The shoe pointed them south out of town. The driver couldn’t always go in the exact direction the shoe was indicating, but like using a compass, it would get them there eventually. Kate played along, even though it felt silly and a waste of time. She had to hide the fact that she was onto them so she would have an advantage.
It was dark now, but Kate insisted they continue. “It’s easier to see the shoe at night,” she explained, and no one questioned her.
Now they were driving up into the mountains, around curvy roads with sharp drop-offs, and she’d seen Gustaw’s head nod a few times as if he were getting tired. Eventually, the drone of the car put her under, and when she awoke, she was alone in the car, which was parked in front of a hotel. In the dark, she could make out Malwinka speaking to Gustaw, illuminated by light coming from an open door. There was no sign of Lidka. As Kate pushed herself up from her slouched position, the door opened, and Lidka said, “Tonight we sleep here.”
“Where are we?”
“Zakopane in the Tatra Mountains.”
“Do you think we’re close?” Kate swung her legs out of the car.
Lidka looked at her curiously. “Maybe.”
“No, we have to keep going,” Kate said, standing and rubbing her eyes. The sooner they got to him, the sooner the game would be over and he could get the medical help he needed.
“Ask the shoe,” Lidka said, yawning.
“Where is your partner?” Kate asked. The shoe flashed in the direction of the mountain.
“See? The mountain. We’re out of road. We have to wait until light.”
Breakfast was a lavish affair in the dining room. They were the only guests, but you couldn’t tell based on the spread laid out before them. The owner hovered like a hummingbird, flitting here and there around Malwinka, as if afraid to leave any comfort to chance.
When they entered the foyer, backpacks were lined up and waiting for them by the door.
“What is this?” Kate asked.
“Like I said, we cannot go by car,” Lidka said. “The shoe is pointing into mountains where is no road. We have gone far as we can.”
Kate eyed the equipment skeptically. The only hiking she’d ever done was climbing the stairs between floors at the department store. “How steep are these mountains?” Her oxford shoes would be ruined by the end of it all. “Is there a first aid kit in there?” she asked. “With bandages and medicine?” What would her dad need?
Lidka laughed as she slung a pack on her back. “Do not have worries. If Malwinka can hike it, so can you.”
Kate glanced to see if Malwinka had heard, but she was talking to the driver.
“Have a lovely hike,” said the owner of the hotel. “I’ve never gone up myself, but my guests say the views are spectacular.”
The hotelier was correct. The mountains were beautiful. Being a city girl, Kate wasn’t used to such natural majesty. Sure, the beach and the ocean were lovely, especially during a sunset, but there was something about a mountain towering over you to put you in your place, to make you feel small, to give you perspective. Just like Johnny had said when they were looking at the moon and the stars.
Oh, Johnny. What would he say if he knew the predicament I’ve gotten myself into? He’d been nothing but loyal to her, keeping her best interests in mind. He wanted her to do whatever she needed to find her dad, even if he had to let her go. She hoped he’d gotten to Germany safely and sent word back to Italy. But even if he came to look for her, he wouldn’t think to search in the mountains.
It had been hours since they’d seen the last hiker, and the sun had already disappeared behind the tall peaks, threatening to take away the last of their light. She snacked on the nuts from her bag as she contemplated her sore muscles. “Does this trail end at another town?” she asked, eyeing the dirt path dubiously. They’d left the main trail around noon and she was being generous calling the path they were on a trail at all. “It’s getting late.”
“No. There are no more towns,” Lidka said. “But there are caves.”
They’re keeping my dad in a cave? A gust of wind blew through, and she shivered.
Gustaw muttered something, and Malwinka laughed.
Lidka explained. “He says our family has been using the caves for centuries. These were the bandit hideaways. Have you heard the famous name Janosik?”
Kate shook her head.
“He was like Robin Hood. He would steal from rich, but he would share.”
“Let me guess. He was a distant cousin?”
Lidka grinned her answer. “He was a highland hero until he was killed. Or, maybe more so after he was killed. The men dance the zbójnicki in his honor.”
Gustaw put down his pack at a somewhat flat spot. He called out in loud Polish, “Hey boys, let’s dance the zbójnicki.” Then proceeded to prance in a circle. Lidka clapped to provide him the music. He started jumping these wild, high-knee jumps that made Kate think he might fall off the edge or twist an ankle if he wasn’t careful. But he smiled and laughed, cracking his stoic face and looking like a regular guy instead of Malwinka’s bodyguard.
“Enough,” Malwinka called. “It gets dark.” She waited for Gustaw to put on his pack and take the lead.
“We’re really going to sleep in a cave?” Kate asked Lidka.
“Is not so bad,” she said. “We have blankets in Gustaw’s pack, and there are warm sweaters in our bags.”
“Are you always this prepared when you follow the shoe?”
Lidka, misunderstanding Kate’s sarcasm, looked at her funny. “We have never followed the shoe before.”
Did they really think she was so naive? Hopefully, that meant they missed all the branches she snapped once they got off the main trail. She’d marked their path as best she could without causing too much attention to fall on her.
Gustaw lit a lantern, and then ducked into the mountainside, followed by Malwinka.
Her heart skipped a beat. Maybe Dad is in this cave. “Where is your partner?” she asked the shoe. It glimmered in the direction away from the cave. Oh. “Shouldn’t we keep going?” It was so frustrating to not know her dad’s condition. He could have an infection and need that new penicillin that had saved so many soldiers during the war. All they had were basic bandages. He could even slip into a coma or die while they were camping overnight.
“We need sleep,” Lidka said. “Tomorrow we start fresh.”
“Is the cave safe?”
“Safe for now,” Lidka said. “Watch your head and do what you’re told.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing,” she said as Malwinka returned, effectively cutting off their conversation.
They quickly set up camp on the dirt floor. Kate was glad for the extra sweater in her bag and the warm wool blanket she was handed. If they were worried about her keeping warm, they still wanted something from her, which meant she wasn’t in immediate danger. But was her father? They could have him in another cave somewhere, barely protected from the elements. If he were close to death, a cold night like this could do him in. She wouldn’t be surprised if they awoke to frost on the ground.
Though she tried to stay awake to listen in on any more conversations, her body didn’t seem to care she was sleeping on a cold, hard floor. As her muscles melted into the rock, content to have stopped climbing, she drifted to sleep.
She bolted up to the smell of fire and took in her surroundings. She was in a large cave. On the side of a tall mountain. And Gustaw, in his thick plaid shirt, was looking like a lumberjack cooking breakfast. He was roasting some kind of animal over the fire, but Kate didn’t ask what it was. It would taste better if she didn’t know. By the side of the fire he was cooking some of the wild garlic that grew under the trees. When she joined him, he handed her a cup of hot tea. She wrapped her cold fingers around the mug and sipped. After his dancing yesterday, she wasn’t as intimidated by him as before.
This morning, with a clear head, she analyzed her situation while the others finished eating and packing up. She glanced at Lidka as she folded her blanket. They acted so helpful to her, yet they were the ones holding her dad hostage.
As they got in hiking order, this time with Malwinka leading the way, Kate tried to make conversation with Lidka. After receiving several grunts for answers, she gave up. She’d wait until the sun warmed Lidka’s frosty edges before trying again. She wanted to find out how deep she was involved in this. The Kolodenkos would be heartbroken again if Lidka betrayed them.
They rounded a corner, and in the distance a castle rose out of the ground like it was a part of the rock itself. The early morning sun shone, catching the monument in a spotlight against the deep green pines. The castle had multiple turrets, crowned with a cross on the tallest peak. Its hidden setting added a fairy-tale-like quality to it, as if Kate had turned a page in a storybook and there it was.
“What is that?” she exclaimed, digging out Mr. G’s camera.
“The castle,” Lidka said, finally speaking. “Kopciu-
szek’s.”
Kate sucked in a breath. So that’s where they were going. Cinderella’s real castle was maybe an hour’s hike in front of her. She snapped a picture before directing her attention to Malwinka, feeling bold at the revelation. “You knew the shoe was pointing this way. How?”
“Easy. There is nothing else here.”
“Oh.” Kate lapsed into silence as they marched on with renewed energy. Her attempt at leaving a trail of bread crumbs would have to suffice to get her and her father back down the mountain in the right direction.
As they got closer, it became evident that the castle had been abandoned to the elements for many years. The outer wall had been breached in several places, and the stones were now covered in green moss. It was in worse shape than the abandoned castle in Italy. Piles of rotting timber indicated where the stables might have been, and the courtyard itself was a mass of weeds and wildflowers. They climbed the steps up to the front door, and Kate paused. The Kolodenko crest was etched into the lintel above the door. “This really was her castle,” she whispered.
Malwinka nodded. “Kopciuszek moved in after she married the prince.” She snorted. “But they didn’t stay long.”
Kate looked down the valley. “The village is gone, too. Has another taken its place farther down?” She needed to know how far away the closest help was.
“Nie,” Lidka answered. “No one comes this far up mountains. People not like this place. It gives the bad feelings.”
The empty valley reminded her of the razed village Lidka had pointed out earlier. It struck her that so much could change over time. Here was evidence of a once-strong power, and all that was left of it now was a crumbling stone building. “But the land is so pretty.” She pictured Cinderella looking out a window surveying this valley with its tall mountains bordering the rolling green meadow, the wildflowers, the distant forests. Kate tried to imagine fairy-tale cottages and lanes and people milling about selling their wares.
Gustaw stepped out and signaled for them to come in. He had gone through the main rooms lighting wall sconces. And no doubt alerting those within. The entryway was a narrow hall with open doorways on either side.
Once in the castle, Kate, with a flutter in her chest, asked the shoe again. “Where is your partner?”
This time when the shoe flashed, all the light centered on the bottom of the shoe. Her heart caught in her throat. He was so close, underneath them.
“This way,” Malwinka said, taking a torch off the wall and then continuing down the long hall.
“Who owns this castle now?” Kate asked. She ran her hand along the polished marble wall.
“It is state-owned,” Malwinka said through Lidka’s translating. “But once upon a time, the Burgosovs owned it.”
“I thought it was Kopciuszek’s castle?”
“Once upon a time,” Malwinka said, “it was. Our ancestors fought terribly over it. Now it belongs to the people.”
Whereas Lidka used the phrase “belongs to the people” with a touch of reverence, Malwinka said it with irony? Disgust?
Malwinka led them past several rooms, down a staircase, and along another corridor, until Kate was completely lost. She had been trying to create a map in her head, but there was too much to remember, and many of the rooms and corridors looked the same, empty of furnishings, decorations, life. There wasn’t even a nest of field mice in any of the rooms she peered into.
They went down another level, where it was even darker and colder and the stone walls were no longer polished marble. The light from the flickering torch cast strange shadows, and Kate was actually glad Gustaw was with them. Finally, Malwinka stopped at an end room that had a small square cut out in the door. She stretched up on her toes to look in.
“Give me the shoe.” She held out her hand.
“Why? What if I still need it?” Kate said, gripping it tight.
Malwinka wrenched it from Kate’s hand, leaving behind a burning sensation.
Kate’s palms began to sweat, despite the cold air. It was either Dad on the other side of the door or the Burgosov accomplices. And if it were Dad, what condition would she find him in? Would he still be alive? Her senses were on alert.
Malwinka took out a key, swung the door wide, and invited Kate to look in.
“Dad?” she called out tentatively.