Selky was fifteen and she was on the run. She knew exactly where she was headed, because her mind had followed this dream path before. Stormy air, charged with electricity, whipped at her face as she sprinted for the meadow where her parents had been slain. When the trees before her opened up she could see their silhouettes standing in the middle of an open meadow. "Mom!" she screamed. "Dad!" The words were drowned out by a malicious cackle. Looking up Selky spotted the witch hovering in a vortex of dark clouds. Grinning in savage delight the green woman launched a fiery bolt of lightning towards the two vulnerable figures in the field. An explosive mass of energy knocked Selky backwards and her vision blurred. When she recovered the scene had changed. She was suddenly kneeling beside the hole where her parents had once stood. They'd been burnt to a cinder; eliminated.
Tears burned her eyes, carried by waves of sobbing sorrow. As this was a lawless dream her tears collected in the crater, making a tiny lake of crystal clear water. Selky was considering drowning herself in the puddle when she noticed someone standing at the edge of the clearing. It was Corusca, but there was something different about her. The Antelope held a pitchfork in one hoof, and her eyes were cold. "It's the witch!" she cried. "Kill her!"
"What?" Selky gasped, holding out her hands in a symbol of surrender. A shriek ripped from her throat when she saw that her fingers were green. Desperately Selky turned to the tear lake beside her. The face looking back at her was indeed green, but the dark haired girl still had her regular features, she was even wearing her normal clothes. "Corusca it's me!" she called to her friend, who was now marching at the head of an angry mob.
"You're a liar!" the Antelope yelled. "They say the green one is evil; they say we may blame her. You are green so we will hunt you." Having no other choices Selky fled. In her dream she ran for weeks and weeks, everything passed in a blur. The traumatized girl collapsed beside a forest river, desperate for a drink. Reflected on the mirror like surface of the water was a young witch with an emerald complexion and eyes that burned with haunting madness.
Selky awoke screaming and Glinda, who'd been delivering the captive's breakfast, jumped at this sudden exclamation. "Are you ok?" she asked worriedly.
"Yes," Selky replied, taking a shuddering breath. "I just had a bad dream." Abruptly her sleepy head registered that Glinda the Good was standing right in front of her. She looked a lot shorter in person. "Why are you here?"
"To bring you breakfast," the blonde witch explained, nodding towards a plate of steaming eggs and toast. "We aren't going to starve you."
"What are you going to do with me?"
"I…" This question stumped the petite woman. "I really don't know."
"You're Glinda the Good," Selky protested. "Shouldn't you be able to figure out what to do with one little hostage?"
"Thinking was never my forte," the blonde chirped amusedly. "I was always the pretty pink figurehead. Politics was Elphie's thing."
"Elphie?"
"That's my nickname for Elphaba," Glinda clarified. A look of profound revulsion crept onto the student's face. In response a prick of anger lit the petite woman's heart. "I thought you might like a change of clothes," she snapped, dropping several dark dresses on a table in the corner. As the blonde opened the door to leave Selky stopped her.
"Wait," she called, feeling bad about offending Glinda the Good. "I'm sorry I upset you I'm just…" She paused, searching for a word that aptly fit her predicament. "I'm just really confused right now; I don't know what to believe." A fond smile pulled at Glinda's lips as she turned around. The girl before her was a stubborn thing, but she had a good heart. Selky reminded the petite witch so much of what Elphaba had been like back at Shiz, hungry for the truth and too rebellious to accept it from anyone but herself.
"I'd tell you what to believe," the blonde informed her. "But I know you won't listen to me. Don't worry though, you'll figure it out."
***
"I am not sick!" Elphaba protested as a hacking cough thrashed its way out of her chest.
"Yes you are," Fiyero insisted, wrapping a thick quilt around his wife's shaking shoulders. Glinda and Boq looked on worriedly.
"This is my fault," the blonde witch whimpered. "I shouldn't have made you go out in the rain."
"That was my choice," the green girl replied sharply. "And no one else is getting sick."
"Whatever the case you need to rest," the Tin Man pressed.
"There's no time to rest!" Elphaba sniffled. Suddenly her watchful eyes scanned the room. "Where are Caya and Brrr?"
"They're…busy," Glinda replied evasively before skillfully changing the subject. "If you strain yourself you'll only be bedridden longer."
"Fine," the green girl muttered, snuggling into Fiyero's chest. "But you'd better keep me updated on everything that's going on."
***
No one knew it, but Selky was listening in on their conversation. Her prison just happened to be pressed up against the parlor where everyone spent most of their time. The keen eyed girl had spotted a loose stone near the floor and managed to pry it out of the ancient wall. Through this small square hole the prisoner had a perfect view of the sitting room. Every time the witch hacked painfully Selky felt a surge of vengeful pleasure…and a tiny sting of irrational guilt.
***
"Are you going to tell her about the executions?" Caya whispered to Glinda when the two of them were alone.
"Of course not!" the blonde hissed. "The stress would make her worse."
"She's gonna be hopping mad when she finds out we didn't tell her," the Tiger pointed out.
"I know," the petite woman sighed. "What did Chistery find out?"
"As I told you before Morrible is planning to execute the entire village for harboring a wanted criminal," Caya began, her face contorted in anger and grief. "She's arranged a public spectacle meant to intimidate any who might rise against her. The Animals will be herded together and fired on by two canons and three riflemen until they're all dead."
"When?"
"Two days from now."
"Looks like we're gonna have to stop them without Elphie."
"Is that possible?"
"I guess we'll find out."
***
Selky couldn't sleep, she was too busy spying. Elphaba's condition had worsened and she was in the throes of a terrible fever. Glinda had kicked everyone else out of the living room; including Fiyero when he dosed off halfway through his watch shift. Now the blonde sat alone beside her tortured friend with a bucket of ice and a cool rag. Fiery hallucinations blazed before the green girl's unfocused eyes.
"Nessa!" she screamed, tears raking claws of wetness down her raw cheeks. "Nessa I'm sorry; I tried to save you, I tried to help!" Selky wondered if the witch was referring to Nessarose Thropp, the deceased governor of Munchkin Land.
At first Glinda had tried to calm her friend with soothing words and physical comfort, but when those methods failed the blonde realized there was nothing she could do but watch and let the illness run its course. Each shriek that escaped Elphaba's mouth echoed in the small woman's eyes; amplified a thousand times. The pained look on Glinda's face broke Selky's heart.
"Fiyero!" the green girl called weakly. "No please don't beat him. Please! It's me you want not him! Fiyero!" Silent tears spilled from the blonde woman's eyes as she helplessly mopped at her friend's clammy brow. When another cry tore through the sitting room the Tin Man appeared, taking a seat beside Glinda.
"She's gonna be fine," the petite woman whimpered, more to herself than anyone else.
"It's not fair for you to bear this alone," Boq told her softly. "You should've let Fiyero stay."
"Fiyero fell asleep, he was exhausted," Glinda insisted. "The last thing we need is more people getting sick."
"That counts for you too," the Tin Man insisted. "I don't need sleep, you go to bed."
"I'm not leaving her!" the blonde snapped with more venom than she'd intended. When Elphaba's screaming began again Glinda's hand found Boq's. As much as she wanted to close her eyes to this, Selky knew she wouldn't be sleeping that night.