A/N: Before you read this chapter, make sure you have read the revised Chapter 9!

Disclaimer: I do not own Wicked the Broadway Musical. This includes but is not limited to song lyrics, script, certain characters, soundtrack, etc., etc., etc. Also, the excellent question quote is from Meet the Robinsons, now available on Disney DVD and Blu-ray Disc!

"Are you sure you know how to fly this thing?" Holly was sitting side-saddle style on the family broom. Elphaba had taken her own broom, so Nessa was flying beside Holly and Liir on the emergency spare one.

"Yeah," Liir replied, turning his head to face Holly "I mean Faye normally steers, but I have everything under control."

"Look out!" Nessa screamed. Liir turned his head back around just in time to jerk the broom out of the way of a particularly large tree trunk. Holly screamed as she almost fell off the broom.

"You might want to swing your leg around," Liir suggested. "That way it will be harder to fall off."

Holly's white knuckles gripped the broom handle tighter as she swung her right leg over.

"Where do you think they're flying too?" Asked Nessa, referring to Elphaba and Glinda.

"That is an excellent question!" Liir exclaimed. "Any ideas, Holly?"

"My mom will probably report back to the castle to gather some guards and see if Boq is somehow still there. I doubt it. He probably has some evil lair somewhere off in the Badlands."

"To the palace, then," Nessarose said. "We will have to land soon and walk part of the way so no one spots us." The brooms began to descend.

Elphaba and Glinda had arrived at the palace by Glinda's bubble, and had entered through Lady Glinda's entrance in the South Wing, so as not to be seen. Still, Elphaba cast a spell so that no one could see her unless they were specifically looking for her. The two friends past two guards on the way to Glinda's chambers, but they only acknowledged Lady Glinda.

"Okay, what do we do now?" Glinda asked Elphaba, sinking into a light pink settee.

"What does this do?" Elphaba pushed opened an ornately decorated pink box. A girl clad in a pink dress popped up, bubbles started issuing from the sides of the box, and a familiar tune began to play.

I'll show you what shoes to wear, how to fix your hair

Everything that really counts to be popular

I'll help you be popular

Elphaba hurriedly closed the box. "Well, we need a plan. You say Boq is behind this? Where would he keep Faye?"

"How about the same place I'm going to keep you?" Boq stepped out from the shadows. The tinman had an evil smile on his face. As both Elphaba and Glinda turned to look at Boq, they were blindfolded and knocked unconscious.

"Ok, so what exactly are we looking for again?" Nessa asked Holly.

"Any sign that Boq had been there recently. We might find a clue to where his secret lair is."

The three adolescents walked the halls of Southwest Wing, where Boq spent most of his time. Just as they were about to turn into another corridor, Liir, who was in the front, held out his arm for Nessarose and Holly to stop.

"Shh!" Liir held his finger to his lips. "Do you hear that?" He whispered.

The three listened carefully. There seemed to be someone walking down the corridor they had almost turned into…and it sounded like Boq!

"Hurry up!" The voice called again.

"I can't believe they're so heavy!" A high-pitched voice whined.

"Well we all can't be anorexic. Some of us look very regal with the extra weight." A dignified yet annoying sounding voice responded. The footsteps were growing closer.

"Regal? Does that mean fat, 'cause-"

"Silence!" Boq's voice sounded again. The footsteps seemed to have stopped momentarily, so Liir went over to the curtains on the window across the hall and motioned for them to hide there. Nessa gave him a look, but Liir returned with a fiercer one. The two girls scurried over and hid themselves in the curtains with Liir.

The footsteps started again, but no dialogue accompanied them. Boq and his two accomplices turned the corner into Liir, Nessa, and Holly's hallway. As the three villains passed the window, Nessa backed even further into the ledge and blew up a cloud of dust.

"Aah-aah-aah-CHOO!" Liir sneezed.

"Bless you," Boq said. The footsteps continued on. "Wait a minute…" The three in the curtains held their breaths.

"I found it!" the high-pitched voice cried, and the sound of a heavy and creaky door being opened distracted Boq. The children all let out their breaths.

"Yes!" Boq cried. "The doorway to the dungeons that will help me carry out my evil and dastardly plan!"

"I think you mean our plan!" The dignified voice corrected.

"Yes, yes, of course!" Boq went on. "But let us proceed to our evil lair!"

"Eww!" the high-pitched voice whined. "There are like, spider webs and yucky things down there! How am I supposed to see where I'm going when I have to carry her down the steps?"

Nessa peeked out from behind her curtain. A tall and heavily-powdered lady had Holly's mother in her arms, while a younger-looking blonde seemed to have the task of carrying Elphaba, was currently sprawled on the floor.

"You can take a bath later. Now, onwards!" Boq raised his arm and pointed his finger into the dark stairwell. The blonde picked Elphaba back up and carried her awkwardly down the stairs while the tall lady followed.