“Not likely. The crown is magic. I imagine that’s why you want it?” Eliot’s gaze flickered to me.

I didn’t grace his question with an answer.

The scent of pumpkin pudding washed over us as we sat, and I peered down the table at the city of geometric gingerbread houses, the piles of sugar-coated candy, and the bowls of multicoloured gourds. Bronze cutlery glimmered beneath the fairy lights; seven different pieces at each place setting. I picked up a fork and studied the antique spirals in the metal. For people who would rather smash drums than play any song with a melody, it was surprising they chose to work such artistry into their cutlery.

“Helen.” The sound of my sister’s voice slammed into my chest and my gaze fired up from the fork.

Kaley was in a suit of wooden armour.

“Thank goodness!” I wanted to leap over the table.

“Actually, you can thank me.” Lucas was smiling beside her, dressed the same and looking another half-inch taller than the last time I’d seen him, with a full head of wispy hair.

Zane approached the table too, Lucas’s hand guiding him by the shoulder. They were on the opposite side of the table as Eliot and I. Lucas glanced at the empty chair beside me and muttered something into Zane’s ear.

“Sit down,” Eliot instructed them. Most of the feast’s guests had already taken their seats.

“I’ll walk around,” Zane decided, turning to feel his way down the table, knocking a guest’s cider into the snow. Heads down the line turned in our direction; people leaned to see what the commotion was.

“Just sit down, Cohen,” Eliot snapped. Zane’s tight-lipped face flickered back in our general direction.

“It’s fine, Zane,” I said to spare him having to poke his way around the whole gathering just to sit with me. Zane reluctantly hobbled back and lowered into a seat across from us.

I thought that was the end of it, but something brushed my leg and I shrieked, springing to my feet and nearly careening backward. Lucas crawled out from underneath the dining table and climbed to his feet on our side, patting forest brush off his knees.

“Ragnashuck, Leutenski.” Eliot placed a hand over his pink face while guests murmured and pointed.

Lucas grinned and dragged the spare seat a little closer to mine. “Nice and cozy,” he said. I shrank back into my own chair beneath the watchful eyes of the Greens. Lucas flung his arm across my backrest.

“Is everyone merry now?” Eliot glared at where Lucas’s fingers brushed his shoulder.

From across the table, Zane smirked with satisfaction. “Quite merry,” he said.

My sister cast me a small smile. “Look.” She raised an arm to show me the dark-wood pauldron at her shoulder. “I feel like I could take on a snowsquatch in this.”