Page 45 of There's No Place Like Oz

I stomped again, and again, and again until I heard the loud crack of bones. I felt the force of every stomp and the give of the breaking skull beneath me. Cold liquid gushed and splashed all over me.

I couldn’t look, but I also couldn’t stop myself. This was wrong. It was so wrong, but I had to do it. I had to.

Had.

To.

Another hard stomp and I squeezed my eyelids tighter. I didn’t want to see what I’d done. I didn’t want to know the color of her ice cold blood or the expression on her lifeless face. I could feel her death under my feet, and that was already more than enough to make me shake.

When the world fell silent, I knew she was gone. I covered my face with my hands, and I stepped away. Slow inhale. Slower exhale.

Several counts. Several breaths. If I was lucky, she might shrivel up and disappear like Grunhilda had.

A violent jolt of guilt hit me—did I really just do that? Did I really just kill someone? With intent. With free will. With nothing but peer pressure urging me forward—

Tears didn’t come, but my blood was as cold as the witch’s death spray in my horror and self-admonishment.

The frigid liquid ceased when Leon engulfed me in the heat of a tight hug. He squeezed me so fiercely, my pieces started to reconnect slowly and completely, while his warm embrace gave me new life.

I didn’t deserve this kind of affection after doing such a thing, yet the rush of his feelings was like a gentle thank you. I buried my face in his chest, and he stroked my hair before nuzzling his nose in my roots. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head, and I felt a warm strength starting to fill me.

“It’s done.” He whispered, and I was shattered. It’s done? I killed her. I killed someone. The thoughts consumed my head until I was sobbing freely. Leon rubbed my back. Then quietly, so only I could hear, he said, “I’ll never be able to repay you for this, Dorothy. I know you didn’t want to do this, but you’ll never understand how many people you just saved from the same pain I lived with for so long.” He was completely burrowed in my locks, and I could feel the tears dripping down his cheeks now too. It was a sob of joy and relief, like a thousand pound cross had been removed from his shoulders.

And that thousand pound cross instead rested on mine.

Slow inhale. Slower exhale.

When I opened my eyes, the body had already vanished, though a stain of crimson still coated the floor.

Then… the stain moved. The blood began to draw towards me. I stepped back, but it followed. “What’s going on?” I asked in alarm. Neither Crowe, Leon, nor Tobias were able to answer me. The blood caught my shoes, and it started to climb the silver. “Guys, what’s going on?” I stepped back again, and I nearly rolled my ankle when I put my weight down on my heel. An inch tall block extended from the sole of my shoe, and the blood continued to draw into the slippers, swirling the red with silver until it took on a shimmering pink. When all the blood had been absorbed, my little metallic flats were rose gold pumps.

A shiver radiated up through my body, and I glanced between my companions in utter confusion.

I recalled the moment the Wicked Witch of the East had died, and her red stilettos had fallen from her feet. I’d watched them shrink, retract, and ooze out their color. Only, at the time, I didn’t know what that had meant, and I’d been so overwhelmed, I hadn’t thought on it since.

The blood of her enemies. It was no wonder her heels had been so high if this was how the magic functioned. How tall would my heels be when we’d encountered the final witch?

How dark would my heart be when I committed to killing four strangers in a fantasy world of horrors…

Tobias’ comforting hand pulled me back into the present, and the gentle happiness that radiated off Leon engulfed me in a place of ease. It was only Crowe who offered no comfort here. He’d backed away from the witch, and he now leaned against the opposite wall where he watched us quietly. He watchedmequietly. Though his expression betrayed no emotion. I didn’t know if he was disappointed, proud, or if he simply didn’t care. He’d gotten what he wanted, but what did he think of me now?

I didn’t entirely understand Crowe. At times he was empty and callous. At others, he felt normal and friendly. He’d lost his ability to feel and love, yet he showed so many faces that I wanted to truly believe were genuine.

Hehadprotected me, after all.

If he didn’t actually care about any of us and was simply an actor, he was the best I’d ever seen.

Talos met us in the castle entryway with a pile of dead Kalidahs. With the death of the witch, all of the remaining beast men had been freed. The castle guards had been too deeply brainwashed to rescue, but the flying ape men that were left had awakened like they’d all come out of a lifelong coma. One half of their soul mourned the loss of their monkey troops, the other lamented the loss of their parliament of owls, but all they could do now was move forward as a new species.

It should have been satisfying to know I’d been the hero to save the day, but I still couldn’t help but worry. Gwen had truly been a monster of a Wicked Witch, yet she was supposed to be theleastdangerous of the remaining witches. What did the southern witch have in store for us? Or the northern witch for that matter. My friends jokingly called them “good” witches, but I’d gathered that was a bit of a misnomer. News of my having killed their cousins probably wasn’t going to help matters. All I could hope was that collecting these artifacts and freeing each of my companions from their curses would be enough to keep us all safe.

Just the same, the monkeys had agreed to give us a lift back to Oz as a thank you for their newfound freedom, so I wouldn’t have long to think on it. But before we left this kingdom for good, there was one more little loose end I needed to tie up.

“So we’ve defeated the witch and all, but the Wizard had said she should have an enchanted artifact, no? Don’t we need to find that in order to break your curse, Leon?”

“Oh… right…” Leon’s whole face turned red, which completely took me aback. He never seemed the bashful type.

“Should I be… worried?”

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