Glinda woke up to an empty room in a state of panic. She had been dreaming about the Witch.
"ELPHABA!"
"Glinda!" Elphaba called as she opened the door quickly, the bowls of stew in her hands almost spilling as she all but threw them onto the small table next to the bed and gently grabbed the blonde's hands.
"It's okay, I'm still me, I'm sorry I was gone, I got you something t eat." She said softly.
She jerked backwards at the contact but willed herself to clam down. This was Elphaba, not the Witch.
"Okay." She said shakily, "I'm sorry. I just, had a bad dream."
"Understandable" Elphaba said pulling her hands away. She grabbed Glinda's bowl and gently held it out to her.
"If you feel like eating." She said softly. "You were out for a day this time."
"A whole day?" She said, taking the bowl and staring at its contents.
She suddenly remembered, "Please tell me you didn't touch the book"
"I have not gone near the book." She assured her. "I haven't really moved from that chair other than to get food." She admitted taking her own bowl and starting to eat it.
Glinda started to eat her stew, surprised by how hungry she was. She supposed it had really been a few days since she had eaten properly.
"You just sat there?" She asked
"Yeah, I was thinking about the count down. I don't think I've gotten very far though, I wanted to go look through the drawer I found the letter to me in and see if she left anymore clues as to what her plan is." Elphaba spoke around bites of her food.
"Don't you dare" She snapped immediately, shocked by her own harshness.
Elphaba's head snapped up to look at Glinda shocked at her tone.
"It's just the Witch's room, you said she comes out when I read the Grimmerie,"
"I don't care. I don't want you to take any chances." She pleaded, shuffling to the edge of the bed and setting her empty bowl down.
"I will go and read the papers. Not you"
"No Glinda you don't need to read those, they're plans for your death! No one should have to read that!" Elphaba protested as she put the bowl down on the stand again.
"Well someone has to read it, like you said, we need that information." She said, pulling her covers off and making to stand.
"And it can't be you, in case it triggers the Witch's return"
"No no no no," Elphaba said as she gently pressed the blonde back down to the bed. "You're not getting up just yet, you need to rest. And fine if you don't want me to go read the letters I wont, I'll just sit over in that chair and ponder the meaning of the words as you recover." Elphaba said firmly as she pointed to the chair she mentioned.
Glinda grumbled.
"But we need to read those letters" She whined. Then she was struck with an idea.
"Hey. Why don't you bring them up here so I can read them in bed. Then I'm getting my rest, and you aren't reading dangerous witchy words!"
Elphaba sighed.
"That room might be set up Glinda, if we remove something we could ruin the picture. I'm sorry but bringing things up here won't work."
"Then I'm going down" She insisted, quickly rolling to the other side of the bed, ignoring her protesting bruises and sliding out. She gained her footing quickly and flashed Elphaba a grin.
"Glinda you need rest!" Elphaba cried as she moved to catch the blonde if need be. When she stood on her own she sighed.
"Fine, but as soon as you feel tired we're coming right back up here and you're resting again."
"Ah ah ah. You are not coming. I don't want you in that room" She said, walking towards the door and hiding her pain. It wasn't bad, but the bruises ached.
"Puzzle over those words up here. Or maybe you should get some rest"
Elphaba sighed but moved to follow the blonde anyway.
"You're not going down there alone, Oz knows you may not be able to get back up."
"Fine, you can come downstairs but you can't come inside the room. Deal?" She said, turning to face her.
"Or I will just have to knock you out" She said as menacingly as she could.
"Fine, and you are not the one I'm scare of, you're the one I'm scare for." She added the last part softly as she followed the blonde out of the room.
Glinda went downstairs as fast as she could, which wasn't fast, given her condition. When they finally reached the door she turned round to Elphaba and pointed at a nearby chair.
"Stay"
Elphaba sat down in the chair and sat stone still watching the blonde.
"If anything happens I'm going in, no questioned asked." She said sternly but accepted that she was to sit for now.
"Nothing will happen" She said, and hurried inside before she could think of anymore arguments.
Elphaba hoped she was right as she sat frozen in place as she stared at the door, listening intently for any sounds from the Witch's room.
Glinda headed for the desk, pulling open the drawer and watching as a million bits of paper fell to the floor. Brilliant…
She sighed, getting on to her knees and starting to rifle through. A bit of paper caught her eye, though she couldn't quite say why and she picked it up, reading the title scrawled at the top.
In case of a change of plan
She didn't realise that every bit of paper around her said the same thing.
Elphaba heard the papers falling but refrained from moving. She had to stay out here to help ease Glinda's fears. Her eyes never left the door as she sat on high alert for any sign of trouble.
Her eyes scanned the page, muttering them gently, not realising the effect they would have. They didn't make any sense to her, hence why she was sounding them out loud. But it didn't make them any easier to understand.
Elphaba suddenly felt something cold wrap around her, like she was out in winter without a jacket. She shivered and stood to try to reach the door to see if Glinda was alright, she barely lifted herself off the chair before she collapsed to the floor. She took two panicked breathes before everything fell black.
