Page 68 of There's No Place Like Oz

I heard him say, and the Wizard heard him, too.

“It shall be done. Tap your knife three times and repeat the phrase ‘There’s no power like voice.’”

Talos nodded, then he repeated in his mind:

Under an orange surge, he got his wish. The unbreakable clasps on his mask fell apart, revealing the half of his face that I’d never seen in our entire time together. I saw the strong jaw, the full lips lined in piercings, and the soft smile on Talos’ gentle expression. Pure relief sparkled in those silver eyes, and tears welled up in their corners. He licked his lips, playing with the ring piercing on the bottom, before he returned his tongue to his mouth. Then he asked through the strain of a neglected voice box: “Can you all hear me?” The sound was familiar, yet completely different when projected aloud for the first time. “I almost forgot what having a tongue felt like.” He laughed. Such a blissful sound. I liked his laugh.

He had me in his hands in no time, and he hoisted me into the air and spun me around. My skirt flowed in the small whirlwind he created, and that elation flowed freely into my heart.

Before he put me down, he kissed me hard, letting me feel the tongue he’d lost first hand. I was crying happy tears for both of my freed companions.

Tobias took the next turn, and I gave him Eloise’s necklace. “I want my beast form returned,” he said. No talk of going home or re-wiping his memories. I respected the fact that he wouldn’t turn a blind eye to his mistakes. Instead, he chose to stand tall, own who he was, and be better going forward.

Again the Wizard’s fireball blazed, and again he offered a spell. “An easy task. Tap the gemstone on the necklace three times, and chant the phrase ‘There’s no love like a dog’s,’”

Without hesitation, Tobias obliged. He tapped that gemstone, just as commanded, and thrice he spoke the words, “There’s no love like a dog’s.”

His purple glow dispersed in a small explosion of light and magic, and when it faded into the fireball, I had my little Scotty dog back in my arms, licking my face, wagging his tail, and whining happily.

Then in a lightning fast shift, I was in Tobias’ arms, and he was squeezing me tight, claiming my face with his tongue in a completely different way.

Once the thrill of it all started to die down, Crowe looked at me, and I looked at him. We stared at each other with the‘you go first’look, as we both struggled with what we truly wished for.

Did Crowe really want his emotions back? Was it selfish and unfair to say I liked the vicious scarecrow I’d gotten to know over all these months? In all his emotional unavailability and threats, I felt like he was special as he was. We had bonded and come to understand each other in all of our broken, unacceptable traits, and I loved him for it. How much would he change once he became a normal man again? Would I even recognize him anymore?

Unfair thoughts. Leon, Tobias, and Talos had all had physical wishes, and I didn’t bat an eye at the idea of them ending their curses, but I expected Crowe to remain an emotionless monster just because of the misguided idea that we were similar in his current state.

I wanted to relate to him so badly, I was willing to let him suffer so he’d be as broken as me? No. He deserved happiness just like everyone else, even if that meant we may no longer be compatible.

When he stepped forward, I wouldn’t say a word to stop him.

Beside that, the other conflict swirling in my gut was ‘what amIgoing to wish for’? To go home? Was that random homestead in an open prairie really my home at all? I’d found my strength here in Oz in all its wildness, and maybe, just maybe, I loved that too.

Plus, if I did leave, what would become of Leon, Tobias, Crowe, and Talos? Would they just go their separate ways? Would they all rule their witch’s old castles, or find new wives or lovers? Who would they talk to, who would be their confidante and friend, and who would they find pleasure in?

Surely they would move on from me. Even if I stayed, with my mortal body, they’d have to forget me eventually. Was it selfish to not want to even imagine such a thing? Was it fair to expect an immortal zombie, a man with bones of tin, a lion shifter, and a dog shifter to be bound to an ordinary, unspectacular human?

No… I couldn’t back out now. I had to go back home, just like Crowe deserved his emotions again, Leon deserved to build a new Pride, Tobias deserved to figured out who he was amongst his own kind, and Talos deserved to speak and make friends, regardless of how I felt about them. Their whole lives didn’t have to center me, even if I couldn’t imagine my life not centering them anymore.

“Two shoes mean two wishes.” The Wizard said. “Step forward, young Dorothy, and tell me what you truly desire.”

I stepped forward on my three inch ruby red heels. I looked over my shoulder at Crowe, whose unexplained frown had me questioning everything I was about to do. I tipped my head to ask him to stand beside me so we could make this wish together.

“You should go first. I can’t wish to return home before you’ve all gotten what you fought for.” I spoke inaudibly to the rest of the room, but Crowe heard me. He always did.

He laced his fingers between mine and he pierced my soul with those dark eyes of demonic red. “What I fought for?” He was every bit as quiet. “Think back, my devil princess—whatdidI spend all these months fighting for?”

I swallowed as my heartbeat reached my ears. There were a lot of possibilities that I wanted to be the right answer, but Crowe had no emotions or compassion in his soul, so they were all unfair and absurd. “Your humanity?” I attempted the right answer.

He bore a hint of his sharp smile, and gave my hand a little squeeze. “Not at all.” A chuckle. “I could have taken your shoes at any time if that was all I wanted. Why would I have stuck around just to help a group of strangers if I had no reason to stay?”

I was taken aback by that. I chewed my lip, and he squeezed my palm again.

“My wish was never to have my soul back. I simply wanted to end the rule of vicious tyrants.”

Surprise hit me, only for a second, then I settled into a growing confidence. Those were exactly the words I needed to hear to commit to what I’d really wanted since we returned to this castle.

I nodded with shared understanding, then I faced the ruler of Oz.

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