32. Chapter 32
thirty-two
I walked alone through the halls of the castle—or so it seemed.
In truth, I had an invisible Pae at my side.
After some discussion, we’d decided not to take one of Pae’s portals directly to the dining hall, where the large mirror through which I’d drawn Dorothy remained. If someone were to see me emerge by way of that method, our plan would be over—and our antics hard to explain away.
So, the Queen of Oz was just on a lonely, sleepless stroll through the halls of Nick’s castle.
Tonight, the guards did not try to speak to me as I passed them. Perhaps Nick had delivered word of their prior imprudence to their superiors. Or else he’d had a chat with his ranks himself. Though they never spoke, at each doorway, the guards would repeat the same switching of their spears as I passed through. This created quite a racket and that had me glancing over my shoulder every few paces. Because anyone in earshot would, of course, know that the person passing through the halls had to be either me…or Rye.
“Can’t you get them to stop that?” growled Pae as I descended the stairs leading to the ground floor.
“They do that because of who I am.”
“Obviously,” snarled Pae, his voice floating along beside me, “but you are the queen. Meaning, you can order people around and they’ll listen.”
I frowned at this, but as I approached the next set of guards, I offered them a smile before placing a finger to my lips. While this didn’t change their action as I neared, the pair did take care not to switch spears with as much fervor. As a result, their armor clattered less.
“You can tell them what to do,” offered Pae.
“I don’t want to tell anyone what to do,” I whispered.
“You know,” mused Pae as we rounded into a long and silent corridor, “I think I believe you. For instance, if you happened to be anything like Morella, you’d have taken possession of the cap and compelled me to do your bidding instead of striking a bargain.”
“I am nothing like Morella,” I said with almost too much volume.
“That’s mostly true,” said Pae. “But frankly, I don’t think you can avoid being a little like her. She’d rooted herself inside you for how long?”
“Are you trying to make me regret calling on you for this?”
“No,” said Pae, “I’m trying to remind you of what everyone else around us has forgotten. Or, rather, chooses not to believe.”
I stopped and turned sharply in the direction of his voice. “And what’s that?”
“That Morella… She had her moments.”
I let that statement hang in the air. Mostly because I didn’t know how to respond. Or how to refute. If I should even try…
“You sound rueful,” I said, speaking to the wall since I didn’t have anyone to focus on.
“I’m truthful,” he corrected. “At least to those whom I receive truth from in return. And I think that’s what makes you different anyway. That you can recognize the good in the worst. And Morella, she is indeed the worst, wouldn’t you agree?”
“I guess that all depends,” I said, striding forward again.
“On?”
“On what Langwidere has planned for us. And the Nome King.”
“Oh,” said Pae, “I don’t think they can do any worse than West.”
“Hopefully,” I said, speaking out of the corner of my mouth as we approached the guarded doors of the dining hall, “the worst of Oz’s history is indeed behind it. But…something tells me this chapter has the potential to be just as dark.”
I shut my mouth after that, and as the guards standing sentinel outside the dining hall shifted their spears, I slipped through the doors, which someone had left ajar. Something I hoped didn’t mean the space behind was occupied.
Except…it was.
“Rats,”I whispered, eyeing the figure slumped and sleeping in one of the large chairs stationed before the enormous roaring hearth. Dorothy.
“Don’t mind her,” said Pae, his form becoming visible. “She’s out cold. If we’re quiet, she won’t wake.”
With her head lolled to one side, Dorothy had another large book open in her lap. More books surrounded the foot of her chair—all of them open as if she’d been poring over them.
As I drifted nearer, she murmured in her sleep—something about Aunt Em.
I frowned at the sight of her and scanned the books—all pertaining to Oz’s history.
Was she searching for the answer to the math equation that prevented me from officially being Ozma? Or had she instead been scouring the books for some evidence that I wasn’t who Rye had assured her I was? Maybe she was looking for something else.
“There’s another mirror on the third floor,” I whispered, “but it’s in—”
“Nick’s chambers,” Pae finished as he came to stand at my side, eyes fastened on Dorothy.
So, the demon had met with Nick up there as well. Or had he instead gone rifling through Nick’s scant belongings in search of that cap?
“It’s got to be this mirror,” he said, still staring at Dorothy, those eyes burning bright again—with that strange and dangerous hunger I’d glimpsed before. “She’s dreaming right now anyway. She won’t wake up.”
“Can you see into her dreams?” I asked.
“I try not to look,” he confessed before retreating to the mirror.
I went to join him there but peered over toward Dorothy again. She held the same position as before and hadn’t budged. Possibly, Pae and I could do this without her ever knowing we were here. At least not until we came back. By then, though, we’d have Sebastian, and her discovery of our conspiracy would be moot.
Focusing on my reflection, I pressed my fingers to the glass.
“You’re sure about going now?” asked Pae.
“Tomorrow will be too late,” I said, closing my eyes the way I had the first time I’d created a portal. That time, though, I’d created a portal between worlds. Not only that but I’d been bound by the cuffs. This time should prove much easier. I was linking to somewhere specific that I’d been before. And I was unfettered.
In my mind, I traveled to the room I’d first been placed in after arriving at the Emerald City Palace. I’d awoken there after Captain Vin had knocked me out. She’d done so because I’d nearly burned Rye with flames I hadn’t meant to conjure. And fire magic, I’d since learned, was something that could kill Rye.
God, Rye. If I survived this, he would surely want to kill me.
I couldn’t blame him for his anger, either. Nick was right.
Rye had sacrificed much to bring me here—transport me out of harm’s way.
But Sebastian had done the same thing for me—from the moment we’d met. Hadn’t he stayed Mombi’s hand once or twice before it could rain down on me? Hadn’t he found his way to my side when things had gone awry during a show, and ruffians and rubes had entered the carnival with the aim of tearing it to shreds?
Once, Sebastian had fought off a pair of men who had chased me.
And then, without any way to reach me, no way to find me since I’d been abandoned in another realm, another reality, Sebastian had found a way. He’d risked death and worse. He loved me.
I loved Sebastian too. And maybe, if I’d never met Rye, we would have ended up together.
I’d promised to join his show. And now, because of who I really was, because my destiny had changed, I could no longer keep that promise to him. I would have to tell him how I felt about Rye. I would have to tell him how I felt about Oz, too. I would also have to tell him…he needed to go home. Without me.
First, though, before any of that could happen, I needed to save him.
“Look,” whispered Pae.
I opened my eyes and blinked at the scene now framed by the mirror, which in place of my reflection showed the wavering and dancing pale green coffered ceiling of the bath chamber in my former rooms in the Emerald City Palace.
I pressed on the glass, which became liquid. My hand broke through the surface of that water which, instead of glass, now served as the sole barrier between us…and the Emerald City Palace.
“Are you sure you won’t remain here?” asked Pae. “So long as I can get outside the walls of the castle with your friend, I can create another portal.”
“That’s too much of a gamble,” I said. “The whole place has to be locked tight and guarded at every turn.”
“In other words,” said Pae, “we’re walking into a giant trap.”
“Apparently,” I said, “we’re splashing into it.”
Pae drew in a deep breath, and then he stepped up to the mirror.
“Better let me go first,” he said. “There seems to be an inversion going on, and something tells me you’re going to need a hand.”
He didn’t wait for my response. Instead, he dove into the mirror, his tail swizzling after him, the silvery, liquid surface of the mirror portal dancing and rippling.
Sparing a glance in Dorothy’s direction to find her stirring, I thrust my hand into the mirror.
Instead of grabbing my hand with his, Pae’s tail wrapped my wrist.
But not before Dorothy and I locked eyes.
As Pae tugged me through, Dorothy launched out of her chair, books spilling.
But then I broke the surface of the water, drawn up by that tail that then set me—mostly dry—to one side of the bath of my old rooms.
Everything appeared the same as before—all except for the mirrored walls, which had all been smashed and cleared of glass.
“She saw you, didn’t she?” asked Pae.
I pressed a cautioning finger to my lips. Because this bathroom connected to my old bedroom, which someone—perhaps one of Langwidere’s people—might be occupying.
“Wonderful,” droned Pae. “She did.”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I crept to the doorway to peer out into the larger bedroom, which still had all the same furnishings and decorations.
Thankfully, no one slept in the room’s lone bed.
Because if there had been someone, they surely would have awakened at the burst of water that announced another’s arrival into the bathroom via the portal I’d made. The one that I hadn’t made a conscious effort to close.
I swung around, already fully aware of who I would see.
The same girl I’d transported to Oz via that first portal.
Dorothy Gale.