Worlds Collide (The Land of Stories #6)(71)

Blubo resurfaced with the Wicked Witch’s golden cap in his hands. He threw it on the ground and then smashed it with one of the Winkies’ spears until it broke into hundreds of pieces.

“There!” Blubo said with a satisfied smile. “From this moment forward, no one will ever control the flying monkeys again!”

The Winkies cheered for the monkeys’ newfound freedom. Although the Merry Men, the Lost Boys, and the archaeologists had no idea what Blubo was talking about, they joined the characters from Oz as they danced around Lincoln Center in celebration.

“SUCH A STRANGE PLACE, THIS OZ,” Robin Hood declared. “IT’S NOT EVERY DAY YOU CONVERSE WITH WITCHES, MONKEYS, AND WINKIES. ACTUALLY, IT REMINDS ME OF A WEEKEND I HAD IN FRANCE.”





The card soldiers and the Queen of Hearts followed the Tin Woodman from Midtown all the way to Washington Square Park in Lower Manhattan. The park was famous for the towering arch that stood at its north entrance. The Tin Woodman hurried through the arch, expecting to see the park filled with the Cyborgs from “Galaxy Queen,” but the Cyborgs were late.

“Oh dear,” the Tin Woodman said.

The card soldiers caught up with the Tin Woodman and formed a circle around him. They pointed the sharp ends of their staffs at the metal man, and he dropped his axe. The Queen of Hearts sauntered into the circle and strutted around the Tin Woodman, eyeing him like he was a delicious treat.

“Hold him down,” she ordered with a devilish smile. “I want to cut off his head myself!”

The soldiers grabbed the Tin Woodman by the arms, kicked his legs out from underneath him, and forced him into a kneeling position. The Queen of Hearts picked up his axe and practiced swinging it.

“So you’re the one they call the Queen of Hearts?” the Tin Woodman asked.

“That’s correct,” the queen said.

“But I don’t understand,” he said. “You invade other people’s homes and claim them as your own. You cut off people’s heads for sport. How can you be the Queen of Hearts when you act so heartless?”

“Is your head hollow?” the queen asked with a snort. “Every creature in existence has a heart—it’s just a muscle that pumps blood through the rest of your body. What you’re talking about is compassion—it’s much rarer and a total waste of time, if you ask me.”

The Tin Woodman’s eyes darted back and forth as he tried to make sense of it all.

“So, what I’ve been searching for this whole time, I’ve actually had inside me all along?” he asked. His jaw dropped and his eyes opened wide as he made the greatest discovery of his life.

The Queen of Hearts shared a confused glance with her card soldiers—was the man she was about to decapitate asking her about life lessons?

“I’m told that that is a conclusion most people come to before the end of their life,” she said. “Lucky for you, you’ve reached it just in time. Now hold your head steady—this is going to hurt.”

His realization made the Tin Woodman feel like he was seeing the world for the first time. He was so overwhelmed, tears filled his eyes—but he couldn’t get emotional and rust. He needed to save himself from the Queen of Hearts so his new life could begin.

“Wait!” the Tin Woodman said. “If you’re so fascinated by my head, you should see my heart.”

“Stupid man,” the queen said. “You just said you didn’t have one—now you want me to look at it?”

“I was mistaken,” he said. “You may be the Queen of Hearts, but I guarantee you’ve never seen a heart like mine before.”

The Tin Woodman had captured the queen’s attention, and she raised a curious eyebrow.

“Very well, before I cut off your head, I’ll have a look at your heart,” she said. “Turn him over!”

The card soldiers pulled the Tin Woodman up and turned him on his back. The Queen of Hearts leaned over his metal torso and yanked open the small door in his chest. To her horror, the queen didn’t find a heart at all, but a tiny little woman standing inside him!

“BOOOOO!” Trollbella screamed.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” the Queen of Hearts screamed.

The queen was so stunned, she dropped the Tin Woodman’s axe and stumbled backward. The soldiers pinning the Tin Woodman quickly went to help the queen. Trollbella jumped to the ground, retrieved the axe, and tossed it to the Tin Woodman once he was on his feet. The Queen of Hearts roared with anger and pointed her finger at the unlikely duo.

“SEIZE THEM AT ONCE!” she yelled. “AND OFF WITH BOTH THEIR HEEAAA—”

Before the Queen of Hearts could finish her sentence, the Tin Woodman swung his axe with all his might and chopped the queen’s head off. Again, just as with the other literary villains, the only thing that spewed out of her body was words. All the adjectives, adverbs, verbs, and nouns Lewis Carroll used to describe the unpleasant monarch sprayed out of the queen’s neck. Eventually, the words dried up and the Queen of Hearts’ dismembered body disappeared.

“He’s murdered our queen!” a card soldier shouted.

“He’ll pay for this!” shouted another.

The card soldiers charged toward the Tin Woodman and Trollbella, but just as they were about to be pierced by the soldiers’ weapons, everyone in the park was suddenly distracted by a bright light in the sky. The Tin Woodman and Trollbella looked up and saw that the BASK-8 had finally arrived!