"She's here," Fanny said while standing at the edge of the frozen lake. It was the only area still officially part of Keskitalvi that remained unthawed, which meant two things. First, it was ideal to host a counterspell against the dark magic, and second, it was where the source of Piet's power lay. And because he was using Avery as a conduit, it meant that she was nearby.

Noelle looked across the vast expanse. On one side was the forest, on another the town. In the distance, the mountains. But there was no sign of her friend. "Is she safe?" she asked. Fanny had promised that her upcoming ritual would locate Avery, but there was no discussion about what state she may or not be in.

To her surprise, Fanny bent down and kneeled on the thick ice. Placing her bare hands on the surface, she nodded. "Yes."

Noelle's eyes widened. Surely she was misunderstanding. "She's not . . . Avery isn't under the ice, is she?" Noelle asked tentatively, suppressing all thoughts of anyone trapped underneath the thick sheet.

"Oh, yes," Fanny replied without missing a beat. If it hadn't been for the positive tone in her voice, Noelle would have freaked at the revelation. Instead, she forced herself to trust the woman.

"But . . . but she's still alive." Noelle made sure to phrase it as a statement rather than a question. There was no way she could bear to hear a denial.

"Quite," Fanny said as she stood, figuratively taking a portion of the weight off Noelle's shoulders. After wiping her frosty fingers on her thighs, she took Noelle's hands in hers. "Now listen to me. There is a chance that this won't work. Either we won't be able to break the Black Buck's enchantment or something will go wrong. But I tell you this: if we do nothing, the whole world will be robbed of joy in a matter of days. That can't happen, and there is no alternative. We must try."

Noelle took a deep breath. She was glad that Fanny was holding her hands because otherwise they would have been shaking uncontrollably. Not at the thought of failure, but rather at the reality of not having a choice. The fates had decided. Action led to a chance at winning. Inaction meant that they had already lost.

"Of course," she said with a weak nod. "So how much longer?"

Fanny looked across the ice. About two hundred meters in, Nick had been supervising the construction of a massive wire frame in the shape of a billy goat, which the tonttu were filling with straw. The work was assisted with magic, but even so, it had still taken over an hour to get to the circular horns.

"As soon as they're done and the townspeople arrive, we can begin," Fanny said, patting Noelle's hands with one of hers in a motherly fashion. "We should have just enough time."

Noelle nodded, but a question in a lyrical, foreign language delivered in a deep baritone from waist high interrupted her from continuing the conversation. Looking down, she saw one of the bearded gnomes holding a wooden tray with stout shot glasses filled with translucent, copper-colored liquor.

"What's this? Whiskey?" she asked, eyeing the surprise offerings. The last thing she expected to see lakeside while they scrambled to prepare for the ceremony was a tonttu waiter bringing booze.

The little man—while apparently not versed in English—gasped and began to grumble something unintelligible again, save for the word whiskey. That he seemed to understand. And it did not make him happy.

Noelle grimaced at her fumble (it was a good thing she wasn't a diplomat or she'd cause international uproars daily with such gaffes), but Fanny laughed. "It's a regional specialty made of bramble berries. He'd like for you to try," she said before taking a glass off the tray and downing its contents in one swift gulp. "Yum."

Noelle was hesitant. She needed to keep her head clear for whatever was going to happen. It was also not even nine in the morning and she hadn't eaten since the prior afternoon. "I'd better not," she said, politely waving. "But thank you for the continued hospitality."

"We have a saying here in Lapland," Nick unexpectedly said from behind her. Walking around, he also grabbed a glass and faced Noelle before continuing. "The only thing more rare than a shot of mesimarja liquor is one that hasn't been drank by the tonttu holding it. Cheers."

After raising the glass to her, he also threw it back as easily as his mother had.

Whether it was their intention or not, the previously dour mood had been broken and Noelle couldn't help but giggle. "You just made that up," she said, reaching toward the tray.

Nick smiled. "I did not! But if you want something more modern, then what is it that kids say these days? YOLO, is it?"

Fanny waved her index finger. "No, no, no, darling. I believe it's FOMO."

By now, Noelle had tears streaming down her face from laughter. "I get it. Thank you," she said between guffaws, holding out her hands. "You can stop now. You've convinced me. Since we're either about to save the world or be enjoying our last moments of happiness, I guess it would be misguided for me to refuse."

Taking a deep breath to calm down, Noelle didn't even need to lift the drink all the way to her nose to catch its intense aroma. It was cliché—and almost too spot-on—but the contents truly smelled of Christmas. From the hint of woodsy pine (juniper, maybe?) to tinge of spicy fruitcake (that must have been the bramble coming through), the liquor begged to be drank. Noelle's mouth literally watered as she took a measured sip, the cold liquid flowing past her lips and coating her tongue in silky goodness. The intensity of the sweet berry flavor made her close her eyes to recall every memory she had of a similar experience.

Images of the hard candies in the red, strawberry patterned wrappers her grandmother always had in a bowl on top of her dresser when they'd visit at Easter time, the two scoops of black current ice cream she had in Bar Harbor that summer when she was twelve, and the cranberry margarita she'd drank to celebrate being hired at her current job flooded her mind before her eyes popped open again.

"This is amazing," she admitted, licking the nectar off her lips as Nick and his mother looked on approvingly. She didn't waste time finishing the rest of the drink, only noticing after she'd done it that her method echoed that of the others. Apparently slamming bramble liquor was instinctive. Who knew?

After taking the empty glass from her before placing it back on the tray, Nick turned serious as he looked over her shoulder into the distance. "It looks like they're here."

Noelle pivoted to see the lead pack in a long row of townspeople cresting the hill. If she hadn't been aware of their intentions, she might have very well have been frightened. Because every one of them had donned a costume that most people in the rest of the world would only wear at Halloween or Carnival. As the dozens eventually turned into hundreds while walking past them to form a circle around the giant statue on the ice, Noelle got a better look. About a third were in the guise of demons with fur suits, vests, or coats, fake claws and teeth, and horns in all shapes and sizes. The rest were in the clothes of peasants or soldiers from centuries past—long, flowing skirts, headscarves, and brooms for the women, baggy trousers, hats and swords or pitchforks for the men—but their faces were all covered with masks, some human and some animal.

When she had described what to expect, Fanny had mentioned that the traditional julebukking—which served as a pagan precursor to both the more modern wassailing and mummers play—would as the basis of the ceremony. The anonymous locals would enact a symbolic victory over the demonic creatures, after which the effigy would be burned. If completed at the right time with the correct incantations, this would free Avery from Piet's enchantment, and hopefully lock him in its place. With the magic broken, Sinter Klaas should also be released from whatever was blocking him from continuing his Christmas Eve journey.

As the last of the attendees took their place in the circle, Nick pulled out a walkie-talkie attached to his belt. "Come in, Ronja. Status update, please. Over," he said.

The answer came quickly. "Hello, Nick. Status unchanged. Over."

Nick grimly nodded and replaced the walkie. "As expected,my father is still off the grid, so this is our one chance to bring him and Averyback," he said to Fanny and Noelle. "Ready?"