Chapter 13 Maddox
Chapter thirteen
Maddox
"…and I've always valued family above all else because without the people I love supporting me, I wouldn't be where I am today." Jareth Merlin turns to grin at his wife and daughters, who smile at him like he hung the moon.
My father's eye twitches, and he forces a smile for his opponent when the audience claps for the incumbent mayor.
I shake my head slightly. The Merlin family is a stark contrast to the Ozellas. Mother smiles at the audience like a Stepford wife, while my father's mistress orchestrates an event to make him palatable to the people of Oz.
And me? I sit here daydreaming about a curvy brunette warming my bed tonight.
"Attention, everyone! We will take a five-minute water break before returning for the second half of the debate," Griselda announces, silvery voice slightly strained. She hustles over to my father and gives him a handkerchief to wipe the copious sweat from his brow.
I glance at my mother to see if she registers the way Griselda fusses around my father, but she continues to stare vacantly, a smile plastered on her face as if she didn't hear the call for a break.
The seat to my right is empty, and I pull out my phone to check the time. Gigi is fashionably late, as she always is with anything associated with helping my father.
"Where the fuck is your grandmother?" my father hisses through a toothy grin.
The vein bulges at the side of his forehead, and his jaw clenches.
He pulls at his tie, which is cutting into the meaty part of his neck in a way that looks painful and grotesque.
The entire effect is reminiscent of an abstract art painting: Evil Villain on the Verge of a Heart Attack.
This event is televised, but no matter how much Griselda rehearsed with him today or how many plants she placed in the audience, Frank Ozella is not nearly as poised as Jareth Merlin.
Jareth has charmed the audience and stands firm behind his campaign, despite not having the benefit of knowing the questions in advance.
My father flounders, appearing unprepared at worst, and a confused old man at best, neither of which works in his favor.
After the first half hour, he's desperate for Grandmother's elixir.
As I pull out my phone again, I notice Gigi slowly walking up the side aisle and onto the stage.
"She's here." I motion to her and stand to get my father a cup of water.
Gigi takes her time crossing to our group, pausing for a moment to chat with Jareth and Viviane Merlin on the other side of the stage.
Gigi smiles and compliments his two daughters on their dresses, laughing at something Jareth says, no doubt injecting extra mirth just to piss my father off even more.
When she finally reaches our group, my father steps forward to greet her as if she’s his favorite person in the world.
"Glinda," he says loudly, using my grandmother’s full name, "I can't thank you enough for your unwavering support."
Gigi adjusts the strap of her pink purse and levels him with a cold stare, but allows him to kiss her cheek.
There was a time when she wasn’t allowed near my mother, so now she plays nice simply to keep tabs on her.
She gazes at her daughter, a brief flicker of sadness in her eyes as she assesses her mannequin-like state.
"Mira, dear. Have you had anything to eat today?"
"Hello, mother. You look lovely." My mom blinks slowly and smiles out at the audience.
Gigi's gaze flicks to me, and she clenches her jaw as she takes a seat on the stage.
My father turns away from the audience, grabbing my upper arm tightly as he hustles me back to the curtain.
He whips around and glares at me with his lip raised in a snarl.
"Maddox, if you do not get that vial from that fucking bitch, you won't have to worry about finding a wife because they will never find your body. "
I swallow hard, handing him the cup of water. "Wait here."
He nods curtly, and Griselda hurries to the wings to apply powder to his red face.
I sit next to Gigi, leaning in close. "Are you ready for this?"
Gigi eyes me, shaking her head no and smiling like I've told her something amusing.
I glance back at my father, who watches us like a hawk. I smile at my grandmother as if I'm charming her into submission. "It's now or never, Gigi."
She places a hand on my cheek before reaching into her pocketbook and pulling out a small vial of glowing, purple liquid. Gigi hesitates and then hands it to me with a side-eye over her shoulder to let my father know she’s resistant to this idea.
I kiss her hand and whisper my thanks.
As I hustle back to the wings, Griselda runs to the front of the stage, calling everyone back to order. She waits for the cameras to roll and starts the announcements for the second half of the debate.
"Now, goddamn it!" My father rips the vial from me with his clammy hands. He pours the contents into the cup of water and chugs the mixture down. "Fuck. Oh, God!"
The veins in his throat glow bright purple, snaking through his puffy skin like venom as he drops the cup at his feet. He clutches at his throat, looking at me in fury. Then, in the blink of an eye, he appears normal again.
He shakes his head as if he's clearing a fog, and his beady eyes find me.
He nods, shoulder-checking me as he plasters on a fake smile and heads back on stage.
I watch him carefully from the wings as he takes his place at the front, where he waves to the crowd like a celebrity when they cheer his entrance.
"Maddox Ozella. Using his grandmother to help his father get ahead. Never thought I'd see the day." Griselda gives me a wicked smile as she joins me in the wings.
"That's the trouble with you, Gristle." I turn to her. "You assume everyone is as morally corrupt as you."
She furrows her brow, narrowing her eyes at me angrily. I ignore her, walking back out onto the stage to take my seat behind the Ozella podium.
Gigi grips my hand. "Whatever happens, we did our best, dear boy." Her hushed voice is full of anxiety, but for the first time in decades, it also holds a hint of hope.
"Can't say we didn't try," I whisper.
The first question is directed to Jareth Merlin, who responds with a clear and concise plan to increase benefits to territories outside of Emerald City without raising tax rates. His PR manager gives him a thumbs-up from the front row.
Gigi squeezes my hand as the second question comes for my father from a young Winkie woman in the second row of the audience.
"Mr. Ozella, there have been discussions about rezoning the Ogre Swamp and surrounding territories.
Should the citizens in these areas be worried if you become mayor?
" She smiles at my father, an obvious plant with a softball question that allows him to promise one thing even though he fully intends to deliver another.
My father throws an arrogant smile at the woman, looking around at the audience with renewed confidence.
"Thank you for asking such an important question.
There have been a lot of rumors and chatter about rezoning, and I want to assure the people of Oz that I have every intention of destroying the land. "
A gasp breaks out among the audience, murmurs rippling through the crowd as my father clears his throat. I tense, on high alert as I wait to see what happens next.
"I mean, I-I intend to ruin that portion of Oz and drive non-wizard citizens into Fable Forest."
The audience is talking at full volume now, with some members jumping up to shout at my father.
He turns quickly, throwing a panicked look at Griselda, who comes flying across the stage in her black spiked high-heels.
"Folks, folks! Hold up, hold up! Clearly, Mr. Ozella is the victim of sabotage tonight. He is being forced to say the opposite of what is true."
The audience quiets down slightly, some turning to look at Griselda dubiously.
"Frank Ozella represents the people of Oz." Griselda puts an arm around my father, who stares at her dumbfounded, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. "Just the other day, Frank visited the homes of the young families affected by the fires at Gardner's Factory."
Griselda turns to my father, nodding as she motions toward the microphone. My father nods and steps up to the mic, licking his lips nervously as he looks out at the audience.
"She's the one who set those fires." He turns to Griselda in horror and clamps his hand over his mouth.
"What?" Griselda screeches, reeling back and shaking her head frantically. "I don't know what he's talking about."
"She said we needed to garner the votes of the Quadlings, and constructing an opportunity for me to console victims was essential." Father gasps for breath, his eyes as big as saucers as the truth spills from him like a broken faucet.
"You fucking idiot!" Griselda yells.
"Guards!" Jareth Merlin calls, summoning the authorities.
Griselda laughs maniacally. "You can't arrest me. I haven't done anything!"
"As the current mayor of Emerald City, I am well within my rights to detain persons of interest in crimes against this land." Jareth Merlin glares at Griselda, who eyes the guards wildly. "Get them!"
Griselda pulls a wand from her jacket, flicking it to the stands and setting off small explosions that send the crowd running. When the guards approach the stage, Griselda gives them a flirty little wave, then opens a portal beneath her feet and disappears through the floor.
"Wait for me!" my father screams after Griselda, holding his hands up in surrender as he backs away from the guards closing in on him.
Jareth Merlin pulls out his wand and points it at my father. "Detineo cohiberto!"
Long black coils snake out and wrap around my father like a thick boa constrictor. He gasps for air, but continues to babble his secrets to the world.
"Wait!" Gigi calls out.
Everyone on the stage turns to look at her. Her chest heaves as she crosses to my father. The head of security looks ready to protest, but Jareth Merlin shakes his head. The look on Gigi’s face is anything but sympathetic toward the man in front of her.
"What did you do to my daughter?" she grits out, her eyes burning with the fire of years of planned vengeance finally coming to fruition. Her expression reveals her full contempt for my father. "Why did she agree to marry you? What did you give her to make her so compliant to you all these years?"
The hatred my father levels at my grandmother would be enough to fuel a journey to the moon and back. But he has no power and a spell that only makes him speak the truth.
"Coercion spell," he spits out. "Renewed every year since the day I met her."
I rear back, grabbing my mother and pulling her behind me. That monster has had her trapped in a spell for my entire life? Mother blinks, looking around at the stage like she's not sure how she got here, before her gaze lands on my father. "Do you need a healing spell again, dear?"
"Which one?" Gigi asks calmly. She has no need to be angry now that she's won.
Using coercion spells requires a sacrifice—part of your life for their free will. After using the spell for so many years, he'll be lucky if he has much time left. Still, his remaining years will now be spent in a prison cell.
Father fights it as long as possible, desperately trying to resist, but he finally spits out, "Alibaster's."
Gigi turns abruptly, pulling her phone from her purse and barking orders to gather ingredients to reverse the spell. She reaches for my mother, who looks at Gigi dreamily.
"You look so lovely today, Mother."
Tears stream down Gigi's face. "You’re getting your life back, Mira."
"I think I'd like to take a nap."
My father screams profanities and curses our way as the guards lead him out of the event space, but I refuse to glance in his direction. That man is nothing to me.
I’m about to have the life he’s always wanted but wasn't worthy of.
"Come on, Mother. We're going to Gigi's. Let's get you home."