Mrs. Upland knows she must be prepared for anything, but the scene she encounters when she enters Fiyero's hideout is something she did not expect. Her daughter and husband are standing heatedly opposite each other. Fiyero and Boq are having an intense conversation, while Oscar is tied to a chair. He looks around in panic.

"What in Oz is going on here?" Mrs. Upland asks angrily as the door slams shut behind her. "I could hear you all shouting from outside."

"I told you your mother would be here any minute. Come on, we need to go," Mr. Upland says, grabbing his daughter's arm. ''We have already lost enough time and an important lead.''

Glinda pulls her arm away. "Mom, how is she?" she asks, worried.

Did you really spend half the evening arguing? she wanted to ask in disbelief, but she sees Glinda's worried face, her husband's angry look, and the confused looks from the other men in the room. She sighs. Mrs. Upland can guess what happened, though she had hoped her husband would have handled things differently. "It's worse than I thought," she admits truthfully. ''But she's holding up well.''

Glinda gasps for breath, looking for support. Fiyero quickly steps behind her.

Mr. Upland frowns. "How so?" he asks, concerned.

Mrs. Upland sighs. "I posed as a nurse. Boris is pretending to be Flex."

Boq looks confused. "Frex?"

"No, Flex," Mr. Upland whispers. "So, you're saying that Boris and his organization are in control of Oz?"

"Uhm, can someone explain this to me?" Oscar asks.

Boq is glad that he is not the only one who does not understand. He is also very glad that Frex is not yet aware that he has left his daughter alone. Frex will not be happy when he hears that he left his daughter alone for more than one night. Boq wants to warn his family, because Frex made it clear that his first priority is his daughter. During the discussion between Glinda and his father, he wrote a letter to his home front. They must be aware of the events. He hopes that he will soon get a chance to go to a village somewhere to post the letter with high urgency.

There's a brief silence. "Boris is the head of a secret organization. It is so secret that they do not even give themselves a name. They are focused on discriminating against the Animals. They will not stop until all the Animals are gone from Oz. They will not let anything or anyone stop them. But they are very cunning. Just gathering that information took a lot of manpower," Mrs. Upland explains slowly.

Boq still looks bewildered. "Why do you need information about Boris?"

Mr. Upland smiles slightly. "You have to know your enemies well, boy. That's the basis of a good spy. One of our clients also wanted information about him. We found out that he is a sadistic man. He enjoys the fear in someone's eyes more. The Animals have their natural instincts more than humans. When an Animal is cornered, you can see it in his eyes.'' Mr Upland drives Boq to a corner. ''Humans can control that better. Boris's victims, preferably the Animals, are cornered for as long as possible. The Animals are so good at showing their fears.''

Boq lets out a little scream of fright as he bumps into the wall.

Fiyero swallows. He had heard of that man too. ''But I thought the organization was run by several people.''

Mr Upland nods. ''That's right. As far as we know, there are two other people in charge of the organization. But the client was not interested in that.'' He wants to say more but his daughter interrupts him.

"None of that matters. If Elphie is there, we need to get her out," Glinda says.

Mrs. Upland shakes her head. "She's heavily guarded. I gave her a sedative. She'll..." she checks her watch, "...be asleep for the next 19 hours. So we need to hurry and leave Oz." Mrs. Upland glances worriedly around the group. Her gaze lingers on Glinda who looks worried and so lost. ''I'm sorry, honey. I was hoping for better news. But this is the best I could do.'' She walks over to Glinda to comfort her.

Glinda quickly takes a step back. ''You could have gotten her out. Why are you so selfish?''

Mr. Upland takes a step forward. ''That's not how you talk to your mother.''

Mrs. Upland raises her hand. She feels rejected by her own daughter and it hurts more than she ever thought it would. ''Never mind, honey.'' She says softly. She understands her daughter's feelings. The whole journey back she was also troubled by the thought that she might not have been able to do something more. She did her best to make Elphaba feel comfortable, but the situation was not favorable.

''But that means everyone in the Emerald City is in danger?'' Oscar asks more for confirmation than for anything else.

Mrs. Upland looks at him for a moment. ''I don't know. They're making plans. I think there's only one thing they can do now and that's move forward with the plan they have. Although I'm not used to this kind of action from them. They're much more busy underground.''

"I need to get to Nessa. She is still waiting for me in the Emerald city. Maybe I can get her out in time," Boq says urgently. "Thanks for the warning."

Mrs. Upland blocks the exit. "You mean Elphaba's sister?"

Boq nods slowly.

"They have her. Boris wants to use her as a bargaining chip against Elphaba."

Boq turns pale. "No. Oh Oz, poor Nessa." He takes a few steps back. ''Does Frex know about it?''

Fiyero notes that no one is going to react. ''I don't think so. But since it's vacation and he's expecting his daughter today or tomorrow, I don't think it'll take long before he suspects something. He didn't hire you for nothing.

"Poor me, there goes my job. Oh no my family. Oz only knows what Frex can do. I have to warn them. They need to know before Frex finds out something.'' He takes the envelope from his pocket and starts to edit his text. His hands are shaking. Thousands of thoughts are floating through his head. He takes a few calm breaths. He also knows that he is exaggerating. Frex is a Governor of Munchkinland, he is not going to send men to his house to harm his family. Or maybe he will? says a voice in his head. Boq swallows again. Everything will be fine, he tells himself sternly. He has come up with a plan with his family in case things go wrong. His father was a spy for a short period a long time ago and quickly left the world. He liked working in the fields better. Now that Boq temporarily entered that world to ensure that he could study, his father has prepared everything in case things went wrong. Hours and days before Boq would go to Shiz, they practiced the codes together.

Fiyero shakes his head, trying to process everything. "Okay, so if I understand correctly, there's a secret organization in control. They have Nessa because they want something from Elphaba. What do they want? And where does Madame Morrible fit into all of this?"

"Maybe Madame Morrible is part of the organization. She already had a suspicious file on Elphaba. They probably want Elphaba for her powers," Glinda says thoughtfully.

"That's a good theory," Mr. Upland says, a bit proud. "But where is Madame Morrible now?"

Mrs Upland shrugs. ''There was a room I wasn't allowed in. Maybe she's in there. She doesn't seem to have an important role, since Boris has directed several people. I have picked up a few things here and there, but I had to stay in my role.''

Glinda looks angrily at her mother. ''Of course your own safety comes first'' She says sarcastically.

''Glinda Lyanne Upland you are now apologizing to your mother. This is no way to talk to her. Show some respect.'' Mr Upland says angrily.

''Like you showed me respect, by sending Fiyero after me? You have no idea what I am capable of. You only think of yourself and not others.'' Glinda has never felt so betrayed. In a way she can understand her parents, but now she is mostly angry. It makes her even more angry that her parents and especially her father do not see their mistake.

''Glinda darling you have to understand?'' Tries Mrs Upland

''What do I have to understand? That you didn't trust me? That you already had a back-up plan everywhere, because I did everything wrong anyway? Why did you send me on a mission in the first place? So that you could get rid of me? She doesn't understand why her parents didn't trust her. What did she ever do that made her parents, her own parents, the people she looked up to the most, treat her like that.

''No.'' Mrs Upland says quickly she takes a step forward, but Glinda immediately takes a step back. ''No honey, we're just concerned parents who wanted to do the right thing. We trust you.''

Glinda looks at her parents with tearful eyes. ''Why doesn't it feel like that?''' she asks in a small voice.

''Honey, maybe we did it wrong, but we really have to go now.'' Mr Upland tries calmly, while he is angry inside.

''No, because Elphie might be in danger.''

''What do I care about Elphie?'' Mr Upland hisses.

''I do care.''

''This is pointless.'' Mrs Upland intervenes. Daughter and father are so much alike. They don't want to see each other's perspective. They both want to protect their loved one and will do anything to protect it; even if it means destroying the relationship. ''Okay, we know Boris is in the palace. He is asking other leaders to come. Madame Morrible has no important role.''

'We don't know that.'' Glinda says defiantly. "Maybe Elphaba caused more damage than we think."

Mrs Upland sighs. ''You're right. We don't know. Maybe there are other possibilities. Anyone have any ideas.'' Father and daughter are still defiantly facing each other.

"This all sounds great. I'd love to discuss it further, but somewhere safe. Boris isn't stupid; he knows something's up. He also wants to know where the Wizard is."

All eyes turn to Oscar, who starts to blush. The boys slowly begin packing their bags.

Glinda looks around in disbelief. "Seriously?! You want to leave when Oz needs us more than ever? There's a criminal in power, our friends are imprisoned, we caused this mess, and yet we're going to be the first to flee?"

"Glinda," Mr. Upland says sternly. "We've just had a long discussion. Sometimes we need to prioritize our own safety. The client is important, but not more important than our own lives."

Glinda looks at her father in disbelief. "As I made it very clear earlier, Elphaba is not a client. She's a friend who got caught in this chaos because of us. It's our duty to get her out." Glinda turns to Boq. "You're abandoning Nessa? She needs you more than ever. Why do you think her father hired you? Don't you feel guilty leaving her like this? Don't you have a heart?"

Boq looks guilty.

Glinda turns to Fiyero. "I think you owe me something, so this is your chance."

"What's your plan?" Fiyero asks, folding his arms. Fiyero certainly wants to help his friends, but he wants a good plan. He doesn't care who he follows. Glinda or Mr. Upland.

"We need more information. We also need to know more about the palace. The hallway we came through will be heavily guarded by now. We have to figure out who's involved in the organization. And we have the Wizard on our side. He can convince the people that we're the good guys."

"How are you going to do that? No one has ever seen the Wizard. They'll never believe that *he*" — Mr. Upland points at Oscar — "is the Wizard."

"He can show them his magic," Boq says innocently. He does think Glinda has a point. But what can he do?

Oscar looks down at the ground, defeated. "I have no powers," he says softly.

Glinda thinks for a moment. "Maybe you don't need them," she says slowly. "You just have to make people *think* you have magic. I might be able to conjure something, and we have enough materials to create smoke."

Mr Upland looks surprised. ''What do you want to do? You don't have magic?'' he says with a disdainful tone. He doesn't understand why they haven't left yet. He has to protect his family, that's more important than the mission. He already saved Oscar, he did more than was necessary. He did it alone, so that they would have a safe way out of Oz. Besides, it was his duty to protect his client. But now that he knows all this, he would never have saved Oscar.

Glinda looks offended at her father. ''I do have magic, thank you very much. Thanks to the support of Elphaba and a little bit of Madame Morrible, I have developed a certain power that I didn't know I had. I'm not nearly strong enough for Madame Morrible or Elphaba, but maybe together with Oscar I can figure something out.'' Glinda says confidently. ''That's why I want to help her so much. Please, Daddy, try to understand. Elphie is family to me. I care about her. If we save her, I will go with you, even if it means we can't save all of Oz. It will hurt me, but I will resist less.''

Mr and Mrs Upland look and listen with open mouths to their daughter. They didn't know this.

Oscar looks hopeful. "Thank you Glinda,'' he says quickly before Mr and Mrs Upland can speak. If his daughter were to talk to them like that, he would need time to process everything too. It's not easy to realize that your daughter is already an adult. He's been through that phase in life and it's still hard. ''I can't express to myself enough what it means to me that you're trying to save my daughter and my country, despite all my lies. If I had paid more attention to my country or had the courage to speak to my daughter. Then none of this would have been necessary.

Boq's mouth falls open. ''WHAT? Daughter? Who?''

''SSssst Boq, this is a sensitive moment.'' Fiyero hisses loudly. ''I'll fill you in later.''

"Because you, like me, will do anything to help our friends." Glinda ignores Boq and Fiyero.

"Thank you," Oscar says sincerely. "From now on, I will tell the truth to everyone." Glinda raises her eyebrow.

"Except to the people about my powers," Oscar says sheepishly.

"Fine. Let's take a break and regroup in 10 minutes to discuss the plan further," Glinda says as she unties Oscar.

Mr. Upland protests, but Mrs. Upland leads him outside. All of Glinda's information hurts, but she made a choice.

XX

"You can't be serious," Mr. Upland says angrily. "We need to get away from danger, not run towards it. Ever since she met Elphaba, she's only become more disrespectful. What is she thinking?"

Mrs. Upland sighs. She is glad that they are a little way away from the house. Here they can talk whatever they want. "She's doing everything we ever wanted her to do."

Mr. Upland looks confused. "What are you talking about? We want her to be safe. She's got a big mouth to you. The way she talks to you is rude, disrespectful and not Glinda.'' He says the last very softly.

"We also want her to think carefully about her actions. We want her to be a leader. We want her to be creative and happy. She still has a lot to learn about her approach to things. But it's a start. She tells what's on her mind," Mrs. Upland responds.

Mr. Upland clenches his jaw. ''So you approve of the behavior?''

"Honey, I'm not happy about this either. But we have two choices: we either help her, or we leave, but we won't be able to take her with us."

Mr. Upland stands tall. "Watch me."

Mrs. Upland shakes her head. "I saw it in her eyes. Our little girl is in love. She doesn't know it yet, but she'll do anything to save Elphaba. Sure, we could sedate her and take her, but then what?"

Mr. Upland opens his mouth but finds nothing to say. "She'll realize we were right." he says stubbornly.

"You can never win against a lovesick heart. Do you know how many foolish decisions I made to save you in the beginning?"

Mr. Upland blushes. "That was different."

"How so?"

He shrugs. "It just was."

Mrs. Upland laughs. "If this is what Glinda wants, we have to support her. She inherited your stubbornness, so you know how far she'll go."

Mr Upland throws his arms in the air. ''Glinda is coming with us. We're going to be safe in a country outside of Oz. We'll be a happy family there. If she wants to go to school so badly, she can go there. She doesn't have to go to Shiz. This is my final decision.'' He slowly begins to doubt. Unconsciously he thinks of his own beginning time, when he also did everything for the love of his life.

Mrs Upland sighs. She understands her husband's feelings. It's very scary to send your daughter into danger. But this is a fight they're not going to win. The only way is if they put their fantasy aside. She understands that it's very difficult for her husband, since this is the second time in a short time. ''Darling, I'm saying it again. I'm not happy about this either. I want Glinda to be safe in our arms. But her rejection of me just hurts more than I thought. Give her a chance to develop. She'll surprise us. She can ask us for advice now, so she doesn't make the stupid mistakes we used to make.''

Mr Upland says nothing. He wants to say so much. But he slowly begins to realize that his wife is right. To his greatest fear. ''I wish she was little again.'' he almost whispers.

Mrs. Upland hears it and gives him a small smile. ''I wish she was little too.'' She gives him a hug. ''I wish she was little too.'' she repeats.

''Do you remember when she first started throwing knives?'' he asks with a smile.

Mrs. Upland chuckles. ''I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I saw the knives stuck in the wall. She had her stuffed toy stuck to the wall. I searched the entire house for criminals only to find that our daughter had tried three different walls to hit her stuffed animal with the knife.''

''Do you remember how proudly she told me that she had secretly turned on the TV in the evening to see me. She knew exactly how the machine worked, without us explaining anything.''

''She is our little smart girl.''

''She wanted to be what we did. She had seen me throw a knife and she wanted to learn it too.''

Mrs. Upland smiles but says nothing. She senses that her husband wants to say more.

''Do you remember how hard time we had to punish her. Nothing seemed to bother her. She was so determined that she learned to throw knives and every time she found something new. The only punishment that worked was when we ignored her. The worst part was that we punished ourselves at the same time.''

''It was a difficult time.'' Mrs Upland confirms.

''We punish ourselves when we remain stubborn, don't we?''

Mrs Upland sighs and nods. She pulls away from her husband. ''Unfortunately it's true.''

''Ooh Oz.'' says Mr Upland as he rubs his face. Is he ready for it himself? ''Those tearful blue eyes were like knives in my heart. I swore ever since that I would teach her everything, so she could do it herself. That way I would never have to punish her. She was generally a sweet girl, who did everything I said. What changed?''

I think we raised and trained her well. She is a grown smart girl with good people around her. She wants to protect everyone. She is creative, polite, Oz she is perfect.'' Mrs Upland says proudly. ''I almost regret all those days we left her alone with Butler.'' Mrs Upland says regretfully.

Mr Upland gives his wife a quick kiss. ''We had no choice back then.''

''She always understood our choice. She knew we would always come back safe. She had faith in us.'' Mrs Upland says slowly and thoughtfully. ''Maybe we should have faith in her now.''

Mr Upland sighs desperately, as he starts pacing. ''Why is she going back. We taught her that safety comes first.''

''And protecting your love,'' Mrs Upland says simply.

Mr Upland stands still. He thinks deeply.

''Do you know that she never betrayed them.'' says Mrs Upland softly.

''What do you mean?''

''Elphaba.'' says Mrs Upland as if it is clear what she was talking about. ''Boris wants information from Elphaba about Glinda and the boys. But Elphaba had defended herself well.''

Mr Upland frowns. ''That's... I mean it's very good that Elphaba doesn't say anything. But it's not good.'' His panic level rises again. He was almost convinced. But now he doubts again.

''He hasn't done anything yet that would impress us, but for a girl of that age to have a man like that standing in front of her, I think it's brave.''

''What are you trying to say?'' Mr Upland is afraid of the answer.

''I think the feeling of love is mutual, even if they both don't realize it. Elphaba isn't going to betray her friends just like that. That also gives us some extra time for a plan.''

Mr Upland sighs. This is going too fast for him. He's getting too old for this life. "Leave me alone for a bit. I'll call Butler and ask him to look into things. Maybe we can access the palace's camera footage."

Mrs. Upland smiles. "You're making the right choice." She kisses him passionately.

"Oz, I hope so."

XXX

Meanwhile, inside the house...

''Boq, why don't you take Oscar for a walk outside. Catch up.''

Boq looks surprised.

Fiyero points at Glinda. ''She needs someone.''

Boq nods understandably. ''Come Wizard.'' Boq accompanies the man outside.

''Just call me Oscar.''

''That's so weird.'' Boq whispers.

Oscar smiles. ''Now tell me boy, how did you end up in this chaos?''

Fiyero watches approvingly as the two leave the house. He looks at Glinda with concern and thinks of the best way to get Glinda's attention. "Glin, you're driving me crazy with all your pacing."

"I can't help it. Oz knows what my parents are planning. I can't fight them and Boris. We need everyone. Oz, I've never talked to them like that before. I know my father would hate it if I was disrespectful. What was I thinking."

"Don't worry. Your parents will help you."

"Then you don't know my parents well enough. They'll do anything to oppose me and prove themselves right."

Fiyero shrugs. "I think you've finally convinced them."

Glinda looks at him skeptically. ''Our time is wasting. Elphie is still in danger. OZ knows what happened to her. I'm turning my parents against me. Oz, can it get any worse?'' Glinda continues.

''Glinda calm down. Your mother gave her something, which will keep her safe for the next few hours. We need to calm down and make a plan.''

Glinda looks at him desperately. ''But how?''

Fiyero thinks for a moment. "You know what? Let's start making a plan. That'll help us get everything in order."

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because I agree with you. We can't leave our friends behind."

Glinda nods slowly. Fiyero walks to the cabinet and pulls out his chessboard. "Alright, tell me who our pieces are."

Glinda looks at the pieces and thinks for a moment. "The Wizard is our king. He's very important, but he doesn't have much influence in the game." Glinda looks at Fiyero, who nods.

Glinda exhales in relief. "Elphaba is our queen. She's crucial and can do a lot on the board."

"But they have our queen."

Glinda nods and removes the queen from the board. "Boq and Nessa are our knights. They can unexpectedly cause a lot of damage." We'll get her back, she thinks determinedly.

"Indeed, no one will suspect Boq as a spy. Nessa may not be as important in the game, but we can still use her."

"My parents are the bishops."

"Then we're the rooks," Fiyero concludes.

They glance at the board and review the moves. "Now, the opponent."

Fiyero rubs his face. "Who are they?"

"The secret organization that Boris and Morrible are involved with. The Gale Force are the pawns."

Fiyero nods. "I had hoped we knew more."

"The secret organization has Boris as the leader, and there are two other key leaders whose names we don't know. Below them are many errand boys who handle the dirty work. One of them is Morrible, and you've already seen others in Shiz."

Glinda and Fiyero turn around and see Mrs. Upland standing in the doorway. "Sorry, I overheard you, so I thought I'd share the information I know."

"Does that mean…?"

Mrs. Upland shrugs. "Your father is thinking it over. It won't hurt to start coming up with a plan."

Glinda looks down for a moment and nods. "So we barely know anything about our opponents."

"If I were Boris, and from what I've heard, the two co-leaders are coming to the palace." Mrs. Upland places the two bishops on their positions. She then gathers other chess pieces and clusters them together. "If all the pieces work together and defend each other, we'll never reach their king." She spreads the pieces apart. "But if they stop working together, they become weak and easy to take down. That's how we can bring down their king."

Glinda looks at the board and nods. "But it's important to know who these pieces are so we can divide them properly."

"You said we know some of the errand boys, including those we encountered in Shiz. Who are they?"

Mrs. Upland looks at Fiyero. "Do you remember the Deer you rescued a few months ago?"

Glinda nods, remembering how close Elphaba came to discovering her secret. The arguments they had resolved together. "Those men were following orders from Boris. The Deer is an important advisor to Shiz. Thanks to his vote, several reforms were passed that made it easier for Animals to participate in a society that's more human-focused."

"Boris wouldn't have been happy about that."

"How did you find out?" Glinda asks in surprise.

"Oh, sweetheart, what do you think we've been doing all this time? We've done a lot to protect you from behind the scenes. Maybe we went too far." She glances at Fiyero quickly. "But it was all out of love."

''I'm sorry. I wanted to. I mean. I just.'' Glinda stutters.

''Oh honey. You don't have to apologize. You're doing your best. We're sorry that our intentions turned out wrong.''

Glinda looks her mother in the eyes. She bites her lip. She looks at Fiyero and her mother. ''I'm sorry, mommy and thank you for everything, for wanting to help me.'' she says softly, hugging her mother.

Mrs. Upland feels a sense of joy and relief she hasn't felt in a long time. Her little girl is safe in her arms. There's still so much hope in their relationship. "Know that we're proud of you," Mrs. Upland whispers in Glinda's ear.

Glinda hugs her mother even tighter as her mother strokes Glinda's hair.

"Mama, can you tell me honestly how Elphie is?" she asks with a trembling voice.

Mrs. Upland nods. "She's very strong. She's resisted Boris well. Despite everything, she wants to protect you all. She has a minor concussion and looked tired. Before I left, I gave her enough nutrition. She'll survive the drugs I gave her."

Glinda smiles in relief. "Does she know we're coming to rescue her?"

Mrs. Upland shakes her head. "I'm not sure."

Glinda bites her lip.

"Come on. She must know," Fiyero says encouragingly.

"My daughter will wait for you. She may be frustrated, but she will realize why you did everything. And then everything will be fine," says Oscar as he enters. "You'll be friends again."

Glinda lets a tear fall and nods in relief. "Thank you all."

Mrs. Upland squeezes her daughter's shoulder approvingly. Maybe they'll be more than friends, she thinks. "Now, tell me about your plan," she says, pointing to the chessboard.

Glinda nods with determination. "Alright, I was thinking that if we first convince the smaller villages that Oscar is the Wizard, we can have him perform some tricks. I can make a bubble, so we can make him fly. We've got some fireworks material. If we get the people on our side, we'll move on to the palace."

Fiyero nods in approval and places some pawns on the board. "We'll have extra defense," he explains.

Glinda nods. "In the meantime, I want Boq..." Boq looks surprised and quickly nods. "You'll be my eyes and ears in the palace. I want to know where Nessa and Elphaba are."

"Don't worry, I've got that covered," says Mr. Upland as he enters. "Boris will now provide extra security for the palace. If I were him, I wouldn't trust anyone new. We should use someone with more experience in getting information, like Butler. Sorry Boq, no offense to you.''

Boq nods in relief. ''I think you're right. Besides, Boris knows what I look like."

''Does this mean you're going to help me?''

Mr. Upland looks at his daughter and then at his wife who is right yet again. ''Yes, Glinda. I'm going to help you. But then we're going to seek safety.

Glinda's eyes widen with excitement, and she hugs her father quickly. "Thank you."

Mr. Upland looks relieved. "No thanks needed. Keep going with your plan. It sounds good so far."

Glinda smiles. Everything is falling into place. Everyone is helping her. She feels more confident than ever. "We need to get our queen back. That means we have to free her. But Boris will expect that. So we'll go for Nessa. If we get Nessa on our side, that means we'll also have Munchkinland."

Boq nods in agreement. "Frex will do anything Nessa says."

"What do you plan to do with them? Storm the palace?" Fiyero asks, doubtful.

Glinda shakes her head. "That would result in too many casualties. It's about getting as many pawns on our side as possible." Glinda takes the opposing pawns. "Once most of the guards are on our side, their defense will be weaker. We can easily take all the key pieces."

Mr. Upland strokes his chin. "It's a bold plan. How do you plan to capture them?"

Glinda shrugs. "It's important that we know who they are. Once we know, we can capture them. Meanwhile, I want Oscar back on the throne. If we're in charge of the palace again, we'll have most of the Gale Force on our side."

There's a moment of silence. "Let's think the plan over carefully," suggests Mrs. Upland. "Most of us haven't slept much or at all last night. It's almost morning. Let's get the rest we need."

The group looks at each other and nods. Mr. and Mrs. Upland hug Glinda. "You're doing great."

Glinda's face beams with joy. Her heart leaps with happiness. She quickly finds a place to sleep, knowing her mother is right—her body needs the rest.

XXX

Madame Morrible sneaks through the halls. She needs a chance to speak with Elphaba. She hopes to convince Elphaba to speak on her behalf to Boris. She had spent the entire afternoon in the kitchen, and she hated it. She's worth much more than those low-level people. She will get her revenge with Boris. Oz. She carefully opens every door. She knows most people would betray her to Boris in hopes of climbing higher with the man.

As she walks down the hallway, she sees two guards at the door. Morrible rolls her eyes. It was supposed to be simple. She hurries to the kitchen, prepares the food, and rushes back with an excuse that Boris wants it. The other staff looks at her suspiciously.

"Let me through the door," Madame Morrible says in an authoritative tone.

The guards exchange glances. "We're not supposed to let anyone in."

"She needs to eat."

"Where's the nurse?"

Madame Morrible begins to blush. "She told me to bring it. She's busy with one of you."

The men exchange looks and step aside. "Do you need help? She can be difficult."

Morrible shakes her head. "She knows me. She'll listen to me."

The guards look at each other in surprise and nod.

Madame Morrible quickly opens the door and sets the food on the first table she can find. "Elphaba," she says softly.

Elphaba's eyes remain closed. "Elphaba?" she says louder.

She walks over to the sleeping green girl and tries to wake her by tapping her cheek. Madame Morrible is surprised that she doesn't wake up. She shakes Elphaba's shoulders, but the girl remains asleep. "Strange. Boris isn't going to like this," Madame Morrible whispers.

She searches the room for clues and leaves when she finds nothing. "No one's been in here?" she asks the guards. "No, not since the nurse's last round."

Madame Morrible nods. "Thank you, gentlemen. Do you even know what the nurse's name is?"

The guards exchange questioning looks. "I've never seen her," one finally admits.

"Me neither."

Madame Morrible nods thoughtfully. "I know enough." She walks away, pondering. She wonders where the nurse fits into the picture. She hurries back to her new post.

XXX

Everyone knows to stay away from Boris when he is angry. You can hear Boris storming from afar. He's furious. They've tried various things to wake Elphaba, but she remains asleep. Boris wants to know why. "WHO BROUGHT THE FOOD?" he roars. When he sees the tray that Madame Morrible has left behind.

The guards look at each other in shock. "Mmmmadame Morrible, Sir," one guard stammers in fear. "She said the nurse told her to bring it."

"I WANT MORRIBLE AND THE NURSE IN MY OFFICE IN FIVE MINUTES." He storms away.

XXX

A/N Sorry it took so long. Thanks to everyone who reads the story and a special thanks to everyone who leaves a review.