Mombi cleared her throat. “Come now, Princess, that’s no way to talk,” she said gruffly. To my astonishment, I saw that her eyes were filling with tears. “Oh, never mind this old bag,” she grumbled, embarrassed, as she dashed them away with the heel of her hand. “I never thought this day would come.”
But I remembered what Lurline had told me. “We’re not done yet,” I said. “We still have to deal with the Nome King.”
“If we’ve defeated Dorothy, he’ll be planning his next move. We’re safe for the time being,” Glamora said.
“But he’s with my mom. I have to get back to Kansas somehow. I think I can use the shoes to—”
“You’re not going anywhere with those shoes,” Mombi said sharply. “They belong to Oz. Their magic stays here.”
“But—”
“We all make sacrifices, Amy,” Glamora said silkily. Mombi was nodding in agreement.
Nox stepped forward, taking my hand. “Listen to them, Amy,” he said. “They know what’s best.” Had he lost his mind? I opened my mouth to protest. He winked at me, too quickly for the other witches to catch, and I understood. There was no point in fighting all three of them now. He was right. We could figure out a better plan later. And the fact that he was on my side made everything suddenly seem more bearable.
“A coronation!” Gert exclaimed, straightening up, as if we hadn’t just been arguing about the fate of Oz. “That’s just what we need. Bring the country back together, give people something to look forward to. Oz loves a new monarch. Even if she’s a monarch we’ve already had.”
Ozma laughed. “I’ve already had a coronation, Gert,” she said, but Gert waved a hand dismissively.
“That was ages ago,” she said. “Besides, we had that whole unfortunate interlude with Dorothy the Usurper. We want to reassure the whole country that the right person is back in charge for good. A coronation is what the people will want.”
“We don’t even have a palace,” Mombi pointed out.
“We’ll host it in the land of monkeys,” Lulu said excitedly. “Boy, do monkeys know how to throw a party. Why, the last time we—”
“No, no,” Ozma interrupted. “Of course I appreciate your offer, dear Lulu, but the coronations of Oz have always been in the Emerald Palace. If there’s no palace, we’ll have to build something. The heart of Oz is here and always has been, even if the palace is no longer standing.”
I was pretty close to no longer standing myself. I didn’t realize I’d said it out loud until Nox shot me a funny look. Ozma laughed again and clapped her hands.
“What am I thinking?” she exclaimed. “First, my brave Wicked must rest. You’ve been through so much. We can hardly plan a party if you’re all starving and exhausted.”
As soon as she said it, I realized I was starving. I might have even been more hungry than tired.. Without waiting for another word, Ozma brought her hands together, and they began to glow with power. There was something almost alien about her magic; the light she created shimmered with an oily, rainbow sheen, like gasoline leaking across water. It arced upward, drawing the outline of a structure that slowly took shape under her direction. In just a few minutes, Ozma created a big, silk-walled pavilion stretched over a delicate golden frame with wrought filigree at every joint. Gems winked here and there in the framework, and a beautiful flag fluttered from a pole that sprang from the pavilion’s highest point.
Inside, a long table was laid with more kinds of food than I’d ever seen in one place in my life—even at one of Dorothy’s banquets. An entire roast pig with an apple in its mouth. Platters of fruits, most of which I didn’t recognize, and some of which were talking to each other. Baskets of steaming rolls. Tureens of soup, under which tiny fires burned, stoked by tiny figures who carried tiny logs. An enormous platter of desserts: rainbow-frosted cupcakes dusted with glitter that made me think sadly of Polychrome. A miniature Emerald City, rendered in chocolate, studded with emeralds made out of sugar. A cake in the shape of a dragon that breathed fire. Ozma’s post-maybe-defeating-Dorothy banquet was enough food to feed an army.
Which turned out to be a good thing, since Lulu put two fingers between her lips and emitted a piercing whistle. Monkeys bounded up out of nowhere. Lulu had brought her army—or at least, all its surviving members. Ozma giggled as the monkeys flung themselves at the amazing spread with glee. Even Nox and Mombi were laughing.
“Oh dear,” she said, waving her hand, and bunches of bananas popped up at one end of the table. “You’d better eat something fast. They’re not going to leave leftovers.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. Nox and I waded in among the gleeful monkeys, who were devouring the feast like an army of locusts. I found a plate and began to fill it. I didn’t even look to see what I was grabbing. At that point, I would have eaten pretty much anything.