For one twelve-year-old wizard in training, a mundane chore on Christmas Eve Eve transports him to a magickal world beyond his imagination. A world populated by impossible ships and talking specks of light.
A world where he encounters things he never thought possible and people he long since stopped believing in.

As far as Tommy's concerned, a wizard-in-training shouldn't have to trudge through the snow to take out the trash, especially not on Christmas Eve Eve. Especially when a stubborn piece of paper sticks to the bottom of his boot.

Except this isn't just a regular piece of trash. It's a magickal map complete with something that looks like an X marks the spot.

When Tommy and his best friend Eugene ask the map to show them where it came from, the map does one better. It transports them to a world where specks of light talk, a pirate ship floats above the sea, and someone waits for them on board.

Someone who invited Tommy to visit.

The last person in the world Tommy ever expected to see.

"Annie Reed is a master short fiction writer."
Kristine Kathryn Rusch