For the moment, the four of us were sheltered by the rock that had hidden Pete and Ozma, but it was only a matter of seconds before both armies tore us apart. There were too many of them for Nox and me to possibly be able to fight off.
Toto reared against his leash and landed with a thump that shook the ground. Dorothy was almost on top of us. Without thinking, I grabbed Nox’s hand, and his fingers tightened around mine. “Amy,” he said, low and urgent. “I just want you to know—I mean, I want you to understand that I . . .” His voice caught and my eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save Oz.”
He drew me to him so tightly it knocked the wind out of me. “I’m sorry, too,” he said, and then he kissed me in a way that made my knees buckle until I kissed him back even harder. A kiss about the end of the world. A kiss that said good-bye, and I’m sorry, and I wish things could have been different. A kiss full of longing for the life we’d never have together, the things we’d never know about each other. But it wasn’t long enough; it couldn’t be. We were about to die.
Nox broke away and I raised my knife as Glinda’s soldiers surged around us.
“Loooooo!” Ozma trilled next to my ear, tugging at my sleeve, and I jumped back. “Looo looo looo!” she said eagerly.
I didn’t have time to figure out what Ozma wanted. The girl soldier nearest me raised her spear and I brought up my knife to deflect it. And then her piercing howl of triumph ended in a scream as a mass of something sticky, flaming, and unbelievably foul-smelling hit her squarely in the face.
“What the—” Pete began.
“LOOO!” Ozma shouted, pointing upward. We all looked, not understanding what we were seeing, until Nox whooped aloud as comprehension dawned.
“The monkeys!” he cried. “It’s the monkeys!”
“LULU!” Ozma shouted in joy as the monkeys descended.
TWENTY-THREE
“That’s right, little miss!” Lulu bellowed, lobbing another ball of the mystery flaming goop at a soldier with a tiny catapult and flapping down to land next to us. “Never send a human to do a monkey’s job. It’s what I’ve been saying for years, but does anyone listen to me? Of course not.” She was dressed in a dapper military uniform, complete with an admiral’s stars pinned to the breast, and a little leather flight cap. Her wings were made out of an elaborate combination of wire, leather, and string. Monkeys—both winged and Wingless Ones wearing homemade wings like Lulu’s—were landing all around us, fighting to clear a space. Toto’s three heads whipped around as he snapped at the monkeys in midair. Glamora was clutching a bright pink crossbow, firing bolts that trailed pink flames at her sister as Glinda struggled to get out of the way and simultaneously fight off a flock of the beastly attackers.
I was so glad to see the monkeys that I almost grabbed Lulu and hugged her, but there wasn’t time for rejoicing. “Can you get Pete and Ozma back to the castle?” I asked. With a nod, Lulu barked an order, and several monkeys detached from their formation and hoisted Pete and Ozma into the air like baggage. Ozma kicked her feet delightedly as the monkeys carried them over Dorothy’s and Glinda’s troops. Lulu covered them from the ground, catapulting wads of the monkeys’ fiery weapon at Glinda’s soldiers. “What is that stuff?” I yelled over the noise of the battle.
“Sunfruit napalm!” Lulu said proudly, adjusting her leather cap and taking out another of Glinda’s soldiers. “Family recipe. Sunfruit, rotten bananas, and you-know-what.” She jerked a thumb toward her backside. That explained the smell.
“Dorothy’s got bats in her belfry,” Lulu said, shaking her head as she lobbed more sunfruit napalm into the fray. “She’s been unhinged since the beginning, but this is a whole new level of nuts. Assuming we get out of here alive”—she crossed herself briskly—“which, at this point, does seem a lot to ask, I’m definitely having a word with the Wizard.”
Of course. She had no idea how much had happened since we’d split up at the Emerald City.
“The Wizard’s dead,” I said. “He used me and Dorothy to open a portal to the Other Place, and then Dorothy killed him.” One of Dorothy’s mechanical soldiers lunged at Lulu, and Nox ran it through before she could react. It struggled violently at the end of his blade. Shuddering in disgust, I chopped it into pieces. As if he could hear me, Toto roared. From across the battlefield, Mombi and Gert were throwing long chains of magic, trying to restrain Toto as he charged into the fray. But his tough, scaly hide was magic-repellent, and Dorothy only cackled as their magic bounced harmlessly away. His spiked tail swept in both directions behind him, knocking out Glinda’s soldiers—and plenty of Dorothy’s—like dominoes. His six red eyes glowed with hatred as he snatched monkeys out of the air and devoured them in one or two bites. Nox and I might be able to hold off Dorothy’s and Glinda’s soldiers, but nothing could stand in the way of Toto.