CHAPTER FIFTEEN: "Congratulations"
Elphaba was surprised to find that she was the only person who'd been told to report in early. When she entered the shelter, only Yackle was waiting for her. This immediately put her on guard. "What do you want me to do?"
"Come with me." The old woman led her into the steel room behind the wall. She opened a cupboard full of empty glasses. "As I told you, everyone is to report in at noon. People will be thirsty. I want you to pour the drinks."
"What do you want me to put in whose drink?"
"You catch on fast." Yackle smiled. She brought out a large pitcher of what looked to be some sort of juice. "Here. This is what we'll all be drinking." Pulling out a small bottle of clear liquid, she said, "This is what one of us will have in his or her drink."
"What is it?"
"That, dearie, you will find out after you have 'done the deed', so to speak."
"Whose drink am I supposed to put that in?"
"As I said, that you will find out later."
Confused, Elphaba asked, "Then how in the hell am I supposed to know which drink to put it in?"
"The cups are placed in front of every person at the table, starting here." The old woman motioned to the head of the table. "It goes around clockwise. If I were to tell you that our mysterious friend were to be sitting here," she motioned to a chair a few chairs down from the head, "what number drink would you put this in?"
"What is this? Math class?" Elphaba muttered.
"No time for silly jokes, dearie. Answer the question."
"The sixth."
"Good. Now you know which drink to put it into." Yackle handed Elphaba the bottle.
"What if I see who you're trying to drug or whatever and I warn them instead?"
"Then maybe I should've have given you such a simple, but important, assignment. I would think you'd know better than that."
Elphaba nodded.
"Now, help me lift the table and pull it out there."
"What? But it's not safe! We can't have a meeting out there. Anyone could just walk in."
"Don't you worry about that. It's been taken care of. Would you help me?"
She tried not to laugh at the sight of the old woman trying to lift the table. Almost without effort, she lifted her side of the table and the two women dragged it out into the wooden walls of the shelter. After doing so, they brought the chairs out one by one.
"You go back into the room. I want you to stay in there and pour the drinks and not come out until the last drink has been poured, do you understand me?"
"Yes."
"And when you come out here and our 'mysterious friend' has a face and a name, how are you to react?"
"Not at all."
"Right. Get into the room, now. You know what to do."
Obediently, Elphaba walked into the steel-walled room and sat down on a countertop, waiting for Yackle to come in and tell her to start pouring the drinks. She examined the clear liquid, even thought about tasting a drop, but thought the better of it. For one malevolent moment, she wondered where Yackle sat. What would this potion do to the old woman?
But no, that wasn't right. Someone else had to get this liquid in his or her drink, not Yackle. Whoever was getting this was most likely in some serious trouble. She wondered what this mysterious liquid did, anyway. The truth potion had a dark, almost black color to it, so it couldn't be the same. What had the potion Yackle had once poured into her tea looked like? It was too bad that Yackle had probably poured it into the tea long before she had even arrived. Was someone else pregnant? She doubted it.
She heard voices in the other room, for the door was open slightly, so slightly that she couldn't see out of it when she tried. Only one or two others had arrived yet and Yackle wouldn't come in until everyone was pleasant and seated. Elphaba began to pace around the room, nervous, with nothing better to do. Think about something, something happy. I need to distract myself from all of this.
Madikien was the first thing that came to mind and she caught herself smiling girlishly. Quickly, she wiped the smile from her face, though that didn't stop her thoughts. She knew she cared for him, but did she love him? The answer was most likely and inevitable 'yes', but she couldn't say that, not out loud. How could she be sure she knew what she meant? Thinking about it bothered her enough. Yet, he wanted to hear her say it; it was almost hurting him that she wouldn't. Well, she'd say it eventually. They had time.
Time… How long had she been away from Shiz and Nessa and all of that? It was more than two years, maybe three. Day by day she felt that she missed her old friends less and less. Nessa, however, she'd always missed. She'd been able to do whatever she wanted her whole life and poor Nessa, with her disability, hadn't. But there was nothing to do to help Nessa now. Maybe, one day, when everything was done and over, she'd go back to Clowen Grounds and find Nessa, who would be the Eminent Thropp by then. At least that gave Nessa something to do. Elphaba hadn't wanted that responsibility in the first place and she was glad to have left it to her younger sister.
More voices. She thought she heard Madikien and Jansied among them. Once again, she struggled to peek through the small crack in the door, hoping for a glance of her lover for the sake of comfort, if nothing else. Nothing. Sighing, she sat back down on the countertop, swinging her legs anxiously. Idly, she swung the bottle of clear liquid back and forth between her hands. This task was getting increasingly frustrating, sitting in that room, so ignorant of anything going on outside.
She heard her name. Madikien had said something; he must've asked where she was because Yackle responded by telling him that she was "preparing the refreshments". How innocent that sounded. But all of this was certainly not innocent; it was devious and sly. Who was going to end up with the potion in their drink? And what would happen when they drank it? She felt the sudden urge to get up and walk straight into the other room and refuse to do this. All she wanted was to be home (or what she called home, anyways) and in bed, asleep or awake, it didn't matter. But she didn't want to be right there right then.
Silence. After a moment, Yackle spoke. Everyone must have arrived. She didn't even bother listening to what Yackle was saying. Soon, the old woman would enter the room and that would be when things mattered. As Yackle came through the door, Elphaba looked up.
"I want the first six glasses of juice poured and set on this tray," Yackle motioned to a round tray that seemed as if she had conjured it up out of think air, "and arranged a certain way. Circle the first five glasses around the outer edge of the tray. The sixth is to be placed in the middle."
"Right." She poured the first glass, the second and third. "Aren't they going to find it strange that you've only brought out the first six?"
"Look at the tray, dearie, it can't hold more than six."
The fourth and fifth glasses were placed on the tray.
"One more."
Shaking slightly, Elphaba unscrewed the cap to the bottle of clear liquid. "All of it?"
"Yes."
She poured the liquid into the glass, carefully assuring that she'd gotten every last drop. Taking the pitcher of juice, she tilted it so that juice splashed into the glass. Mixing it – or maybe she was just very shaky – she put it on the tray. "There you go."
"Good. You have two more trays to fill when I get back in here. The order won't matter, then." Opening the door with one hand and carrying the tray in the other, the old woman glared at Elphaba. "Look away."
She glanced to the ground, telling herself that she needed to have some self control, for she'd know in due time. As the door closed, behind Yackle, Elphaba sank to the ground for a moment, needing to release the tension in her body. Breathing slowly, she stood back up again and waited for the door to open again.
"Nice job, Miss Elphaba." Yackle carefully shut the door behind her so Elphaba couldn't see out.
"Sure."
"Six more."
"Of course." Without shaking, or even thinking, she poured six more glasses and placed them all on the tray. She watched the floor when Yackle exited the room.
A few minutes later, the old woman entered the room again. "Last tray." When Elphaba had loaded the tray, Yackle said, "Thank you. Once the door is closed, you may open it again and then enter. Don't react, no matter whom the drink went to. You might want to pour yourself something to drink, too."
Elphaba didn't immediately leave the room. No matter who the drink went to? It was Madikien, wasn't it? Then what was that potion supposed to be doing? Wide eyed, she moved towards the door, afraid to open it, keeping her eyes on the floor and she called out, "Yackle? Could I speak with you for a moment?"
Yackle came back into the room without even a questioning glance. It was almost as if Yackle had expected her to figure it out. Well, of course she did. She's had it planned this way all along. The whole time…
"What the hell was in that drink?"
"Worried about Madikien, are you?"
I knew it! I didn't even have to look. "Yes. Yes, I am. What effects does that have? It'd be nice to know, because he's going home with me and I'd like to know what will happen."
"Well, I'd like to know what you haven't been telling me all of this time."
There was a knock on the door and Elphaba moved to open it. "One moment." She opened the door, carefully. Looking up, she said, "Madikien?"
"Is something wrong?"
Swallowing hard, she faked a smile. "No, not at all. Why are you asking?"
"The sound of your voice when you called Yackle in here a moment ago." Softly, he whispered, "What'd she do?"
"Nothing. Darling, don't worry."
"But I…"
"No. We'll talk when we get home. I promise."
"Elphaba…"
"Listen to me. We will talk later. And we can do plenty of other things later, too. We'll be out in a minute or two, all right?"
He looked at her doubtfully, but she was already shutting the door.
"I'd say I'm not the only one who can read you so easily." Yackle grinned.
"You're lucky I didn't say anything just now! I want to know what you did to him." Or what you made me do to him…
"And, as I said, I want to know why you didn't tell me."
"Tell you what?"
"You knew he was a traitor. You never followed him. And you never said a word to me about it."
"Why bother telling you something that, I'm starting to believe, you already knew?"
"It was your assignment."
Elphaba raised her eyes to Yackle's. "It doesn't matter. He's not giving anything away. What the Wizard's been doing is wrong, and he realized that. All he's doing now is protecting this."
"He came into this with the wrong intentions, dearie, and that's all that matters."
"But it isn't. Don't you want a spy on the other side?"
'I'd like a spy on the other side who was actually sent to infiltrate the other side, not vice-versa."
"Take what you can get!" Elphaba threw the empty bottle across the room, feeling a strange satisfaction when it shattered.
"What exactly is he? A love-sick puppy who is probably only days away from giving himself away to the other side?"
"He's not stupid."
"But he's in love. It's the same thing."
"You wouldn't know the first thing about love."
"And neither would you!"
Glaring at the old woman, Elphaba snickered. "You've probably never had sex once in your life. How could you say that I know just as little about love as you do? Maybe I understand love. Maybe I don't. But I certainly know more than you."
"I'm decades older than you, child. You ought to stop being so haughty and respect your elders."
"How can I respect someone who has been tricking me and playing with my mind all along? You knew the entire time. I didn't know nearly as long as you did; you're the one who hasn't said enough."
"I didn't feel that I needed to tell you."
"Ha! You didn't need to tell me? That was what I was instructed to find out in the first place. For years I've worked for you and done your bidding when it turns out I never needed to."
"You needed to. This could've happened for real and then we'd all be in a huge predicament, wouldn't we? You need to learn this lesson."
"It wouldn't have happened for real. All of this only happened because you made me seduce him, you told me to sleep with him."
"I never made you or told you; I simply suggested it. You got into bed with him on your own free will and you and I both know that. And what if I hadn't known about him? What if he was leaking information to the Wizard and you knew something about all of it?"
"That isn't the case. The case is that I knew he was innocent and now you've manipulated me into giving him something that could do a dozen things. It could kill him." As those words came out of her mouth, the blood left her face looking an almost pretty light green. The thought hit her hard. No. Please, no.
"Why would you care? You don't love him, you said so yourself."
Staring at the old woman, shocked, she was only just realizing what she'd known for sure all along. But I do. Curse me, I do love him. "What is going to happen to him?"
"Don't bother telling him now. It's too late."
"What is going to happen to him?" Her voice wavered slightly.
"It won't harm him."
"That's not what I asked."
"Fine. He has less than twenty-four hours to live. The moment that potion touched his lips, the clock started ticking, dearie." Seeing Elphaba's face, she said, "It'll be painless, I've granted him that much. You won't notice a difference until the last five minutes or so."
"I… you…" This can't be happening.
"Congratulations, Miss Elphaba, you've killed the traitor."