A Lazy Afternoon

Disclaimer:  I don't own these characters.

Chapter 19

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Elphaba growled as the sun streamed through the window, waking her from a fairly peaceful slumber.  It was early.  Glinda and Fiyero seemed unaffected by the bright light.  Fiyero was nearly under the blanket completely, and had pulled a generous portion of it to his side of the small bed.  Elphaba yanked some back, and rolled over, then back, unable to get comfortable.

"Stop squirming," Fiyero whined.

"I'm not."
"You are.  Go back to sleep."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Too bright."
Fiyero peeked his head out, and scrunched his face up at the light. "Ack."

"See?"

"Come huddle under the blanket with me."

I won't be able to go back to sleep."

"Then just snuggle."

Elphie sighed and slid into his arms, wiggling around, trying to find the best position.

"Elphie, relax.  You're really jittery this morning."

"I can't sit still."

Fiyero sighed.  "I guess I'm not going back to bed either, then."

"Let's go for a walk."

He groaned, but sat up.  "Where?"

"Just down the field, into the woods, something like that."

"Sure, what the hell."

Elphaba climbed out of bed, and tiptoed to the closet, pulling out a short sleeved black dress. 

"Always black."

"I have limited color, and I've worn it all this week already."

Fiyero laughed softly, and watched Elphie intently as she changed.

"Cheap thrill?"

"Hey, you like to watch me change too."

Elphie smiled shyly.  Fiyero swung his legs over the side of the bed, and walked over to her.  She held up her hand.

"Not now.  Wait til we're outside."

"Fine, fine."

They walked quietly down the hallway.

"Don't move," Elphie whispered suddenly.  "Grommetik."

"Who?"

"Shhh." 

They stood motionless in the small hallway as Grommetik passed down the stairs.  It was an awkward, slow procedure, and quite loud.  Elphaba peered after it.

"Come this way."

"Is this a way out too?"

"This'll take us down to the kitchen, and the garden.  We can climb out."

"Really?"

"It's how I usually sneak out."

"Usually?" Fiyero laughed.

"Yes, I do it often."
At the bottom of the backstairs, a door led into the dingy kitchen.

"Ugh, you eat stuff that comes from here?"

"I know.  Seeing it like this is enough to persuade anyone to boycott the dining hall."

A crash across the room startled them.  They ducked down below a table.  Grommetik had entered the room.

"It must be onto us."

The tiktok scanned the room, pausing for quite some time in front of the table that Elphaba and Fiyero were hiding behind for some time.  They sat as silently as they could, and after a long pause, the tiktok left the room.

"Quick, but quiet," Elphaba instructed, as they proceeded out the back door.

"What is that thing?"

"Madame Morrible's tiktok Grommetik.  It's evil.  Her little spy."

"Do you think it detected us?"

"I wouldn't be surprised."

"Why did it not apprehend us then?"

"Madame Morrible takes pleasure in doling out punishment herself.  Grommetik just reports back."

"I don't want to get you in trouble."

"Oh, don't worry.  I'm usually quite good at getting myself in trouble on my own. Climb that."

"What?"

"The tree.  We climb the pear tree until we can get onto the shed roof, and then we can jump down from there.  It's pretty low on the other side."

"How did you figure this out?"

"Actually Boq did.  He was spying on Glinda, well, then she was Galinda, but he climbed into the tree, and I startled him, and he fell into my cabbages."

Fiyero chuckled.

"Anyways, I realized if he could get in this way, I could use it to get out."

"Cunning."

Fiyero contemplated the tree.  It had plenty of branches to climb up, but their strength he wasn't sure of. 

"Climb the tree. Oh, fine, I'll go first."

Elphie grabbed a hold of the closest branch, and put her foot into a little nook, pulling.

"Do you need a hand?"
"Do I need a hand?  I do this almost every day."

"Fine, fine."
Elphie climbed about 10 feet up the tree, and Fiyero began to follow.  They scooted onto the shed, and inched to the edge.

"You just jump."

"Yup.  It's not that far."

She propelled herself off the roof, and landed on her feet, then rolled forward.  He continued to look down.

"Is Mister Great Hunter afraid to jump a mere 10 feet?"

"Hey…I'm used to grasslands, not mountains."

She laughed. He scooted closer to the edge.

"Come on, you can do it."

Fiyero pushed himself off.  He landed on his feet, gracefully. 

"And you were worried about that?"

He shrugged.  "It seemed higher from up there."
They started around the building to the main field.  Out in front of the building, trimming the bushes, was Grommetik.

"How does that thing get from place to place so quickly?"

"You know what?  I have no idea."

"Do you think there's more than one?"

"Could be."

"Now what?"

"Back around the other side."

"Where can we go back there?"

"I'll show you where Dr. Dillamond's lab was."

They started down the dusty little path that led from the back of the building to the laboratory. 

"His lab was next to the trash heap?"

"Just goes to show you how little respect was paid to Animals, even Animals as brilliant as Dr. Dillamond."

They stood outside the door to the little shack.

"Now, there are all sorts of binding and locking spells on this place.  I already got the important stuff out.  So we can only look in.  See, there's still blood everywhere."

As they peered through the windows, they did not noticed the eyes watching them from the bushes.

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