This chapter is going to be a little shorter than the others, but I didn't want to drag it out for the sake of more words. The next one should be longer. Enjoy!

~~Several weeks later~~

"Am te emasu me am te, am te emasu me am te..."

Elphaba chanted low and rhythmically, her eyes closed and her arms twisting this way and that through the air as she recited the spell from memory, or at least as best as she could remember. The air in the room was filled with an eerie sense of presentiment, and had anyone else been in her presence at the time they would have been inclined to hightail it out of there as swiftly as possible. The witch herself was affected very little in that way, if only because she was the one behind the incantation. The feelings she had were quite different indeed.

The power surged through her limbs, zipping its way through her very core and leaving her exhausted and gasping for air, though she would not let up. This was much too important to stop early on account of her being tired. When tampering with the very fabric of the universe to rip a hole in the air in front of you, there wasn't any margin for error. Creating a looking glass with supplies would have been simpler, but with nothing but the half-remembered spells in ones mind and the raw magical ability deep inside, all it took was a little distraction, a little blip in concentration to create the Oz-equivalent of a nuclear explosion.

At least that was what Elphie had read about in the Grimmerie. She had whipped up a looking glass to spy on that Dorothy girl when she came gallivanting to the witches' castle, but that had been with the spell sitting right there in front of her. There had never been an urgent enough cause to attempt such a risky spell again until the news the green-skinned woman had just received...

"Tema tema am te emasu..."

But the stamina one needed to perform such a spell! The witch was amazed she possessed it after so many years of using nothing but the simplest of little tricks with a few more complicated transformation spells thrown in here and there over the years.

"Am te emasu me am te nahte... am te emasu me am te nahte!"

The chanting grew to a sudden halt and the witches' arms grew still, holding perfectly in place as if she were a statue covered with drying moss and a worn black gown. Her eyes peeked open ever so tentatively, barely more than slits as she dared open them no further, not until she was sure the spell had either worked as it should have or done no harm.

"Sweet Oz," she whispered, carefully lowering her arms and straightening her body to look at the spectacle in front of her.

The scene in front of her was foggy, enough that she needed to take a few steps forward and lean into the vision to make anything out. Her mind was on nothing else but the looking glass, the apparition holding her in a vice grip as she watched the Emerald City itself through the portal.

"I can't believe I have that power... after all these years," she breathed, watching as the image changed, travelling through the sea of vibrant green buildings to the Emerald City palace, where Glinda the Good Witch herself was perched on her balcony high above the city, giving what appeared to be another standard speech on goodness or happiness or something of the sort.

"What?!" hissed Elphaba, her eyes narrowing and her fists clenching until her nails dug painfully into her palms, though she scarcely noticed. "That can't be right. I know what I... but that means it hasn't- Chistery!"

The witch screamed the last part, her attention totally diverted as she whipped her head behind her. That was all it took for her concentration on the spell to break and the looking glass exploded in front of her.

Because the spell had already been in place, the explosion wasn't altogether dangerous, though it did send the woman flying back across the room into her bookshelf, causing several volumes to plummet to the ground around her, narrowly missing her head. She moaned briefly after the impact but quickly got to her feet to open the door of her study and allow Chistery to hobble in, looking rattled from the commotion in the room.

"Is Elphie okay?" he inquired in his clipped tone, never fully managing to grasp the powers of speech.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she insisted in a hurry. "That's not important. You were right my friend, but it hasn't happened yet. We're not too late to save her. I know I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but there's too much at risk. It's time."

"Time?" Chistery repeated, watching the witch pace the room distractedly, her eyes scanning for something in the mess after the explosion.

"We have to do this now. Find her. She'll be in the field right now. Tell her that it's time, that Glinda needs us. She must go the Emerald City and find the others. And make sure Glinda has the book! Once she's gone, find Fiyero and bring him back here. I need to prepare... we don't have much time. Now fly Chistery, fly!"

The monkey nodded once and dashed out of the room, leaving the witch behind to deal with the mess.

"I just hope we get there on time..." she mumbled, shaking her head to clear it and going to work.

A short ways away, a young girl sang in a field of wildflowers, her voice carrying over the shores of Restwater. Animals and animals alike stopped to listen to her voice, entranced by this strange beauty, ensnared by the melodic narrative she was reciting.

The words, the tone, the eloquence of her chant... and then suddenly, the waters began to shift. The raft of ducks resting on the banks took flight, the young elk froze with an eye fixed on the stranger and the rest of the audience either fled or fell under her spell.

She did not know what it was that she was singing, only that she had heard it sung from someone else a hundred times over. She had every word memorized, every pause or hesitation, every breath. She knew that when she sang she attracted listeners, though she herself could not decide whether it was the song, her voice or her elegance, even at such a young age.

When the song finished, every Animal and animal that remained blinked a few times, rose from where they were sitting or squatting and departed from the scene. The girl looked over the water shimmering in the morning sunlight, a delicate smile painted on her face, and wished that some of her admirers would stay when the song finished.

Her wish was half granted. There was one Animal who appeared from the west, a familiar monkey flying in on the wind, headed straight for the girl. Normally she would have been pleased, but as he came nearer she saw his face, saw his urgency, and knew without even hearing it that everything was about to change.

It was time to help the witch.