Wicked: The Witch's Daughter #41

Instructions

Kendra's POV: My heart began pounding. Another voice answered, and I recognized it immediately. Madame Morrible. "They cannot have gone far," she said. "If Elphaba is here, she will be hiding somewhere." I looked at Mom. She had gone completely still. Dad placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and Mom gently put a finger to her lips, reminding me to stay quiet. The footsteps moved across the room directly above us. I could hear doors opening and closing. Someone dragged something across the floor. "Check that room," one of the guards said. I held my breath. The sound of footsteps came closer. Then I heard several pairs of boots moving directly over us. I looked up at the ceiling. The stone above my head suddenly felt very thin. I wondered if they could somehow hear my heartbeat. Mom reached over and held my hand. I tried to stay calm, remembering everything she'd taught me about magic. Don't force it. Don't panic. But staying calm was much harder when Madame Morrible was searching the castle above us. "There must be another hiding place," Morrible said. "Elphaba has always been good at disappearing." I could hear anger in her voice. "Search everywhere." The guards continued moving through the castle. Their footsteps came and went above us, sometimes growing louder and sometimes fading into the distance. At one point, several guards stopped directly above the chamber. I barely breathed. Someone walked back and forth across the floor. Then there was silence. I looked at Mom, and she gave me a small reassuring nod. Eventually, the footsteps began to fade. Voices became quieter. Doors stopped opening. But nobody moved. We stayed there. Five minutes passed. Then ten. Maybe more. Nobody wanted to risk leaving too soon. Finally, Chistery tilted his head toward the ceiling, listening carefully. He waited for a moment before giving Mom a quiet signal. Mom looked at him. "Are you certain?" Chistery nodded. He flew up toward the concealed opening and waited. A few minutes later, he returned. "They are gone," he whispered. "The guards have left the castle." Dad finally let out the breath he'd been holding. "Then I think we've waited long enough." Mom opened the hidden section of the floor, and we carefully climbed back up into the room. Everything looked exactly as it had before, but somehow the castle felt different now. I glanced down at the concealed opening as Mom carefully closed it again until it was almost impossible to see. "Were you scared when you hid down there before?" I asked. Mom was quiet for a moment. "Yes." I hadn't expected her to answer so honestly. "But I knew I had to keep going." I looked down at my hands. "Is this what it's going to be like now?" I asked. "People looking for us?" Mom knelt beside me. "We don't know what will happen next. But we're going to face it together." Dad put a hand on my shoulder. "And we're not going anywhere." I nodded, though I still felt nervous. As we walked back toward the dining room, I glanced once more at the floor where the hidden chamber was concealed beneath our feet. I had learned how to make a book float. I had learned how to move a stone. But tonight I'd learned something else. Sometimes magic wasn't about what you could make happen. Sometimes it was about knowing when to stay still, when to wait, and when to protect the people you loved. And as we returned to our unfinished dinner, I had a feeling that life at Kiamo Ko was never going to be quite as peaceful as it had seemed that morning.