“She was worried. It was an accident. Less talking, more rubbing. Why does the king want to talk to us?”
“Obstinate woman. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that all is not right in our land.”
Dorothy nodded, leaning against him. “The bird people shooting at us gave me a little clue. Is that why you had to come back?”
“Yes.” Z nuzzled her neck. “The palace, the city itself, has been taken over by someone we used to know as a friend. The matriarchal clans, the Gliders and the Weavers, have sided with her. The Equus and Felix have remained with their king, as well as all the Crow Warriors. The only ones who’ve remained on the fence are the pleasure droids who are, by nature, androgynous. Our whole world is divided.”
“An actual battle of the sexes.” With centaurs, weavers and pleasure droids, no less. No wonder he hadn’t stood out in Venice. “Who is this she everyone keeps going on about?”
Z sighed. “We’ve always known her as the GW. She’s been gone for over an age. She’s the one who initiated the era of Transformation, who taught us how to rise above the great darkness that had covered our world. We held her up as a hero of our people. A true immortal. We weren’t sure why she’d left to begin with, but when she returned, well, let’s just say it wasn’t the family reunion we would have imagined.”
The GW? If they were in Oz, than wouldn’t those initials stand for—“Are you talking about the Good Witch? As in ruby slippers and the power was inside you the whole time? As in Glinda?”
The long silence made Dorothy pull away and turn in the water to face him. He grimaced, not meeting her gaze. “The very same. Only according to Kansas, he knows her as Aunt Glin, his old next-door neighbor and close friend to his uncle.” She blanched as he continued. “Apparently, she’s a little upset, and looking to undo all of her creations—all of us—unless…”
“Unless?”
“Unless every wizard in Oz is rounded up and executed, or she finds the spell of unmaking, whichever comes first.”
Chapter Six
“Dorothy, wait!”
“Wait? Wait? Don’t talk to me. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me as soon as I got here that my Aunt Glin is… I just don’t believe it. She would never hurt a fly.”
Dorothy whirled on the path to face him, the itchy blanket Braxim had given her swishing around her knees. Z hadn’t offered her a change of clothes, thinking that would keep her from leaving.
Hah.
“I mean that literally, you know. I once killed a spider by accident, and she sent me to my room without dinner. We had to have a full on, miniature Viking funeral on the beach for the thing, and she actually cried. She wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“Except wizards.”
“Except—” She couldn’t deny it. Her whole life Aunt Glin had loudly and continuously proclaimed her hatred of wizards. They will betray you. They lie. They will steal your power.
“Okay, you have a point. She’s not a fan of wizards. But I still can’t believe she would ‘unmake’ anyone.” With that, she turned and began to march once more toward the twinkling lights of the camp in the distance.
She needed to talk to Kansas. Now.
The Equus standing guard bowed and let them pass into the tent village that had been created by the king’s allies. Dorothy saw feline-looking people covered in fur, several centaurs, and one or two silver women scattered amongst the golden throng.
Those must be the androgynous pleasure droids.
Emily was nowhere to be found.
Z guided her to the largest tent, leading her there without catching her eye. Did he feel guilty for telling her the only family she had, the one that took care of her while her mother gallivanted all over the globe, was an evil witch bent on genocide?
Good.
Honestly, she wished he hadn’t told her. She’d wanted to bask in the afterglow of the best sex of her life a little longer, instead of learning that her relative could possibly be the most famous witch in history. Oh, and just for that extra touch of spice, she was now ordering the death of Dorothy’s new boyfriend.
Super.
She ducked beneath the flap Z held up for her and smiled when she saw Kansas. He seemed to be in a heated argument with the king. He looked so earnest, pushing his hair out of his eyes before placing his hands on the table.
“She needs to know everything. I’ve known her most of my life, babe. She’ll do the right thing.”
Dorothy had missed him terribly.