Page 147 of Witch Queens: Tales from Oz

The winds started picking up around us and the sky grew dark.

Mombi, it had to be.

Fat raindrops pelted down from the sky, soaking us. The winds whipped around our bodies and I wondered if we were to have a tornado touch down right on the top of Mount Munch.

“We have to find out where this is coming from!” Scarecrow shouted over the wind.

“You can’t stand up. They will kill you!” I yelled back.

Steele’s eyes flashed eerily similar to Scarecrow’s in beast mode. Both men seemed to grow in stature, teeth elongating.

Steele looked at Scarecrow in shock, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Scarecrow looked as surprised as Steele, “I thought I was the only one, and I don’t suck blood.”

Steele looked at him as if that was the stupidest comment he had ever heard.

El shook her head, “Can we talk about this later? Maybe when we are not fighting or dying?”

Scarecrow flipped her off. I’d like to think that was his way of saying good point.

I am fully aware that it was wishful thinking.

The guys crept away from our hiding spot, looking for the direction of the shooters. The winds howled, and the rain kept pouring from the skies.

“We need to do something about this!” I called out to El. “What about a shield or dome to protect us?”

El considered it, “We will only be able to do our little group because if we covered Mombi, she could just recreate this inside of our shield.”

“You think Mombi is doing this?” Gregory sounded horrified.

“Has to be,” Glinda said through gritted teeth. “I saw a similar storm in high school when the twins ripped her favorite jeans. Father was furious. It took weeks to clean up the castle, and it still smells moldy.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“Why?” Gregory cupped his hands to his face to be heard.

“She would never intentionally hurt us,” I yelled back. “Dorothy has to have taken control of her actions.”

This was a terrifying thought.

How could Dorothy have the power to alter someone’s thinking process? Especially someone as fierce and independent as Mombi.

“We need to follow them,” Gregory urged, “The storm is getting worse.”

He was right. The sun was completely blocked at this point. One would think it was the dark of night.

We stumbled across the grass, keeping low to the ground. Every one of us muddy, scratched, and miserable as we tried to see through the downpour.

“Just there!” Glinda called out. She was pointing to the left, and when I wiped the rain from my eyes, I saw a yellow coat fly through the air. It was one of the lions, and they were attacking Scarecrow.

Perhaps what I did next was foolhardy, even stupid, but I reacted the instant I knew he was in danger. To hell with shields and force fields, it was time to kick some ass.

I rose to my feet in a flash. My hands burning as a tremendous amount of power built up. I held balls of fire in my hands and didn’t hesitate to throw the first one at the lion Scarecrow was fighting.

I am not sure who was more surprised, the lion or Scarecrow, but the fire bomb blew him, at least, twenty feet in the air.

“Fuck, Indy?”

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