“That would definitely stop the wedding,” Madison agreed.
“Not necessarily,” I said with a shiver, thinking of Jellia’s awful, animated corpse. If Dorothy could turn a once-living person into a jerking puppet, I was pretty sure the Nome King could pull off a convincing wedding to a dead girl if it suited his purposes.
“I’m sure he wants Dorothy’s magic,” Lang said. “But he really wants her shoes. Wants them back, technically.”
“Wait, back up. He wants them back? The shoes were his?”
“Rubies are to Ev what emeralds are to Oz,” Lang explained. “They’re not the source of Ev’s magic, but they can be used to store it, and the older they are, the stronger their magic becomes. The Nome King created a ruby necklace centuries ago that he infused with an incredible amount of power. Glinda stole it from him right before Ozma imprisoned her, but managed to transform the necklace into Dorothy’s new red shoes. He still has a certain amount of power over the stones, but he can’t use their magic; they belong to Dorothy now, and they’re useless without her.”
“I am so lost,” Madison muttered.
“All you need to know is that killing Dorothy before they can be married will stop him from being able to use the shoes ever again.”
“That’s why he wanted my shoes,” I said, looking down at my glittery boots. “But he couldn’t control me, so he tried for Dorothy.”
“But what possible motivation would she have for marrying him? If he’s going to be able to control her magic, why would she agree to it?” Nox asked.
“Maybe she doesn’t know. I mean, Dorothy has the biggest ego in the world. Maybe she thinks he actually wants to marry her. Or, maybe she doesn’t have a choice,” I said. I looked at Lang. “He’s powerful enough to kill her, right? He must be threatening her somehow. Or maybe he’s keeping her prisoner.”
Lang nodded. “He could definitely kill her if he wanted.”
“And solve half our problems,” Nox said.
“But the two of them united . . .” I shivered. “If she is working with him voluntarily, I can’t imagine how awful that would be.”
We all stared at the table in silence.
“But if Ev is affecting her magic the way it is ours . . . ,” Nox said slowly. “She’ll be weak right now. Even if the Nome King’s protecting her.”
Lang nodded. “You’re right. The wedding will be the perfect opportunity to take her out. It’s the chance I’ve been waiting for for years. Defeating him in his own palace will be next to impossible, but she at least will be vulnerable, even if she’s with him.”
“What if she isn’t?” Nox countered.
“Then she and the Nome King will realize I’ve been hiding you,” Lang said. “It’ll be the end of me either way. I can’t keep going like this, anyway.” She waved at the room around her, but I could tell she meant the gesture to encompass her entire life in Ev. I couldn’t imagine what it had been like for her here, completely isolated, working for a tyrant she hated but who wouldn’t hesitate to kill her if she defied him.
I felt a pang in my chest for Lang that surprised me. Like me, she’d been thrown into a situation she hadn’t asked for, and she’d learned a whole new way of surviving, a whole new set of skills. I also didn’t blame her for wanting out, even if it killed her.
“When do we leave?” I asked.
She looked at me, startled. “You’re not going anywhere. You’ll only be in my way. She’ll recognize you and you’ll get us all killed.”
“You can’t possibly go into the Nome King’s palace to kill Dorothy alone,” Nox said in disbelief. “Plus, as far as we know, the only person who can kill Dorothy is Amy.”
“I couldn’t possibly?” she asked, her tone dangerous. No matter what he said to her, it seemed to be exactly the wrong thing.
But he was right. And there was no way I was going to sit around here waiting for the worst.
“Dorothy’s hurt us, too,” I argued. “And as strong as you are, it’s always good to have backup. Besides, it’ll be even more dangerous for us here without you. And it’s a masquerade. We’ll be in disguise.”
Which, now that I thought about it, was a weird choice for a wedding. Especially for Dorothy. I wondered if it was significant or just another one of her insane whims.
“I don’t care if it’s dangerous for you,” Lang said. But I could tell she didn’t entirely mean it. Under that hard shell was a person who was almost . . . caring. She wasn’t going to leave us to be discovered by the Nome King’s forces like rats in a hole.
“I can fight,” Madison piped up. “I mean, I can’t do magic. But I have a pretty mean right hook.”
I knew firsthand about Madison’s right hook.
“This was my fight. If I had killed Dorothy before the palace fell on her, she wouldn’t even be your problem. Let me help you finish her,” I said.
Lang looked at each of us, her expression torn. And then she sighed.
“Fine,” she said. “You can have Dorothy. But the Nome King is all mine.”
She was still putting up a tough act. But I could tell she was grateful for the help. As strong as she was, she needed other people, too.
So did Nox. So did I. So many times in Oz it had felt like I was completely on my own. As if the Wicked had cut me off completely from being able to ask other people for help.
But now I had Nox and Madison and, for the time being, Lang. In a strange way it felt like my own makeshift family. Not Wicked. Not Good. Just . . . together. We wanted Oz to be free because it was home. Because we cared. Not because someone else was telling us what to do.
Home. That word again. Without warning, a memory of my mom flashed through my mind. One of the few times she’d been sober before I came to Oz. There had been a snowstorm and she didn’t want me to have to wait for the bus in the cold, so she’d driven me to school. On the way she’d started crying.
“Mom?” I had asked.
“I just wish you knew how much I love you,” she had said. “I know I’m hard to live with. But underneath it all, there’s just love.”
I’d just looked out the window. She had hurt me too many times by then. Forgotten about me when she was drunk or high. Left me stranded somewhere for hours while she was out partying with her friends.
And while I was gone, she’d gotten sober. For me.
I hadn’t even had time to tell her I loved her before I came back to Oz.
“Amy?” Nox said. “Where’d you go?”
I blinked. They were all looking at me.
“Sorry,” I said quickly. “Just thinking. About strategy.”
“Once the ceremony is complete, her magic will be bound to his,” Lang said. “We’ll have to make our move before then. The Nome King’s ballroom is enormous, but there’s only one entrance.”
Before the guards killed us all, was what she meant. I was grateful she didn’t say it.
“What about me?” Madison asked.
Lang smiled. “You can stick with me,” she said. “As a bodyguard.”