It was dark by the time they returned to campus, dark and empty. Elphaba was struck by how empty everything felt at night, since most of the students had returned home for break.

Unease formed a hard ball in her stomach. She knew it was empty, knew the chances of them running into anyone were slim, and yet she couldn't shake the feeling that they were putting themselves at risk by trying to break in.

But if they were going to take down the Wizard…

They made their way across the grounds silently, sticking to shadows and avoiding the open stone pathway. Elphaba pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders, tried not to notice the way the light glinted off Glinda's blonde curls.

"Glinda…" she started, but her voice stuck in her throat, and she didn't seem to hear her. She was going to ask her to cover her hair, if only so she wouldn't be so recognizable, but the words didn't come.

"It's going to be locked," she said as they crossed the grounds to the library, sticking to the shadows. "Does anyone know another way in?"

The boys looked at each other and shook their heads. "There may be a servant's entrance, but we don't know where it is," Crope said.

"Why would there be a service entrance to the library?"

"Who knows. Archaic Unionist tradition, maybe? Or there may be a men's entrance, since this library is technically open to both and they want to keep us segregated…"

"I know a spell," Glinda cut in. "It may work. We don't need to find another entrance."

The boys turned and looked at her in surprise, and she ducked her head. "I'm studying sorcery," she murmured. "Not by choice."

"I thought you wanted to do architecture?" Fiyero said, and Elphaba felt a tightness in her chest. How did he know that about her, when she had just figured it out the other day?

"I still do," Glinda said lightly. But she didn't look at Elphaba, she kept her gaze on Fiyero. "But we need sorcery right now. And Morrible… she's insisting I do sorcery."

"But you don't have to listen to her," Crope said. Elphaba made a noise in the back of her throat and the boys turned to look at her.

"We can discuss that later," she said. "For now—Glinda?"

Glinda nodded and stepped forward. Elphaba was struck by her profile, edged in orange, her brow furrowed in concentration. She placed her hands flat on the door, perfectly manicured nails against the dark a moment, nothing happened. Then, the air around them charged. Glinda's hair seemed to stand on edge. She planted her feet and screwed her eyes shut, and Elphaba thought she looked beautiful, powerful, magic soaring through her, even if it was just a simple unlocking spell.

The locking mechanisms in the door clicked, and it gently swung open. Fiyero and Crope looked at Glinda, impressed.

"It's a good thing you're studying sorcery," Fiyero said appreciatively, and Elphaba felt her chest tighten.

Glinda managed a small smile. "I suppose it is useful, isn't it?"

The four of them pushed their way in, footsteps echoing too loud on the wooden floors.

"Where do you think he would have hidden it?" Crope asked, and Elphaba frowned.

"I honestly don't know. Should we split up and start searching?" If they split up it'd be faster to look, but there was a higher chance of being caught. Elphaba frowned.

"No one's here," Crope said, as if reading her mind. "They've all gone home for break. If we're going to look, now is the best time to do it."

"Great. Fiyero and I will go together," Glinda said, and Elphaba felt that familiar twinge of jealousy in her stomach again. She was aware of her knuckles turning a paler green, the fabric of her dress clenched in her fists. Fiyero looked slightly startled, but didn't say anything against it.

"We'll take the second floor," Crope said, and he looked at Elphaba, who nodded decisively. "Glinda, can you do some sort of spell for some light?"

"I don't know how yet," Glinda said, ducking her head. "Sorry."

Crope waved off her apology. "Probably better, anyway. We don't know if anyone's lurking about, it's better if they don't see us."

Elphaba swallowed down the knot in her throat. She hated to admit it, even to herself, but her heart was beating in fear. She told herself it was because it was dark, something she had never liked as a child. She told herself it was because they were that much closer to taking down the Wizard.

She told herself, told herself, told herself, but the real reason she was afraid was that her worst fears were becoming realized—something would happen to Glinda, and Elphaba would not be there to help her.

But Fiyero would. Fiyero seemed capable, much as Elphaba hated to admit it. Glinda would be fine.

They would all be fine.

Elphaba and Crope made their way to the second floor, wooden stairs creaking under them. Every movement made Elphaba think she was seeing Morrible out of the corner of her eye, or Grommetik, or something equally horrible. Every sound made her think they'd been caught.

"I wish Glinda knew a spell that could make this place quiet," she muttered when Crope stepped on a loose floorboard.

"There's no one here," Crope said, placing a hand on her arm reassuringly. "Where should we start looking?"

"Restricted section seems most obvious," Elphaba said, and decisively began to head that way. From below she heard Glinda's faint laughter, and she stopped in her tracks.

She's not yours.

"Elphaba?"

"I'm fine," she said abruptly, before Crope could question her further. She pushed her way deeper into the stacks of the library, running her fingers over spines. She didn't know where to start looking. She didn't know what she was doing, much as she didn't want to admit that to the others.

"It hurts to see them with someone else, doesn't it?" Crope said suddenly, startling Elphaba out of her thoughts.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she hissed, but Crope fixed her with such a look that she stopped. Elphaba frowned. "What do you know, you're with who you want to be with," she said. "I've seen the way he looks at you."

"And I've seen the way you look at her," Crope countered. "You love her."

"You don't know me," Elphaba said. "Now help me look, now—now isn't the time to talk about my feelings."

This time it was Crope who frowned, but Elphaba was too keyed up to care. She made her way down the rows of books, ran her fingers over the sharp spines, almost hoping one would prick her just so she could have something tangible to focus on that wasn't Glinda's laugh or Crope's accusing stare.

She studied spines for what felt like hours, Crope working diligently beside her, combing through pages for any scrap of research. As each hour passed Elphaba felt herself growing more and more frustrated.

"I don't know what I'm looking for," she said finally, huffing in frustration.

"I wonder if the others had any better luck," Crope said, and Elphaba licked her dry lips. "Should we check?"

She nodded, putting the book she'd been looking at back on the shelf. Crope touched her gently on the arm.

"If you ever want to talk about it…" he started, but was interrupted by a shout from down below.

She raced down the stairs without thinking, Crope following close behind. They had found it, they must have. They had found Dillamond's research.

Glinda and Fiyero were standing near one of the shelves, and Glinda was—to Elphaba's utter dismay—clutching his arm. She was pointing, and Elphaba followed the line of her outstretched finger to a row of books that were covered in dust and age.

"We can't pull those down," Glinda said. "We tried. They must be magicked or something, but I can't—I can't get to them."

Elphaba frowned. Something was off—Dillamond had told her before how he detested magic, in part because it had been used against Animals for centuries. Surely he wouldn't…

But maybe he would, maybe so no one would guess.

Without thinking, she stretched her hand out toward the books, screwing her face in concentration.

And slowly, slowly, the book made its way towards her. When it was merely inches away she reached out and grabbed it, expecting to feel something, to feel different.

But it was just a book. She leafed through the pages but there was nothing, no note, no hidden code, nothing from Dillamond that would tell her she was on the right path.

"Anything?" Glinda asked in a small voice, and Elphaba couldn't bear to shake her head.

"There's nothing here," she said, disappointment and bitterness filling her chest. Rage spiked through her and she hurled the book with all her might against the ground, the others hurrying to get out of her way.

"Why—why would he do this?" she said. "Why lead us on this wild-Goose-chase if we aren't going to find anything? Why all this talk of revolution and changing the world and needing to preserve his research if there's nothing here for us?"

Her voice caught, and she angrily brushed the beginnings of tears out of her eyes. Crying would do no good.

"There has to be something we're missing," she said fiercely. She turned to the boys. "Can you two do another sweep? I want to make sure that crash didn't alert anyone to the fact we're here."

They nodded solemnly and headed out; Glinda lingered back.

"Can I help?" she asked softly, tentatively.

"No. Go help the boys look," Elphaba said.

"Elphie, I…"

"Not now, Glinda," Elphaba snapped, and Glinda shrank back from her and hurried off after Crope before Elphaba could take it all back.