To my lovely readers:

I don't own anything you recognize in this story(AKA Shawn & Gus; Wicked), but if I did, I would be so elated with my life.

"C'mon, Gus, best... thirteen out of twenty-five?" Shawn still couldn't believe that he lost twelve video games out of the past twelve against Gus. He HAD been in the office all night practicing while Gus caught up on his next presentation. "The guy who works in pharmaceuticals SHOULD NOT beat the free spirit. ESPECIALLY not if the free spirit used every cheat code he knew while the other guy wasn't looking. It goes against nature! Like flavored water and straight guy clothing designers!"

Gus raised an eyebrow and chose to ignore the 'free spirit' thing. Shawn was Shawn, after all. "You used the cheat codes? Shawn... what did we say before we started our video-gaming battle?"

"... Don't forget to get the chips?"

"Not that! About cheat codes!"

"Technically, you just said not to cheat. And cheat codes aren't cheating; that's using knowledge to your advantage. Why are you so angry, Fussy Gussy? You won anyway!"

"First, Shawn, they're called cheat codes. Not using knowledge to your advantage codes. And I'm mad 'cause you breached our agreements!"

"'Breached our agreements?' Who talks like that, your grandma?"

Luckily for both Shawn and Gus, a knock on the door broke the silence. Then the door was flung open and a girl yelled, "WAS THAT SO HARD?" Gus jumped slightly but quickly composed himself. Shawn had no real change of expression.

The girl who yelled walked in, flopped on the couch which Shawn had just stood up from, brushed her short dyed-bright red hair out of her face, and pulled a book out of her backpack. Before she began reading, she smiled at Shawn and Gus and introduced herself with, "Hello. My name's Ophelia. I don't want to be here and I don't believe in psychics. Talk to Lily for further information."

Gus and Shawn exchanged a look. That girl couldn't be older than fifteen. Another girl with long dark brown hair was at the door. She had the expression of a deer in the headlights; her light brown eyes were very wide and she looked like she wanted to hide behind a couch or something. "Ahm... well... um... Hi...?" Both girls looked like they just rolled out of bed; their clothes were mussed and their hair was in utter disarray. They also both were slightly damp.

Ophelia glanced up from her book. "Lily, get in here and tell them why you're here."

Gus looked a little confused- but only a little. "Normally people make appointments, you know."

Lily immediately started stammering about coming back later. Ophelia looked at her symphathetically and then turned her evil glare to Shawn and Gus. "Do you know what I went through because Lily wanted to come here?" she asked. Lily looked like she'd rather be anywhere but where she was at the moment. "I camped out front of here all night because she wanted to see when you two 'psychics'," -there she added air quotes- "got in. THEN sprinklers came on, which was really strange, because there wasn't even any grass or plants outside." Shawn shrugged apologetically and said, "Well, it might have stopped a burglar! A hydrophobic burglar!" Gus gave Shawn the "we're talking about this later" look. Ophelia rolled her hazel eyes and continued. "THEN Lily sat outside for about an hour deciding whether or not to knock."

"Twenty-four minutes," Lily murmured.

"Twenty-four minutes, then. But after all that, you're not telling us we need an appointment!" Finished, Ophelia reclined and continued reading. After a couple of seconds of everyone staring at her, Shawn and Gus turned to Lily.

"So..." Shawn began, "Twenty-four minutes?"

Lily nodded, blushing more than ever. "Yeah... Um... Should I be talking about my case-thing?"

"No," Gus said sarcastically. Lily blanched.

"Oh. Uhm. Well-"

"It was sarcasm, Lily. Tell them what's going on," Ophelia said, sounding half bored and half symphathetic.

"Okay." Lily took a deep breath and said, "Umm... We're in a play, and..."

Shawn looked at his desk, where he had thrown all of his mail in a disorderly pile. The third item down was a poster for a musical. "Wait!" he yelled. Lily jumped back a little. Ophelia glanced up and decied it was almost interesting enough to stop reading for. Almost.

"I'm getting... Nicholas Cage? No..." He started pacing back and forth, snapping his fingers. "A movie... The Wicker Man, wicker baskets, scripts, the green witch, all scary... WICKED! Are you by chance in Wicked, the musical that will be performed at... five o' clock in... two days?"

Lily looked amazed. "That was incredible."

"Incredible like paint..." Ophelia commented from the couch.

Shawn turned to Ophelia. "I've been having feelings of skepticism from you since you came in here, and it's seriously blocking the auras."

"Oh no, the auras are blocked! Whatever shall you do!" Ophelia mocked.

"Okay, that's it," Shawn yelled. "I challenge you to a duel!"

" I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE!"

Gus and Lily sighed and buried their heads in their hands simultaneously.

Strangely, it was not Gus who called the complete idiocy of having a duel. It was Lily.
"C'mon, guys. First off, if either of you's die, I'm in a spot of trouble and will most likely be questioned by the police. Not the band- the ones you two-" pointing at Shawn and Gus, "-work for from time to time. At least a quarter of them probably consider you part of the force, so they would probably go crazy with their questioning techniques. Second, what are you going to duel with? Plastic forks? And most importantly, who's gonna clean up all that blood? So, for now, let's all sit down and forget our differences-"

"And sing a rousing chorus of Kumbayah?" Ophelia and Shawn said this at the same time. They both gave each other death glares.

Gus decided to change the subject. Quickly. "So... what are you here about? Due to... interruptions..., I don't think we ever actually figured that out."

"Oh, yeah. Well. Basically... I'm currently a lead part in a play where someone seems to be attempting to bump off the lead parts."

Shawn turned to Gus. "Dude!," he began incredulously, "that girl has you in nutshelling!"

Lily resumed her deer-in-the-headlights look.

"Uhm... Uh... Look. Could you guys just come to our dress rehearsal tonight? We'll explain everything there. Please? Just humor me." She had added the last part after seeing Gus's expression. "Unless- oh. Probably you guys have something to do. After all, it must be pretty busy running a psychic detective agency... I don't mean to impose. If you could drop by, I'd be eternally grateful and whatnot, but I'll understand if you can't and- Oh, I'm rambling now aren't I? I'm sorry!" She looked like- nay, she was on the verge of tears.

"Okay, calm down, alright?" Gus said. He'd never been all that comfortable around crying people, especially teenagers. "We'll try to make it. We're not offended by anything you just said, and it's fine that you were rambling." Gus tried to remember what else the high school guidance counselor had done to calm down those who cracked during midterms. He came up blank and sent a pleading look at Shawn. Shawn graciously swooped to the rescue.

"Chill, alright? We're gonna be there. What time is your rehearsal and where is it?"

"Couldn't the spirits tell you that?" Ophelia obviously wasn't a morning person.

"The spirits can't spell everything out for me, you know!" Lily, realizing that Shawn and Ophelia would soon be back on the 'duel' topic, quickly scrawled down the address of her school.

"It starts at five, but lead parts such as Glinda," she motioned to herself, "and Elphaba have to be there early, like, around fourish. 'Phelia normally comes early because she likes to ridicule the guy leads before their girlfriends come. Meet you in the hallway out side of the gym?"

"... Sure...," Shawn agreed, though he had no idea what Lily just said. Lily looked highly relieved, though, so it was alright. He'd just ask Gus what she said later.

"C'mon, 'Phelia. Let's go get some breakfast."

"I'm picking the place!" Ophelia yelled, even though she was only a few yards away from Lily. Gus suspected she did it to cause Shawn's eardrums severe damage. Good thing he wasn't too nearby, or Shawn would be plotting the perfect crime.

"Thank you two so much. I'll see you at four!" With that, Lily and Ophelia departed.