"Do you trust me?" she whispered. "Do you really?"
The other girl nodded firmly.
"Then trust me now. Trust me on the fact that you do not want to open your eyes."
Galinda was trembling, but she kept her hands cupped tightly around her face, and let Elphaba's soft hand guide her. The green girl's soft skin was Galinda's only reassurance, with the smell of death in the air, as it was.
"Galinda, do you smell that?" Elphaba asked calmly.
"Yes," she whispered back, and a tear slid down her cheek, "I know what it is."
"Then you know you that still don't want to look? Look now and you know you'll regret it, no matter how curious you are?"
Galinda nodded, now trembling. And she felt Elphaba press her comforting body against her Galinda's own as they pressed through the crowd, still in their nightdresses.
Then there were more voices. Galinda didn't look up or down; she looked straight ahead, into the darkness that her cupped hands provided.
"Misses Galinda and Elphaba!" gasped a voice, that Galinda instantly recognized as Boq, the small munchkin boy. "What has happened?"
"Miss Galinda?" Fiyero.
"Something terrible has happened," Elphaba said stiffly. "Go investigate over there if you must, but I must comfort Miss Galinda." And Galinda felt herself being lowered onto the grass. When Elphaba sat down beside her, Galinda impulsively slipped herself closer to the other girl, and fit herself snugly against Elphaba's lanky form.
"Shh," Elphaba whispered in her ear.
"Who was it?" Galinda choked, full-blown tears leaking down her face.
"Our dear professor," Elphie whispered.
"Not Doctor Dillamond?" Galinda whispered back and Elphaba gave a curt nod that Galinda could only feel.
Galinda didn't feel well. She disentangled herself from Elphaba and pushed over to a bush, retching into it as the unmistakable scent and sight of blood leaked through her. She'd seen the body, the blood, the matted fur. She couldn't take it.
She collapsed onto the grass once more, her voice muffled by her own foolish tears, and said, "He can't be dead. . . ."
And then Elphaba was there again, wiping the salty tears from Galinda's pale face, no matter how much it pained her.
Galinda had never felt so safe.
She was in her shelter.
