White Magic Christmas

Chapter 8: December 2

The dark shape hit Ivy at full speed, knocking her onto her back and forcing the air from her lungs. As she prepared to be eaten alive or worse, something enormous and wet swiped across her face.

"Tink!" The word reached her ears from a far distance. Her world was only cold and dark and feeling very, very flattened. The wet rag wiped her face once more, and suddenly light returned to her field of vision.

The bear was being dragged off of her by... Gavin?!

"Sit," Gavin said. "Lay down and stay." He approached her, leaning over her so his face filled up her whole field of vision. Her stomach muscles finally unclenched and she dragged a wheezing breath into her lungs.

"...you okay?" Gavin was saying. Except Ivy's brain had stopped rattling around by now, and she realized it wasn't Gavin.

"Ooumph," she said, trying to pull away.

"Hey, stay still," Shep said. "Did you hit your head?"

"Mm fine," Ivy said, ignoring him and pulling herself into a seated position. "Oh no!" she groaned.

"What? Where does it hurt?"

"Back off, Doogie," she said, swatting at him. "You're standing on my coat, and it's probably ruined."

Shep did back off, standing a few feet away and regarding her incredulously. She stood up, trying not to get any more mud on her coat, but it was hopeless. It turned out she was good at getting More dirty even without the help of magic.

"I'm sorry about your coat," Shep said, apparently deciding she'd had enough time to pout, "but are you okay? I didn't have Tink tied up because we're always alone up here. He doesn't chase the deer, but other people leave him apoplectic with excitement."

"I'm fine," Ivy said, giving up on the coat for now. "It's not your fault, is it Tink?" She walked over to the enormous dog, who had remained obediently on her belly, regarding the proceedings with interest. Ivy offered the dog the back of her hand to smell, then reached up to scratch behind her ears.

"Short for Tinkerbell?" she asked, turning back to face Shep.

"Of course," he said. "Have you ever met a daintier little fairy?"

"You are the prettiest little fairy I've ever met," Ivy told the dog, as if speaking to an infant child. 

"And you also have the wettest tongue. I think I still have some of your slobber in my ear." She grimaced and tried to rub her ear on her shoulder.

Hand still firmly embedded in Tink's fur, she turned to Shep. "What are you doing up here?" she asked. Her tone sounded more accusatory than she'd meant it to, but his dog had just tried to knock her off the side of a mountain, so she didn't feel too bad about it.

"Working," Shep said simply.

"Digging up titles or deeds or whatever to finish selling this town to the developers?" The pang she felt about pointing a finger while she was also technically a bad guy did not help her keep her mouth shut. And why did defending the town even concern her?

"What?" Shep asked. He looked completely baffled.

"Ned said you work for the Slate estate," Ivy said.

"Of course, but what's all this about deeds and developers? And what's Ned got to do with it?"

Ivy closed her eyes. Here she was, jumping to conclusions yet again. She had no idea how these kinds of legal matters worked. What she had said to Shep probably made absolutely no sense to him.