thought you said she was okay!” I said to Daniel as I rushed to Blue’s side. My friend was lying propped up against a tree trunk. There was a broken arrow within her grip, which I guess she’d ripped out herself. She had been shot just above the collarbone and blood was soaking into her shirt.

“I said she will be okay,” Daniel replied. “SJ, show her what you’ve got.”

SJ knelt next to Blue and opened her potions sack. “After you were shot by the magic hunters at Lady Agnue’s, Crisa, I thought it might be a good idea to make some healing potions. I took the antidote that Madame Alexanders applied to your shoulder and found a way to enhance it.” She pulled out a little bottle filled with pinkish liquid that looked like grapefruit juice. “Instead of healing Blue’s wound in a few days, this will do the job in four or five hours.”

“SJ, that’s incredible,” I responded.

“Blue, this is going to sting,” SJ said, uncorking the bottle. “A lot.”

SJ pulled back Blue’s shirt to reveal the jagged wound and poured the liquid over the injury. Blue clenched her teeth and shut her eyes, resisting the urge to scream. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it so hard I thought my fingers might come off.

The liquid bubbled when it made contact with her skin and I heard the sound of sizzling—like searing steak in a pan. After a minute the blood began to evaporate. When it was gone, the area where the wound had been was covered in a splotch of glowing pink goo.

Blue let go of my hand and adjusted her shirt. Her SRB caused silver sparks to clean up the material like it had been freshly laundered.

“How do you feel?” I asked.

Blue glanced up at Jason. There was deep concern in his face. She blushed a bit.

“A bit embarrassed that one of Arian’s goons managed to shoot me, but I’ll live. It feels like a horse kicked me in the shoulder, but it beats the way I felt five minutes ago.”

“The wound will continue to mend and the skin will sew itself back together over the next few hours,” SJ said as the two of us helped our friend to her feet. “But you will be fine.”

“How many of those antidotes you got in there?” Jason asked, pointing at SJ’s potions sack.

“Unfortunately, only one more,” SJ replied. “It took me many tries to make it. The other bottle is in our closet’s secret compartment. I can draw it out the next time one of us gets injured.”

“You say that like it’s inevitable,” Jason said.

“Isn’t it?” Daniel responded.

“SJ . . .” Jason said, a spark of hope in his eyes. “Can it heal any kind of injury?”

“No,” she said. “It cannot cure a fatal wound—only flesh wounds and minor injuries.”

“Oh.”

Jason looked bummed and I knew why. He’d had the same thought I did. For a moment, we’d both hoped that maybe it could save him. Maybe this potion was a way to cheat the death I’d foreseen. Alas, it wasn’t. With a sigh, Jason gestured to SJ. “Can I have the map please?”

SJ opened her magic potions sack, shoved her hand inside, then pulled out a rolled-up piece of parchment that was at least three times the height of the sack itself.

“So where are we?” Daniel asked.

“Well, that was the Ruined City,” Jason explained, unrolling the map. “Right here.” He pointed at a spot on the southwestern side of the document. “Those birds we saw were Strumpet Birds. They settled in the area a couple of decades ago and all the people had to evacuate. The birds destroyed the city in a matter of years. So this forest up here should be the Forest of Merriment.” He tilted his chin at the trees in front of us. “Once we pass through it, we’ll reach the Yellow Brick Road and we can follow that to the Emerald City. I figure we should start by asking the Wizard for help. He might have some idea where we can find a missing Fairy Godmother.”

“Solid plan,” Blue said, stretching her arm. “I guess it’s off to see the Wizard then.”

Jason rolled up the map, but held onto it.

“Hey, Jason,” I said, checking to make sure my wandpin was still in place, then adjusting my backpack. “Is there anything on that map about a YUR?”

“Um, no. What’s that?”

“I don’t know. Something that Harry said. I guess we’ll find out later.”

We made our way through the Forest of Merriment and found the Yellow Brick Road. The forest was not as merry as I would’ve hoped. Actually, it was kind of dark and spooky. The Yellow Brick Road, however, was as rich and sunnily colored as the stories promised.

Referring to the map when we came to forks in the road, the five of us followed the bright yellow path for a long time. It led us through many parts of Oz, including the Elder’s Pass, Spider Pixie Canyon, and Lilac Meadows.

As we proceeded down the Yellow Brick Road into the Forest of Saltar, I was surprised that we didn’t run into anyone. In fact, we hadn’t seen a single other soul on the road all day. I thought it was a bit weird given that this was supposed to be the main road through Oz that led to the realm’s capital.

There were a couple of other peculiarities as well. We came across several large crimson insignias imprinted in the Yellow Brick Road. And on more than one occasion, I could’ve sworn the road was trembling, as if something was passing through the earth beneath us.

I took the distraction of the long trek as a blessing. It helped me cast aside the thoughts of Alex that gnawed at my mind and heart. I didn’t know what was worse: that he’d turned on me again in the Ruined City, or that I was stupid enough to believe that he might not. Had I been so delusional to think that he still cared for me? Was Mauvrey right about his true nature? Should I give up and treat him strictly like an enemy from here on out?

By midday, we had emerged from the Forest of Saltar and into the open again. I could see the Emerald City from here, like a beacon on a hill. Glassy buildings that reminded me of Midveil projected into the sky. They all had a greenish tint and were pointed at the tops like stalagmites. The tower at the center was significantly grander than the others and resembled a streak of frozen, vertical lightning.

As we entered the final stretch to the city, I was dismayed that the path was lined on either side by plains of familiar flowers.

Poppies.

The bright red-and-black-spotted flowers encircled the city like a moat. A notable mist floated above them. I remembered seeing traces of that same mist in the jars in Madame Alexanders’s lab cases at school. I supposed the greater the number of flowers, the more mist they produced.

“Watch your step,” I said as the path began to cut through their domain.

The Poppy moat was at least a half mile in radius. Tall towers with spinning blades were placed throughout it. Each one was made of bronze and copper and extended at least three hundred feet in the air. They looked like solar-powered wind turbines for gathering energy, the likes of which I’d seen when my family and I had visited other kingdoms in Book.

At the center of each turbine was a glowing scarlet sphere. The more I looked at them, the more I thought the towers resembled flowers; the spheres were like stamen and the spinning blades that surrounded them were like sharp petals.

Every few minutes the spheres projected shimmering beams of light into the sky. Different tower spheres lit up at different times in a pattern that I could not follow. When we were halfway through the Poppy moat, SJ suddenly paused and put her hand to her chest as if she was about to faint.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I think it is the flowers,” she said, taking a heavy breath. “I read in our potions textbook that in the wild, Poppies can exude drowsy gas. I have been feeling it more and more with each step.”

“So that’s what that mist is,” I commented.

“I feel it too,” Jason said, rubbing his tired, unfocused eyes. “What about you guys?”

Daniel and Blue confessed that they’d been feeling symptomatic as well. Their expressions appeared as exhausted as SJ’s and Jason’s. I observed them with worry and guilt since I seemed to be immune to the effects.

“We’ll be inside soon,” I said, gesturing to the wall surrounding the city. “Come on. We’re almost there.”

The wall around the Emerald City hadn’t looked that intimidating from afar. As we’d gotten closer though, I realized it was terribly formidable. The thing was no less than six hundred feet tall and wrapped around the entire city. Unlike the glass towers within, the wall was made of solid concrete.

I wondered what could warrant such serious security measures. As we approached the large iron door in the wall at the end of the path, I saw a black whir flying in the distance and got my answer. At first it looked like a massive bird. But then I remembered that giant birds didn’t have arms, legs, and bat wings.

SJ pointed to the sky. “Is that . . . ?”

Blue nodded. “Flying monkey.”

The others and I watched as the creature flew toward the city. For a moment I was afraid for the civilians within. But when the creature tried to enter the city’s domain from the sky, it was electrocuted. A sizzling, formerly invisible, emerald barrier above the walls revealed itself and shocked the flying monkey, causing it to screech and ricochet back into the sky. It must’ve been some kind of In and Out Spell.

Hastily I marched up to the grand iron door and knocked forcefully. “Hello?”

A tiny window above the door slid open. “State your business,” said a small man wearing a large fedora.

“We’re here to see the Wizard,” Jason responded.

The man nodded. “Hold up your hands.”

We lifted our palms for him to see. The small man disappeared behind the window and a blinking machine replaced him. It was metallic and the size of a kickball, and it was attached to a metal tentacle that allowed it to stretch out the window. It released a wave of bright red light that scanned us from head to toe.

“Scanning for dark magic,” the machine said in a baritone register. When it finished, it recoiled back through the window, leaving us on the road, puzzled.

We waited. That’s when I glanced up and noticed the flying monkey had not gone back into the clouds after being shocked. Rather, it had circled around the city and was coming toward us. Fast.

Blue banged on the door. “Excuse me!”

The window opened again. The small man peeked out and looked down at us. “Your background checks are still running. It’ll be another minute.”

“We don’t have another minute!” Blue shouted.

“Sorry, those are the rules,” the small man said. He shut the window again with little regard for the peril we were in.

The flying monkey screeched. It was fifty feet away from us and closing. SJ drew a silver portable potion from her bag and took aim.

Forty feet.

She fired her slingshot. The portable potion shot into the sky, but the flying monkey swerved and evaded it.

Twenty feet.

As the ice potion exploded in a distant part of the Poppy field, Blue pulled one of her throwing knives and hurled it at the creature with her uninjured arm. The flying monkey dodged the knife then dove for our group.

There was nowhere to go. The Poppies had us corralled on both sides and the wall barricaded us from behind. Jason was the farthest out on the road, and he was looking frantically at the door of Oz, waiting for the little man to let us in. I knew what was about to happen and raced forward and shoved him aside just as the flying monkey swooped in and would have snatched him up. The creature’s claws clasped around my upper arms instead. We darted into the sky, but I didn’t wait for us to get very high. I grabbed my wandpin, transformed it into a dagger, then stabbed one of the creature’s paws. It shrieked and I was released. I landed in the field of Poppies with a semi-cushioned thud.

Lapellium.

I sat up and rubbed my right arm. It had some of the flying monkey’s blood on it, which my SRB quickly cleaned off. The scratches from the monkey’s claws remained though. I looked around. The injured flying monkey had retreated into the clouds. My friends were only a few dozen yards away.

“You okay?” Jason called.

My arm veins had begun to pulsate purple from touching the flowers, but as I’d come to expect, their toxins had no power over me.

“Fine!” I called back.

I waded through the flowers back to the road—dusting loose petals off me as I made my way. As I walked, the Poppies’ purple glow in my arms was chased away by my own golden one. By the time I reached the road again, both glows had faded entirely.

The gargantuan iron door embedded in the wall finally opened. After we’d entered, it sealed itself shut again. The moment it closed, the light returned to my friends’ eyes and the exhaustion disappeared from their faces. With the mist of the Poppies behind them, their symptoms were gone.

We were in a long tunnel with a small kiosk in front of us.

“Sorry about the delay.”

We turned and spotted the fedora-clad man who’d spoken to us through the window. He was sliding down a ladder against the door that led to a high perch. “The scan is usually pretty fast,” he continued on his way to the kiosk. “But your results,” he nodded at me, “were inconclusive the first time, so we had to run it again. The machine sometimes has trouble telling the difference between Pure Magic and dark magic. I’ll need you to fill out a few forms before entering the city.” He opened up the door to his kiosk, slipped inside, and then regarded us through his new post.

“Really?” I asked.

“It’s policy. Now come, come.”

He waved me forward and handed me a holographic clipboard that looked like it was made of pure energy and a quill the size of a lightning rod. For the next couple of minutes, I answered a bunch of census questions and a few personal ones, not taking them seriously at all.

Height: Depends on size of boots.

Weight: None of your business.

Mental State: TBD.

I handed the clipboard and quill back to the guard with a fake smile. “Can we go now?”

He nodded and presented us with a city map, a brochure of the city’s best attractions, and a yellow ticket stub with the number thirty-five written on it.

Jason gave our Oz map back to SJ for storage and accepted the materials. I took a deep breath and readied myself for the venture ahead.

It was time to see the Wizard and see if he really was as wonderful as the stories said. I hoped so. At this point he was our only lead to finding Paige.

The Emerald City was nothing short of amazing.

It seemed modesty and frugality were two words this metropolis had never heard of. Every building was decorated in expensive-looking crystals. Every carriage and horse’s saddle was encrusted with gems. And every person was a vision of colorful silk, lace, and velvet.

The ladies’ day dresses cascaded behind them as they sashayed along the streets. Their necks were adorned with fine jewels that looked like second skins. The men’s coattails flounced about in an equally grand way—their colorful, whimsically patterned bow ties matching perfectly with their pocket handkerchiefs. Fancy hats seemed to be a common theme for both men and women, as was the use of fine gloves. Needless to say, we felt totally under-dressed.

We followed the map the man at the wall had given us to get to the Emerald Tower, where the Wizard lived. As we crossed the streets I was struck by the number of posters of the Wizard throughout the city; his face could be seen on everything from park benches to decorative window hangings. The ads lauded the greatness of the Wizard and were captioned with boastful phrases like “The Wizard Believes in You,” “The Wizard: Savior of Oz,” and “We are Defended; We are Cared for; We are Under the Watchful Watch of the Wizard.” While these advertisements varied, at the bottom of each was always the same tagline:

“The Wizard is good; the Wizard protects us; all hail the Wizard.”

The propaganda had the opposite effect on me and made me wary of the man before even meeting him.

“Hey, I appreciate what you did back there,” Blue whispered to me as we passed a flower vendor insisting on the freshness of his daisies.

“Hmm?”

Blue glanced ahead to make sure the others were out of earshot. “For Jason,” she said. “I screwed up with that flying monkey. I had him in my sights and I missed. You know I have much better aim with my right arm, but my injury is still healing. If you hadn’t done what you did, Jason would’ve gotten hurt because I failed to protect him.”

“Blue, you didn’t fail. You missed. So did SJ. It happens.”

Blue shook her head and sighed. “I’m just glad you’re forever looking out for us. I can’t tell you what it means to know you always have our backs.”

Blue smiled and slapped me on the shoulder. I returned the smile, but timidly. Guilt chomped my insides like a piranha. Blue constantly made me out to be so noble, but I didn’t think she’d feel that way if she knew that I’d told Jason he was going to die and that I was keeping it from her, thus keeping her from trying to prevent it.

She definitely would not see me in the same light if she knew the truth.

The five of us arrived at another wall. This one encircled the Emerald Tower—the great, jagged building I’d seen from far off. The barrier was concrete like the one around the city with doors constructed of dark green metal. A gatekeeper (also wearing a fedora) waved us through. I was a bit surprised at the ease of entry.

We followed a metallic path that led up to the front doors of the Tower. I spotted no less than thirty guards on patrol, each in golden armor. Inside the Tower, more guards guided us until we reached a line with several dozen people in it.

“What’s with the line?” I asked the closest guard.

“These are the Wizard’s appointments for the day,” the guard explained. “Do you have a ticket?”

Jason handed the guard the bright stub we’d been given upon entering the city.

“Number thirty-five,” the guard read aloud. “Should be about twenty minutes. Back of the line please.”

When it was finally our turn, we were ushered into a grand room that reminded me of my parents’ throne room in Midveil, only gaudier. The floor was gold tile. Fountains at the end of the room spouted water that flashed different colors thanks to spotlights in the ceiling. Thick marble columns holding blazing torches led up to the throne.

Upon that throne sat a man. He was in his late twenties with curly black hair, perfectly groomed eyebrows, and a confident smile. There was a sort of cockiness in the way he positioned himself in his seat. Mischief glinted in his eyes.

“You may now state your business before his majesty the Wizard of Oz,” a guard bellowed. He saluted the man on the throne and repeated the phrase we’d seen plastered across the city: “The Wizard is good; the Wizard protects us; all hail the Wizard.”

“Welcome!” The Wizard said, beckoning us to move closer.

“Somehow, I thought he’d be older,” Blue whispered in my ear as we approached.

“I heard that,” the Wizard said as he rose from his throne.

Much to my surprise, he walked across the room and came to meet us. He shook each of our hands in turn. “Most visitors from other realms tend to expect that,” he continued. “I suppose you also think the only things I’m capable of handing out are hearts, brains, and courage?”

“Well . . .” was all Blue could say.

“Don’t worry,” the Wizard said with a kindly smile. “I’m just joking. The majority of people who come from other realms expect someone older because they are familiar with the Wizard before me. However, my father passed away years ago, so I’m hoping my legacy will catch on soon.”

“Wizard is a family name?” Daniel asked, raising an eyebrow.

“More like a family business,” the Wizard responded. “My name is my own. And it is Julian. Although, I am quite partial to ‘His Great and Powerful-ness.’”

“How did you know we were from another realm?” SJ asked.

Julian grinned, happy that she’d caught on. “You entered the Emerald City through the main doors. The only people who do that are not from around here. Plus, when you were scanned you did not come up in any of our records. Tell me, are you storytellers here on visa, did you fall through a portal by accident, or none of the above?”

“Uh, none of the above,” I answered. “We’re actually here on a mission.”

Julian headed back toward his throne. “Color me intrigued. I do love a good mission. Though I must say, you are a bit younger than most protagonists that typically pass through here. What is your objective?”

“We’re searching for a Fairy Godmother named Paige Tomkins who went missing from our realm ten years ago,” Jason explained. “We got a tip that she’s in Oz and thought you might be able to shed some light.”

Julian didn’t say anything for a long moment and kept his back to us.

“So . . .” Daniel said. “Can you help us or not?”

“I can do better than that, my dear boy,” Julian replied, finally finding his voice. He spun around, causing his coattails to whip. “I can tell you where she is.”

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. “You’re not serious.”

“Oh, I am very serious,” Julian said. “Well, at least most of the time. But definitely this time. Now, while I cannot say for certain that your Paige Tomkins is in Oz, I do know where she would be if she was. There is an area at the base of the North Mountains called the Plain of the Forgotten. And within it, there is one place in particular called the Maze of the Mindless. People there are able to hide in plain sight; their memory is forgotten. So if your Godmother friend was looking for a good place to conceal herself, the best place in Oz would be there.”

“All right,” I said steadily. “Thanks. We’ll head for the Plain of the Forgotten then.”

“Excellent,” Julian replied, clapping his hands together. “See my assistant for directions. She can also validate your parking if you need it. Otherwise, I wish you protagonists well and hope you find what you’re looking for.”

Julian pulled a lever by his throne. It opened a set of doors to the left. Guards emerged and herded us toward the exit. I glanced back at Julian. He gave me a confident, closed-mouth smile and a slight politician’s wave.

We were escorted into a hallway. A woman with big boobs and a pointed face like a possum was sitting at a cherry wood desk. She wore an emerald pencil skirt and a slinky, silver silk top. “You need directions?” she asked.

SJ withdrew our map of Oz from her potions sack. Upon unrolling it, I saw that the Plain of the Forgotten was already labeled on the document; it was at the base of the North Mountains like Julian said. But the woman at the desk showed us a shortcut that would get us there faster. When she was done, we moved for the exit of the Emerald Tower. As we passed through the front doors, Daniel spoke under his breath so the guards wouldn’t hear.

“Does anyone feel like that was too easy?”