Page 38 of There's No Place Like Oz

Chapter 27

The sound of a constant drip can be soothing. Like the ticking of a clock, it’s something you only truly notice in the moments of the most intense silence. It’s in that environment that something so simple becomes the most significant and prominent feature in the room.

As I laid on the cold stone floor of the Wicked Witch of the West’s dungeon, that constant drip felt like my only proof that I was still alive.

My body ached. The monsters had been rough, and they didn’t seem to care how viciously they brutalized me. I envied my companions who were so strong, physically and mentally, while I was on the floor clutching my sides, sobbing because I was too weak to bear it. Crowe could decapitate himself and keep fighting. Talos could blush and care for others despite having had his tongue cut out. And I was over here feeling sorry for myself because I was a little bruised and battered?

Weak.

So weak.

I’d come to depend on these guys to protect me, but what could I do to protect them? Crowe and Talos and Leon and Tobias had fought tooth and nail, while I’d folded like a dime store camp chair in a hurricane. I knew these missions would likely end in a fight, yet I’d not even bothered to prepare. Somewhere in my mind, I’d decided it wouldn’t be my problem. I’d just be the sweet, friendly glue that held the team together, while they did all the work.

Weak.

Weak.

Weak.

I remained on the floor, my cheek damp with a contrast of my warm tears and the cold rain water that dripped into my dungeon cell. I didn’t know what they’d done with Tobias. I didn’t know where they took Leon. I couldn’t say if Talos or Crowe had been captured. All I knew was that I could vaguely sense my mates from somewhere deep in my heart. They were still alive, but who knew for how long. It’s not like I’d be able to save them even if I had months before their executions.

I hugged my knees to my chest, and I fixated on that singular, consistent water drop that formed from some unsealed crack in the masonry. My only respite was that they hadn’t taken my silver shoes.

Chapter 28

My consciousness crawled back to me slowly, but a sense of urgency yanked it closer with a jolt. I shot upright and took in my surroundings as quickly as I could. Blue, thick blankets, with a hefty weight for comfortable sleep in a cold mountain climate, cocooned me in a bed, while the rest of the room gave off the image of a cozy manor. It was not unlike the guest rooms we’d been offered in the Emerald City, only the prevalence of green was now replaced with a deep cobalt.

Dorothy wasn’t here. We’d been separated at some point. I knew she was alive—I could feel her life force radiating through me. But she wasn’there. All I could sense was her sadness pressing heavy on my chest.

I nudged the blanket off to test my limbs, only to find a ladder of leather bands climbing up my arms. Each band was clipped in to a chain, and each chain kept me locked to the bed. I could barely move enough to sit up, and the chains kept my arms far enough apart to prevent me from undoing either side. My shirt was gone, and my boots were missing.

I nudged myself as far back against the headboard as I could, though my restraints had been strategically placed to assure no position gave me enough slack to free myself. All I could do was sit here and wait.

I placed my head against the hard wood backing, and I rolled back until I was staring at the ceiling.

Dorothy must be so scared right now.I ground my teeth together at the thought.

This witch is as good as dead.

Chapter 29

I sheathed my broken bone back in the flesh of my forearm, and a roll of my shoulder was enough to will my arm to heal itself. My bone reattached and my flesh reassembled. I flexed each digit on my left hand just to verify the connection was complete.

“So I’d always heard that Kalidahs were the most powerful creatures in Oz,” I began aloud, “but I’d never known much about where they came from.”

Talos rubbed an open wound on his abdomen where one of those wretched bird monkeys had managed to gore him through. The only laughter I’d gotten to indulge in last night was at the look on that monkey’s face when Talos reached out, grabbed his neck, and broke it in two without so much as slowing down. My immortal companion couldn’t be disassembled and healed as easily as I could, but he also couldn’t be killed by pathetic attempts at disembowelment. You had to still have organs for their removal to kill you, turns out, and our witches had both been kind enough to give us undying empty shells to live in.

The ignorance was to our advantage, but the results still hadn’t left me particularly satisfied. After all, we’d both still failed. We were at this useless camp, while all of our lesser allies were spirited away as food for monsters and magical cunts.

“Or gone right.” I frowned. “So Grunhilda was a manipulator, Sasha has a mayhem kink, and Gwenny over here likes to sew her toys together. I don’t even want to ask what Eloise gets up to.”

Talos rubbed the last of his wounds until they vanished completely, then he looked at the flattened tent. His Adam’s apple bobbed with an unexpected air of worry.

“We’ll fucking kill her before that happens.” I caught myself when I’d realized how severe my tone had been. With a quick shake of my head, I added. “The last thing I’m going to allow is the silver shoes falling into the hands of another witch. There won’t be a house big enough to crush a monster with that kind of power.”

Talos nodded without another word, while thunder crashed through our camp again. I fixated on that eyesore of a palace, marring what would otherwise be a majestic mountain range. Dorothy was in there somewhere, and it would be near impossible for us to get there within the day.

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