The first words the next morning came from Valkotukka. "Who's next, Rudolph?" asked the small boy.
"Wait!" cried Jack Frost, "we're missing somebody."
Everyone fell silent. They had hoped the mysterious guardian had kept the last murderer at bay again - but it seemed that was not the case. "Where's the Sugar Plum Fairy?" asked Little Cindy Lou Who with a bit of a scream to her voice. Everyone shared a look, then ran to the card shop over which the Fairy lived.
"Sugar Plum?" called Cindy as she burst through the door. The Ghost, having skipped the door and floated right through the bedroom wall, floated down, moaning.
"The poor woman," he wailed. "Suffocated with her own cards! The ones about Santa, too. What a wicked, cruel beast!"
Cindy sank to her knees, sobbing.
"Who did it?" Paksu asked. "Rudolph, please say you know!"
"I think I might," Rudolph said. "I'm not sure, though. I could be wrong..."
"You weren't wrong before!" the Grinch encouraged him. "Who do you think it was?"
"Well," Rudolph said slowly, "I know Frosty's evil. I don't know if he's a murderer, though!"
"Frosty?" Tiny Tim asked. "That's ridiculous!"
"I agree," Frosty said, "especially considering you're trying to get me killed!"
"She's right," said Jack Frost. "I should know - I remember now - I was the guardian who saved Sugar Plum the first time, and I don't know why I didn't recognize you earlier!"
"It must be Frosty," Paksu said.
"If you killed Sugar Plum," Little Cindy Lou Who said, getting to her feet, her tears frozen on her cheeks, "you're going to pay."
"What do you mean?" Frosty asked nervously, backing away from the furious Who.
"Does anybody have a hair dryer?"
"Come, now!" Frosty protested. "That's just cruel!"
"And suffocated Sugar Plum wasn't? Electrocuting Suzy wasn't?"
Frosty spread his arms innocently. "C'mon, now, forgive and forget! You don't want to stoop to my level, do you?"
"Y'know, I think I'm feeling a bit stoopy," Cindy snarled.
"I'm with you," Jack said. "I never did get my payback for Suzy's death - or at least, not enough."
"You can borrow my travel-size, if you like," Cindy offered. She ran inside to fetch the hair dryers.
"Any last words?" Valkotukka asked.
Frosty hemmed and hawed for a minute, then tried to make a break for it. The Christmastowners chased him down the streets of town until he hollered stop, out of breath. "Do what you like," he huffed. "Christmas is ruined this year, anyway. Christmas is ruined forever!"
"Yours is, anyway," Jack said, turning on the hair dryer Cindy had just passed him. While the Grinch and the polar bears held him still, the two grieving Christmastowners slowly melted him down.
"Better destroy the hat, too," warned the Ghost, "or we'll never be truly safe. Not that we will anyway..."
"Wait, wasn't this what you were warning us about?" asked Tiny Tim, surprised.
"Nonsense," the Ghost said. "This is nothing. Disappointing, yes, but nothing compared to what is coming."
As Cindy took vindictive scissors to Frosty's magic hat, Tiny Tim's eyes shone in renewed hope.
Living
Sally - Little Cindy Lou Who
Shasta - Jack Frost
G55 - Rudolph
Coppermirror - The Ghost of Christmas Present
Steve - Valkotukka
Morsul - The Grinch
McCaber - Tiny Tim
Lommy - Paksu
Dead
Lottie - Suzy the Snowflake - Moddess
Boro - Olive the Other Reindeer - Ordo
Legate - Santa Claus - Wolf
Nerwen - The Sugar Plum Fairy - Ordo
Zil - Frosty - Wolf
The game is over. The village wins!
