Chapter 8
Glinda is hungry when she wakes up.
This is the first thing that registers. The second is that she’s cold, and the third is that she’s incredibly, painfully sore.
She sits up a little, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders and blinking away the sleep. There’s light shining into her cave, but she can’t see outside from here. She sets her bag to the side and crawls forward to peer out.
The sun is moving toward the middle of the sky, but the fog still hangs thick throughout the valley. Mid-morning. She probably hasn’t missed anything.
Glinda moves back into her cave and immediately starts digging through her bag for something to eat. She needs to move soon—the thought of being cornered in here is terrifying—but she allows herself to have a small breakfast of bread and fruit and water as she reorganizes her supplies and tries to come up with a plan.
The result is pretty disappointing, and she ends up just shouldering her bag and heading out of the cave. Her muscles ache and protest as she stands up and stretches. She shifts her pack and takes a step forward, but then stops, realizing that she has no idea where she’s going.
The arena suddenly seems even more daunting than the night before. She has no idea which tributes are around here, if any. She doesn’t know where the alliance is, or how to find Elphaba. She doesn’t even know which direction she should start walking in.
Don’t panic, she tells herself. If anyone in the Emerald City is watching her, she can’t show how scared she is. She has to be brave. She has to be in control. And since she has neither courage nor control at the moment, she has to pretend.
Glinda sets her jaw and starts walking. Whatever she runs into—as long as it’s not the alliance—she can handle.
She makes her way through the forest. She avoids going anywhere too open or too rocky, and the next few hours pass quietly. At least, nothing happens to her. She hears the echoing grumble of rocks crumbling down a mountainside, but there is no accompanying cannon. Around noon she passes a stream, bigger than the one she and Elphaba found earlier, and a series of footprints in the soft ground beside it. She can’t tell if they’re recent or not, though, so she simply makes sure to erase her own prints and keeps moving.
Eventually the blonde finds a familiar type of bush, with whole clusters of berries torn off. They look exactly like the ones Elphaba always eats. It’s subtle and honestly a bit ridiculous. There’s no proof that the green girl was actually here, but Glinda doesn’t care. She is suddenly certain that Elphaba is nearby.
Another hour proves her right. She catches only glimpses of the green girl—a flash of dark hair, or a boot or jacket, or that hopeless little pack of food that has to be nearly empty by now.
She doesn’t want Elphaba to find out she’s here and trick her again, so Glinda stays farther behind and keeps an eye out for any other tributes that might come wandering through. She isn’t quite sure what her intentions are anymore, but she doesn’t let herself think about it too much. She follows Elphaba. At this point, it doesn’t even feel like a choice.
They move aimlessly. There are enough streams around here that Elphaba doesn’t need to worry about water—not that Glinda will fall for that trick again—and they don’t see any signs of other tributes. If Elphaba ever notices the blonde, she doesn’t show it.
Night falls and Elphaba makes her shelter out of thick bushes and bent tree branches. Glinda scurries up her own tree and ties herself in. Both girls sit quietly and gaze up at the clear sky.
It happens during the anthem. As she watches the Emerald City’s emblem appear in the sky, the tiny silver parachute floats gently down into her lap. Glinda clutches the box attached and stares wide-eyed. She knows she has sponsors, but what has Morrible given her? And why now, when she’s surviving just fine?
After the music fades and the sky grows dark again, she carefully detaches the parachute and inspects the box. It’s long, thin, and fairly light. Glinda looks down, but Elphaba has retreated into her shelter, and no one else is around. She shifts the box in her hands and slides a nail into the groove of the lid, flipping it open.
It’s a knife—small and straight and meant for throwing. Glinda swallows hard. Morrible’s message is perfectly clear. Kill Elphaba, now.
Glinda gently closes the box and twists around to tuck it in her bag. As confusing as everything is, her mind is made up on this part. She can’t kill Elphaba. She won’t.
***
She doesn’t think she’ll sleep, and for a while she simply sits up watching the colorful lights dance through the sky, but eventually Glinda drifts off and stays that way until morning.
She wakes with a jolt. It’s freezing, probably because the sky is still mostly dark and she had fallen asleep without pulling the blanket out of her bag. Glinda quietly unties herself and stuffs the rope back in her bag. She touches the box from the night before. What will Morrible do when she realizes that Glinda has no intention of killing Elphaba? Not that it really matters. There’s nothing the mentor can do now that she’s in the arena, except maybe deny her gifts. Still, the knife could be useful. Glinda pulls it out and glances down to check on Elphaba.
Her stomach drops. The shelter is gone, the pine needles scattered around. The green girl has disappeared. Again.
Glinda pulls the bag over her shoulders and sticks the throwing knife between her teeth. It’s still early—maybe Elphaba didn’t make it far. If she climbs up a few branches, she might still be able to find her.
The sun is starting to peek over the eastern mountains, but it’s still dark in the forest. Glinda crawls perilously out onto one of the branches, trying desperately to see through the shadowy trees, but it’s no use. She can’t see a thing. She can’t hear anything either—not footsteps, or the rustling of branches, or even some quiet bird waking up the valley.
That’s weird. Every dawn the birds have been awake and fluttering around, calling out to each other. But this morning the entire forest is silent. Still. Holding its breath. Glinda narrows her eyes and leans out further.
She only sees it because there’s a break in the trees. A Vinkan boy is moving slowly through the woods. His knees are bent and his face is hard, staring forward. He holds a bow loosely in front of him, but Glinda can see the arrow nocked and ready.
Elphaba.
The blade between her teeth is the only thing that keeps her from crying out. It takes all her self-control not to just dive off the branch right then and there. Glinda scrambles back to the trunk and slides down to the ground. She can feel her arms and legs starting to tremble, even as she grips the throwing knife and takes off running toward the boy. He can’t get to Elphaba. She won’t let him.
But in her panic she’s too loud, too careless, and the Vinkan spins toward her, lifting his bow. She jumps behind a tree as the arrow goes whistling past her. Before the boy can pull out another, she tightens her grip on the knife, moves back into view, and throws.
It is quite possibly the best throw of her life. The blade moves too fast for her to follow in the dark, but she knows when it hits by the look in the boy’s eyes. The cannon is immediate, thundering above them.
Glinda watches him fall. Her knees tremble beneath her, threatening to send her collapsing to the ground beside him. She needs to move. She needs to disappear before the alliance comes. She needs to find Elphaba.
She should take the boy’s stuff, but his bag and arrows are trapped between his body and the ground, and his glassy eyes freeze her in place. She doesn’t even know his name.
Don’t be weak, she thinks. They’re watching. You can’t be weak. You can’t.
Glinda sets her jaw and draws her dagger. She forces her shoulders back and her chin up as she walks away. After a few moments she can hear the hovercraft over the arena, lowering down to scoop up the Vinkan boy. She doesn’t feel sick like she did with Sarima, but she feels empty. As if part of her is being lifted away with the boy she just killed.
Killed. Glinda’s hard expression falters, and suddenly all she wants is to find Elphaba. But where is she? Running? Hiding? Watching?
“Elphaba?” Glinda calls softly. She probably shouldn’t be making any noise, but as far as the green girl is concerned, none of her decisions really make sense anymore. “Look, I know you’re around here,” she says, louder this time. Her grip on her dagger loosens. “Elphie, please.”
There’s a stretch of silence, then, “Elphie?”
Glinda spins around just as Elphaba emerges. She seems to materialize out of the trees, a cold glare on her face and a soft glowing around her fists. Glinda takes a step back, holding up her hands.
“I’m not—I don’t want to—”
“Why are you following me?” Elphaba demands, cutting her off.
“We need to get out of here,” says Glinda.
“We’re not doing anything. Now answer the question.”
“Elphaba, please, you heard that cannon.”
“Even less reason to trust you. Now tell me why you’re following me before I blast your head off.” She raises a fist, and the glow brightens into flames. Glinda refuses to step back again.
“Those careers are out hunting, and nothing will make them happier than finding you,” she says, as firmly as she can manage. “They’ll be on their way right now. It’s not safe here.”
“Aw, blondie, are you worried?”
Glinda resists the urge to growl. Elphaba’s glare shifts into a smirk, and it’s so infuriating that the blonde hardly notices the flames flicker out.
“Why aren’t you taking me seriously?” she hisses. “Look, maybe I didn’t kill you, but they will. They won’t even hesitate.”
“And why do you care?” the green girl asks suddenly, stepping closer. “Why in Oz should you give a damn about me?”
“Aren’t you listening? Because they’ll kill you!”
“Shouldn’t that make you happy?”
“No!”
“Oh, I get it. You just want to make sure you’re the one to get me.”
“No, I—”
Elphaba holds her arms out. “Well go on, blondie. I’m right here.”
“That’s not what I—”
“Then what is it? Why are you even here?”
“I don’t know!” Glinda yells. The sound carries through the trees, and she swears she hears someone calling in response. She lowers her voice. “I don’t know, okay? But ever since you saved me, nothing has made sense. I don’t know why, but I can’t stand the thought of them killing you. I know you don’t trust me—you have every reason not to—but for right now, please, we need to go, before they get here.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Elphaba hisses.
“I just saved your life!”
“You killed an innocent boy.”
“He was hunting you!”
The green girl hesitates, and in the silence they hear voices coming through the woods. Glinda looks up and meets Elphaba’s gaze.
Something passes between them—she’s not sure what—but the green girl nods ever so slightly. Glinda takes her wrist and starts to move, but Elphaba jerks away and grabs her instead, leading them away and toward the mountains.