The Night Realm: Christmas Marked

This is it. The moment I’ve been waiting for. Christmas on Megelle Island is the biggest event of the year, and somehow I've been hired to plan it all: parties, activities, festivals, and the Christmas Eve ball at the palace. So what if I'm a last-minute substitute because the old party planner got run over by a reindeer? So what if the King and Queen ask me to also plan their son’s engagement party within six days? So what if the cottage I rented was accidentally double booked and now I have an ancient, brooding vampire breathing down my neck every day?

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth. Well, okay, literally speaking I want these two legs I’m standing on to be permanent. I want my scales to not pop up if it rains or if someone spills their drink on me. I want a house on land and a pet that has fur instead of two rows of razor sharp teeth. I’ve always felt like a crab out of her shell except when I’m on land. Except sirens can’t control their shifting.

I stopped believing in Santa Claus and happily-ever-afters when I lost my parents…so ten years ago I stopped trying. I threw myself into running my dad's hotel, The Diamond, where I make California dreams come true for the rich and famous. But now I realize there’s no one to come home to. I have no family, no friends, just my first ever boyfriend who works more than I do, and in three months barely even knows me.

My life has never been typical. Most people weren’t professional ballerinas. Most people didn’t have two happily married, four century old dads and an aunt who was actually your mother. Most people didn’t have pointed ears they had to hide or wings that would pop out of their back when they got too excited or angry. Most people didn’t have my problems.