disclaimer: I own nothing, (not even the chapter title this time) but the characters I made up. Blah, blah, blah.

Chapter 8: How to Save a Life

Jasmine woke up with a slight headache. She stayed in her dorm room, crying the day before. Glinda was her role model, she idolized her and now she was dying. Conlan stayed by her side the rest of the day too, which was very sweet of him. She knew how much it bothered Conlan to miss a class. He would even come to classes when he was deathly ill but here he was, putting Jasmine first and she wondered why. They knew each other since they started school but they weren't really that great of friends, they were barely acquaintances. Jasmine liked it though. She wondered if she was developing feelings for him but she didn't give it much thought since all she could think about was Glinda dying.

She sat up and turned, seeing Fayba grabbing her notebook to put in her bag. Jasmine screamed, causing Fayba to jump. She couldn't understand. Was yesterday just a dream? Jasmine wondered or maybe she was just dreaming now. She pinched herself, which didn't prove anything, only causing a red mark on her arm.

"Gosh Jasmine, I think you woke up the entire girl section of the dorm rooms," Fayba said, picking up her notebook that she dropped when Jasmine screamed and shoved it in her bag.

"What are you doing here?" Jasmine questioned, getting out of her bed.

"Uh, this is my dorm room," Fayba said in a 'duh' tone.

"But you left to go home because your mom has the curse," Jasmine said, hoping that Fayba would laugh and ask her what she was talking about to prove that it was just a dream. Instead, Fayba closed her eyes for a second, trying to hold back the tears. "It wasn't a dream was it?" Jasmine asked and Fayba shook her head. "Oh Fayba," she said, pulling her into a hug. "I'm so, so sorry." Fayba nodded and wiped her tears off her cheeks. Once they pulled apart, Fayba grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "Where are you going? Why are you here anyways?"

"I need to do something," Fayba said.

"What could possibly be more important than being with your mother when she is dying?"

"I can't tell you right now. I just need to go to the library." Jasmine blocked the door when Fayba tried to leave.

"You think that finding the truth about the Wicked Witch of the West story is more important that your mother? I don't understand!" Jasmine said, getting angrier by the second. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. This wasn't like Fayba.

Fayba sighed. "I can't explain this to you right now. I promised not to tell anyone. I need to go talk to Miss Libree right now okay. I promise everything will make sense in time. Just trust me," Fayba pleaded. Jasmine hesitated for a second but then nodded and moved aside to let her pass.

Fayba ran out of the room and towards the library. She knew Miss Libree wouldn't open the library before school since Fayba's project was due yesterday, but she knew that Miss Libree loved the library and practically lived there.

"Miss Libree!" Fayba called, banging on the door with her fist. "Miss Libree!" she continued to call until she saw Miss Libree open the door.

"Fayba what are you doing here? Wasn't your essay due yesterday?" she asked as Fayba stepped in.

"No one else is here, right?"

"Please. It's early in the morning and this is the library. Not exactly the cool place to hang out," Miss Libree said, using air quotations with her fingers when she said hang out. "No one is here," she reassured.

"Right," Fayba said as Miss Libree closed the door.

"What's wrong?" Miss Libree asked.

"My mom is dying," Fayba said so bluntly that Miss Libree had to hang onto the front desk so she wouldn't fall. "She has the curse," Fayba continued, not letting Miss Libree recover from the shock and pity her. She didn't need or want her pity, she got enough of that with everyone else.

"I need your help. I know the whole story about Elphaba and I know you do too. I always suspected you were holding something back when I asked you a question about the project and now I know why."

Miss Libree looked down at her feet. "I don't know what you are talking about," she mumbled as walked to a trolley full of books and started pulling it to the bookshelves. Fayba followed her. She knew she had to get Miss Libree to admit what she knew.

"I know Elphaba came to you when you had the curse and she cured you."

"I never had the curse. If I did, I'd be dead," she said as she put a few books away.

"Stop lying! Elphaba didn't lose her yearbook somewhere, she left it at your house. Please Miss Libree, stop lying and help me. My mom doesn't have much time left." Miss Libree looked at the ground, afraid to make eye contact with Fayba.

"I promised her that I would never tell anyone that she cured me," she muttered, still looking at the ground.

"Please Miss Libree, Pete has already told me the full story."

Miss Libree looked at Fayba, debating whether she should break her promise or not. "What do you need help in?" she finally asked.

"Do you know where Elphaba is? I need to find her to save my mother," Fayba said, praying that the answer was yes.

Miss Libree shook her head. "She cured me before she supposedly died. She told me not to tell anyone that she cured me because she wanted people to think she was wicked. She had given up fighting it once they took Fiyero and turned him into a scarecrow. When I heard that she melted because water was thrown on her and Fiyero disappeared, I knew that they had left Oz to start over."

"Do you have any idea to where they would have gone? Maybe they went to Dorothy's world," Fayba suggested and Miss Libree shook her head.

"That world has no power, the Wiz just faked having powers and Glinda and the red shoes made it seem like Dorothy had power. If people in Oz didn't accept Elphaba for being green, I doubt anyone in Dorothy's world would accept her." Fayba nodded, trying to think where Elphaba could be.

"So they would have to be just outside of Oz," Fayba thought aloud.

"That's right!" Miss Libree said, getting excited. "The library has a map of Oz that shows the surroundings of it too. It's in the restricted section," Miss Libree continued as she walked quickly to the restricted section, making Fayba run to keep up. Miss Libree pulled out a giant map and almost fell over but Fayba caught the other side, allowing Miss Libree to regain her balance. They carried it to the front of the library and rolled it out across the floor.

"Wait a second," Miss Libree said as she ran behind the front desk and grabbed a sign. Fayba read it before she put it on the door. It said, 'sorry, the library is closed, please come back later.' Miss Libree turned around, seeing Fayba give her a strange look. "I put it on when I have to go to the washroom or when I'm reading a really good part in a book and I don't want to be disturbed. We can't have anyone interrupt us and find out we are looking for an evil witch that is suppose to be dead." Fayba nodded and looked down at the map. She pulled out her notebook and a pen from her bag.

"Okay this is what we can do. We are searching for a place that Elphaba would never be discovered but has enough food, water and shelter. What we can do is list all of the places outside of Oz that she could be and read books about the land. We can rule them out one by one if there is even a slight chance that she could be found or if the survival is low. Okay?" Fayba asked, not knowing how far Miss Libree was willing to help.

"Alright, let's get started," Miss Libree said. Fayba smiled as they each called out places where she could be.

Fayba and Miss Libree worked harder and faster than they ever have in their entire life. They only put a book down for more than three seconds when they had to go to the washroom. They searched even when they were eating, but of course being careful to not spill anything on the books or else Miss Libree would have a panic attack.

Fayba was growing more and more impatient and frustrated by the second. It was an endless circle. Read a book, look at a closer up map on that land, and rule it out. She hated how every second that past was a second closer to her mother's soon death. That was if her mother was still alive. Fayba shook her head, she knew she had to stop thinking like that, or it would drive her crazy, plus she knew Pete would call if her mother died. Fayba got up, still carrying a book and decided to read and walk to stretch her legs. She was on her second last page of the book when she heard someone jiggle the library door. Fayba turned to Miss Libree, seeing if she heard it too. Miss Libree looked at Fayba, placing her finger on her lips, telling Fayba to be quiet; hoping that whoever was out there would go away. Then there was a knock. Obviously, the person couldn't read a sign.

"Fayba? Fayba are you in there? Jasmine told me that you're back and was in here." Fayba sighed, it was Lance. "Look I know you probably asked Miss Libree to put up this sign so you wouldn't be bothered while you grieve but I want to talk to you. You don't have to let me in or anything, you can just listen. I'm sorry about your mother dying and I'm sorry when I said people pity you because your dad died. It's not true. I was just stupid and thinking in the heat of the moment. I believe that you are a very strong person after losing your father at such a young age and now having to go through this. No one pities a strong person, they envy them. Everyone envies you and you should be very proud of that. I think though, you should go back home and be with your mother. I think being together will give you both strength. Anyways, that's all I had to say. See you around Fayba," Lance said and Fayba could see Lance's shadow fade away. She ran to the door and slightly opened it.

"Lance," she called and he turned around, only seeing her head stick through the door.

"Ya?" he asked.

"Thanks," she said and he smiled a normal smile for once instead of his usual evil smirk, which delighted Fayba.

"It was my pleasure," he said, bowing, making her laugh. "See you around?" he asked once he stood up.

Fayba nodded. "See you around," she confirmed as she shut the door. Fayba then leaned on the closed door, smiling and looking into space, forgetting everything around her but Lance.

"You like him," Miss Libree said, bringing Fayba back to reality.

"I do not, we're just friends," Fayba replied, picking up her book to finish reading it.

"Uh-huh, just friends. Now where have I heard that before? Ah yes, Elphaba said that to me about Fiyero," Miss Libree said, looking back at her book.

---

It was almost curfew and both Miss Libree and Fayba were exhausted. They didn't want to read anymore, no matter how much they loved books. Miss Libree had her head down, taking a break for a couple minutes but Fayba refused to. Her mother needed her and she wasn't going to give up. She was reading a sentence when she noticed it. She jumped out of her seat, which made Miss Libree pop her head up.

"I got it! I got it!" she said excitedly, continuing to jump up and down. Fayba ran to the restricted section, grabbing the map that she needed. Fayba was allowed to go to the restricted section by herself since Miss Libree knew she wouldn't steal anything. She ran back to Miss Libree once she had the map. "Look," Fayba said, opening the map on top of one of the tables and pulled Miss Libree to look at it.

"Robber's Forest?" she asked looking at the map.

"Yes it's the perfect hiding place. It starts after the Great Gillikin Forest. No one goes there because the talking trees don't like anyone crossing their paths. The only people who go there are criminals and even they only go there as a last resort and look, there's a castle in the middle of it," Fayba said excitedly pointing at it.

"Fayba, people call that the castle of no return and the forest of death. They say ghosts live at the castle and evil spirits surround the forest. No sane person would go there."

"This is why it is the perfect place to hide. Who would risk their life to go through Robber's forest, no one would. Besides I doubt all the rumours are true because look at the Wicked Witch of the West story."

"Some of the rumours have to be true, look what happened to your father… oh, Fayba I'm sorry. Me and my big mouth," Miss Libree said, seeing the pain in Fayba's eyes.

"It's fine, can't think of the past, we have to think of the present and I have to get to that castle. I can go on a train to the village in Great Gillikin Forest, get off at the last stop. Then I can travel on foot the rest of the way," Fayba said, saying the last part more to herself than to Miss Libree.

"Fayba, you can't go, not only is it very dangerous, but the entire Oz squad will be looking for you once someone realizes you're gone," Miss Libree said, trying to talk some sense into Fayba.

"You can help me and so can Jasmine. Please Miss Libree, I need to save my mother, what will I do without her?"

Miss Libree sighed. "Fine. I'll help you. It's late but I know a conductor at the train station. He can tell us if there is a train going to Great Gillikin Forest Village tonight. If not, then he can tell us when the next train that leaves," Miss Libree said while going behind the desk and pulling out the bowl. She chanted something that was similar to the chant that she said only three days before to call Fayba's mother. Suddenly, Fayba heard a male voice.

"Ah, hello Betty, how are you?" The male voice said.

"Betty?" Fayba mouthed.

"Fine and dandy Harry. Listen I hate to cut short the chit chat but I need to ask you a favour," Miss Libree said.

"And here I thought you called just because you missed me," Harry chuckled.

"Of course I always miss you but here's the thing. I have a student that left her project to the last minute."

"Oh, you always have one of those at least once a week."

"Believe me, I know. Anyways, for her project she has to interview people who live in the Great Gillikin Forest Village, asking them how it feels to live so close to Robber's Forest, etc. So she needs a ride up there as soon as she can, is there anyone that is travelling there tonight?" Miss Libree asked and Fayba held her breath.

"We do, in fact that's my train. It's suppose to leave in a hour."

Miss Libree nodded. "I'll take one ticket and could you possibly-"

"Stall until she gets here," Harry finished for her. "You should know by now sis that I am the master staller," he continued.

"Yes I remember you stalling when we had to go anywhere bro," Miss Libree said while smiling. She loved taking trips down memory lane. "How much is the ticket?"

"Now you know me better than that, of course it is free; just meet me at the train station."

"Will do, see you in a bit," Miss Libree said. She then said a spell to get rid of the water, placed the bowl under the desk and looked at Fayba.

"Go to your dorm room and pack very lightly. You can't walk a long distance with heavy bags. I'll come knock on your door in a bit," Miss Libree said.

"And is there a secret knock that you will do to tell me that it's you?" Fayba asked.

"Yes it will be a knock followed by 'Fayba, it's me, Miss Libree.'"

"That's a lame secret knock," Fayba said, gathering her things.

"Well that's the best you are going to get." Fayba nodded and was about to walk out the door but wanted to take something.

"Miss Libree, I know that it's against the rules to take something that is in the restricted section but please just this once can you bend the rules and let me take the Robber's Forest map," Fayba pleaded.

Miss Libree smiled. "Are you kidding? I wouldn't let you go there without a map." Fayba smiled, folded the map and then ran out the library door.

Fayba knew she had to be careful, it was way past curfew and if she was caught and received a detention, they would notice that she was missing. Fayba made it to her dorm door and put her key in the lock as quietly as she could. She thought about when she was trying to put the key in the lock yesterday and Lance was nice enough to do it for her. She couldn't believe that it was only yesterday that it happened because it felt like a life time ago. She walked in her room as quietly as she could, hoping not to make too much sound. She knew that if she made a lot of noise, the night patrol would come banging on the door. As she walked in, a light turned on with a very annoyed Jasmine sitting in her bed.

"So are you going to explain yourself now?" she questioned, tapping her fingers against her arm.

Fayba sighed. "I can't right now but I need your help."

"Why should I help you if you don't even trust me?" Jasmine asked, still clearly annoyed.

"I need you to trust me that I will tell you in time and I need you to be my BFF right now and help me," Fayba said, sitting on Jasmine's bed. She sighed and looked at Fayba, waiting for her to continue. "I'm leaving tonight to go somewhere and I need you to tell Madame Torrible tomorrow that I am so depressed that I don't want to get out of bed and that I don't want anyone to see me at such a weak state. Can you do this for me until I come back?"

Jasmine nodded. "Of course but only if you tell me what's going on at some point before I die."

Fayba nodded and smiled. "I promise I will tell you," she said as she got off the bed and went to her school bag. She dumped all of her books onto her bed and placed the necessities in there. Her notebook, hairbrush, wand, tissues, the map, money and of course a book. She never went any where without a book. She didn't pack anything else, leaving enough room for food. Fayba finished packing and sat on her bed. She noticed that Jasmine was staring at her.

"So where exactly are you planning to go?" Jasmine asked.

"I can't-"

"Tell you," Jasmine finished. "Of course you can't but if I find out you knocked over a liquor store without me, I will be pissed."

Fayba laughed. "That's plan B and of course I would have to bring you along. Who else would help me?"

"Good," Jasmine said, laughing too and then they heard a knock on the door.

"Fayba, it's me, Miss Libree," the voice said. Fayba opened the door and let Miss Libree enter. When she stepped in, she was surprise that Fayba's roommate was awake. "Oh, hello," Miss Libree said cautiously.

"It's okay, she's gonna cover for me. In fact, if Madame Torrible insists that a teacher checks on me, you can get Miss Libree, right?" Fayba asked making sure; she wouldn't push Miss Libree over the edge. She knew Miss Libree hated to go against the rules.

"Right." Miss Libree confirmed and Jasmine nodded, making Fayba relax. "Now I got you bread, water, and some cookies. They should tied you over for a couple days," Miss Libree continued, handing Fayba a bag. Fayba took it and shoved it in her school bag. She then put it over her shoulder and looked around the room, making sure she didn't forget anything.

"Ready?" Miss Libree asked and Fayba nodded.

"Ready," she confirmed. Miss Libree opened the dorm door and Fayba walked to Jasmine, giving her a hug. "Thanks for agreeing to help me," Fayba said to her.

"No problem," Jasmine replied. Fayba nodded and followed Miss Libree out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

"We can go out the side door and walk to the train station," Miss Libree said. Fayba agreed and they quickly and quietly walked to the side door, hoping not to run into the night patrol. Once they got there, Miss Libree started to say a spell to unlock the door.

"Miss Libree no!" Fayba whispered, causing her to stop chanting. "The night patrol detects magic; we have to unlock it manually." Fayba grabbed a bobby pin from her bag. She always had extras. She fiddled with the lock until it opened.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Miss Libree asked as they stepped outside and closed the door quietly.

"Years and years of practice, now which way to the train station?" Miss Libree pointed left and they ran as fast as they could to the train station. When they reached to their destination, Miss Libree's brother waved to them.

"Here," he said, handing Fayba the ticket. "It's a good thing that you're here because I didn't know how much longer I could have stalled."

"Thanks for doing this Harry, you have no idea how important this is," Miss Libree said.

"You can thank me later, right now she has to get on the train so we can go," Harry said.

Miss Libree nodded and looked at Fayba. "Now once you get there, buy breakfast and try to eat the perishable food first, here's some money."

"I have money," Fayba said, not wanting to take more from Miss Libree.

"Take it anyway, just in case," Miss Libree said, putting the coins in Fayba's hand. Fayba hugged Miss Libree, trying to hold back the tears.

"Thank you so much," Fayba whispered.

"Don't worry about it, just find her," Miss Libree said once they pulled apart. Fayba nodded and went on the train. Harry then ran to the front and a moment later, the train started moving. Miss Libree waited until she couldn't see the train anymore before she left, heading back to Shiz, hoping that Fayba would find Elphaba.

Reviews are always welcome!