Boq met Elphaba's eyes. "What do we do?" he mouthed. But Elphaba didn't have an answer. She just stared at him, the green of her face quickly paling to grey. She held perfectly still, but the air around her hands began to ripple and hum.

The footsteps were getting closer.

"Get down," Elphaba hissed finally, breaking eye contact. "She already suspects me, but if you can stay out of sight then maybe she'll—"

"I'm not leaving—"

"Why all the hushed voices?" The footsteps had stopped, but it wasn't the pompous voice of their Madame Head that spoke. Instead it was male, young, and irritatingly casual. Fiyero stepped forward, grinning. "You two aren't keeping secrets now, are you?"

Boq let out a breathy laugh and sank down onto the steps. Elphaba, however, showed no relief.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she snarled, turning on Fiyero.

"Whoa, easy!" He threw his arms over his head as the wind picked up around them. "Look, I didn't mean to scare you guys—"

"Why are you here?" she demanded. "I could have blasted your head off! What in Oz's name are you thinking?" But her voice lost some of its power and, with a final burst of wind, her shoulders slumped and she stumbled back, sitting down heavily.

Fiyero lowered his arms and stared as Elphaba leaned down, trying to catch her breath. "We've got to work on your self-control."

"I-I think what Elphaba was trying to say," Boq cut in hastily, "Is, why are you here?"

"Why are you here?"

"Fiyero, I swear, if you don't—"

"Relax, Elphaba." The Vinkan rolled his eyes and reached inside his bag. "I'm here because I thought you might be interested in…this." He pulled out a thick book and held it up.

Elphaba raised an eyebrow. "I have dozens of books, Fiyero. In fact, we're standing in front of a library. Why should that one interest me?"

"Because it's not a book, it's a journal. And it's from Morrible's office." He tossed it to her. "You two have been keeping secrets, haven't you?"

The green girl was speechless. Boq scrambled to look over her shoulder as she opened the journal and flipped through it.

"Her experiments," Boq whispered. "All her notes on sentience…they're in here." They looked up at Fiyero, who had his hands shoved in his pockets. "How did you get this?"

The Vinkan shrugged. "Same way you were going to. I snuck into her office."

"Do you realize what she would have done if she'd caught you?" Elphaba asked, unable to muster any anger.

"If she'd caught you," Fiyero corrected. "You said it yourself, she's suspicious of you. But why in Oz would she think I was working for Dillamond? I barely knew the old Goat. Besides, she's been kissing up to me since the day I got here. I guess royalty does have its perks."

"She's going to realize this is missing," Boq said. "And as soon as she does, she'll know Elphaba's involved."

"You've got a little bit of time," Fiyero said. "Look at the journal's cover. It's all dusty, right? She hasn't touched it in a while. And I put one of my spare notebooks in its place, so she won't notice it's missing at first."

"You…you thought of all that?"

The Vinkan scoffed. "I'm hurt, Elphaba."

She shook her head. "Sorry, it's just…how did this happen?"

Fiyero sat down in front of them. "You two have been acting weird for a while. Crope and Tibbett have barely noticed, because they're too busy obsessing over you and Glinda. And Glinda's noticed, but she's used to not questioning it when you do things like this. That left me to be the curious one."

Obsessing over me and Glinda? Elphaba shook her head, trying to focus. "So what, you've been eavesdropping?"

"This morning was the only time, I swear. I don't even know what you're up to. Just that you needed to get into Morrible's office."

Elphaba hesitated, her fingers tightening over the journal. She tried to take a deep breath, but it did nothing to help the suffocating feeling in her chest. "This is…you can't…you shouldn't know about this. You can't—"

Boq put a hand on her elbow. "Elphaba, breathe. He doesn't know. He just helped us get the journal."

"If Morrible—"

"She won't find out if we work quickly. You have the research with you, right? We'll go into the library and start copying down what we need from Morrible's journal. Then Fiyero can return it before tomorrow morning. She'll never know we had it."

"You can copy all of that in one night?" Fiyero asked, eyeing the journal.

Boq scowled at him. "We'll only copy what we need. It'll be a long night, but we can do it in shifts if we have to. Now come on." He stood and tugged on Elphaba's elbow. "We've got work to do."

They stayed in the basement of the library, not wanting to risk being seen through the windows on the main floors. Boq found a lantern and brought it into the little room they were using, but its light was dim and it did nothing to fight the chill that seeped through their coats almost immediately. He and Elphaba huddled over their work. The table had quickly been taken over by endless books and notes and papers, and Fiyero couldn't even begin to make sense of it all.

"I want to help," he had said when they first sat down, but Elphaba hadn't even spared him a glance.

"You've helped enough."

Several hours later, silence had fallen over them, broken only by the incessant scratching of pen on paper. Boq's hand was aching, but he didn't dare stop. They were almost through Morrible's work, and it was probably only an hour or two before dawn.

Elphaba was curled up in the corner, shivering slightly under the thin blanket Fiyero had found. She had been up all night, even though Boq and Fiyero had each nodded off for an hour or so. But both the boys kept nagging at her, and she had finally left the research to Boq and settled down to rest her eyes. They were a little surprised that she actually fell asleep, but Boq wasn't complaining. He would wake her if he needed her help. For now, she needed rest.

Fiyero shifted in his seat and yawned, chuckling when Boq caught it.

"Stop it," the Munchkin said. "You're distracting me."

The Vinkan glanced at the watch Boq had put on the table. "It's past four in the morning. You've been doing this for hours."

"It's important."

"Yeah, I realize that." He looked over at Elphaba and shook his head. Boq followed his gaze.

"She doesn't mean any harm," the Munchkin sighed. "She's just…afraid."

"Elphaba? Afraid?"

"It happens more than you'd think. But anyway, this research is important. It's dangerous. She doesn't want anyone to get hurt because of it."

"She let you in on it."

"I kind of forced my way into it. Like you did."

"And yet, she won't tell me anything."

"She's just trying to protect you. And everyone else. The more people who know about it, the easier it is for the secret to get out. Really, can you blame her for keeping you in the dark?"

"I suppose not." Fiyero rubbed his eyes. "But what is she so afraid of? Morrible?"

"Morrible is first and foremost, yeah. But this goes deeper than that."

"What do you mean?"

The Munchkin pressed his lips together. He glanced down at the mess of papers in front of him, then lowered his pen. "Don't ask me that. I don't want to have to lie."

"Tell the truth, then." There was a hint of a smile in Fiyero's voice, but he sounded defeated.

"Don't worry," Boq said. "You'll find out sooner or later."

"You think so?"

"I do. As stubborn as Elphie is, she knows when she needs help. And with this, she needs all the help she can get."

Fiyero frowned slightly. "If it's something Elphaba needs help with, I'm not sure I want to know."

"It is daunting," Boq agreed. "But it's fighting for a cause that's worth it."

"The Animals," Fiyero said quietly.

"Equality," Boq said, picking up his pen again. "For everyone in Oz."

"Hey, Boq?" Fiyero glanced at the green girl again, making sure she was still asleep. "What happens if Glinda finds out?"

The Munchkin smirked. "Remember how she was earlier? With the magic and the wind and the air that was practically sparking around her?"

Fiyero paled a little. "Yeah."

"Nothing," Boq said. "Nothing at all compared to what she'd do to the idiot who tells Glinda."

The Vinkan was silent for a moment. "And if Glinda finds out on her own?"

Boq looked over his shoulder at Elphaba and sighed. "That just might break her."

The boys fell silent again. Boq went back to the research, but it was only a few minutes later when he stopped and frowned.

"What is it?" Fiyero asked.

The Munchkin shook his head and turned around. "Elphaba?"

The green girl groaned a little and opened her eyes. "What time is it?"

"Almost five. Come here, I need your help."

She climbed to her feet and went to the table, keeping the blanket around her shoulders. As she sat down, Boq pointed to a passage in Morrible's journal. "I have no idea what any of this is saying."

The green girl frowned, then started, sitting up straight. "I've seen this before. A couple of the restricted books have talked about it, and it was in the journal once or twice." She stood up and began digging through their papers, hastily pulling out pages and circling little bits. "If Morrible talks about it, maybe I can…oh, where is it?"

She froze. The page she was looking for wasn't here, it was still in her bag, with the rest of Dillamond's letters. "Nevermind," she said, her voice low. "I'll find it later. Let's copy that entire passage down. How much do we have left after that?"

Boq flipped through the last few pages of Morrible's journal. "Not much."

"Thank Oz," Fiyero mumbled. "I'm exhausted."

"You're the one who chose to stay," Elphaba grumbled. She sat back down and tried to rub some of the heaviness out of her eyes. "Want me to do it, Boq?"

"Please." He handed her the pen. "My hand is killing me."

"I think I can hear my pulse," Fiyero mused, tugging at his ear. "Everything sounds a little fuzzy."

Elphaba smirked down at her paper. "You've never stayed up late before, have you?"

"This isn't late," Fiyero argued with a yawn. "This is early. Way too early. You're insane."

"That's what they tell me."

They fell silent again, too exhausted to try and make conversation.

"Did you still want to get a book, Elphaba?" Boq asked after a while, getting to his feet and stretching.

"Yeah!" Elphaba said, remembering. "Here, I'll write it down. And take this back, too." She scribbled a title down on the corner of the page and tore it off. Boq took it and the book she was returning before disappearing into the library.

"How long have you two been doing this?" Fiyero asked after a while.

"A few weeks?" Elphaba shrugged. "Why?"

"Just wondering how much I missed before I figured it out."

"Don't sound so smug about it." She turned a page in Morrible's journal, but there were only a few sentences written down. The green girl leaned back, stretching her hand. "We're done."

"Finally," Boq said, walking back into the room. "I looked out the windows while I was up there. It's still dark, but not for long."

"Then I guess it's time for us to go." Elphaba began stacking their papers and placing them carefully into her bag. Boq took Morrible's journal and flipped through it once more, inspecting it for any sign of use. He handed it back to Fiyero.

"Does it look any different from when you first got it?"

"Not that I can tell," the Vinkan said. He tucked the journal away. "I should go, before she wakes up. I'd say see you in class later, but I am definitely skipping all my lectures today."

"Weak," Elphaba mumbled.

"Good night, Elphaba."

"Good morning, Fiyero."

The Vinkan scowled, then grinned, then waved goodbye and slipped out of the room. Boq helped Elphaba gather the rest of her things.

"Are you still worried about him?" he asked as they made their way out of the library.

"Of course I am." She glared down at her feet. "But I do owe him now. This is…" She shook her head. They were closer than ever. If there was a way to prove equal sentience, this was it. Pretty soon—maybe in just a couple of days—she could write to Dillamond and tell him that she'd done it.

Boq nodded wearily, rubbing his eyes. "Yeah. I have to admit, as committed as I was to all of this, I never really imagined what it would be like when we got this close."

"Neither did I," the green girl whispered. She sniffed and shivered, trembling from both the cold and the exhaustion.

"Are you going to class?" Boq asked.

"It'll be suspicious if I don't," she answered with a sigh. "You?"

"I don't have anything until this afternoon, so yes."

"I hate you."

"I know. See you later, Elphie."

"Mm. Sleep well."

She made her way to Crage Hall. She felt numb and heavy, but proud. The journal had been exactly what she needed. Maybe, just maybe, they could do this. Dr. Dillamond's work wouldn't be in vain.

Elphaba had almost forgotten about the blonde sleeping in her bed. She leaned against the door for a moment, watching Glinda's peaceful breathing. She was too exhausted to either wake up or try and move the blonde, so she just kicked off her boots and shrugged off her coat—forgetting Ama Clutch's scarf around her neck—and collapsed as gently as possible onto the bed.

"Elphie?" Glinda mumbled, her eyes fluttering. "What time is it?"

"Don't worry about it," the green girl whispered. "Go back to sleep."

Glinda stretched her fingers out, her eyes not quite open, and grabbed Elphaba's hand. "You're freezing." Before Elphaba could respond, Glinda rolled toward her and tucked her blanket around both of them. It was warm and soft and smelled just a little bit like Glinda. The green girl sighed contentedly and let her eyes flutter shut. Glinda was already asleep again, and it didn't take Elphaba long to follow suit.

Beneath the blanket, their fingers stayed intertwined.