‘Oh yeah, ha ha,’ she says airily.
Not only has Kit spotted Sally, but Esther and Sally are waving at each other across the field of snowmen, and Haf knows it’s only a matter of time before any of the women start up a conversation and then everyone will realise she doesn’t even know Sally, she just crashed her party and then all of this will totally fall apart.
A wave of startled cries swells towards them, and Haf turns to see the surly reindeer keeper rushing through the crowd. His face is bright red, and his eyes wild with alarm. He rushes up to Esther and takes the loudhailer from her hand and turns back to the crowd.
‘The reindeer! The reindeer is out!’ he pants.
People nervously look round, parents picking up young children into their arms.
‘I didn’t have “be stampeded any second by a herd of marauding carrot-hungry reindeer” on my lists of things I wanted to do tonight,’ says Kit.
‘Everyone, please calm down,’ says Esther, taking the loudhailer back from him. And then, aside to the man, she says, ‘This is not yours to snatch.’
‘They’re still in their pen?!’ shouts back someone. The crowd turns at once to see all five of the big reindeer in their pen, completely nonplussed and munching away on hay.
The surly reindeer man signals for the loudhailer, and Esther reluctantly tilts it towards him.
‘The little one,’ he says, catching his breath. ‘The little one got out. Someone stole him!’
Chapter Thirteen
The atmosphere of the fête changes immediately.
The reindeer keeper rushes back off to the pen to make sure that no more reindeer escape or are stolen. Though stealing an adult reindeer seems like a much more difficult prospect.
Esther starts making phone calls, and the mayor does the same, the snowmen contest forgotten. A few of the children start crying, though Haf isn’t quite sure if that’s because Cupid is missing, or because their snowmen weren’t fairly judged. At least it’s cold enough that they won’t melt.
‘Who would steal a baby reindeer?’ Kit mutters.
‘Did you not see him, Kit? He was extremely cute. Like... really cute. And small.’
‘Maybe he just slipped out?’
‘I’m not sure that’s better,’ Haf says, nibbling at her lower lip.
‘You’re worried about him, aren’t you?’ Kit softens.
‘Cupid. His name was Cupid,’ corrects Haf. ‘We’ve got to help find him.’
‘Okay, sure. Let’s do it.’
Haf tries to ignore the flutter in her chest at Kit’s simple agreement.
‘I’m trying to think where a baby reindeer would go, you know, if he got out rather than was stolen. In uni, we did a bunch of animal-behaviour stuff, but not very much on reindeer.’
‘That’s surprising,’ Kit says dryly, and Haf pulls a tongue at her, but is thankful for the lightness. ‘Hierarchy-of-needs stuff, right?’
‘He already had warmth and comfort. So maybe what he wanted was food. Maybe they ran out of food while everyone was talking, and he snuck out?’
At that exact moment, a caterwaul sounds around them as a blur that might possibly be Cupid the preteen reindeer barrels right through several of the contest snowmen, stealing their carrots as he goes.
‘Oh my God!’ Kit laughs.
‘Quick! Let’s go after him,’ Haf says.
‘Go, I can’t run. I’ll catch up with you. You’re the reindeer detective.’
Luckily for her, and unluckily for everyone else, Cupid is easy to follow from the chaos he leaves in his wake. After demolishing all the carrots from the snowmen, he races down the centre of the fête, knocking over tables and chairs (and many small children) as he goes.
