12 Days by Crea Reitan

Clea, Acantha, Orion, Pike, and Lelo have been friends since they were six. They grew up together, made it through school together. Through celebrations and losses, relationships and breakups, they have remained hard core friends. And every year they get together, beginning the evening of December 13, to carry on their 12 Days of Christmas traditions.

They start with the basics: walking through the Tiriro’s city of lights to usher in their two-week festivities. This year was no different. They went through the magical city of lights and ended with an evening in front of the fire with tacky pajamas, a hot chocolate bar, and several trays of sandwiches to welcome them into an evening of holiday movies.

It should have been like any other year. But something went bump in the night, shaking the entire house, and jerked the five awake in the dead of night. Upon inspection, all they find is a card sitting by the battered elf-on-a-shelf and when they read it, they’re suddenly sucked into a snowglobe and a whole new Christmas world.

They find themselves in a race against time each night to find the items within Clea’s ten-year-old version of the classic song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” And when they fail, someone she loves is erased from her life. It doesn’t take Clea long to realize that there aren’t that many people she cares about. It takes them less time to realize that something dark and twisted is behind the corruption of the world they get sucked into every night. And they’re no longer sure if they’ll make it to morning.