Dorothy Must Die Collection by Danielle Paige

Author:Danielle Paige
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

SIX

I opened my eyes. I think. Anyway, I was awake, and I was back in my room in the monkeys’ tree house village. Ozma was crouched over me, staring into my face with exactly the same look of intensity that she’d worn in my dream. Somewhere behind her pupils, I saw the glowing embers of what had recently been flames. Light streamed through the windows, casting her in an almost silhouette.

She reached out her hand for mine.

“Rise,” she said.

That one word startled me so badly that I almost flipped out of the hammock. But then the princess stuck out her tongue and blew me a raspberry, and when she started to laugh I felt my heart slowing back to a normal rate.

I was imagining things. It had only been a dream. Right? I put my hand in Ozma’s and let her help me up, trying to quiet my mind. It was only a dream, I told myself again.

But what if it had been something more? And what had it meant? Most importantly, why did I feel almost disappointed that it was over now? What did it say about me that I had felt myself approaching something truly evil, and that even though I’d had every opportunity to back away, I’d taken a step closer, and then another?

Some part of me had even wanted it. Maybe. I decided, for now, to just not think about that.

Standing up, I still felt a little unsteady on my feet from the day before, but the sleep had done me good and the soreness in my arms and legs was mostly gone.

Last night, I’d been too tired to really examine our quarters, but now I had a chance to look around. There really wasn’t a lot to see: I spotted a folding screen in the corner, the kind people coyly stepped behind in old movies to change. A large wooden bowl sat on a wooden pedestal by the window. It was filled with bubbling water, and a few large, pink blossoms floated on the surface. I walked over and splashed the water across my face gratefully. It tingled in a pleasant way against my skin before evaporating.

I was glad that there was no mirror here—I didn’t want to know how terrible I looked. Sure, I’d taken a quick dip in a stream yesterday when we’d been trudging through the forest with the monkeys, just to get the Lion’s blood off me, but I had a feeling that I was still a total wreck. How could I not be? Before last night, I hadn’t slept since the night before Dorothy’s big party.

Still, the water was refreshing, with a vaguely perfumed smell, and it felt good to wash up. I cupped another handful and pulled it through my hair, feeling days’ worth of dirt and grime coming off on my hands.

“So what the hell do we do next?” I found myself asking aloud. I wasn’t sure if I was talking to Ozma or to myself. I wasn’t

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