Yellow Brick War (Dorothy Must Die, #3)(37)
“We haven’t prepared for this,” Melindra said, and the tough girl sounded almost plaintive.
“You’ve trained for battle,” Nox said curtly. “That means you’ve trained for this.” Melindra flashed him a hurt look and I tried not to gloat.
Glinda’s army had finished moving into tight formations and the Sorceress hovered above them at the center of it all. Flanking her, Pete and Ozma sagged in their chains. The enchanted princess was staring around her with that all-too-familiar vacant air. Pete looked miserable and sullen. You deserve it, I thought in disgust, remembering the way he’d betrayed me and Nox to Glinda in Polychrome’s palace. Pete had escaped with Glinda—if escape was the right word for what she’d done to him.
I didn’t care if he was suffering now. I remembered Polychrome’s crumpled body, Rainbow Falls burning. Polychrome’s unicorn-cat Heathcliff lying broken and bloody. Pete could go to hell for all I cared. But Ozma was different.
Ozma was an innocent in all of this. But it was more than that, too. She was also the rightful ruler of Oz. There was every chance that she was the only one with the power to change anything. If only we could unlock it.
“We have to rescue her,” Nox said, echoing my thoughts.
“There’s got to be a way,” I agreed, and was gratified to see the flash of approval in his eyes. Maybe I was faking it until I made it, but Nox was right. Acting confident did give me a renewed sense of strength. How could what we faced possibly be worse than what we’d already been through?
Below us, a trumpet sounded, and Glinda rose even higher in the air to hover over her army.
“Good afternoon, dear Wicked,” she said, and even though she was speaking quietly and still hundreds of feet away, she sounded as if she was close enough to reach out and touch.
She and all her soldiers had smeared their faces with PermaSmile, and their white teeth glinted out of terrifying grins as they looked up at us. “Welcome back to Oz. We’re so glad you’ve returned to see the new era that’s coming.”
“Meet the new witch, same as the old bitch,” Mombi muttered.
“Where is Dorothy, sister dear?” Glamora cooed.
“Is it you, darling?” Glinda squealed. “I haven’t seen you in ages! Not since I gave you that tremendously satisfying facelift.”
“I haven’t forgotten,” Glamora replied icily.
The way they were talking to each other was eerie—it was as if they were having an intimate—if tense—conversation over tea and pastries.
Mombi didn’t have any patience for their banter. “What do you want, Glinda?” she bellowed.
“I thought we could be friends,” Glinda purred. “Your little Quadrant party hasn’t gone unnoticed, you know. I was so hoping you might invite me.” Her voice was pouty, but the PermaSmile wouldn’t let her frown.
“We must have forgotten,” Mombi growled.
“No, I don’t think you did,” Glinda hissed. “Did you think you could join forces without me, my witchly sisters?”
“Funny, going behind our backs didn’t seem to bother you when you wiped out the memories of Oz’s queen and brought a tyrant to power,” Gert snapped.
Next to me, Nox tugged my shoulder. “We need to get back downstairs. If there’s an opportunity to rescue Ozma while they’re going back and forth, we have to take it.” I nodded, and Nox signaled to Melindra, Annabel, and a couple of other warriors. We began to creep stealthily toward the staircase. Mombi shook her head at us.
“Enough with this nonsense,” she said abruptly. “We join forces as a Quadrant and go down there to take her out. We hadn’t planned on it happening this soon, but we knew it was inevitable. East, West, North, South. We work as four. Nox, we need you.”
“No,” Glamora said. We all looked at her in surprise. Her blue eyes, eerie twins of Glinda’s, burned with a fierce, lightning-hot energy. “She’s my sister, and this is my fight.”
“My dear,” Gert said, “you can’t possibly mean to go up against her alone. She has an entire army at her disposal—and she nearly killed you the last time you fought.” Reflexively, Glamora touched her face where, long ago, she’d lifted the veil of glamour to show me the gruesome scar Glinda had carved into her cheek.
I’d fought next to Glamora. But I’d never seen her look the way she looked now. Powerful and fierce, yeah, but something else, too.
Elated. Hungry. Out for blood. I remembered back in the cave where I’d first met the Wicked, when Glamora had taught me the art of glamour. I’d wondered then if she was scarier than Glinda. Watching her now, I didn’t have any doubts at all.
“I have been waiting for this moment since the first time I faced her all those years ago,” Glamora said calmly. “I’ve been waiting to end her life, the way she would have ended mine if she’d had the chance. This is my chance to rid Oz of her evil, and this is my battle alone.” Calmly, she ran her hand along her face, wiping away all of the glamours she wore like makeup and revealing the gaping, half-moon scar that ran from her ear, down her cheekbone, and across her chin. It still looked as fresh as if she’d gotten it this morning.
I could tell Gert and Mombi wanted to protest, but they knew as well as I did that Glamora wouldn’t have hesitated to strike all of us down on the way to destroy her sister. The gleam in her eyes was almost unhinged, and the air around her shimmered like she was a pot of water about to boil.