CHAPTER THREE: An Uncomfortable Prediction
Fiyero decided to take Elphaba to a magic show. Boq had dragged him to one once and he'd found it intriguing. He was wondering how she, with her sorcery classes, would interpret such a show. Not wanting to appear too eager and scare her off, he arrived at her dorm a minute later then he said he would. He could hear Elphaba and Glinda arguing behind the door. Their voices hushed when he knocked.
Glinda opened the door. "Come in."
He stepped into the room.
"Sit down."
He sat down at Glinda's desk and looked over at Elphaba, who sat in front of the only mirror in the room, her hair curled and rouge on her cheeks. "Good evening."
"Good evening."
"I have some questions for you before I let you go with her."
"Glinda!" Elphaba jumped out of her seat. "What is wrong with you? Leave the poor boy alone."
"No! I'm not letting you go out with just anyone. You are my best friend. I need to know that he'll be good to you."
"You know him already, Glinda. Just let it go."
"He barely talks to me!" Glinda crossed her arms across her chest. "What are your intentions with my roommate?"
"I want to take her out, maybe kiss her. I want to treat her nicely. And we'll see what happens from there." Fiyero shrugged.
"Stop interrogating him, Glinda!"
"It's fine. She's worried about you. That's sweet of her."
"And you will not touch her in any way she does not want?"
"Of course not!"
"Where are you taking her?"
"It was going to be a surprise."
"How romantic! All right, you can go."
"You look lovely," Fiyero told Elphaba.
Elphaba's face fell and she took a step away from him. "You shouldn't have said that, Fiyero."
"What did I do?"
Glinda intervened. "She doesn't take compliments well, Fiyero. She doesn't like them."
"But she does like chocolates..." Fiyero thrust the box he'd been holding into Elphaba's hands as she rose.
Elphaba looked at him, and he could tell she was trying not to smile. "You did say that you'd remember." Elphaba put the box on her desk. "I'll save these for later."
Glinda gave him a "thumbs up" signal from behind her roommate. "Well, you two have fun now! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
As they entered the brisk night air, Fiyero reached for Elphaba's hand. She pulled back. "Is something wrong?"
"Not in public," Elphaba looked nervously at the few people still wandering the campus. "Not yet."
"That's fine." He didn't understand her reasoning, but he let it go as he led them towards the theater.
"So you really aren't going to tell me where we're headed?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
"Not even a hint?"
"Well, it might seem kind of childish, but it's always been fascinating to me. We're about there, actually."
Elphaba looked around. "A magic show?"
"It's not just a magic show. They also have a psychic and a few other things. I've only been once, but it was quite interesting."
"I'll have to trust your judgement."
"Now come on. The show starts soon. Glinda delayed us a little."
"What about tickets?"
"I already have them." He produced two tickets from his pocket.
Elphaba sighed. "How much did they cost?"
"I won't have you do this. At least let me treat you this once. It's our first date, Elphaba. Let me take care of it." He insisted.
"Fine."
He took her hand and this time she didn't withdraw. They walked inside and took their seats, whispering about classes until the show began. A magician appeared, did some standard tricks and continued to advance to more advanced magic. However, anyone who thought too much about it knew it was fake. A person who could truly do such advanced sorcery wouldn't be working as a simple show magician. After about half an hour of this, the announcer returned to the stage.
"Madame Yackle will now take the stage and tell fortunes."
He saw Elphaba lean forward, obviously intrigued.
The audience could barely see the face of the woman who took the stage. The only way they knew she was a woman at all was from what the announcer had said. "Whose fortune shall I seek tonight?" Her voice was a cackle.
Several audience members raised their hands eagerly.
The woman shook her head as she looked out at them. "No. I shall choose my own… victim, so to speak." An old, wrinkled finger beckoned to the audience. "You, girl, come up on the stage. Let me look at your hands." She was pointing at Elphaba.
He looked at her. She was frozen in her seat. "It's just a show, Elphaba. Go up there. I'm sure she means no harm."
Elphaba bit her lip. "I don't like this."
"What are you afraid of, girl?" The old woman called.
Elphaba stood up, then, clearly not one to turn down a challenge. She stepped on the stage and the audience murmured once the light shone on her green skin. "Is this what you wanted?" She gestured to herself.
"I did not mean to draw attention to your skin. I feel an energy coming from you. Not just you. That boy beside you, too. Now, sit across from me."
Elphaba sat stiffly across from the woman and placed her hands on the table.
The old woman took her hands, tracing her fingers along them slowly. "Very interesting. That boy. You're here with him, are you not?"
"People don't usually go to shows by themselves."
"You've got an attitude, don't you?"
"What's it to you?" She demanded.
"Nothing. It's just that your lifeline, it is very strange. It goes off in two different paths."
Elphaba looked at the woman uncomfortably. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"That boy you're here with, he has a place in both of them."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure."
"Soon you will be faced with a choice. You will either abandon that boy or you will stay, but have to change your ideals to be less drastic."
Elphaba pulled her hand back. "And I'm sure you're going to tell me which one is the right choice."
"I can't tell you that. But I can tell you that you live longer if you stay."
"That's enough of this. My fate has nothing to do with some date I'm going on because of a stupid game of truth or dare. This is ridiculous." Elphaba stood and began to leave the stage.
"That's what you think, young one, that is what you think. I would like another, more willing energy to approach the stage. Young man?" As Elphaba sat down, the old woman eyed Fiyero.
"You might as well. It's just a show, right? That's what you told me." Elphaba nudged him out of his seat.
He supposed she was just happy to get the focus off of her. Fiyero approached the stage and lazily held his hand out to the woman.
The woman gasped. Fiyero couldn't tell if it was for show or genuine. "Your lifeline does the same. Except one of them is much shorter, young prince."
Fiyero blinked. How in Oz did this woman know he was a prince? He heard Elphaba cough from the audience.
"And again, this young woman has a place in both of them."
He leaned in, not knowing why.
"You will spend nights together, either legitimately or not."
Fiyero sat there, strangely enthralled.
"If she chooses to leave you, you will meet her again. But your nights will not last a year, and you will be dead come the end."
Fiyero bowed his head.
"Can you choose another couple to pick on?" Elphaba stood up in the audience.
The old woman turned towards her sharply. "If you so desire. I'm afraid that no one else in the audience has a future so interesting as yours." She dropped Fiyero's hand. "My time on this stage is up. If you two ever do wish to know more, you know where you can find me."
Fiyero stumbled back into the audience and reached Elphaba, who was grabbing her bag. "I'm sorry. That got out of hand."
"Sorry for what? That woman was putting on a show and she dragged you into it. It's her fault."
"The last time I was here, all she did was look at a crystal ball and make general predictions. That did not happen. That was extremely weird."
"It certainly was." Elphaba was walking ahead of him, headed back towards the dorm.
"Elphaba, please, slow down." He grabbed her hand and drew her towards him. "I did not mean for tonight to make you so uneasy. I wanted us to have a good time. It appears it didn't turn out that way. Let me make it up to you."
"No more magic shows?"
"No more magic shows," he agreed. "Let's get some ice cream."
"I never want to do that again, Fiyero."
"I can't blame you. I really meant for this whole thing to be a lot different. Next time it will be. I promise."
She turned to him and he saw a vulnerability in her eyes, fear. Had what the woman said gotten to Elphaba? "Like I said, it's not your fault it got crazy."
The rest of the night went much more smoothly. As they reached her room, he leaned in the doorway. "I enjoyed spending time with you."
She looked at her feet. "I did, too. At least after the whole stupid magic show thing."
He brushed a wisp of hair from her face and kissed her softly. He felt her body press against his willingly. Fiyero clutched her waist, trying hard to keep his hands from going anywhere else. He broke the kiss sooner than he would've liked, but they were in public. "I'll see you in class and we'll talk about what we want to do next time, alright?"
She nodded and began turning her key in the door. "As long as it's nothing like this time, I think we'll be fine."
