The slot machine lit up like a Christmas tree and started playing Jingle Bells at top volume.

"Oh yes, come on baby, show me the moolah!" I whispered to myself, grinning as a shiny coupon popped out the machine into my waiting hands. I had only put in a quarter but somehow I had just won three-hundred dollars. Though that probably wasn't a huge amount to the hordes of seasoned gamblers nearby, to a skint sixteen-year old who was currently enjoying the worst festive period of her life; it was like winning the lottery. "It's a Christmas miracle!" I sang out, making the guy on the machine next to mine chuckle at my obvious excitement.

"Well done, missy, but I'd make a run for it if I were you." He drawled, nodding towards something --or someone- behind me.

"I'm not going to want to turn around am I?" I asked, smiling nervously. He shook his head, returning my smile sympathetically.

"Lila!" A shrill voice shrieked from behind me, my heart instantly felt as if someone had grabbed it out my chest and chucked it into a tub of ice cream. I recognised the voice at once, that cut-glass English accent could mean only one thing...no, not the queen, but my grandmother, the only person who could even be slightly posher than her Madge. I peeked over my shoulder at her and gulped.

"Oh, hi gran, I was just going-"

"To hand over your illegal winnings and go to your room?" I felt anger bubble up inside of me, we were in a hotel and she was still ordering me to go to my room as if I were four again and had just booted another football through a window at her and granddad's house.

"Sorry, but no way, I'm buying the first bus ticket out of Vegas. Yeah, I know that mum's on business, but I'm sure she'll be fine with it when I get to Boston." The bus would take about two and a half days to get there, yet I'd gladly sit on it for a week to spend Christmas with mum. This year, instead of having our usual completely brilliant mother-daughter Christmas back home in Oxford -complete with mum's own crazy yuletide traditions- my mother had been called away to sort out problems at her advertising firms American office, and so I had been forced to endure the most wonderful time of the year with my grandparents.

I had at first thought spending the holidays in London's Belgravia and scoffing Christmas dinner at The Ivy with the gang of ageing celebrities and millionaires that made up my grandparents social circle, would be bad enough... but then I found out I would be spending it in Las Vegas; and my bratty cousin Eloise would be along for the ride. It's not that the thought of actually going to Vegas was off-putting; it was just that its location in the middle of a dusty desert wasn't exactly the most traditionally festive of settings, and having spent the past sixteen Christmases in Britain, it just seemed so weird to consider eating a roast turkey dinner in a place where from the restaurant window you could see bikini-clad socialites sipping Tropical Mojitos by the pool. The fact I was sharing a room with the devil-child didn't help. My cousin was such a diva, she made Mariah Carey's backstage demands positively understandable. For Christmas she had asked for a Balenciaga handbag; seriously, what does an eleven year-old use a designer handbag for? Carrying her High School Musical Top Trumps cards in?

"If you don't give me that coupon this very moment, I will be forced to call casino security." Gran replied, baring her fangs in a threatening smirk. Ah, can you feel the familial love? Knowing full well she meant what she said, I grudgingly handed over my winnings and trudged away, feeling defeated. "We have reservations for Le Cirque at eight, dress accordingly." Gran called over to me as I walked away, sounding like a robot reciting an invitation. 'Dress accordingly'? By that I assumed she meant dress like Blair from Gossip Girl at a college interview, rather than the usual shabby band-tee chic I favoured. We were staying in the very swish Bellagio, a five star hotel with more outrageously expensive restaurants than you could shake a candy cane at. Though it had to be said, staying at the Bellagio was the only thing that was keeping my Christmas spirit alive. The elegant resort was covered in decadent decorations and if I closed my eyes and imagined the breeze of the air conditioning was actually frosty winter air, I could almost believe it was really only four days till Christmas.

Traipsing through the bustling lobby, I decided I wasn't going back to my room immediately; I needed a serious pick me up after my impromptu escape plan had gone so awry; a chocolate crepe and a visit to the botanical garden were on the cards. After deciding on a white chocolate crepe with extra whipped cream I sat myself down on a bench in the middle of the Botanic gardens which for Christmas, had been converted into a veritable winter wonderland. It was hard not to feel better, eating a heavenly piece of stodge and surrounded by so many lights it looked like they had squeezed the entire Vegas strip in here. I had really thought Lady Luck was on my side when I had found that quarter walking through the hotel after breakfast, then when I spotted the Christmas- themed slot machine; I totally knew even though I risked getting in trouble, I had to play that quarter. Trust gran to turn up and wreck my Christmas miracle.

Finishing my crepe, I got up and walked the same route around the garden I took every day I'd been here. This was my favourite spot in the whole hotel; it was like a little haven of Christmas magic amidst the drunken people and roulette tables. I walked over a holly covered bridge and stopped by a gigantic Christmas tree adorned in ribbons and tartan baubles. On one of the branches, at nose level, was a nutcracker. Despite the fact that there were hundreds of nutcrackers dotted all over the botanic garden, the one in the tree was the only one that was frowning, a very odd thing for a nutcracker to be doing. Gazing at his solemn painted face, I smiled sadly, emphasizing with that expression. I knew how he felt. I didn't know quite why, but every day I had been compelled to stop and visit him, wondering why he looked quite so melancholy. It was probably just someone messing around on the production line.

"Gran says you have to go up to our room." I blinked, dragging my gaze away from the wooden figure to see Eloise looking up at me disdainfully.

"I'll be up in a bit."

"She said now." I heaved a sigh.

"How did she know I was here?" My cousin rolled her eyes.

"Where else would you be? You're either stuffing your face or hanging out here like some saddo. Anyways, she just phoned me in the middle of my manicure to get you, so could you hurry up please?" I adopted a mock shocked face and waved my hands frantically.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! Imagine keeping you from maintaining healthy cuticles. I am such a bad person." She scowled and moved forward, glancing up at the Christmas tree.

"Eurgh, what a creepy thing. It's like something out of a Japanese horror film." Eloise muttered, grabbing for the unhappy nutcracker.

"Funny, that's how I heard gran describe you earlier." I retorted, trying to remove the nutcracker from her half-manicured clutches. She moved him from my reach and started yanking at its arms and legs, laughing as I pleaded with her to put it back.

"Look, stop it; you're going to break it."

"Whatever, it's just some crappy toy," At the word 'toy', the nutcracker's left arm broke off with a woody crunch. "Oops." She said giggling, tossing it up carelessly into the tree. I glanced at the mangled figure and felt a wave of annoyance sweep through me.

"You are such a destructive little cow." I said slowly, shaking my head at her in disgust. "Can you actually behave like a normal person other than when you want Granddad to buy you something?" She was just about to respond when I saw her eyes flicker to something behind my head. She started crying instead.

"Lila, don't you dare speak to Eloise like that. Just get out of my sight and go to your room like I told you too." I didn't even bother turning around. For the second time that day, gran had sprung a surprise attack.


Expect magical capers and general Christmas mayhem next chapter. Yep, like last year's Christmas story, I have to start now If I ever have a hope of finishing it for Christmas Eve...Keep Reading :)