OK guys, here's the next chapter. Thanks so much for the reviews, they're much appreciated as always. Really nothing else to say here this time, I'll answer reviews and stuff after the chapter. It's a bit boring, but a necessary segway into the next part of the story.
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Elphaba had a split second to make a decision before the three of them were taken to wherever fugitives were brought in Kansas. She imagined it had to be some kind of dungeon, or at least something similar to where criminals in Oz were put. Each of the cops took a set of handcuffs from their belt, and Elphaba's eyes narrowed as she made a decision.
Not even stopping to think of the consequences, Elphaba chanted a quick spell and felt the pressure immediately release from her arms as the cops were throw to the ground by an invisible force. Each emitted shouts of surprise, but they were no match for the powerful magic. Glinda and Dorothy looked to Elphaba, who was panting heavily with rage. She looked down at the guards, who were staring up at her from their places on the ground with wide eyes, before turning to her two companions.
"That spell should keep them paralyzed for only a few minutes. We need to move," she said quickly. She couldn't believe this was happening. She'd just gotten over fugitive status in Oz and now she was running from the law in Kansas. She supposed this was the story of her life.
"Where are we supposed to go?" asked Glinda, half hysterical from the shock of the situation they were in, "You just knocked out three of these…law men, which cannot have helped our situation any!"
"Yes you're right, I should have let them lock us up, I'm sure it would have made for a pleasant experience. Three guesses who's fault this is in the first place.," Elphaba shot back.
"There's no time for this," shouted Dorothy, trying to stop the two from bickering before the officers regained mobility, "Follow me!" She turned and began running, not telling the others where they were going while the police officers were within earshot. Once they were a safe distance away she turned back to Elphaba and Glinda.
"Look, let's had back to the farm. It's the only place I can think of and hopefully the men have left by now. We can probably hide out there until we think up a plan of some sort," she stated, surprising herself by how calm her voice sounded.
Glinda, on the other hand, had not remained so level headed, "What plan?" she cried, "We have no way home, no where to run, and in a matter of hours there'll probably be dozens of people looking for us. How on earth are we supposed to get out of this situation?"
Elphaba, knowing this was not the time or place for Glinda to have a breakdown, slapped her friend lightly on the face, just hard enough to snap her out of her hysteria, "Pull yourself together Glinda, there's no time for this."
Glinda did not seem at all comforted by this, but she did shut her mouth as Dorothy continued to speak, "Look, this is the best course of action we have right now. If you can think up a better plan go ahead but for now follow me."
With that Dorothy turned on her heel and Elphaba followed behind immediately. Glinda looked uncertain for a moment but, deciding she did not want to be left standing alone in the middle of the night, eventually jogged and caught up to her two friends.
When they arrived at the house they found to their dismay that the lights were still on in the living room. The three exchanged a look, not sure if it would be dangerous to go inside. However, standing out in the open did not seem very appealing right now, and so they proceeded up the drive against the tense feeling in the pit of their stomachs.
Dorothy took a deep breath before knocking on the door, hoping against hope the cops hadn't known to come by here yet.
The door was answered seconds later by a rather concerned looking Hunk. All three women standing on the steps let out internal sighs of relief.
"I thought you'd come back here," said Hunk concernedly as he ushered them inside, "Hurry, before someone sees you."
Dorothy looked at him strangely, "How do you already know-"
Her sentence was cut off as she got a glimpse of what was on the television screen. Elphaba and Glinda, who had seen the device in the house before but not known what it was, stared at the television with a mixture of wonder and shock.
On the screen an anchorwoman was giving a special report, accompanied by a picture of the knocked out police officers. They tuned in just as she was finishing up, "All three of these women are extremely dangerous and should not be approached. If you see them or have any information regarding there whereabouts we urge you to call our emergency hotline."
Dorothy turned to Hunk, her voice wavering slightly, "How on earth did they find out about this so quickly. What did the rest of the report say?"
"She started by saying that the police station had received a call about three women who'd tried to assault an old man earlier today. Then when the cops had gone after them they'd knocked them out by some unknown means. They identified Dorothy and warned that one was green and shrouded in a black cloak. All they said for Glinda was that she was a blond woman dressed in rather strange attire," Glinda huffed at this, but Hunk simply continued, "But I can't say I believe what they're telling us. What really happened out there?"
Elphaba was more than ready to launch into an explanation, "I'll tell you what happened. The goddamned Wizard of Oz happened!"
At Hunk's confused look Dorothy explained, "You remember how I told you the Wizard turned out to be an old humbug?" at Hunk's nod she continued, "Well it turned out it was a bit more serious than that. He, along with help from a horrible woman named Madame Morrible, was the one who began spreading rumors about Elphaba in the first place. He sent me to kill her, and Glinda made him leave Oz after it happened. I didn't realize he was here, but we ran into him on our way out of town and…it wasn't pleasant."
"You didn't really attack him did you," Hunk asked, eyes widening. From what he knew of Elphaba so far she didn't seem dangerous, just sarcastic. However, he really didn't know the woman all that well, and he couldn't say he was sure what she would or wouldn't do.
"Of course not," said Dorothy, "but…we learned some disturbing news. The Wizard was…I mean he is…"
"He's my friggin father," Elphaba spat, still ashamed to be associated with him. Hunk was a bit taken aback by the venom in her voice.
"Then…why would he call the police on you?"
Elphaba assumed that was the Kansas name for the men who'd tried to capture them, "He tried to make 'amends' or some nonsense like that. As if, the conniving old bastard probably just wanted to use me. All he ever wanted was to use me. I didn't buy it so we ran."
"But why didn't you head straight back to Oz then? Shouldn't you have just left after that?" asked Hunk.
"It turns out that Elphaba lost the spellbook we used to get here. It's what we came back here in search of. However, we weren't able to find it, so we weren't sure where to go. Thank goodness Zeke and Hickory have already left." Dorothy explained.
"Well, I wouldn't remain so calm about that. Those two are bound to come by again when they hear the news. I don't think they'd believe it of you Dorothy, but I know for a fact they don't exactly trust Elphaba and Glinda. They'll probably think they'd set you up or something. They'll be out for blood," said Hunk.
"Is it safe to stay here then?" asked Dorothy worriedly, "If they could come back at any moment I mean."
"I think it's your best bet for now. After all, you three could always hide upstairs. I don't think they'd search the house as long as I'm here."
Dorothy smiled and gave the farm hand a hug, "Oh Hunk, you've been so wonderful through all of this. I don't know what we'd have done without you!"
Hunk just smiled and gave her a pat on the back, "Always glad to help out an old friend Dorothy."
Elphaba and Glinda also gave him grateful smiles. Glinda had seemed to calm down a bit since they'd entered the safety of the house, but they were all still a bit shaken up. The seriousness of the situation was weighing down on them. What if they never got home? After all, how were they supposed to do it without a spell? The question was in the back of all of their minds, but for the time being they pushed it away. There was no time to panic right now.
However, whatever calm existed in the room was shattered in the next few moments. There was a loud bang, and everyone in the room nearly jumped out of their skin. Without so much as a knock the door burst open before Dorothy, Elphaba and Glinda had any time to react.
Yay for cliffhangers. I know you guys probably want to kill me by now, but they're so dang fun to write. Anyways, I seriously doubt there's going to be a chapter up next week. See, this weekend is my school play, and tomorrow begins the hell week. I'm probably not going to have a spare minute, and I don't have the next chapter written yet. So this is probably it for two weeks.
Anyways, please leave a review and tell me what you thought, I'll just take a bit of time to respond to some of the reviews from last chapter:
WickedJelly: Le gasp! Are you undermining my importance? I may have to take back that cookie I gave you for being my first reviewer.
Dammit, I must use normal smiles now. Woe is me. Let's see if these actally show up. :P
Yeah, the thirteen hour practice is tomorrow, the beginning of what I'm sure will be a very fun week. Sarcasm.
The-Good-Die-Alone: Lol, I opened your review in class and almost had a heart attack because I was afraid a teacher would be standing behind me. Twas safe though. I'm glad to see you liked the chapter enough to get so pissed off at the Wizard. :)
Sigma1: I'm glad, because I was kind of hoping no one would notice, that way I could pull it out later and make it all surprisingful. (That wasn't a pathetic attempt at Ozian slang, I always add 'ful' to the end of my adjectives :P)
Well, thanks for reading, you guys are awesome!
Till next time S.P.
