—the more physical kind like her speed ability. The door opened, and her older brother looked up from what he was doing, not reacting to Cam's sudden intrusion beyond that. "What are you doing?"

"Working on a snow globe," Bernie said, leaning back slightly, seeming slightly amused at the intrusion. "You are?"

"Cam!" the young elf responded. "Toymaker elves are able to make snow globes as well."

The smirk on Bernie's face turned into a frown, while Sammy—she pushed up her glasses as Mindy felt her throat tighten. She simply needed to look over at Sammy to know she was just as concerned regarding what her older brother was doing, as there were only a select few individuals at the North Pole capable of making snow gloves, and they weren't—"

"I'm not a toymaker elf," Bernie said.

"Oh. I thought all Elfbright's were toymaker elves."

"Mindy say that?"

Mindy swallowed, feeling guilty.

"Yes." Sammy said. "Though she also never mentioned having an older brother."

"Figures. She doesn't like me." Bernie's words made Mindy stiffen up.

"Why?" Cam asked.

"Because I'm not and never have been a toymaker elf."

"Why?"

Bernie stared at Cam. "Because I haven't?"

"That's not really an answer."

"Because he's not good at it," Mindy said.

Bernie frowned. "Is that what everyone thinks?"

"If you were good at it, then you'd be a toymaker elf either at the North Pole or in one of our uncle's shops," Mindy looked at the ground. "You shouldn't be making snow globes, Bernie. The magic is unstable."