Yellow Brick War (13 page)

Dorothy looked even worse than she had when I'd seen her in Kansas, as though she couldn't suck magic out of the ground fast enough to keep herself going. Her dress was still in tatters, and she'd painted on her maniacal smile with a garish red lipstick that looked like a bloody slash across her face. Her shoes blazed with red light. But she wasn't the scariest thing we faced anymore—not by a long shot. That honor fell to her steed: a three-headed monster the size of a truck. It was covered in sharp-edged, reptilian scales. Behind it swung a long tail crowned in a bristle of spikes. Its legs ended in paws with huge, serrated claws. The teeth in each of its three mouths were as long as my forearm. It threw back first one head, then another, and then a third, and roared. And then I spotted a red velveteen ribbon around each of its thick, muscular necks.

“Oh my god,” I gasped. “That's
Toto
.” That is, something that had once been Toto. But this Toto was like the 'roid-rage
version of Dorothy's little dog, twisted and terrifying.

At Dorothy's back was yet another army—this one made up of the Tin Man's gruesome hybrid creations. Creatures lurched and hopped, brandishing arms and legs that ended in spikes and saws and pincers. Some rolled along on bicycle wheels. Others bounded on all fours, but their bodies were replaced by metal torsos. Most of them looked like they'd been pieced together in a hurry. Bloody wounds seeped fluid where jagged metal edges met living flesh, and some of them limped or dragged themselves along, their blank faces showing no sign that they were in pain but the trail of blood they left behind them suggesting otherwise.

Dorothy, seated astride Toto's broad back, laughed out loud. “Did you miss me?” she called. “It's so good to see you again, Amy. All my old friends in one place.” Her eyes flicked upward to Glinda and Glamora, who'd paused their battle and hung there watching her.

“Dorothy,” Glinda called. I thought I heard a hint of panic in her voice. She hadn't expected Dorothy to find us so quickly.
She was hoping she could take us out first
, I realized. Glinda wasn't strong enough to face the Wicked
and
Dorothy at the same time.

“I'm
so
disappointed to see your army here,” Dorothy said. “It's like you're going behind my back, Glinda, and you know I just hate secrets, unless they belong to me.”

“Dorothy, you misunderstand—” Glinda began, but before the words were out of her mouth Dorothy pointed her fingers and shot a fireball directly at the hovering witch. Glinda spun and dodged, her wand at the ready.

“No, I don't think I do,” Dorothy said coldly. “
I'm
the Queen of Oz, Glinda, have you forgotten? Any army that acts without
my
command is acting against me. And you know what I do to traitors.”

Toto snarled, rearing on his scale-plated hind legs as his huge claws dug into the earth. “Forward!” Dorothy screamed, and her army surged ahead to meet Glinda's. Dorothy's awful zombie-like soldiers cut and hacked mechanically at the mass of identical girls. They might look bedraggled, but they were terrifying. Dead-eyed and robotic, they kept swinging even as Glinda's soldiers cut them into pieces. I watched in horror as a girl beheaded one of Dorothy's minions. The creature's body advanced relentlessly, chopping away with paws that ended in a bristle of jagged, rusty knives. I turned my head away, not wanting to see the rest.

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.

“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.

“We have to take out that damn dog,” Lulu said grimly as she fought.

“I don't know how we'll get close enough,” I panted, lopping the metal head off one of Dorothy's soldiers with my knife. It flew through the air and landed at my feet, gears whirring. A single eye stared up at me, blood running from its socket like tears. Disgusted, I kicked the head away. The Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow might be dead, but Dorothy had simply picked up where they left off.

“I do,” Lulu said. I looked at the brave little monkey and realized what she meant.

“Lulu, you can't. He'll eat you out of the air.”

She shrugged. “Die in a blaze of glory, right? You want to get close to the pooch from hell, I'll take you. Just don't say I never did anything for you.”

“Amy,” Nox began, but another of Dorothy's soldiers interrupted us.

“No time!” Lulu yelled, hoisting me into the air as Nox parried the soldier's blow. My stomach lurched as Lulu swung me wildly over the battle. Too bad flying monkeys didn't come with seat belts.

Toto and Dorothy didn't see us until we were almost on top of them. Dorothy had one hand on Toto's neck, and I could see the power pulsing there, flowing directly from her body into his. Her eyes were sunken into huge, dark hollows, and her hair was lank and lifeless. She slumped over on Toto's neck as if she barely had the strength to sit up straight. Turning Toto into the Hulk of house pets was taking a serious toll on her. I thought of my mom, hollow-eyed and worn after a bender. Dorothy looked the same way. Oz's magic was killing her. Nox and the Wicked were right: it would eventually kill me, too. But right now, it was the only way. One set of Toto's jaws snapped shut, and the bottom half of a monkey fell out of the air as Toto gulped down the rest.

“Ready?” Lulu said. I wasn't. I had never been more terrified in my life. But it didn't matter.

Before, when I'd used Oz's magic, it had been like turning on a faucet—like something I could control, even if I didn't always understand it. But something had changed. I remembered what Nox had said to me before Dorothy had pulled us into Kansas: that Oz's magic was coming back, and that it had a will of its own. I could feel it, like some massive, alien awareness behind the flow of power. It was like I'd unleashed a raging torrent. The magic was powerful enough to knock my consciousness out of my body, sending my mind floating upward as Lulu carried me
toward Dorothy. I could see everything happening around me at once, like I was watching a movie screen: Nox and the monkeys, fighting side by side; Mombi and Gert fighting toward them, their faces drawn with exhaustion; Glamora and Glinda, evenly matched and still locked in battle, oblivious to everything happening around them—even Dorothy and Toto. I could feel power backing up inside me, and faintly understood that I'd tapped into something that had the potential to destroy me. But there was no stopping this magic. I was like a leaf floating down a raging river. All I could do now was try to survive whatever it was that I'd let loose.

I'd tapped into the same dark, dense magic that had transformed me once before. This time, I gave in to it.
Do what you will
, I whispered. I felt my body changing, expanding. Lulu's fingers lengthened and sprouted dark tendrils that wrapped around my shoulders and sank into my flesh. Her arms melded into my back, and I could feel her own wings stretching outward, ribbed and leathery like a dragon's. Horns sprouted from my forehead. Serrated teeth split outward from my gums and I opened my widening mouth in a roar. My fingers were lengthening into claws, my arms and legs rippling with new muscle covered with velvety-soft emerald-green fur. I was changing into a monster. And I liked it. The feeling of unparalleled power. The wings pumping at my shoulders, bringing me closer to my enemy. Dimly, I could hear Lulu's voice at the back of my mind, like a bee buzzing in a glass jar, but I didn't care.

Toto reared up to meet me. A blast of rank, hot breath hit me
full in the face as I swung my knife toward the first of his three heads. Time seemed to slow down as my blade met his scaly flesh and sliced through it like a hot knife through butter. His head went spinning to the ground, its mouth still open in a roar and the stump of his neck spurting huge gouts of black blood. I danced away from the snapping jaws of his other two heads, moving as fast and as nimbly through the air as a dragonfly despite my size. Dorothy was clinging to the ribbon tied around Toto's central neck, staring at me with something in her eyes that I realized was fear. In one smooth motion, I cut off the second of Toto's heads. “No!” Dorothy cried as Toto's remaining head roared in pain and rage. She let go of his ribbon and tumbled off his back. I drew back my arm, ready to run her through as she fell, but something stopped me. There was something about killing Dorothy that I couldn't remember. Something important . . .

Toto lunged for me, snarling, and knocked the knife out of my claws. I threw myself at him and sank my fangs into his scaly throat, tearing it open. His hot blood coursed over me and I lapped it up as I clung to his throat. The monkeys swept in for the kill, hacking away at his remaining head. I darted away just in time as Toto crashed to the ground, his eyes already fixing in death. I landed next to his corpse. The monkeys backed away from me, raising their weapons. I could see myself reflected in their eyes, twisted and monstrous. And I loved it. Being a monster felt incredible. I could do anything, kill anyone. I could destroy them all. Oz would be mine. . . . And then something flared to life deep inside me. Something silvery and cool like
a mountain stream. Silver strands of light wrapped around me, holding me tightly.
Come back, Amy.
It was as if Dorothy's shoes were speaking to me somehow. Preventing Oz's magic from taking over my body completely.

“Amy!” Nox's voice brought me back to myself. He was running across the battlefield, screaming my name. Amy. I was Amy. I felt the dark magic churning within me, unwilling to let go.
Release me
, I thought.
Please, release me.

Dorothy's shoes flashed silver. I screamed in agony as my bones cracked and twisted, Lulu's body separating from mine. This time, the transformation wasn't easy. It was so painful I thought I was going to die right next to Toto. I sobbed in pain and fear as my claws retracted and my fangs sank back into my gums. A moment later, Nox's arms were around me. I clung to him like a life raft in an ocean of pain.

“You're okay,” he whispered into my hair, rocking me back and forth. “You're okay.” Slowly, the agony ebbed away, leaving exhaustion in its wake. “
Never
do that again,” Nox said. “Ever. I thought I lost you.” The emotion was thick in his voice.

“What the hell was that!” Lulu was yelling. “What the hell did you just do, you little witch?”

“Dorothy,” I gasped as Nox helped me to my feet. “Find Dorothy.”

Dorothy was lying in the grass next to Toto's body, one leg twisted under his massive carcass. She struggled to sit up, trying feebly to push Toto's body off her as I limped toward her. It felt as though the magic in the diamond-studded boots was
the only thing keeping me upright.

“You,” she said, her voice more exhausted than angry. “It always comes back to you, doesn't it.” She closed her eyes, almost as if she was so tired she couldn't even keep them open. I knew how she felt. She'd given in to the same magic that had almost destroyed me just now. She'd given everything she was to Oz. Even returning to Kansas hadn't undone the damage Oz's magic had caused. I realized that whether or not I was the one to end her, Dorothy was doomed.

“You can't kill me,” she said. “And you're not going to win.” Her red heels flashed with a pulse of ruby light, and I flung up one hand to protect my eyes from their radiance. “Don't forget about me, Amy,” she said with a ghost of a smile, and then she was gone.

“Is it too much to ask that you just kill the bitch?” Lulu grumbled. All around us, the monkeys were still fighting off Dorothy's army, but with Dorothy gone and Toto dead her soldiers began to mill around in confusion. Some of them sat down where they'd been fighting, staring off into the distance like machines whose switches had been flipped off. Others threw down their weapons, or joined the monkeys in battling Glinda's army. Most of Glinda's soldiers seemed dazed and disoriented, no longer sure who they were even supposed to be fighting.

“What just happened to you?” Nox asked in a low voice. I shook my head.

“I don't know. The shoes saved me, I think. I don't know how or why. But listen—something is different. This time, I
could
have killed Dorothy, unlike before. I knew it somehow.” I looked down at my sparkling boots. “I think everything is different now, with these.”

Before he could respond, the witches suddenly crashed to the ground behind us.

“Glinda,” Nox said. “We have to help Glamora fight her.” They were so covered in blood it was impossible to tell which witch was which. I knew Glamora wanted this fight to be hers alone, but I couldn't let her die. I gathered my wits, knocking aside Glinda's soldiers and the occasional rogue creation of the Tin Woodman's as I raced toward the two of them.

When I got closer, I saw that Glinda was on her back. Glamora straddled her, her hands wrapped around Glinda's throat. I should have felt elated, but it was like watching a horror movie. There was something about the expression on Glamora's face that gave me chills. She wasn't even using magic anymore, just her fists. “This is for everything—you took—from me,” Glamora snarled, punctuating her words by slamming Glinda's head into the ground. She wasn't trying to kill her—she just wanted Glinda to suffer.

“Glamora!” I cried. I don't know what I thought I was going to do. She was winning—and it's not like I wanted to help Glinda. I just wanted Glamora to go back to being the witch I knew—fierce but elegant, beautiful and kind, not this bloody inhuman banshee who was taking so much pleasure in her sister's suffering. But as Glamora looked up at me in surprise, Glinda slapped her across the face. Startled, Glamora let go of
her sister's neck and Glinda struggled to get out from under her. Glamora punched her so hard that Glinda's head snapped back and she lay there, completely stunned. And then Glamora sank her fingers to the knuckle in Glinda's eye sockets.

Pink light blazed outward from Glinda's face. Glamora threw her head back, her face fixed in an awful smile. I fell to my knees as Glamora screamed triumphantly—and then her scream changed to something else as the pink light flowed up her arms and chest and reached her face. Her jeweled features twisted.

“Glamora!” I shouted again, scrabbling toward her on my hands and knees.

She was flesh and blood again now, and the face she turned toward me was somehow hers and Glinda's at the same time, the scar on Glamora's cheek transforming into a scar on Glinda's forehead and then switching back again, first Glinda and then Glamora looking out at me from those haunted blue eyes.