It was dark outside. Glinda was staring out the window of her room and let out a deep sigh. It had been three years since Elphaba had died, but she remembered it like it happened yesterday. Every time she closed her eyes, she could hear that horrible scream echoing in her mind. It had become so bad, that she was afraid to sleep. She looked in the mirror in her hand. Dark circles had formed around her eyes, which she hid during the day with crèmes and powders, but they never went away completely.

“Perhaps they are to stay... As a reminder of my beloved Elphie”

She sighed again and opened the window. A fresh breeze blew in to her face and she breathed it in deeply. The air smelled of a summer rain and jasmine. She looked up at the sky, as the moon appeared from behind a dark cloud. The moon was a strangely blue colour. Glinda couldn’t remember if the moon had ever been blue, she had never really looked at the sky at night, as she was having her beauty sleep. But ever since the nightmares had started, she was up a lot more during the night. Sometimes she sat in her room, other times she would venture outside. She was feeling restless again.

“I might as well get up and do something.”

Automatically, she grabbed her wand and Elphie’s Grimmerie and headed out to the North Tower. She had studied the book closely and the words were beginning to make a lot more sense. A lot of people didn’t get her, they didn’t understand what had made her change, but Glinda knew. She knew that moment in time when her whole world had changed. It was when Elphie had come in to her life. That first moment when Elphie showed her what real friendship was, she had been sent on a journey of the soul. She had changed dramatically and she had known real friendship. Then Fiyero had come in to their life and it all changed again. Friends, enemies and friends again. And then that girl had come in to Oz, Dorothy. Glinda sighed again. She knew she had given Dorothy those shoes only out of revenge, to make Elphie hurt as she had hurt her. But in the end it had cost Elphie her life and Glinda couldn’t forgive herself for it. Ever.

She walked up the long stairs to the North Tower. She counted the steps as she always did; it had become a ritual for her.

“193... 194... 195... 196”

She counted all 364 steps. The first time she had went up these steps, she had run up to hide her tears from the people around her. When she came up, she had found a black cloth hanging from the ceiling. The cloth had shimmered in the sunlight, as if it was a living thing. She reached out to touch it and felt a small tingling feeling going up her arms and settling in her heart. What ever the cloth was, it had power. She had stepped away from it and never touched it again. This night the cloth moved gently as if it was breathing. Glinda opened the windows in this room to let the wind pick up the dust and stuffy air and blow it out the other window. The clouds moved before the moon again and darkness fell over the room like a big hand, pressing down. Glinda shivered lightly. She had an eerie feeling something was about to happen on this strange night. A small stream of light entered the room. Glinda turned towards it and saw the blue moon lighting up the cloth. The cloth began to move faster, billowing as if someone was moving underneath it. Glinda swallowed and reach out towards the cloth. A greenish blue shimmered emanated from the cloth outwards and seemed to spread over Glinda’s hand. She tried shaking it off, but it didn’t work. She felt the urge to touch the cloth, even though a small voice in her head was screaming at her to turn around and run away. Glinda moved towards the cloth, one step at a time, ever so slowly. One hand gripped her wand, the other the Grimmerie.

An owl hooted close by, startling Glinda so much, she almost dropped the Grimmerie. She gave a quick glance towards the window. Another cloud passed in front of the moon, clouding the room in darkness. Now Glinda could see a greenish blue shimmer in the room. It hadn’t come from the moon as she first thought; it was actually coming from the cloth itself. She reached for it again and gently touched the edge. The cloth felt warm, warm like something living. It disturbed her a little, but she couldn’t let it go. In fact, she grabbed the cloth with her hand and pulled it closer. It smelled of sweet fragrant roses. She noticed a small thrum going through the cloth. It beat against her hand like a tiny heartbeat. But even that didn’t scare her.

She thought about letting the cloth go, almost wanting to give in to that little voice in the back of her head, but instead she did the opposite; she pulled. She pulled the cloth towards her, hard, ripping it from the ceiling. The cloth floated down and landed on top of her. She tried to scream, but her throat was suddenly so dry, she couldn’t make any sounds. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly, in and out, in and out. When she felt herself calming down, she opened her eyes again. It was just a piece of cloth, nothing more. But that little voice in the back of her head was screaming it would kill us.

“Glinda, don’t be ridiculous! It’s only cloth, it can’t kill you.”

She reprimanded herself. She grabbed the edge of the cloth and pulled. She could see light, almost like light at the end of the tunnel. She stood up and pulled the cloth back. When she looked up, she saw another woman standing in front of her. Her hair fell past her shoulders and she looked fragile. Her eyes had sunken back in her head and they were rimmed with dark circles. The woman looked so sad, so, so sad. She was wearing a dark cloak; it looked like the cloth that Glinda had pulled of the ceiling. The woman looked at her and said nothing. Glinda stepped forward... The woman stepped forward as well. It took Glinda a moment to realise that the woman she was looking at, was her own reflection.

She threw her hands in front of her mouth to hold back a startled cry. This couldn’t be her; this woman couldn’t be her. She stepped closer to the mirror and looked at her reflection. It was her. The grief had taken its toll on her looks. Why had no one said anything? Why had no one told her she was looking this thin? True, she hadn’t looked in a tall mirror in a long time; the only mirror she had let herself look at was the hand mirror she had shared with Elphaba. She reached out towards the mirror, seeing the cloak falling sideways. The sight of the cloak made her stare down at the cloak she was wearing. The cloth from the ceiling was much bigger then the cloak she was wearing, but somehow she knew it was the same cloth. When it had fallen over her, it had taken the form of a cloak and had warmed her. She let her hand trail the cloaks edge. It felt soft and warm and strangely enough, it felt like it was purring. It reminded her of a big cat, like a black panther. As if it had curled up around her to keep her warm and save.

Glinda pulled the cloak a little tighter around her and shivered, as a gust of wind blew through the room. The cloak seemed to respond to her shivering and felt even warmer then before. Glinda sighed in content. It felt good to feel this warmth seeping through her clothes and eventually in to her bones. She hadn’t realised how cold she had been, like a coldness had taken hold of her heart. But with the cloak, she felt better. It was like curling up with your blanket in front of a campfire. The thought startled her. She had never been near a campfire. She had never even been camping as a child. Why had that thought popped in to her mind? She looked back at the mirror again. Her cheeks had a pinkish glow to them and her eyes seemed to have lost a little of the haunted look they had before. Like some kind of fear had left, that she didn’t even know she had. Was it the cloak? It seemed so.

The moon reappeared from behind the clouds and shone in to the room again. This time the beams of light hit the mirror full on. The surface of the mirror seemed to move. Glinda put her wand in her other hand and touched the mirror. When she pulled back, the mirror rippled like water. She waited until the surface was smooth again, before she touched it a second time. This time she pushed further in to the mirror. The mirror moved around her hand like water, but thicker. Suddenly a wind seemed to emanate from the mirror outwards. It blew the hair out of her face and her dress and cloak rippled and billowed frantically with it. Glinda held her breath in anticipation.

A soft glow spread out from above the mirror. Glinda looked up at the statue that was draped around the edge of the mirror. Glinda’s eyes grew wide. She knew that statue; she had seen it before, though it was much bigger. But she couldn’t be mistaken, it was the same one. It was the Time Dragon Clock.

The mouth of the dragon opened and a green mist poured out from it and on to the floor. Glinda tried to scream and run away. But something was pulling on her hand. She looked at her hand in horror. It was stuck in the mirror; to make things worse, it seemed like the mirror was pulling her in. Frantically she tried pulling her arm free, but the mirror was crawling up her arm like tendrils. The wind blew harder and on the wind a soft voice was heard.

“Toto te toto
Tinana te tinana
Au karanga koe
Mäkutu täima mä takiwä

 Ngäkau te ngäkau
wairua te wairua
au karanga koe
te puta kei te nei wähi”

The mirror crept higher and higher, like a snake, curling around her arm and wherever it touched, her skin grew cold. She could no longer feel the warmth of the cloak. Glinda screamed and pulled and pulled and screamed. But her screams were lost in the wind. Suddenly she stumbled. She fell forward. Somewhere in her mind, instinct took over. She made herself as small as possible, curling in to a ball, as she fell towards the mirror. With her other arm she held on tight to the Grimmerie and her wand, pressing it against her chest and pulling up her legs. She would have thought that she would smash in to the mirror and it would rip her body to pieces. But instead it felt more like she fell in something thick and slimy. Her body went numb with the cold. Glinda closed her eyes and held her breath; she wasn’t sure what the mirror was made off and if it was safe. After a few seconds, her world seemed to swirl around her, streaming colours, dark, and light.

When she couldn’t hold her breath any longer, she opened her mouth a little and water poured in. Water? Glinda’s eyes shot open. She was under water! She looked up and saw sand. Her brains processed this fact and let her knew that she was upside down. She kicked her legs until she was right side up and pushed off. She shot upwards towards the light, swimming as fast as she could with her legs and one arm. Her lungs felt like they were shrinking. Her leg muscles were cramping up on her, but she kept swimming with all her might. She would not die! Almost, she was almost at the surface.

At last she broke free and drew in a big gulp of air before she went back under water. But now she had fresh air in her lungs, so it was okay. She wouldn’t die. She came up again and looked around. She seemed to be in a forest; actually she seemed to be in a lake in a forest. She kicked towards the shore and pulled her self up on the sandy beach. With her last strength she climbed as high as she could and spat out the water that she had swallowed. She looked down and saw that she was still clutching the Grimmerie and her wand. Safe. She was safe now. That was all that mattered. She was safe, the book was safe and her wand was safe. Should rest now and let the darkness eat away at her sight. She gave herself over to the darkness and passed out.

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