Fae woke up that morning, not quite sure of where she was. What on earth was BLAISE doing there? And why was there straw in her hair? Before she had chance to panic further, the memories flooded back into her brain like a cool ocean wave on a hot day.
She moved silently, trying not to disturb Blaise. Of course, the boy could sleep through a twister, so there wasn't much a chance of him stirring. She walked up the loft stairs of the barn they had resided. She needed to wake Ali so they could decide what their next course of action was.
Ali was lying in Amirio's arms, peacefully sleeping. They looked so cute like that! But Fae had a streak of evil run through her. She crept up to the two as close as she dared, and with her highest voice, shrieked "WAKE UP!"
Ali sat straight up, and Amirio sat up as he squeezed Ali tighter, trying to protect her from whatever that hideous thing was that had just woken them up.
"Fae!" Ali said as she realized where the high-pitched squeal had come from. "I thought we were supposed to get as much sleep as possible!"
"If I can't sleep, neither can you!" Fae replied, sticking her tongue out. "Besides, we have planning to do."
"How mature of you, Fae," Amirio said dryly as he rubbed his eyes and stretched. "We needed to be woken up with a squeal from something that sounded like a pig. So, where's Blaise? You don't go anywhere without him," he said as his eyes narrowed into slits.
"Well, Amirio, I figured you might want to get up earlier to get a head start on your stealing for the day," Fae quickly retorted. She loathed this boy with every fiber of her being.
"I did not steal that money," Amirio said with a steely glare.
"What's all the arguing about?" Blaise asked sleepily. Fae's sequel had even woken him up!
"Your lies, what else?" Amirio said with a harsh tone.
Blaise hadn't woken up on the right side of the bed in the first place. Now, this Amirio was going to smart him off THIS early in the afternoon? Blaise was on him in a second. "Read my lips. Leave my girlfriend alone. I don't care what you say about that money. But, if you lay a hand on her, I promise..."
"What money?" Ali asked. She hadn't heard about any of this.
"Your boyfriend happens to be the world's dumbest pick pocket!" Blaise said.
"One day, Blaise and... whatever his roommate's name is went out to lunch. I happened to be in the room, trying to meet the people in my dorm. They asked me to lock it up when I left. Brightest bulbs in the box, aren't they? But that's beside the point. Blaise left his wallet, and found money gone. He then accused me of stealing it!" Amirio said with his teeth gritted.
"Accused? How about caught you! That seems like a much better term for it!" Blaise said, while Fae pulled at his arm to get him to let go of Amirio.
"You lie! I never stole that money you... you... gold-digger!" Amirio said as he raised his fists.
Blaise was fed up with this. The boy had had the wallet in his hand when he had entered the room! His reflexes took over, and with one swift movement, bloodied Amirio's nose.
After Amirio recovered his wits from the shock, he took his fists to Blaise's eye. Before either of the girls could do anything about it, the two were having a barroom brawl.
"Boys!" Ali screamed as she tried to break the two up. With Fae's help, they separated the two.
"Boys, I am so ashamed! Not only were you fighting, which is a disgrace to your manners and upbringing, but also you were fighting in front of ladies! What would my mother say? We are out here, on our own, and right now Ali and I have bigger things to worry about than whether or not you two are going to kill each other! We have to worry about our MOTHERS being killed! Now if you two can't get alongand get your act together, I suggest you make your way back to Shiz! I don't care if there is the Dark Force there or not! I won't stand for you adding stress to our already heavy stress loads. Now, there's the door. Who is going?" Fae asked with fire burning in her eyes as she opened the door to the barn.
The boys sat there stunned. Never would they have guessed Fae would burst out with that.
"Are your tongues stuck in your mouths? Are you going or not?" Ali asked, in full agreement with Fae.
"Now, now cupcake," Blaise said, thoroughly kissing up to Fae, "You know we didn't mean anything by it."
"Ali, you know I still love you," Amirio said as she stroked her face.
"Lovely sucking up, boys," Ali said with her eyebrows knitted.
"Ali and I are going to go discuss what our next move is. When we come back, if you are leaving, you should be gone," Fae said as the two quickly left the barn and went to the nearby stream.
"Well I think that was just lovely!" Fae said sarcastically.
"Yes, a lovely way to start my morning. You did deal with it nicely though," Ali said, meaning every word she said.
"Well, you mean your night. But thank you. Who knows? I just might have a maternal streak in me after all! But that's not we want to discuss. We have to decide what our plan is. Which I assume you are going to take care of it, right?"
"Well... Um... Not really," Ali said as she blushed. "I thought you'd help me!"
"I managed to get us here. Now you are going to have to get us from here to there I am afraid. Besides, the goal is to FIND our mother's, not get lost." Fae knew the one thing she couldn't do was direction.
"That's not fair! I helped too. But, I'll come up with something. Frankly, I don't think we can have much of one. We follow our leads. The only thing we know is to go to Quadling Country. Do you think you'll be recognized by anyone there?"
"I might, but you most likely won't. "
"Why would they recognize me? I mean, being cooped up in a castle for eighteen years of your life doesn't get you out there much!" Ali said, her voice saturated with sarcasm.
"Well, what do we do when we get there?"
"Look for the darkness, I guess. Do we really have any idea where our mothers are?" Ali asked, despair growing by the minute.
"Not really. I guess we just have to trust our instincts."
"Let's hope we have good instincts," Ali said before she started staring out into space. This was a bad idea. They didn't even know where they were going! They couldn't develop a plan! Did they even have a shred of hope that they could rescue their mothers? Were they even alive? Even thought she knew that negative thinking wasn't good for this, she couldn't help but do it. She was scared. Why did Fae have to give the boys the option of leaving? Truth be told, she needed someone's shoulder to cry on other than a good friend. She wanted someone outside of the issue that she could cry with. Maybe the boys would be the key to saving Oz. If they were, and they weren't there, what would happen? Would Oz disappear for forever, along with those in it?
Though Ali thought negatively, Fae took a different approach. On that long cold flight from Kiamo Ko, she had come to realize that negative thoughts weren't going to get her anywhere in this world. Hadn't her mother always taught her to be encouraging and put on a smile? The old ways brought comfort to her aching soul. She would be the cheery voice in the band. She couldn't let the others lose hope. For if they lost hope, there wasn't any hope for Oz. Her mother and Aunt Elphaba were alive. They had to be! No one could over take them.
The two girls walked back to the barn, the sun setting behind them. In an hour they would take flight again, heading toward the unknown Quadling Country. Though they thought no one knew where they were, the one that mattered did. That, my friends, is where the problems really begins . . .