“I learned something very important at the banquet!”
Finally I opened my eyes and looked at her. “You did? How?”
“I hid under the table,” she said proudly. But then an expression of terrible anxiety flitted across her homely face. “But I heard the king’s guards whispering about you,” she said. “It’s very bad news.”
“Oh? How bad?”
She looked around, her eyes huge, and then lowered her voice even further.
“Mistress, the Nome King isn’t going to marry you. He’s going to murder you.”
TEN
Nox, Madison, and Langwidere’s palace vanished in a flash as I tumbled forward into darkness. I cried out in surprise and fear but my scream was swallowed by the thick dark that surrounded me.
But I wasn’t falling, I realized.
I was flying.
At my feet, the shoes glowed faintly with a comforting silver light. And suddenly I wasn’t afraid. I felt the same rush of emotion that had gone through me as I reached out to Lurline.
Home. I felt home.
All around me, the darkness began to glow. Golden rays of light streaked past me as I flew, and overhead, the sky lightened as if the sun was rising somewhere. I was flying over a lush, beautiful jungle. Towering trees carpeted the earth below me with green. At their tops, huge red flowers bloomed, unfolding to greet the warm golden light. I gasped. I’d seen a lot of beautiful things in Oz, but this was something else. Something totally alien and strange—and impossibly familiar at the same time.
I’d never been here. But I knew where I was.
“Welcome back, Amy,” Lurline’s voice said. She was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Her voice surrounded me. It was part of the air I breathed and the breeze that carried me endlessly forward over the blooming forest.
“Where am I?” I asked. But before she answered, I already knew.
“You are back in my country,” she replied. “The world between worlds. In this moment, you are safe. But I am afraid it won’t be for long, my dear. As I told you the first time we met, your task is not yet finished.”
“I know,” I said. “But it seems . . . impossible. Not that we can’t tackle it,” I added hastily, in case she thought I hadn’t learned anything since the last time I’d seen her. “I’m just not sure what to do next. Mombi’s dead, we can’t reach anyone back in Oz, Dorothy’s allied with the Nome King, Lang doesn’t want our help—I’m not sure why the road brought us to her.”
“The road is wise in its own way,” Lurline said. “As I told you, there is much still that is not clear to me. I’m a fairy, not a clairvoyant.” I could hear the smile in her voice. “But I do know that Langwidere is crucially important to your quest. You must gain her trust.”
“She hates us,” I said.
“She is hurt,” Lurline said simply. “More than you can imagine. So are you. In fact, so is Dorothy. But as you are learning, my dear, we must come to terms with the wounds of our past if we are to survive the future. And I have some hopeful news that will cheer you.”
The air in front of me shivered and almost solidified. It was as if I was flying toward a giant window that stayed just out of reach. And behind the solid barrier, I could see—
“Is that Oz?” I gasped, recognizing the ruins of the Emerald City where Ozma had held her coronation. Hundreds of tiny figures surged back and forth. I realized I was watching a battle.
“It is indeed, and right now there is a great battle,” Lurline’s voice said gravely, reading my thoughts. “Look more closely, child. All is not yet lost.”
The vision on the other side of the window sharpened and zoomed in. I saw battalions of Glinda’s soldiers in their identical armor, wielding weapons and fighting like demons.
But they were battling my friends. There was Lulu, whirling through the fray, her pistol firing shot after shot and her mouth open. Although I couldn’t hear anything, I knew from the look on her face that her howl was one of glee. Winkies, Munchkins, and monkeys—Winged and Wingless Ones—battled side by side, matching Glinda’s soldiers blow for blow. Gert was standing in the middle of them all, leveling a dozen of Glinda’s soldiers with an appropriate pink wave of smoke.
Despite the chaos, I could see it: Glinda’s army was losing. It was a beautiful sight. For the first time in a long time, something that felt like hope flared up in my chest.
And then the vision shifted to a different part of the battlefield, and this time I gasped in surprise: Ozma hovered over the melee, her beautiful wings unfurled, hurling bolts of magic at Glinda’s army. And beside her was Mombi.
“Mombi’s—Mombi’s alive?” I said in shock. I couldn’t wait to tell Nox. I had been terrified by her the first moment I met her—purple webs and all. But I was glad she was here—and I knew Nox would be, too.
The figure next to Mombi turned and I recognized the gorgeous profile that once upon a time I had crushed on before I fell for Nox. Pete.
“Pete is fighting for us?”
“Ozma and Pete are still connected, you know,” Lurline said. “He betrayed you to save himself. But the guilt haunts him still.”
“It should,” I muttered.
“And Mombi survived the Nome King’s attack. He was distracted trying to rescue Dorothy from the Emerald Palace. Ozma’s army is fighting the last battle of Oz. She is a credit to us all.” Lurline’s voice was filled with pride.
And then I almost shouted out a warning: Glamora was zooming toward Ozma on a wave of crackling pink magic. There was no mistaking the truth now: all of Glamora’s kind benevolence was gone. Her face was twisted and evil, and the terrible scar that Glinda had given her looked ugly and raw, as if her sister’s controlling her body had opened the wound all over again.
But Ozma saw her coming and was ready. She moved her hands, and a web of golden threads spun itself around her as Glamora hurtled forward. Glamora crashed into Ozma’s net in a burst of sparks, but Ozma’s defenses held. And when Glamora pulled away I could see a network of fine, smoking lines all over her body where Ozma’s web had burned her.
The witch and the fairy clashed again and again. And while Ozma looked fresh and strong, Glamora was clearly flagging.
“The magic holding her to her sister is exhausting her,” Lurline said. “Glinda has warped too much power for too long, and now it is costing her. Stealing magic from Oz, enslaving Munchkins, refusing death when it was her time . . .” I could feel disapproval in Lurline’s voice, but there was something more than that, too.
Regret.
“Is there another way to stop her?” I asked. I was watching Ozma battle Glamora toward the ground but I was also thinking of someone else who needed to be stopped.
Lurline sighed. I could almost feel her shrug.
“Power will always corrupt those who have not learned to serve it properly,” Lurline said. “What is happening now has happened before, and what has happened before will happen again.”
“The same thing?” I asked in astonishment.