Yellow Brick War (Dorothy Must Die, #3)(48)

“What happened?” Nox asked. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, but I didn’t see Dorothy. I saw some kind of cavern. And I could hear this crazy ticking sound, but I don’t know what it was.”

“The Great Clock,” Mombi said. “Dorothy’s trying to tap into its magic.”

“What’s the big deal? Wasn’t she already using it to make the days as long as she wants them?” I asked.

“The Great Clock is connected to the oldest, deepest magic of Oz,” Gert said slowly. “Even the fairies, the true rulers of Oz, have never understood how it works. Dorothy’s been siphoning its magic off a little at a time. But if she’s trying to unleash the full power of the clock . . .” She trailed off into silence.

“So what happens if she tries?” I asked. No one answered. Gert stared at Glamora. Glamora stared at the ground. Mombi stared at Nox. Nox stared at the door. None of this seemed like a very good sign. Nox sighed and looked at me.

“If Dorothy somehow taps into the magic of the Great Clock, it’s pretty likely she’ll destroy all of us. Oz, the Other Place—”

“Wait, you mean Kansas? How can Dorothy destroy Kansas with a giant stopwatch?”

“Oz and your world are intertwined,” Gert said. “You know that, Amy.” I remembered what the Wizard had said about Kansas and Oz being two sides of the same place. The strange ways in which Dorothy and I were linked. And the way that magic-crazed Dorothy was tied to the innocent farm girl she’d been in Kansas.

“Oz is layered over the Other Place like another dimension,” Mombi said. “The two worlds don’t interact, but they’re dependent on each other to survive. No one’s ever tried to tap into the magic of the Great Clock before. If Dorothy does, the power will be uncontrollable.”

I’d never really missed Kansas much, but the idea of it being wiped off the map was a totally different prospect from the idea of just never having to go back. I thought of my mom, totally oblivious to the fact that Dorothy was about to drop doom on the whole universe like she’d dropped a house on a witch all those years ago. Dustin and Madison and their baby. Even bitchy old Amber and dopey Mr. Stone. I put my head in my hands as if I could shut out reality myself by covering my eyes.

“Can I stop her?”

Gert looked at Mombi, who shrugged. “You’re connected to the same power she is. You have her shoes. You’re connected to her. I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who can.”

“You or the Nome King,” Glamora added. “But I don’t think we can exactly count on him to help us.”

“He can’t possibly mean for Dorothy to destroy Oz,” Gert protested.

“We still don’t know what he wants,” Nox said. “And if he’s still in the Other Place, we don’t know if he even knows what Dorothy’s doing. Maybe he thinks she’s too powerless now to do any harm.” He shook his head. “But I don’t like it. You keep saying Dorothy’s shoes are protecting you, but how do we know for sure that’s true? What if this is all a trap? I don’t think it’s safe for you to go after Dorothy. We have to think of another way.”

“There is no other way,” Glamora said sharply.

“Amy’s risking her life!” Nox protested.

“We’re all risking our lives,” Mombi pointed out drily.

“I won’t let you just use her!” Nox said fiercely. “You took my life away—fine. I don’t have anything left to lose. But Amy can still go back to Kansas someday. She has a family out there. People who love her. It’s not right for us to ask her to risk this much for a place where she doesn’t even belong.”

That stung. Was that how Nox saw me? After everything we’d been through together? “Don’t I get to decide for myself?” I snapped. “My life will be a hell of a lot better without Dorothy in it, too, remember?”

“You have a family to go back to,” he said softly. “You have a life, Amy. And you’re not strong enough to fight Oz’s magic alone.”

“You don’t get to make that decision for me!” I said sharply. “This is everything I’ve trained for, everything you taught me to do!”

“I know,” he said brokenly. “Believe me, I know.”

“Joining the Quadrant requires we set our personal feelings aside,” Glamora interrupted smoothly. Nox looked like he was about to hit her, but he only shook his head in anger. I almost laughed. The Quadrant’s rules wouldn’t let me be with Nox, but they couldn’t stop me from volunteering for a suicide mission to save him.

“I’m going,” I said.

“You make me sick,” Nox said to Glamora, his voice cold. “All of you. You ask too much. You use people up and throw them away. I might be bound to you, but I don’t have to agree with what you’re doing.” He turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

“Well,” Mombi said after a short, uncomfortable silence. “If we’re leaving for the Emerald City in the morning to save the world, we should all probably get some rest.”





TWENTY-NINE


There weren’t really enough blankets to go around, and the monkeys had already nabbed most of the palace stock. Ozma was sleeping peacefully with her head pillowed on Lulu’s back, and I paused for a moment to look at them both. Lulu was still snoring gently with her mouth open, looking a far cry from the fierce warrior I’d so recently seen in battle. And Ozma—was she really still in there somewhere? I’d seen her moments of clarity, but none of them ever lasted long enough to give me faith that she’d be back to normal anytime soon. I’d been fighting Dorothy for so long now that I’d never given much thought to what would happen once she was finally defeated. If Ozma was still loopy, who’d take over? The Nome King wanted it to be me. But I was tired of being a pawn in someone else’s story. Nox was right. I didn’t belong here. If Dorothy’s shoes had taken her back to Kansas, they might work a second time for me, too. Once I’d defeated her for good, I was going home, Nome King or no Nome King. Oz would have to solve its own problems.