Hello everyone!

I had this idea literally four days ago and spent all of them writing this little story to finish it before Christmas. it's based on the movie Barbie: A Christmas Carol but I made a few changes for it to fit our beloved two witches. The fic is complete and I'll upload the other chapters very soon.

Merry Christmas!


?Ally? Ally, where are you?" Glinda called into the last room she hadn't checked yet, while trying not to stumble over her equally gorgeous as ridiculously long dress she had chosen for the event. They were already late, as she had taken ages to do her make-up as well as Ally's, and she didn't have time to search the entire house.

Peeking into her own bedroom, which was just as lavishly stocked with Christmas decorations as the rest of their home, she could barely believe her eyes when she did, in fact, spot Ally curled up on her favorite pink beanbag chair.

She arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow. What was Ally doing in here? But instead of outright asking her, the corners of her mouth formed into a mischievous smirk. She carefully tiptoed closer to the young blonde, who still seemed to be unaware of her presence, before lunging forward for her attack.

Ally squealed in surprise when she tickled her sides, quickly jumping out of Glinda's reach.

"Please tell me you haven't been in here this whole time," she said when Ally finally faced her, blue eyes so similar to her own twinkling up at her.

"Well, not forever. Just … a while."

Glinda sighed. "Didn't you hear me calling for you? We're late! The Charity Christmas Ball started like five minutes ago. Everyone else is already there, come on!"

Grabbing her purse from her vanity, which she would absolutely need to clear up tomorrow, she started to walk towards the door. But Ally didn't show the slightest inclination to follow her and sank back into the beanbag chair instead.

"Ally?" Glinda asked, turning back around. "Come on!"

The blonde only turned farther away from her, arms crossed in front of her chest.

Despite her slight annoyance, Glinda couldn't help but chuckle. "Wow. Looks like someone's got the Christmas spirit."

"This isn't Christmas!" Ally shot back, her voice wavering just a little, her bottom lip trembling.

Glinda gestured towards the giant Christmas tree next to them. "Really? Because the calendar says December 24th, Christmas Eve, and pretty much everyone we know is at the Charity Christmas Ball. Where we need to be."

"But I don't want to go to the ball! I want to do what we do every Christmas Eve. I want to stay home and make cookies and drink cocoa and sing carols and open a special present! That's what we do and I'm staying here until we do it!"

Smiling sympathetically, Glinda crouched down to her height, placing one hand on Ally's knee. "Okay, I know you miss what we usually do, but look what we get instead! We'll go to a big party and spend time with our friends and family and support a really good cause. The Ball will raise money for a hospital! It's Christmas!"

But instead of relenting, for which Glinda had hoped, Ally only drew her knees back from her hand. "I hate Christmas!"

For a few seconds, Glinda contemplated on what she should do. Obviously, they should really get going and of course she could always drag Ally to the Ball, but what would that achieve? Only a clomping and pouting twelve-year-old who wouldn't stop complaining for the entire event.

No, she could not and would not do that, even if it meant adding a few more minutes to their lateness.

"I see," she said, standing up and looking around the room. "You know what? I think it's okay if we ran a little late. I want to show you something."

She didn't need to look long, after all, one of her most prized possessions always had a special place atop of the fireplace. Carefully, she picked up the snow globe and carried it over to Ally, who gaped at her with an open mouth and wide eyes.

"Your snow globe! I thought I wasn't allowed to touch it."

Glinda smiled and spun the small wheel on it causing the three figures inside to twirl before handing it to her. "Well, this is a special occasion."

The sweet melody of O Christmas Tree filled the room, and Glinda closed her eyes for just a second, smiling at the memory.

"There is a story behind this snow globe."

Ally looked up at her expectantly. "There is?"

Glinda nodded before settling next to the young blonde on the beanbag chair, although being careful not to crumple her dress too much. There was no need to add to their lateness by also having to take the time to iron it again.

"A story about the beauty of Christmas. And how one girl discovered it, many, many years ago."


The Emerald's City most famous opera house was filled to capacity, guests from all over Oz assembled to listen to one of the most angelic voices in the country. Tickets had cost a small fortune this time, and only the lucky ones had managed to buy one in time, but no one was surprised. After all, Galinda Upland was giving one of her desired Christmas concerts and no one who could afford it would ever dare to miss it.

Right now, she was performing her last number, after having already received a total of three standing ovations. Not a single eye remained dry when the beautiful young star celebrated every Christmas tree ever decorated in song, singing the notes like no one before her ever had. Her voice soared higher and higher, and when the last note slowly faded away in the grand theatre, the world was bewitched.

Galinda waved and blew kisses into the audience, even catching one of the many flower bouquets being thrown her way, until the curtain finally came down. But as soon as she was protected from sight, the spell broke.

Carelessly discarding the bouquet of pink roses she had just received, she didn't care that she almost hit her cat with it, who was lounging on the piano. The bouquet dropped down onto the keys instead, producing a ghastly sounding chord.

"I hate Christmas!" she yelled at her cat who had jumped up from his comfortable spot.


"Hey, that's what I just said!" Ally exclaimed as she scooted a little closer to Glinda.

"Really?" Glinda chuckled, shrugging it off. "Must be a coincidence."


Galinda scoffed, pacing around the deserted backstage area. "Singing those stupid little carols every year. I am a classically trained songstress, I perform opera, Chuzzlewit."

The a little overeaten-looking cat meowed in the affirmative, or at least Galinda interpretated it that way. "Opera. Not some silly little ditties."

The blonde stopped right in her tracks as she passed the table on which her preferred after-performance snacks should be. The table which was empty.

"Where's my tea and crumpets?" she disbelievingly asked into the room, but no one answered. "There's supposed to be a tray of tea and crumpets right here!"

She paused for a moment, before looking around again. "And where's Elphaba? Elphaba!"

But the green woman was nowhere to be seen. "I swear, I can't stand this woman," she said to no one in particular, before calling her name a couple times more, only to get the same disappointing result.


Upstairs in the rehearsal room, where Elphaba and the other members of Galinda's small company were supposed rehearse for the next concert in two weeks, which was already meticulously planned out and perfected, the air was filled with the Christmas spirit.

Pfannee and Shenshen, the two dark-haired acrobats Galinda had hired for her show, were giddily dancing around the Christmas tree, warbling some Christmas song. They were constantly getting in someone's way, especially in Elphaba's, who seemed to be the only serious enough to attend to the task at hand, which was decorating the Christmas tree. Fiyero, the mediocre wizard Galinda had hired for some reason Elphaba still didn't understand, continuously drew weird things out of his hat which he insisted to be tree decorations and Boq—well, the undersized comedian was always getting on her nerves.

Nonetheless, she couldn't help but smile the entire time and had joined in Pfannee and Shenshen's non-stop singing three songs ago. None of them was as talented as the one they were working for, not even close, but if there was one appropriate season to fall into song, it was Christmas.

Aside from that, it was their last evening together before they would all leave to spend the holidays on their own, and although Elphaba would never admit it out-loud, she would definitely miss these incompetent fools. Even Fiyero, although his constant attentions of the kind she most certainly did not welcome became more persistent with each passing day.

She could see the question he hadn't dared to ask yet every time he looked at her, and she already dreaded the moment he would finally have the guts to just ask it. She would have to decline, and although that in itself wasn't the problem, she was perfectly able to live without the awkwardness that would follow.

Perhaps it was for the best that they would have a few days apart, she thought as she handed him the star that was to adorn the top of the tree. It would give Fiyero some time to, hopefully, get over his inexplicable crush towards her.

And, she added silently as she glanced towards the giant portrait of Galinda on the wall, perhaps it was even enough time for her own crush to vanish. Not that she really believed in that, as it hadn't passed for many years now.

Just as she was shaking her head as if to get rid of the picture of Galinda in her mind, the door towards the rehearsal room was being pushed open with more force than necessary.

Elphaba jerked around, only to see the woman she had just been thinking about standing there with a tray in her hand, and she didn't look all too happy.

"Elphaba!" Galinda called out her name as if she was a disobedient dog.

Pfannee and Shenshen immediately stopped dancing and looked up at the blonde almost frightened, and Fiyero was so startled by her sudden appearance that he almost fell off the ladder as he was placing the star on top of the tree.

The green woman didn't have to look over to Boq to know how he was caught in a strange state between drooling at the sight of the gorgeous blonde, whose face was still covered with stage make-up and who was dressed in a beautiful emerald gown, and shitting his pants in fear.

Perhaps, if Elphaba hadn't known Galinda's exquisite beauty as well as her quick temper for many years now, she would be exactly like him, although she did like to think herself owning a tad more dignity.

"Hello Galinda!" she tried to say as cheerily as possible in hope of turning her seemingly bad mood, before crouching down to ruffle her cat's fur. "And hello Chuzzy."

"It's Chuzzlewit," Galinda was quick to correct, and Elphaba could barely refrain herself from sighing. She wouldn't have been able to think of a more pretentious name if she had tried, but Galinda had blocked every single one of her own suggestions. "You know he hates being called Chuzzy."

It was more like Galinda hated someone calling her cat Chuzzy, but Elphaba didn't want to fuel her sour mood over a topic as stupid as this one. Handling her best friend's tantrums seemed to become more and more difficult the more famous and successful she became, and though she loved the blonde even more than she would ever admit, she did grow tired of them.

"And have you seen these?" Galinda went on without even pausing, gesturing towards the tray she was holding in disgust.

"Your crumpets … I told your stagehands to get them for you."

Galinda arched an eyebrow. "Well, but they didn't. I had to ask them. I had to talk to a stagehand and worse than that, look! They put on too much butter! It's pooling! Pooling, Elphaba! That's why it's your job to be there with my crumpets until they get just enough butter and then-"

"Excuse me?" Elphaba laughed in disbelief as she looked down at the blonde's favorite pastry which looked just the same as always. "My job is being your costume designer, not your crumpets butterizer. I do that for you because you're my friend."

And because I can't for the life of me deny you anything, she added in her head.

But Galinda seemed wholly unimpressed. "But still, have a look at them! They're drenched in butter."

Elphaba sighed. She knew the blonde well enough to know that this wasn't about the crumpets at all. No, Galinda was angry for an entirely different reason. "Galinda, I know you prefer it when I'm there to watch you perform, but I couldn't tonight. Don't worry, I know you were brilliant as always."

For a second she thought she saw something familiar flickering through the blonde's sea-blue eyes, a mix of vulnerability and amazement she had always worn whenever someone complimented her. But the expression disappeared before Elphaba could do as much as blink.

"I don't need you to tell me I was brilliant," Galinda snapped, her hand on her chest in feigned shock. "I know I was brilliant. But as my costume designer, I thought you might want to do your job and see the dress you made on stage."

Galinda looked at her challengingly, as if she was openly daring her to object.

But Elphaba wasn't in the mood for her games, not today. "I understand."

Arching an eyebrow, Galinda took a few steps closer into Elphaba's personal space, never breaking their eye contact. "So, what was so important that you couldn't come downstairs?"

"Look around you, Galinda!" Elphaba said as conciliatorily as she could, making a gesture towards the newly decorated room. Despite the others' incompetent help, the rehearsal room looked more festive than ever, and she hoped that the glimmering lights and colorful ornaments would appease her friend. "Look at the tree! It's Christmas Eve! We wanted to celebrate together before we all leave for the holidays."

But when she looked back at Galinda, begging her with her eyes to calm down and let them spend the rest of their time in peace and tranquility, the blonde only scoffed in spite.

"Holiday? Who said anything about a holiday?"

As if a dam had broken, the others loudly began to protest, talking all over each other. Even Boq seemed to have temporarily forgotten how afraid he usually was of Galinda and joined in. But when Galinda didn't even seem to notice their protests, all of their stares turned to Elphaba. Of course, they all thought her to be the most sensible and fit to convince the blonde.

"But Galinda, it's Christmas, surely you don't-" Elphaba started half-heartedly, still overwhelmed by Galinda's sudden revelation of not intending to grant them their few days off.

"Believe me, I am aware it's Christmas," the blonde spat, gesturing towards the festive dress Elphaba had sewed only a few days before. "Which means there's only two weeks until you all get the privilege of being in Galinda Upland's next concert. You should be begging to rehearse."

"But we have rehearsed!" Fiyero protested and despite all the things Elphaba currently didn't like about him, she couldn't help but be relieved that she wasn't the only one trying to speak some sense into her. "We know our parts inside and out. And we all have places to be, and errands to run, and family to visit—please, reconsider."

Galinda crossed her arm in front of her chest. "You don't want to work on Christmas? You're not dedicated enough to this theatre? Fine. Stay home."

Despite her words, something in her tone caused them all to be quiet instead of celebrating their victory. And even before Galinda could go on, Elphaba could read her next words right from her usually so beautiful features, which were now screwed up in condescension and triumph. "But if you do, don't bother coming back. Ever."

With that, she left the rehearsal room to go into her private dressing room instead, throwing them one victorious smirk before slamming the door shut.

For a few seconds no one said a word, but when they did, they all turned towards Elphaba as if she was their last hope. She could see why they would think that way, she and Galinda had been best friends for years, after all, but now she barely even recognized her anymore.

"Elphaba, please, you need to talk to her," Boq begged her, taking her hand. "You've known her forever! She listens to you."

She sharply drew her hand back, but it didn't have the desired effect, as she was instead cornered by Fiyero. "Galinda doesn't make a move without talking to you. You're the only one who can change her mind. And without getting us all fired."

Elphaba swallowed as she stared at their devastated, helpless faces. "I don't know if I can."

"Please," Shenshen said softly, raising her hand to touch her shoulder but apparently changing her mind in the last moment. "Don't you want to go home to your family too?"

She did, as much as it surprised her every time. When she had moved away with Galinda years ago she had never thought that she would miss her family that much, but each year she found herself counting down the days until she could return for the holidays. And this year it wouldn't even be only her father, her sister, Nanny and herself, but also the entire extended family, most of them she hadn't seen since she was a child.

No, Galinda would not take that away. Not from her, and not from anyone else.

Straightening her posture, she made her way towards her best friend's dressing room. "Right. Keep your Christmas plans."

When she was closed the door behind her, Galinda was sitting in front of her vanity, stroking Chuzzlewit's fur on her lap.

"Alright, seriously, Galinda, you cannot-" she rattled on without an introduction, but was almost immediately cut off.

"Galinda doesn't make a move without talking to you," she mimicked Fiyero's words from earlier, turning towards her. "What, they all think I'm wrapped around your little finger?"

Quite the opposite actually, Elphaba remarked in her head, but she could hardly say so to the blonde's face.

Elphaba shook her head. "You're asking them to give up Christmas. They've made plans. I've made plans."

"Bigger plans than my next show?"

"Yes," Elphaba said without beating about the bush. "I'm leaving town tomorrow and going home. My whole family will be there for Christmas dinner this year. That hasn't happened since we were kids! You of all people should know how important that is to me."

Galinda scoffed, tossing her hair back in that arrogant way Elphaba had learned to hate. "You know what should be important to you? Me! When I was discovered, I could have had any costume designer in the Emerald City for my company. No one advised me to keep the green girl. But I insisted on you, my oldest friend."

Elphaba had to bite her tongue not to say anything about the way she brought up her unfortunate skin color, trying to remind herself that she had a mission to fulfill.

"I know you did, but-"

"But you don't care," Galinda completed her sentence for her. "But why am I surprised, after all, I know that when push comes to shove, only one person in the world is there for me. Me. It's like Madame Morrible always said. In a selfish world only the selfish succeed."

Stepping a little closer, Elphaba tried a different approach. "The world's not all selfish. And do you really want to listen to what Madame Morrible said?"

"Madame Morrible was brilliant. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be here right now, and neither would you. But if you can't appreciate that, maybe you shouldn't work here anymore."

Elphaba couldn't help but gape at her in disbelief. After everything they had been through together, she never would have thought that their friendship had come this close to breaking. "Tell me you aren't threatening to fire me!"

The blonde straightened her back, looking at her with challenging eyes. "There's no use pretending, Elphaba. I've seen you backstage sewing things that aren't for the show. I guess working at the top theatre in the Emerald City isn't enough for you. You just had to pick up something on the side."

"What?" Elphaba protested, trying her best to keep her volume down but not entirely succeeding. "No! It's not what you think!"

Pointing towards her with her finger, Galinda didn't even grant her the time to explain. "Prove it and show some dedication! Take down the decorations, stop the damn carols and get ready to work! Tonight, tomorrow and all through the week. Anyone complains, anyone goes home, anyone breathes one word about Christmas, they're out!"

Striding towards the door, Elphaba thought that was the end of the conversation, but just before placing her hand on the door handle, Galinda turned back around.

"And that includes you! Does everyone understand?" She ripped the door open, causing the other members of the company to come flying down into her dressing room as they had all leaned against the door to listen.

She looked down at them in disgust, hands on her hips, daring them to object. But after that last statement, which even included Elphaba, none of them was even remotely brave enough to risk their jobs.

Grinning in triumph, Galinda turned back around to face Elphaba. "Anything else?"

Elphaba only sighed, looking her straight in the eye. "You have no idea how sad it makes me to see you like this. Merry Christmas, Galinda."

She left her dressing room without giving her the chance to reply something to her face, and let her yell her protests about not wanting to hear the word Christmas anymore to her back.

"That was the last time," she called after them, but no one responded. "The next one gets fired on the spot!"


Ally scrunched her nose at that last part of the story. "Galinda is so mean!"

"Oh, you think so?" Glinda couldn't help but smile at her obvious distaste for the heroine of her story. "I guess she can come off as kind of mean, but-"

"No, she is mean! But what I don't understand is … you usually tell me stories about nice girls, girls who are good to everyone!"

Glinda nodded. "Well, that's true. Galinda is someone who's making a lot of mistakes. But sometimes we can learn from people who make mistakes. Don't you think?"

Only shrugging in response, Ally looked back at the snow globe still in her hands. "I don't know."

"Well, we're not done with the story yet, so maybe you'll see what I mean later on. So, they rehearsed all that evening. And that night while Galinda was asleep-"


Galinda was startled awake by a sound that she couldn't identify, but which certainly did not belong into her bedchamber at what probably was around midnight. At first, she thought she had just dreamed it, the muffled sound of something falling over, but when she rubbed her eyes, she saw Chuzzlewit on the foot of her bed staring into the darkness as well.

"Who's there?" she asked somewhat groggily, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. If this was her sloppy maid being terribly late with her duties again and as a result clumsily doing them in the middle of the night, this was the last straw. After everything that happened the evening before, she was in the mood to fire someone, and she would show no mercy.

But even when her eyes slowly grew used to the dark, her maid was nowhere to be seen.

Then all of the sudden, Chuzzlewit jumped about a foot into the air, loudly hissing into thin air. Cat's could see better during the night than humans, Galinda remembered, but before she could contemplate on what exactly it was that had her own cat freaking out like this, she saw the woman herself.

"Madame Morrible?" she choked out as the grey-haired woman approached, gliding across the floor so effortlessly, it looked like she was floating.

This was a dream, she was quick to reassure herself, but somehow it all felt too real to be but a figment of her own subconscious imagination.

"Galinda!" the woman said, every syllable stressed the exact way the blonde remembered. "Yes, it is me."

She opened her mouth to say more, but as she got even closer to Galinda's king-sized bed, she suddenly tripped and fell, the blonde's entire hat-stand tumbling down with her. But how could that be? She had been several feet away from the hat-stand, how could she have stumbled over it?

Galinda squinted to take a closer look at the woman who raised her since she was only a small child. Not much had changed about her, grey hair neatly stacked up on her head and always wearing a stern expression. It was a mask she never took of; she even looked like that when she slept. And yet something was off about her. She looked almost translucent as if she was only half here and half in some other world. And were those chains wrapped around her body, the ends floating in the air?

In that moment Galinda decided that it just had to be a dream, but from what it looked like, it seemed closer to a nightmare.

She still hadn't moved one inch since her foster-mother's fall, and when she looked up from the floor and reached out one hand as if she wanted her to help her up, all she wanted was to run screaming into the other direction.

"Don't just sit there gaping, child!" Morrible scolded her in that unmistakable tone she had always used, and which promptly made her feel like a ten-year-old again. "Didn't I raise you with any manners? When your dear Madame's ghost comes to visit and gets tripped up in her chains, you help her!"

"O-of course," Galinda stammered as she hurried to stand up, unconsciously smoothing the wrinkles which had formed in her nightgown to keep a meticulous appearance. "I must have forgotten."

Only reluctantly she took the hand Madame Morrible offered her, helping her up, and when she did, her touch was firm but unexplainably cold. She tried to ignore the shivers that went right down her spine, but still couldn't help but retreat her hands as soon as the other woman was up on her feet again.

"Much better," Morrible said instead of a thank you, stretching her limbs. "Now. How about you take a walk with me."

She didn't wait for Galinda to answer and only grabbed her hand to drag her along, but after a few steps one of her chains got caught in the furniture again. Galinda could barely wrest herself free from her grip to reach her mirror in time and prevent it from falling over and shattering into a million pieces.

"Perhaps walking isn't the best idea," Morrible conceded after that, now remaining firmly at one spot.

"I think you'd have an easier time if you took off some of your-" Galinda paused to think of a word that wasn't as insulting as pointing out the obvious chains, "jewelry."

She immediately tried to grab one of the chains, if only to protect the rest of her furniture from that woman, but Morrible instantly backed away. "No, Galinda! These chains don't ever come off. They're chains I've formed in life. Chains of selfishness."

Galinda knitted her brows together in confusion. "But you've always told me that selfishness is good! In a selfish world only the selfish succeed."

"You still remember that after all these years?" Morrible asked almost too surprised, given the many speeches she had given Galinda during her childhood containing that particular phrase every time. "I suppose I should be flattered. You really did care for me, huh?"

"Of course, Madame Morrible. You raised me," Galinda pointed out. If this was really her mind making this up in the middle of the night, the quickest way out was agreeing with her foster-mother in everything she said. It had been like that in life, why would a dream be any different?

Morrible patted her cheek the same way she had always done. "Like a true daughter. And you have become everything I dreamed."

"Thank you." Galinda smiled smugly. If it stayed this easy, it shouldn't be long until her subconsciousness stopped producing these weird images and let her rest easy for the rest of the night.

But just as she was about relax and say goodbye to this strange spitting image of her foster-mother, her next words turned everything upside down.

"Which is terrible!" Morrible spat, forcing up her chin with her ice-cold hand. "So tonight, I want you to change!"

Galinda couldn't believe her ears. "What?"

"I want you to change, child, change. And not just your nightgown, although with the money you make, you could afford something so much better."

Galinda scoffed, ready to throw some witty comment back, but Morrible didn't even give her the chance. "I want you to change your life, Galinda. Forget everything I told you. It is not a selfish world. That was my excuse for not having the talent to become a star myself. But when I see what it did to you-"

She gestured towards her as if she had become nothing more than a street rat instead of Oz' most famous opera singer. As if she hadn't worked all her life to become exactly what Morrible had always wanted for her – beautiful, talented, successful.

Galinda took a few steps back. "You are not Madame Morrible. And you're also not her ghost. You're not even a ghost at all!"

"Not a ghost?" the grey-haired woman repeated in disbelief, looking down at herself. "I'm floating two feet above the ground, how much ghostlier do you want me to be?"

At that, Galinda glanced around the room until she spotted an umbrella leaning against her dresser. Before Morrible, or the woman who was pretending to be her, could react she waved the umbrella over the top of head in hope of exposing the ruse as quickly as possible.

The longer she was standing and walking and talking, the less it was feeling like a dream. But what else did that leave her with? There couldn't be a real ghost visiting her, especially not one who betrayed all of Morrible's principles drummed into her.

But the umbrella seemed to glide over the top of her head with ease as if she was just waving through thin air. No strings, no invisible wires or anything else that would expose this as a trick.

"Stop that! What are you doing?" Morrible exclaimed as she lowered her head in worry of getting hit with the umbrella.

"What's holding you up?" Galinda asked back, still waving it through the air. "Whatever it is, it's a good trick."

She had to force herself to stop even though it so obviously didn't get her anywhere. If it really was a trick, and she ever found out who was behind it, she would make things very unpleasant for them.

But instead of confessing it all or anything like that, Morrible seemed to have the audacity to be offended, arms crossing in front of her chest. "This is the last time I visit you from the afterlife, I can promise you that."

"The real Madame Morrible would never say she was wrong!" Galinda yelled after her as she turned around as if she was really getting ready to leave. "She raised me perfectly! She raised me to be a star!"

Her foster-mother whipped around at that, hovering closer until their faces were only inches apart. "I raised you to be a perfectly selfish ninny!"

Backing off just a little, she looked her sternly in the eyes. "But now I have the chance to make it right. I'm sending you three spirits tonight. Listen to them, Galinda. If you're lucky, they'll help you change your life before you end up like me!"

Galinda only blinked once – the only time she needed to gather the courage to give that woman a piece of her mind – but when she opened her mouth, Morrible, or the impostor, or the ghost, or whoever had visited her in her bedchamber had left, vanished into thin air.