You know, I seriously regret calling Mr. Whistles, "Mr. Whistles". I can't take him seriously at all and snigger whenever I write his name. On the other hand, uni starts back next week and I am determined to keep updating as regularly as possible! This story has a long way to go and it will be finished!

In other news, I now have a job! Yay, cafe! Also spent a day and a half singing and performing at a church conference thing, so I am beyond tired right now!

The scream outside abruptly pulled Elphaba from her trance-like state, stopping the flow of words from her mouth.

Dropping the Grimmerie, she scrambled off the bed and ran to the small window that overlooked the church gardens. Through the clear glass,Elphaba could just see the northern gardens that blocked the church from the out, she spotted a panicked Frexspar running across the lawn in the direction of the scream. Just as he was about to leave her limited field of view, Elphaba faintly made out his expression changing from confusion to absolute horror.

Elphaba's heart dropped into her stomach. Somehow she knew this was her fault, that this was the result of the Grimmerie and its strange words.

Down on the lawn Elphaba watched as Frexspar began looking around himself, searching for the cause of all the commotion that Elphaba could not see. His eyes widened as they landed on her at the attic window before his face twisted with confused fear. The intensity of his gaze made Elphaba shrink away from the window.

Whirling back to face her room, Elphaba ran across the wooden floor in a panic and shoved the trunk off of the trapdoor. She clambered down the ladder, nearly falling as her feet slipped off of the rungs, the Grimmerie forgotten in her hurry.

As she burst out of the church doors, Elphaba loud voices, rounding to corner to find Frexspar, Biff and Mr. Whistles. As she looked around, Elphaba was met with a sight she would never forget. The two older men were standing around a writhing Biff, his face contorted with agony and fear. He was desperately clutching his dirt covered arm, holding it as far away from his body as he could. Mr. Whistles was frantically trying to calm his nephew, but was just making things worse. All the while Frexspar pulled at his hair and seemed to be ranting to the heavens, pleading with the Unnamed God for mercy.

As Elphaba approached, she realised to her horror that Biff's arm wasn't covered in dirt as she had first thought, it had turned into wood.

Having noticed her approach, Frexspar broke off his religious diatribe, his pious panic turning to rage as he put the pieces together in his head, deducing that Elphaba was somehow the cause.

"What curse have you brought down upon us?!" Frexspar's face was red with rage as he stormed across the grass, intercepting Elphaba as she tried to get to Biff.

"I bring you into this church, feed you, clothe you and all you repay me with is trouble!" Grabbing her arm, he flung her against the stone wall of the church. "I have been more than generous to you, you little gypsy wench! And the moment I show leniency you stab me in the back!" Spittle flecked across Elphaba's face as he yelled, inches from her face.

For the first time in her life, Elphaba was terrified of what Father Frexspar might do. Of course she had been frightened by him before, but nothing had made her blood freeze in her veins like right now.

His fist slammed into the stone next to Elphaba's head making her flinch, "Reverse it, witch!"

"I don't know how!" She screamed back into his face, her heart pounding in her throat.

Frexspar's fury faltered, his eyes burning with fury, but there was fear there as well. A fear that the girl he had sheltered for nearly a decade was not all she appeared to be. Releasing her, he quickly stepped away from her. "You can't stay here."

Elphaba's heart dropped into her stomach as she processed what he had just said. She had to leave the only home she had known for ten years.

Elphaba glanced over at Mr. Whistles and Biff, both of whom had calmed down enough and had been listening in to the exchange, only to be met with the same confused terror as Frexspar.

The heel of her boot caught on the grass as she backed away from the other church residents before turning and stumbling back inside.

Elphaba sprinted back upstairs to find the Grimmerie resting on her bed where she had left it.

"What have I done?"

She hadn't even known what she was reading, and this had happened!

It was as though the Grimmerie was showing her what it could do, giving her a taste of its power.

With an anguished scream, Elphaba hurled the Grimmerie across the room. The book hit the far wall with a thud and fell, its pages open and pressing against the floorboards. Her hair had fallen from its braid in the day's excitement and now hung about her face, shielding her from the world with a midnight curtain.

She had managed to lose her only friend and her home in one day.

Down on the grounds, Mr. Whistles returned his attention back to Biff's arm to find that nothing had changed.

"Father! It's not spreading past his arm!" He spoke, trying to get Frexspar's attention.

"Praise unto the Unnamed God!" Frexspar clasped his hands over his heart in relief. "Take him inside until we find a cure."

Mr. Whistles nodded and helped Biff to his feet. The boy was still shaken from the ordeal, hugging his arm to himself as he stumbled through the church doors.

"Father Frexspar, sir?"

Startled by the voice, Frexspar spun around, his gaze landing on the young messenger boy addressing him. "How long have you been there?" He demanded.

"I only just arrived, sir." the boy responded and Frexspar nodded absently.

"Are you Father Frexspar, sir?" the young boy asked.

The priest cleared his throat before responding, "Y-yes, that's me."

"The Wizard requests your presence in the Emerald City, one week from today." The boy handed over a bright, emerald green envelope. Frexspar dismissed the boy with a wave of his hand and turned the envelope over in his hands. Turning to look up at his beloved church, he spotted the attic window, this time devoid of the green face he had seen just moments before.

Frexspar looked down at the envelope once more before heading to the upper floor of the church to deal with a decade-old problem.

"Get down here girl!" He called through the trapdoor into the attic above him.

Moments later the wood creaked open slowly and Elphaba appeared, avoiding his stoic gaze as she descended the ladder. Standing before him on the landing, he noticed her eyes were tinged with red through her loose hair.

His jaw tightened and he cleared his throat slightly to get her attention. Elphaba looked up to see Frexspar holding aloft the emerald envelope, glaring down at her with murderous intensity.

"You will come with me to the Emerald City and never return here."

The answer was Cats! I saw this live just the other week with a cast of over 500 people! Some of it was spectacular but it still only scored a 3.5/5 from me. Congratulotions to Broadwaygirl21 and Spiritwarrior27 and guest!

This weeks challenge is: How many minutes are in a year?