Dorothy Must Die

Chapter Forty-Three

It’s funny how much time you have to think when you’re plunging to your certain death from the top of a tower. You’d think it would be over in an instant, but it’s actually just the opposite. It’s like everything slows down.

At least, that’s how it felt for me. I still had Dorothy in my grip, and she was clicking her heels together wildly as we fell. I knew it was a lost cause. Their magic was gone.

Unfortunately, so was mine.

Locked together in a crazy death spiral, my eyes met hers, and for a second—just for a second—it was like I understood her. It was like I forgot that she was her and that I was me. We were both from the same place, and we had both ended up here. We were both going to die together.

I think she felt it, too.

And then something happened. I felt something warm and tingly running through her body. I felt a burning sensation in my legs, coming from the vicinity of Dorothy’s shoes. Her eyes lit up.

I wasn’t sure whether it was because the spell the witches cast had been broken or because we had passed beyond its bounds, but Dorothy’s magic was back. She was more alive than ever.

She knocked her heels together and was gone in a burst of swirling pink smoke.

And I was hurtling toward the ground.

But if Dorothy’s magic worked now, that meant mine might, too. I could try to travel, but the way I was flipping and twisting, I was too disoriented—I would have just sent myself crashing headfirst into the ground even faster than I already was.

I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate. I knew that flight spells were some of the most complicated and difficult magic that there was, but if I could just come up with something to at least slow myself down, maybe I’d have a chance of survival. I tried to focus on everything Gert had taught me.

I pictured the energy running through my body, twisting and reshaping itself until it was pulling me upward, back into the sky.

And then I was floating.

Seriously. It had worked. I hadn’t expected it to do anything and now I was actually flying.

My eyes sprung open.

That’s when I realized I hadn’t done it at all. Four furry hands had hooked themselves around me, a pair under each of my armpits.

Monkeys. The kind with wings. They were soaring up into the sky, and they were taking me with them. The buildings beneath us began to shrink. The lights receded.

“Amy,” a familiar voice chirped. “We’ve come to save you.”

It was Ollie. He was flying again.

“Ollie!” I exclaimed, still too confused from the last few minutes of insanity to form any coherent thought. “How . . .”

I craned my neck over my shoulder. It was Ollie all right—with one big difference. He’d been given wings.

“You can do a lot with magic,” he said mischievously. “The problem is getting ahold of it.”

Then I saw that his wings weren’t your ordinary feathery white monkey wings. They appeared to be made from old newspaper and coat hangers, held together with little bits of tape.

“They could be more fashionable, but I was in a rush,” the other monkey said. It was a girl’s voice, smooth and soothing in contrast to Ollie’s excitable chirp. Familiar, even though the last time I’d heard her speak, she’d been hoarse and half delirious. “Anyway, they do the trick, as you can see.”

I craned my neck to look at Maude, a huge smile spreading across my face despite my confusion.

“Maude!” I shouted through the rushing air. “You’re okay!”

“Thanks to you,” she replied. “Figured I owed you a save.”

“How did you find me? Where are we going?”

“Oh,” Ollie replied. “It wasn’t hard. The talisman I gave you when you rescued Maude—it doesn’t just lead you to us. We can also use it to keep tabs on you.”

“Looks like we came just in the nick of time,” Maude said drily.

I let out a deep breath. We were sailing above the Emerald City, toward the western gates. The air was cool and refreshing against my face and the moon loomed huge above us. We were zipping along, the landscape sliding by. I hadn’t realized monkeys could fly this fast.

Under different circumstances, it would have been fun. But once I’d had a chance to catch my breath, I was able to review the events of the evening. Also known as the complete disaster that had been entirely my fault.

The plan had gone into effect. The witches had done their part, but I’d botched mine in every possible way. I’d let Dorothy get away not once but twice tonight, and I’d come this close to getting myself killed in the process.

“Take me back to her,” I said, having no doubt the monkeys would know who I meant. “I can’t leave the job unfinished.”

“Um, no,” Maude said. “We didn’t save you just so you could rush off and commit suicide.”

“Yeah,” Ollie added, “we’ve got a better plan.”

I turned my head as much as I could, watching the palace disappear on the horizon. I’d failed. Dorothy was still breathing, which meant someone was still suffering.

“What is this plan?” I asked, resigning myself to the monkeys’ clutches.

“We’re off to see the Wizard,” Ollie replied.