Page 55 of There's No Place Like Oz

Though much to my surprise, this wicked witch wasn’t alone. Sasha, who gave off the energy of a killer librarian, stood with a mountain of a man at her back.

Talos held position behind her like a patient, mindless bodyguard. His hands were folded in front, and his expression was empty and vacant. I couldn’t say if he was a prisoner or a willing subordinate.

A glimpse of new wounds traced the contours of his pecs, like a checkerboard of cuts, yet he wasn’t healing as quickly as I would have expected for a man with immortal flesh. That must have been from Sasha’s magical knife.

Yet Talos seemed so unbothered. Was he into that? Maybe that was the kind of thing Crowe was referring to when he said the ritual that let them communicate would hurt. I was sure the witch could speak to him, so she must have performed that ritual, too.

Crowe helped leverage both of us to our feet, and he rotated our positions so he could stand between me and this incoming threat. He offered only the quietest “stay close to me” and I envied that unrelenting confidence he had no matter the situation. As sad as it must be to lose his emotions, the ability to fearlessly walk into any fight was something I’d never be able to do with my body of flesh and blood.

“Dorothy and Crowe, correct? Welcome to the South.” Sasha spoke sweetly. “I have to give you two my gratitude. Talos has told me it was you who I can thank for his return. I feared my punishment was too severe when I found myself suffering months and months andmonthswithout him, and I’m over the moon that he’s found such good friends to help bring him back to me.”

Crowe remained silent. I didn’t know if he was speaking internally to Talos or not, but I felt it was in our best interest to acknowledge her praise. “We should be thanking you for the privilege of having met him.” I spoke over Crowe’s shoulder.

Sasha nodded, accepting the compliment, then she snapped her fingers. Our bindings loosed, and I rubbed my wrists under the rush of blood returning to my cold, tingling fingers.

“Your other friends are already being escorted to the dining hall. Won’t you come with us for a celebratory dinner? It’s the least I can do.”

Crowe still said nothing, but he did well to hide the skepticism from his expression, so I continued to be the polite one. “O-of course.” I said.

My stomach was full of nothing but nerves, but still, we followed the Wicked Witch of the South right into whatever trap she might be setting. Crowe didn’t protest, and Talos remained stoic, so when she turned on her heel, I answered her call.

Talos and Crowe followed behind us, while Sasha walked beside me in a long hallway carpeted in burnt orange. Long, corridor length shelves lined the walls, and what must have been thousands of jars covered the entire walk. Each jar was filled with fluid, and each batch of fluid contained different… pieces. Eyes, hands, ears, tongues. It was a collection of victims, displaying the only remaining piece of their bodies like trophies.

I wanted to puke, but I had to keep up the act best I could as long as I could. She paid her trophies no mind, as if they were the most ordinary thing in Oz, and she kept a pleasant smile on her friendly face while she engaged me in small talk. “Please don’t judge me for how you found him,” she began. There were so many things to judge her for, and the fact that she’d paralyzed Talos almost seemed like the least significant now. “I know the paralysis looks bad, but it was a bit of a test. I wanted him to find a good soul who was willing to help a total stranger in need, and I wanted that soul to lead him back to me. Somehow, I’m not surprised that person happened to be a woman like you.”

“Like me?” I asked, assuring my tone remained non-confrontational lest I end up on the shelves beside us.

“Kind hearted, pretty, and put together.” She elaborated without missing a beat.Unexpectedly nice compliments.“Talos needs a woman like that in his life. He would go off the rails if he was left to his own devices.”

Talos sent me no visible signals, and Crowe continued to say nothing, so all I could do was accept her kind words and continue to keep peace.

“Thank you. You seem like a good soul too.” I attempted despite myself. Sasha laughed. Talos furrowed his brow, Crowe legitimately covered his mouth to hide his amusement. I wanted to ask questions like“so want to explain the whole ‘cutting out his tongue’ thing then?”Or“Do you think someone is missing that brain?”or“So who did that toe belong to?”but until Talos made a move, I’d just take my best guess at what the plan might be.

“Here we are.” She said in the most upbeat voice when we reached a large entryway. She nudged open the door, and she ushered us into a high vaulted chamber.

A long table extended down the center, with candles in between bronze centerpieces filled with vibrant poppies. The table was already set with an extravagant dinner, and each placemat had a fine china plate with portioned servings. A butler wearing a blindfold was pouring wine in the chalices at each place setting, while a maid with a wooden leg placed a bread basket in the center of the feast.

“This looks incredible.” I said, even as my eyes followed the blind butler who poured wine entirely too red. I was starving, in all honesty, but knowing that the blindfold around his face likely hid empty eye sockets negated any appetite I might have had.

“You’ve come such a long way. I figured you must be hungry.” Sasha paced over to the head of the table, and the butler scurried over to pull out her seat. She sat down with exaggerated daintiness, while I surveyed the room as subtly as I could. The spider webs that created a loose canopy on the ceiling did not go unnoticed.

Talos stepped forward first, taking his place behind the tall backed seat occupied by his witch. It was a terrible of me to think this, having received so many hints about the Southern Witch’s predilections, but when I saw the cute, polite, scholarly looking red head standing with the muscular god that was Talos, I couldn’t help but notice they looked really cute together. Gwen had been shameless about who she was, and her eccentricities were broadcast from miles away, but Sasha seemed so put together and classy.

It would have been so nice to be able to judge this book by her cover, but the décor wasn’t helping. If I’d learned anything in my stay in La La Land, it should probably have been that fine clothes and good public relations didn’t make a devil any closer to a saint.

Still, not being able to talk with Talos and gaugehischaracter outside of superficial interactions had been frustrating, even more so now that I felt so in the dark about what we were dealing with. The fact that he and Crowe were so close wasn’t really indicative of being a good person either, considering Crowe joked about slaughtering munchkins.

I tried to shake the thought as I took my seat at the table. Leon and Tobias were already seated across from me, but aside from nonverbal check ins for our collective well-being, we kept up this eerily quiet façade. Crowe stepped in behind my seat, mimicking Talos. Being similarly immortal and uneating, it would have been suspect for him to take a seat, and I’m sure he knew the witch would notice such a thing.

The food in front of me looked good though. Something that resembled ham covered in a glaze took up a third of the plate, while some vegetables and potatoes took up the rest. I didn’t trust any of it, don’t get me wrong, but by pure outward appearances, it looked entirely edible. Appetizing even. Another testament to strong appearances for vile packages.

Of course, I had to consider that she may have just liked cutting people up, and didn’tnecessarilyalso eat them. But questions like‘is this a leg of pork or a leg of your unfortunate maid over there?’were still circling in my head. I sat stiffly, eyes forward, and I waited patiently for her to say grace or pray to the god of death and spiders or whoever it was that witch’s in Oz thanked for their meals.

As my eyes held forward, a small spider, dangling from a near invisible web, began lowering in front of me. It dropped to eye level, hovered for a moment, then continued down to my plate. I swallowed, but still said nothing as it crawled all over the mystery meat.

“Eat, eat!” Sasha said. “Please, I want everyone to get their strength up.”

I stared down at the unwelcome eight legged guest now moving on to my vegetables. The last remnants of my appetite fluttered away into oblivion. I wasn’t planning to touch the meat, but I kind of wanted to eat the broccoli at least…

---