How to Make a Miracle

Chapter 2

Luz was a little scared she might not be able to find the sleigh again, after all the time she spent talking it up. Luckily, they managed to retrace their footsteps before they'd been entirely buried in snow. Their reward was waiting patiently for them, the sight of the abandoned equipment popping up when they drew near enough.

"There it is!"

King ran ahead, the leash slipping from Luz's hands, causing Luz to automatically call after,

"Careful!"

When they stood beside the sleigh, Hunter gave it an appraising glance-over. He commented,

"Yeah, it definitely belongs to the Coven. They were using them with the last deliveries."

Luz went up to the side to try and push it so the sleigh would rest rightside-up, but it was pretty heavy.

"King, help me with this."

Hunter stood there, watching them with an uneasy expression.

"I admit it would probably be large enough for this theoretical and very stupid plan, but I need to point out that these things don't move on their own. Something has to pull them."

Both King and Luz pushed at the sleigh, but it didn't budge. Luz paused in her efforts to reply,

"That makes sense. Like Santa's reindeer. I don't think there are reindeer here, of course. Are there? What normally pulls sleighs on the Boiling Isles?"

He hummed,

"Well ... the Abominations themselves were pulling this one. But I guess I've seen some being pulled by Ratworms."

Luz lit up.

"Perfect! So we just need to get ourselves some Ratworms!"

King's eyes widened and he immediately protested, waving his hands.

"Oh no no, not those stinky hellbeasts! Anything but those."

Luz glanced to him.

"What's wrong with Ratworms? I think they're kinda cute."

King glared.

"They're not cute! They're dumb and don't know how to follow orders and I don't trust them!"

Luz frowned.

"I think we should maybe give them a chance before deciding that?"

"Uuugh," King grumbled, crossing his arms. Luz continued pushing at the sleigh with a grunt, but it was obviously not going to move. She turned and asked,

"Hunter, could you give us a hand?"

He looked reluctant, but after a moment, he sighed. Swinging his staff, the whole sleigh began to glow a soft gold, and then it floated effortlessly to the correct position before the magic faded away. Luz smiled wide at his handiwork.

"Nice! You've been getting better with the new staff, I take it."

He seemed a little surprised, as if not expecting her to know that, but it wasn't a difficult conclusion to make. She'd seen him with his mechanical staff and the incredible power he'd wielded with it. He'd been nowhere near as mighty with his palisman staff, which obviously meant there was some sort of learning curve.

Clearing his throat, he answered awkwardly,

"Yeah, I guess."

Luz hopped up on the sleigh and slapped its side, saying,

"So our next step is to get some Ratworms to hook up to this bad boy!"

King griped,

"Ugh. Couldn't we just find a nice Snaggleback instead?"