I looked around and raced to talk to the Wizard. I had only minutes or hours, if I was lucky. Sending that message had been stupid—the stupidest thing I'd ever done.
I soon found him—my father—and I glared at him. "Have you come to your senses and are finally going to join me?" he asked. "No," I spat. "No one in Oz believed in you more than I did. You let me down." I said, sadly.
"I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS OR PLANNED IT IN ADVANCE. I WAS MERELY BLOWN HERE BY THE WINDS OF CHANCE. I NEVER SAW MYSELF AS A SOLOMON OR SOCRATES. I KNEW WHO I WAS: ONE OF YOUR DIME A DOZEN MEDIOCRITIES. THEN SUDDENLY I'M HERE, RESPECTED—WORSHIPPED EVEN. JUST BECAUSE THE FOLKS IN OZ NEED SOMEONE TO BELIEVE IN, DOES IT SURPRISE YOU—I GOT HOOKED, AND ALL TOO SOON? WHAT CAN I SAY? I GOT CARRIED AWAY AND NOT JUST BY BALLOON: WONDERFUL. THEY CALLED ME 'WONDERFUL.' SO I SAID 'WONDERFUL'—IF YOU INSIST. I WILL BE 'WONDERFUL.' AND THEY SAID, 'WONDERFUL.' BELIEVE ME, IT'S HARD TO RESIST 'CAUSE IT FEELS WONDERFUL. THEY THINK I'M WONDERFUL. HEY, LOOK WHO'S WONDERFUL—THIS CORN-FED HICK WHO SAID, 'IT MIGHT BE KEEN TO BUILD A TOWN OF GREEN AND A WONDERFUL ROAD OF YELLOW BRICK!' See—I never had a family of my own. So, I guess I just—wanted to give the citizens of Oz everything. So you lied to them. Elphaba, where I'm from, we believe all sorts of things that aren't true. We call it—'history.' A MAN'S CALELD A TRAITOR—OR LIBERATOR. A RICH MAN'S A THIEF—OR PHILANTHROPIST. IS ONE A CRUSADER OR RUTHLESS INVADER? IT'S ALL IN WHICH LABEL IS ABLE TO PERSIST. THERE ARE PRECIOUS FEW AT EASE WITH MORAL AMBIGUITIES SO WE ACT AS THOUGH THEY DON'T EXIST. THEY CALL ME 'WONDERFUL.' SO I AM WONDERFUL. IN FACT—IT'S SO MUCH WHO I AM, IT'S PART OF MY NAME AND WITH MY HELP, YOU CAN BE THE SAME. AT LONG, LONG LAST RECEIVE YOUR DUE—LONG OVERDUE. ELPHABA—THE MOST CELEBRATED ARE THE REHABILITATED. THERE'LL BE SUCH A WHOOP-DE-DOO. A CELEBRATION THROUGHOUT OZ THAT'S ALL DO WITH—YOU! WONDERFUL! THEY'LL CALL YOU WONDERFUL! IT DOES WONDERFUL! TRUST ME—IT'S FUNE! WHEN YOU ARE WONDERFUL, IT WOULD BE WONDERFUL? WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL. ONE! TWO! AND…"
"Elphaba, please, think of what we could do together," he told me. I nodded and I said, "I'll join you if you let those Monkeys go." They fled and I discovered what happened to Dr. Dillamond all those years ago—he'd been taken prisoner by the Wizard—by my own father. I stood, shaking with rage. "I'll never join you. I'd rather fight you until the day I died," I snapped at my father. "Guards! Guards! The Witch is here!" He called, using the giant head thing he'd built.
Fiyero arrived and pointed a gun at me. Looking at the other soldier, he ordered, "Get me some water! Now!" Watching me carefully, he turned and dragged my father out from behind the throne and I watched, frozen in shock and horror, as Fiyero began pointing the gun at him.
Glinda came downstairs and I merely pointed to Fiyero and begged, "Glinda, do something. I'm scared." Glinda sighed and said, "Fiyero, you're scaring Elphie." "What? How?" Fiyero demanded. "You're pointing a gun at her father," Glinda said simply. I shrugged and said, "Well, that works, Lin." "What?" Fiyero and the Wizard both asked. I nodded and said, "Glinda and I have both known for years—she's known since Shiz—and I've known since I was twelve." The Wizard glared at me and said, "Elphaba, you're grounded. Starting now." "For what?" I asked. "For running away," the Wizard told me. I frowned and said, "Father, I'm already grounded for, like, two lifetimes."