Glamora stood up, leaning heavily on the back of her chair, as if to emphasize the seriousness of what she was saying.
“There’s been trouble between Glinda and Dorothy for a while now,” she began. Despite her obvious exhaustion, her voice was clear and unwavering. “My sister has been trying to control the throne of Oz for a long time, and Dorothy is only the most recent of her little . . . plans.”
Glamora’s knees wobbled and she gripped the chair more tightly for support, taking a deep breath. “But like Ozma, Dorothy proved to have a mind of her own—only in this case, Dorothy was soon so warped by her power that she decided to set herself up as tyrant in chief. Glinda has been looking for a way to quietly get rid of her.” She looked at me. “I think Dorothy guessed that Glinda would turn against her, but the Wizard’s spell took you both to Kansas before she could do anything about it. Now . . .” She shrugged. “If the Nome King is the one who’s been trying to control Dorothy all along, all the more reason to kill her. And if he isn’t—well, we all know Oz isn’t safe as long as she’s alive. I don’t like it any more than you do, Nox, but Amy has to use the shoes at least once more.”
“It’s a huge risk,” Mombi said. “We could be playing right into the Nome King’s hands.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. All the witches turned to look at me. “I mean, I know he wanted me to find the shoes and come back to Oz. I know he’s hoping to use me in the same way he wanted to use Dorothy. But I don’t think he realizes that the shoes are good.”
“What do you mean, good?” Nox asked. “You want to risk your life on a hunch about a pair of shoes we don’t know anything about? After you’ve already seen what the other enchanted shoes did to Dorothy?”
“I can’t explain it,” I said, knowing how stupid I sounded. “I can just tell. The shoes are trying to help me.”
“Help you do what, though?” Mombi asked. No one answered for a long time.
“Anything we try will come with risks,” Glamora said finally. “I think we should let Amy use the shoes.” Mombi glanced at Glamora, her expression unreadable. There’s something Mombi knows that she isn’t telling us, I thought suddenly. Something about the Nome King? Or about what Glinda had been planning? I sighed. Secrets on top of secrets. Whatever. I’d had one job in Oz—to kill Dorothy. I might as well do my best to make sure the job got done.
“It’s your decision,” Gert said, reading my mind.
“We don’t have a choice,” I said.
“There’s always a choice,” Melindra said sharply, drumming her tin fingers against the table.
“I don’t have much of a choice, then,” I amended.
“We can use our power to try and protect you,” Mombi said, gesturing to the other witches. I nodded and they stood up, forming a circle around me. I could feel the current of power running between them, creating a bubble around me like a shield.
“Let us guide you,” Gert said. I could sense each of them in their magic: Nox’s felt blue and cool, like a stream in fall. Mombi’s was thicker, denser, like a gnarled old oak tree. Gert’s was warm and comforting, but with a hint of steel underneath the softness. And Glamora’s was a little too sweet, like overripe fruit. I let their magic flow into me and course through my body before settling into my feet. Dorothy’s shoes blazed with a white light and I staggered, only held in place by the Quadrant’s net of magic. “Concentrate, Amy!” Glamora cried.
The room around me faded away, the way the battlefield had when I’d used the shoes. I was in a cavern underground; I could feel dank, stagnant air on my face. Somewhere in the dark, a thundering ticking reverberated through the cavern. And the air was full of magic, so thick I could touch it with my fingers. The Quadrant’s power was keeping me tethered to my body like a lifeline, but I knew if they faltered I’d be swept away. And something was wrong, I could feel it. There was something that wasn’t supposed to be there. The pale thread of their combined magic thickened and began to turn darker, as if poison was running through it. Faintly, I could hear Nox and Gert screaming my name.
Let go, something seemed to be saying to me. Let go. It would be so easy to give in. To let myself sink into it. Finally, I’d be able to rest.
Dorothy’s shoes glowed even more brightly and suddenly I thought of Nox’s sandalwood smell, Gert’s comforting hug, Mombi’s gruffness. Even Melindra’s bitchy, disdainful attitude. Lulu’s snores. Ozma’s huge green eyes. I thought of everyone I cared about in Oz, and I threw myself toward them with everything I had.
The cavern vanished around me and I crashed through the circle of the witches’ arms, hitting the floor with a thump that jarred my bones. Gert and Nox were at my side in an instant, helping me up.
“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.”