Chapter 15
"Fiyero what does your half-cocked brain thinking of? We've been in this library for hours and we have yet to find this book you claim to know your parents had," Glinda shook her head.
"Excuse me but I'm the only one who can tell him his brain is half-cocked. I am his wife after all," Elphaba teased.
"All right, all right. My mother used to tell me stories of the Witch of the South and how she was the most powerful in all of Oz. Of course this was before Fae came into the picture," Fiyero threw another book into the pile next to him. Each person had stacks just like it nearby and Elphaba secretly felt bad that they were leaving a mess in such a lovely room. The walls were lined with shelves and each shelf held many books which had been lovingly stored in alphabetical order. Some were very old and some were well worn while others looked as though they hadn't been touched very often.
"How will this book help us?" The green woman asked.
"It should give us the location of where she used to reside. There was always talk that she had enchanted her home to hide it from the world and that those that accidentally found it would be cursed to never remember its location," Fiyero explained.
"So how does the book know?" Glinda wanted to know.
"The book gave a general description of where it was believed she made her hideout. If we could find it, between the three of us and the dragon, we should be able to find her home," the Prince told them.
"I mean no offense Yero but I have never heard of this tale," Elphaba said.
"It's an old Vinkun bedtime story which I didn't give much credence to until the Wizard magically became an actual Wizard," he admitted.
"And given your folks hid the magical creatures aspect of your history hidden…" Elphaba started.
"Maybe the story wasn't a story," he nodded.
"Wait. What?" Glinda was confused and Elphaba quickly explained the reason they had had to take a blood oath with Avantador.
"Ok so maybe the idea isn't totally half-cocked but how do we find this book?" The blonde asked, looking at the shelves. Elphaba stared at the same shelves and then got an idea.
"I thought of it before but wasn't sure it would work. Do you think we could we cast a location spell for the book?" She asked.
"I don't see how. Fiyero doesn't remember the title which is why we're covered in dust," Glinda showed her, her hands.
"Could you do some sort of elimination spell?" Fiyero wondered.
"An actual elimination spell would cause the books to physically disappear, which could mean bursting into flames," Elphaba said.
"Yeah let's not do that," Glinda shook her head.
"Though that gives me an idea. What if we give the location spell very specific instructions?" The green woman turned to her best friend.
"Well we can't ask for anything too specific, given what we're searching for. It'll get confused," Glinda reminded her.
"This is true but what if we asked for all the books that contained bedtime stories?" Elphaba suggested.
"Can't hurt to try," Glinda shrugged. Elphaba quickly conjured up the spell and at first nothing happened. She tried it again and this time books flew off the shelves at them.
"Grab one and see what we're dealing with," Glinda instructed. There were about twenty books on the floor and the three of them began flipping through them. About an hour later, however, they had managed to sift through the books and they had found nothing.
"Ok that didn't work," Fiyero heaved a sigh.
"What if the spell didn't consider it a bedtime story? I mean we are assuming its true right?" Glinda asked.
"I suppose so but I figured the filing would go as a bedtime story," Elphaba shrugged.
"Ok, then can you try to search using the words "Witch of the South"?" Her husband wondered.
"I thought that might be too specific but we can try. Though you might want to keep an eye out. The last spell took longer than I thought to respond. We could be waiting a bit and suddenly have a book fly at our heads," his wife told him.
"Check," Glinda nodded and Elphaba quickly chanted the spell. They waited five minutes and she tried it again. Five more minutes went by and still nothing. Elphaba tried it one more time. Five, ten, and then fifteen minutes passed and still nothing.
"Well at least we tried," Fiyero huffed before slumping into a chair, figuring their only hope now was to resume the search they had started earlier, by hand.
"Incoming!" Glinda shouted before hitting the deck. Elphaba did the same and Fiyero, regrettably caught the book in the mouth, as the chair didn't allow him to duck. He cried out in agony as the book hit the floor.
Elphaba rushed to his side and quickly assessed how badly he was hurt. He had some teeth knocked into his mouth and blood was coming out of the new holes. She bade him to hold still and she quickly performed a healing spell which put the teeth back where they belonged and stopped the bleeding.
"How do you feel?" She asked.
"Much better though my face still hurts," he admitted.
"That would be a side effect of the spell. Healing spells are great but they can't always take away every pain and wound," Elphaba explained.
"Well I like my teeth the way they are so thank you," he smiled slightly before wincing.
"Uh Fiyero, this book doesn't have bedtime stories in it," Glinda's eyebrows were raised.
"It doesn't?" He was confused. Glinda handed the book to Elphaba and the woman's eyes grew large.
"Fiyero, this is a spell book. Look at the inside of the front cover," she handed him the book and his eyes grew large as well.
"Hold onto this tightly, daughter, for it is the only book you will ever need to protect yourself and those you love. Know that I will always be with you," he read before flipping to the next page. The words on it were unintelligible, just like the ones in the Grimmerie.
"What the…" Fiyero couldn't believe it as he flipped through the pages until he hit words he could recognize. There he found the words the spell had latched onto. There were the stories his mother used to tell him.
"It would seem that they weren't fairytales after all," Elphaba said.
To Be Continued…