Although it was late at night, the Wizard was often known for working into the early hours of the morning, so Glinda decided to risk it. The blonde had much clout with the Wizard, and knew he would agree to see her if he was awake. And besides, Glinda thought to herself, if he's asleep, it will give me a better chance to look around.
Glinda arrived at the front of the palace and was surprised to find the large double doors unattended. Glinda found the lack of security a little odd, but had never tried to enter the palace at this hour, and had no reason to think anything wrong. Letting herself in, Glinda listened as her heels on the stone floor echoed against the vast ceilings. In the dark, the Wizard's Palace seemed even more uninviting than normal, with ominous shadows cast all over the walls. However, Glinda remained as calm and level-headed as possible as she quickened her step, reminding herself that she had nothing to fear.
Finally arriving at the door to the Wizard's private office, Glinda noticed light seeping under the door, giving her the impression that the Wizard was indeed still awake. Knocking lightly, Glinda cleared her throat and called out quietly.
"Your Wizardship? It's me, Glinda. I'm sorry to bother you so late at night, but was hoping we could talk."
Glinda waited, but was greeted with only silence. She heard neither voices nor footsteps from the other side of the door, and Glinda quickly became impatient. She turned the knob and let the wooden door creak open slowly and repeated herself. "Your Ozness? Are you here? Hello?"
Glinda let the door swing open all the way as she studied the room. The Wizard's office was mostly dark, save light coming from the crackling fire at the other end of the room. The shadows that frightened Glinda in the hallway seemed even more numerous and threatening than before, and Glinda started to cower away until she looked towards the Wizard's desk. Although the chair was turned away from the door, Glinda could see the top of the Wizard's head as well as his hand place on the armrest.
"Oh good evening your Ozness," Glinda bowed, even though she knew the Wizard couldn't see her act of graciousness. "I apologize for interrupting you at such a late hour, but I think it's important that we talk…now."
When the Wizard did not try to stop her, Glinda sighed and continued. "I have a bit of a random question for you, your Wizardship, and I apologize for not better explaining myself, but does the name 'Melena' mean anything to you?"
The Wizard did not respond, which Glinda interpreted as shock.
"I'm sorry to bring her up your Ozness, but I need to understand what your relationship was with her," Glinda said as she walked towards the desk. "I know that was a long time ago, and I'm sure you haven't spoken to her in years, but I need to understand what happened with her."
Glinda was only a few feet from the desk now, yet the Wizard would not turn around and acknowledge her. Getting frustrated now, Glinda moved over towards his chair so that they could finally make eye contact. "Listen," she started with a bit of rudeness in her voice, "I know you don't want to talk about it, but this is really import-"
Glinda stopped. She finally looked the Wizard in the eye, but got a look she wasn't expecting. It wasn't a look of anger, or sadness, or even of frustration. In fact, it wasn't a look at all. Although his eyes were open, they didn't seem to be looking anywhere in particular. It only took a moment for Glinda to realize that the lifelessness in his eyes corresponded to the lifelessness in his body. Glinda gasped as she took a good look at the Wizard's body, realizing that he had been dead since before she had even entered the room.
"No," Glinda stammered, backing away slowly, "no it can't be…" Glinda couldn't comprehend the scene in front of her. She didn't know whether to get help or flee the scene or try to understand what happened. Finally making a decision, she took the Wizard's hand, attempting to feel for a pulse. However, she didn't need to go that for, for his icy hands told her that she was certainly too late. Glinda began to cry out of sadness and pity, and closed the Wizard's eyes, then burying her own eyes in her hands. The Wizard hadn't always been the most honorable man, but Glinda always knew he was well-intentioned. He had supported her during some of her darkest hours, and she had learned to respect this man as a second father. Although the last few days had caused her opinions to waver slightly, none of that seemed to matter now. At this moment, all she could do was grieve.
Finally wiping her eyes, Glinda decided it was time to go alert the guards, inform someone of the Wizard's untimely passing. Looking up as she headed towards the door, Glinda stopped suddenly when she saw a figure blocking the exit.
"Madame Morrible?!" cried Glinda, surprised to see the press secretary standing in the doorway.
"Hello Glinda," Morrible replied rather coldly.
"Madame…the Wizard…he's gone…I just found him," Glinda stammered, still upset and struggling to get out a sentence.
"I know," Madame Morrible said with a smirk.
"And he…what?" Glinda said, suddenly realizing how odd Morrible's response was.
"I said that I know he's dead," Madame Morrible said, her smirk now turning into a toothy grin, which Glinda found terrifying.
"How did you…"Glinda started, but the truth suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks. "You killed the Wizard!"
Madame Morrible remained silent, but simply nodded slowly.
"But, but why?" Glinda asked with shock, realizing that her exit was currently blocked by a killer.
"Why else would I leave a job as the headmistress of the most prestigious school in all of Oz?" Madame Morrible said with disdain and anger.
"You wanted to rule Oz…" Glinda murmured, as the reality started to sink in.
"…and I couldn't possibly rule Oz with the Wizard in my way."
Although she was listening to every syllable that Madame Morrible uttered, Glinda's mind was running a mile a minute. Without the Wizard, is Morrible really the next in line? Glinda thought to herself. No, she realized, the next of kin shall take the position. And the Wizard's only family is…
"Elphaba," Madame Morrible finished Glinda's thought. The blonde looked stunned for a minute, but then remembered that Morrible's magical powers were far more advanced than her own. She's reading my mind, Glinda thought, forgetting that her thoughts were no longer private.
"Yes miss Glinda, I'm glad you've finally caught up," Morrible said coldly, then noticed Glinda's look of shock. "Oh don't worry Glinda, you didn't give me any information I didn't already know. I always knew Elphaba was the Wizard's daughter."
"What?" Glinda said stunned.
"The Wizard and I had been friends and colleagues for many years, before you even existed," Madame Morrible smiled. "The Wizard was always a very private man, and only confided in a few people. Fortunately for me, I've been his confidant since the very beginning." Morrible smirked as she continued, "he told me the stories about his love for Melena, and I was a shoulder to cry on when she got pregnant and they broke it off," Morrible laughed while rolling her eyes, showing absolutely no remorse.
Glinda could only stand in shock with her mouth hanging open, taking in Madame Morrible's words.
"I forgot about Melena and the child until a handful of years ago, as I was sitting at my desk at Shiz one day, going through new student transcripts. I finally get to a pair of sisters, Elphaba and Nessarose Thropp, and the listed parents are Frex and Melena Thropp. I immediately made the connection, and knew Elphaba was the right age to be the Wizard's child."
This goes further back than I could have even imagined, Glinda thought.
"Indeed," Morrible said with a smirk, continuing to read Glinda's thoughts. "It was all too easy. I could pretend that my interest was in Nessarose, the future Governor of Munchkinland. But I could never care less about that worthless cripple."
Glinda gasped at Morrible's horrible words, but continued to listen.
"It's no coincidence that I had Nessarose room with me and had private sorcery lessons with Elphaba. I knew I needed to keep an eye on her," Madame Morrible admitted. "And when I thought the time was right, I wanted to unite the two, so I could take care of them both at once. Unfortunately, as you will remember, Elphaba seemed to have other plans that day, and fled before I got the chance."
The day Elphaba and I went to meet the Wizard…she was going to kill Elphaba and the Wizard way back then! Glinda processed the information in her head, realizing how different everything could be right now if Elphaba had not stood up for herself and for Animal rights that day.
"As you know, I haven't seen Elphaba since. I was thrillified when I heard that your fiancé had captured her, but apparently it was quite the opposite," Morrible finished, putting a terrible emphasis on the word 'fiance.' The word didn't even sting to Glinda this time, for that all seemed very trivial now.
"Why…why are you telling me all this?" Glinda said, genuinely surprised by Madame Morrible's admission of information.
"Well Glinda, I was hoping it didn't have to end this way. In fact, I was planning on making you one of my most trusted advisors after all this. Unfortunately, since you found out about Elphaba's real father, you know too much information."
"So, what are you going to do?" Glinda asked. "I mean, you can't possibly think you'll get away with this!"
"Actually I do, and it's quite simple. You were visiting with the Wizard when the palace was attacked, and you were both killed in an unfortunate scuffle," Morrible smiled, explaining how Glinda's fate was sealed.
"You won't get away with this," Glinda glared at Morrible.
"Are you referring to Miss Nessarose?" Morrible asked, obviously reading Glinda's mind again. "Yes, she knows too much as well. But have no fear Miss Glinda, I predict a change in the weather will be occurring in Munchkinland rather soon."
Glinda gasped at the thought of Nessarose getting hurt.
"Yes, tragic, isn't it?" Morrible smirked. "And soon, I shall find Miss Elphaba and take care of her. And once that is complete, I shall rule all of Oz!"
Morrible closed her eyes, savoring the moment. She obviously could feel victory within her grasp, but Glinda knew that this was her chance. While Madame Morrible had her eyes closed, Glinda mumbled a spell under her breath, causing a bubble to form around Morrible.
"What the-" Morrible yelled, realizing that she was now encased in a clear bubble, and tried without luck to punch through it.
Although Glinda wanted to laugh at the old woman, she knew that Morrible's magical powers were far superior to her own, and she only had moments to spare. Moving the bubble away from the doorway, Glinda sprinted out of the room as fast as her feet would carry her, and quickly made it back to the palace entrance. Through the empty hallway, she could hear Madame Morrible's footsteps echo behind her, for she had already managed to break out of the bubble.
I've got to get to Nessa, I've got to save her! Glinda thought as she made it back outside. The sun was starting to rise, and only a small sliver of light was pouring over the Emerald City. Glinda summoned her own bubble as fast as possible, and shot up into the sky like a bullet. Without even looking back, Glinda started flying towards Munchkinland faster than she had ever traveled before.
Within a minute or two, Glinda noticed the sun was no longer shining as it rose over the horizon, that clouds had quickly formed throughout the sky. Within a few more seconds, Glinda saw the rain start, but she didn't slow down, needing to get to Nessa. However, Glinda's attention was turned away from Nessa when she felt a raindrop land on her nose. My bubble is supposed to protect me from the weather, Glinda was thinking rapidly as she felt another raindrop hit her arm. This must be Madame Morrible's doing, a magical storm, Glinda realized, causing her to push further forward towards Munchkinland with even more determination than before. However, the storm was just as fast as Glinda, and soon it was pouring, drenching Glinda from head to toe.
"Ow!" Glinda cried out loud as she felt something hit her arm. She looked around and realized, to her horror, the rain had suddenly changed to hail. With large pieces of hail pushing through the bubble, Glinda was now getting pelted with the pieces of ice, causing her to bruise almost instantly. Looking up, Glinda saw a piece of hail the size of a golf ball streaking towards her bubble. Glinda tried to dodge the large piece of hail, but it was no use. The went through one end of the bubble and out the other, causing it to pop. Before Glinda could even comprehend what was happening, she felt herself plummeting towards the ground. Screaming, Glinda tried to conjure another bubble, but it was no use. She felt herself accelerating as she neared the ground, and Glinda squeezed her eyes shut as she anticipated the impact. However, Glinda was shocked to feel herself slow to a stop, and actually starting moving away from the ground. However, the shock and the pain from the hail had been too much for Glinda, and she felt herself losing consciousness. As her eyes fluttered closed, the last thing she saw was a pair of green hands holding her up.