Chapter 9

It was nearing nine fifteen at night and neither Elphaba nor Glinda had been able to locate their 11-year-old daughter. They met back up at the last place that they had run into each other.

"Have you seen her?" Glinda asked frantically as her eyes shifted down every hallway.

"No." Elphaba said dejectedly. Had Ella run away because of her? She was berating herself for not following after her when she had been so upset earlier. Elphaba wished that she could have gotten over herself sooner, maybe those few minutes she spent crying would have made a difference in locating Ella.

The blonde's hand went up to her hair. She grabbed at the curly locks trying to kick-start her brain into thinking. "Where the hell would she have gone?" Glinda was starting to lose her control. She hadn't thought anything of it when Ella had missed dinner but after searching for nearly forty-five minutes and still not coming up with anything she knew something was amok. This wasn't like her daughter to just disappear. Yes Ella had been upset over the years but she had never run away. Run away…that's a thought that had never occurred to the blonde before now. What were they going to do if Ella ran away? Her fears began to take hold as she thought about what could happen to her daughter.

"Glinda calm down." Elphaba offered as she reached out a hand to comfort the blonde. She could see her starting to hyperventilate and wanting to prevent this at all costs. As soon as her hand touched her wife's shoulder the blonde broke down and began to cry.

"Wh…where could she be?" Glinda cried as she allowed herself to be comforted by her wife. It wasn't like them to touch anymore but she didn't care. All she cared about was finding her daughter.

"I don't know Glin." Elphaba used Glinda's pet name to try and soothe the crying girl across from her. It still tore at her heart to see Glinda so upset, even to this day. "I think we should go rouse the guards." Elphaba offered up the most logical solution. "Maybe they'll have better luck finding her."

At this Glinda shook her head as she pursed her lips to stall the sobs about to take hold. She had to pull it together and locate her daughter. "You're right." She agreed as she pulled away from Elphaba's touch. Her shoulder instantly felt colder the second the limb was removed. A frown graced her features.

Elphaba herself was too upset to notice the subtle way Glinda's face has changed. She didn't have time to worry about trivial things. They had to go wake Tahj and get his guys to track down their daughter. She might be hiding in some part of the castle neither of them had thought to look. She prayed to the unnamed Gods that that was the case.

XXX

Ella started to stir just before midnight. The petite light-haired brunette looked around her surroundings trying to gauge where she was. Nothing looked familiar to her, although it was dark and hard to see anything. What she did notice though was the smell. It smelled of rotten eggs and metal. Her nose crinkled up at the potent stench. "Where am I?" Ella thought to herself as she continued to look around for any sign of a human being. She was met with nothing. Sighing she tried to move her hand up to her face to move some hair out of her face. When she felt resistance on her arms she looked down to see that her arms and legs were bound. The girl's eyes immediately shot open.

"Well, well, well, look who is finally awake." A voice called from within the shadows. Ella struggled against her bindings as memories from before flooded her mind. She wasn't in the castle anymore. She had been kidnapped. The thought was too much for the little child as she began to cry out.

"Who are you? What do you want? I want to go home." The eleven year old yelled into the void. She continued to struggle with her bindings to no avail. Those suckers were on tight and they weren't coming off.

"You won't ever see home again, bitch." The voice from before emerged from the shadow. Ella looked up to see that it was a man in his early 30s it appeared talking to her. He had a shaggy hairdo and unkempt beard. His clothes hung off of him as if they were meant for someone two times his size. The man made his way over to where the little girl lay on the ground.

Ella began to cry harder as she tried to shrink back into herself. This man was getting closer and she was scared of what he was going to do. Her parents had warned her of people who looked like this. They often lived on the streets and stole from people.

"Are you scared of me?" Dexter smiled devilishly as he saw the girl retreat into herself. He began to laugh when a sound interrupted his thoughts. Someone was coming.

"Dex, who you talking to?" Astor walked in from the tunnel kicking rocks along her way. She didn't make the most graceful entrance.

Dexter turned around and rolled his eyes at his sister. "Who do you think I'm talking to? It's not like there is a huge crowd down here." Dexter said sarcastically. Why did Astor always have to come in at the most inconvenient times? Initially Dexter was glad to have his sister on board with this project. I mean it was her dad that was also murdered because of Elphaba and Glinda. She had as much of a right at vengeance as he did. Over the last year or two she had become increasingly annoying though. Once, almost a year and a half ago Dexter had been working his magic and had controlled Elphaba's emotions to make her fly off the handle. He was enjoying watching the showdown between the green witch and her wife when Astor walked in and distracted him from his spell. That little stunt cost him almost a year longer of preparation. Had his spell not been interrupted that night he could have sworn that the two would have divorced on the spot or worse, one woman would have killed the other. His bet was on Elphaba. She always seemed to be the easiest to control. He had controlled the two women over many years. He considered himself the ultimate puppet master. He said dance and the two women would dance.

"Oi!" His sister called shaking him from his thoughts. "Don't get snarky with me mister. I'm as much a part of this as you."

Dexter rolled his eyes. He wouldn't have to put up with his sister for much longer. Once the deed was done and Elphaba and her whole family was destroyed then they could finally part ways. He would have vengeance and be a free man.

Ella watched this exchange between the two. The woman had similar shaggy hair but the color was slightly darker than the mans. She wore loose fitting clothes as well although hers at least were a little more colorful.

"So what do we do now?" Astor decided to ignore Dexter's eye roll. Once this was done with she wouldn't have to deal with him. Walking closer to the child she crouched down until she was eye level with the girl.

Ella froze as soon as Astor got within spitting distance of her. Her tears had stopped by this point but her fear had kicked in at a higher notch. She was almost shaking with adrenaline.

Astor looked Ella up and down before pulling something out of her pocket. Ella tried not to look but she caught sight of something flashing out of the corner of her eye. She finally relented and looked down to see the woman had pulled out a small switchblade. Trying to back further into the wall she ended up hitting her back against a sharp rock. She let out a small groan as she tried to decide what to do next.

"HELP!" Ella screamed as she figured she'd give it a go. She hadn't tried screaming yet. Maybe they were close to civilization and she just didn't realize. Although everything told her that they were not. "HELP!" She continued to scream until a wet rag came up to her mouth. She tried to close her mouth but it was too late. The gag was in place. The eleven year old tried not to think about what the rag was soaked in. She only had one solid guess because of the type of place they were in. Her tears started back up.

"Look what you made her do." Dexter shot daggers towards his sister. Yes they were underground and about a half mile to any actual exit but he still didn't want to take the chance. Not when everything needed to go exactly to plan.

Astor ignored her brother once again as she laughed at the expression on the child's face. She enjoyed seeing the fear in the girl's eyes. "What? Were you screaming at this?" Astor asked innocently as she moved the knife in between her hands. Ella never took her eyes away from the blade.

"Astor!" Dexter yelled a little louder this time. "Now isn't the time." He was annoyed with his sister for being so stupid.

Astor turned round to look at her brother. "You said give her hell. What do you think I'm doing?" The woman sighed as she got up from the ground and strode back towards her brother. Ella remained motionless on the ground locked in some kind of panic attack.

"It's late. They probably just realized she's missing. We need to be on our A game." Dexter spoke with intensity. His sister walked to the other side of the tiny room by the tunnel to get some 'fresh air'. "I doubt they will send out a search party in the dark tonight. So tonight will be our last night to sleep peacefully until this is all over."

"Right…" Astor agreed cautiously. "And why won't they send out a party in the dark?" The woman crossed her arms as she looked towards her brother.

"Didn't you listen to anything I said earlier? Elphaba and Glinda are going to spend all night fighting about what to do. I guarantee it. They can't do anything without fighting." Dexter laughed more for his own benefit. "Plus it's dark and late. They won't send out a search party until the morning."

Astor could agree that Dexter's logic was sound. "All right, then lets sleep." She agreed as she glanced towards the child. "And what about her?"

Dexter sighed, he had told his sister the plan a million times. "We wait until they come looking for her. That will leave the castle unprotected. All the guards will be away." He told his sister as he thought fighting about her not remembering would take too much time.

"Right." Astor approved. "Well let's go then so I can get out of this stench." She started towards the tunnel exit before turning around to look at Ella. "You think she'll be okay down here?" Her head nodded indicating the child they had abducted.

"Even if she isn't who the hell cares." Dexter laughed as he followed his sister out of the tunnel. He didn't care if Ella lived or died. She was only a distraction for the guards to leave the castle. He had no intention of coming back to this tunnel once things started.

Ella watched as the two figures retreated down the long tunnel. She watched until she could no longer see the two. She wanted to scream for help but her mouth was gagged. She wanted to run away but her hands and feet were bound. She wanted to live but she didn't think she would. She cried as she thought about her family. She missed her mother. Glinda would know what to do at a time like this. She wanted to be held. She was eleven years old but she wanted to be held like she was three again. She thought of Elphaba. Guilt took hold of her as she thought about the last things she said to her adoptive mother. Would Elphaba even bother looking for her after the way she treated her? She thought about the twins and how she had become a tattletale on them lately getting them in trouble. She sweared never to tattletale again if she made it out of here alive. The man was probably right though. Her parents would fight too long about how to approach this issue and waste valuable time finding her. She had never known her parents not to fight. They never agreed on anything. The child continued to cry until she eventually wore herself out. Slouching against the cement wall for support she resigned herself to the fact that her parents wouldn't find her. No one was coming. She wished Elphaba had stayed dead and now she was the one who was going to die. Karma really had a way of rearing its ugly head.

XXX

"Tahj! Tahj wake up!" Pounding at the guard's door at ten o'clock woke him from his sleep. He had been working early morning shifts lately and had been going to bed around eight every night. "Tahj please." The man heard as he stumbled out of bed leaving his wife behind.

"What in the world?" The head guard thought as he pulled on a robe before opening the door. Who could be banging on his door at this time of night?

"Oh thank Oz!" Glinda and Elphaba both sighed as their friend opened up his door finally. The look of utter confusion played across his features. "And what brings you ladi…" Tahj was interrupted before he finished his sentence.

"Ella is missing!" Elphaba desperately said as she looked towards Glinda for confirmation. The blonde shook her head frantically.

"Are you sure she isn't hiding?" Tahj became concerned. He stepped out further into the hall closing the door so his wife could continue sleeping peacefully.

"Yes, we've searched the whole castle." Glinda began to tear up again. What could have happened to her baby girl? Just this morning they were getting ice cream together.

Tahj had never seen either of his friends so distraught. "Sound the alarm." He ordered as he looked towards the two women. "I don't want anyone entering or exiting this castle without me knowing about it. I'll assemble a team to look for them immediately." Tahj nodded and went back into his room to change.

Glinda and Elphaba were once again left by themselves to wait. Grief consumed them until Glinda finally looked towards the green woman. Her tears turned to anger. "This is all your fault! If she hadn't have been so mad at you she might not have run off!" Glinda seethed as her usual pale tone turned reddish.

"My fault?" Elphaba was taken aback. "Last I checked it took two people to have a divorce." The green woman couldn't believe what Glinda was insinuating. Yes she had thought initially that she played a part in Ella's disappearance but the longer she thought about it the more this didn't seem right. Ella wouldn't just run away like that.

"Whatever Elphaba. Excuse me while I go look for my daughter." Glinda stormed off in the direction of the guard tower. She needed to sound the alarm.

Before Elphaba could respond Tahj opened the door and joined the green woman. "Let's go find your daughter before someone else does."