It was a beautiful morning in the Emerald City. Holly Upland woke up in her palace home, yawned and stretched her arms, and stepped out of bed into her blue bedroom slippers. She walked slowly in her pajama tank and shorts down the curving staircase connecting the loft and the main bedroom. Holly flipped her curly blonde hair over her shoulder and sleepily stepped over to what seemed like an ordinary closet. But upon opening, it revealed to be a walk-in closet the size of a small house. Clothes lining the walls were color and type organized. On the north wall, drawers from top to bottom were filled with accessories. A small couch and two armchairs occupied the center of the "closet".

Holly walked over to the white section, choosing a flouncy skirt with flower designs inset on the side and a pink tank with rhinestones at the top. In her mother's age, Holly would have worn a bright pink dress to school, but times had changed. What was considered casual wear then now was classified as formal. Holly grimaced at the thought of wearing a dress to school. She loved them, but only for special occasions. Holly walked over to the wall of drawers on the south wall of her closet and opened the eighth one down in the second row, pulling out a white gold and diamond necklace- an eleventh birthday present from her mother. She was fifteen now, but she still loved it. After finishing with a matching bracelet and dangle earrings, Holly slipped on her favorite pink heels and headed to the adjoining room to do her hair and make-up.

Faye Tiggular was being shaken awake by her eleven-year-old sister, Nessarose, named so after her aunt. "Get up! You're already late! It's your first day at public school and you have to make a horrendible impression! Get up!" Nessa did a quick spell which doused oil on Faye's face. For anyone else, she would have done the spell for water, but Faye took after her mother, and was allergic to it. Oil had the same effect anyway, and Faye came up sputtering.

"Couldn't you have given me five more minutes?" She asked, wiping her face.

"Liir's already up," was all Nessarose said, but it was enough. Liir was Faye's twin brother, and he never got up before her. Sleep and food were his two favorite things, typical for a fifteen-year-old.

"Man, I must be really late," Faye muttered to herself as she shooed Nessa out of her bedroom. She changed into a long black skirt and tank top with a jacket over it, even though it was extremely hot outside. On her way out the door she grabbed the silver locket her mother had given her, with a picture of her parents on each side. It was interesting to look at because it was taken in their college days, before her father had been transformed into a scarecrow. It was Faye's most valuable possession; she wore it every day.

When she reached the kitchen of their dark castle of Kiamo Ko, she found her brother and Nessa eating breakfast, and her father reading the paper. Faye's mother was unsuccessfully explaining to five-year-old Glinda that she would have to eat Jolly-O's because Liir had eaten the remaining Chocolate Poofs. Ten minutes later, Faye and Liir had collected their school things and were standing outside the castle with the family broom.

"Remember," Elphaba, their mother, was explaining to them, "Ride the broom to the outskirts of the Emerald City. Hide it in a bush, and walk the remainder of the way. Go swiftly, or you'll be late. She kissed them goodbye and watched as they flew off into the early morning sunrise.

"Oh, I hope they're okay," she said to her husband, Fiyero.

"They'll be fine. I don't see why you're worried so much. They won't slip up."

"Yes, but if they do, someone could find out who we are. We're endangering our lives, Fiyero! Oh, I never should have sent them to public school! Nessa's going to be homeschooled, they should have set an example for her."

"Nessa's green." Fiyero pointed out.

"Yes, well, like mother, like daughter!"

"And don't you think this is good for them? They get to be normal for once."

"Yes, but Fiyero, they're not normal. None of us are."

Their conversation was interrupted by Glinda, running into the room in hysterics. Apparently, she had spit her Jolly-O's out all over Chistery, the Tiggular family servant, and he had gone crazy, threatening her with a mop. It is never a good idea, angering a flying monkey. Elphaba had Glinda go apologize to Chistery, but the little girl stuck her tongue out at him when his back was turned.

Nessarose ran into the kitchen. "Mother, you better come quick. The cabbages are fighting with the carrots again."