Page 92 of The Great and Terrible

Queen Sandrine “Sandra” Ori-Emet Shaker stopped to meet my gaze. A soft smile of welcome fell into a frown of confusion. “Hello. Do I know you?”

I drank in the twenty-something beauty. Flawless skin bloomed with health. Hazel eyes glittered with curiosity. Delicate, doll-like features. Elegance all but seeped from her pores. She wore a plain T-shirt that stretched over her rounded belly and baggy sweatpants. Flip-flops adorned her feet. It was as far from royal attire as one could get. And yet, there was no mistaking her heritage. Confidence kept her spine straight and her shoulders squared, her chin tilted just so. Things I hadn’t noted as a young child.

“Moriah. Princess,” Jasher said. “You’re staring at the woman.”

Right. Yes. Unsure what to say, to do, but afraid I might upset a delicate balance of time and space, I blurted, “Excuse us,” then rushed around her and out of the chapel. Where I headed, I didn’t know. Cars sped along the roars—I ground to a halt in the middle of the parking lot as the sights registered. What… why…what?

Jasher gave chase. He stopped beside me and forced me to face him. Shock etched his features. “That was your mother. Your pregnant mother.”

“I know,” I rasped. “And this is Ozworld, my home, but not Ozworld.” I waved to billboards and businesses I remembered seeing as a child. All replaced, demolished, or abandoned by the time I grew into an adult. The shoe store where I’d gotten both tap shoes and sneakers. The ice cream parlor that was flattened in a freak tornado two springs ago. The Stewart house, a condemned home where teens partied now gleamed with a fresh coat of paint. Baskets of flowers hung from the porch railing.

“Look at me.” Jasher cupped my cheeks. Fading eveningsunlight illuminated a face that would make me breathless all the days of my life.

“I don’t understand. It shouldn’t be this way.”

“We will figure this out, I promise.”

The comfort in his expression nearly proving to be my undoing. “I think…” I swallowed, clinging to him. “Jasher, I think we arrived in the past.”

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