All four of us step outside onto the lush grass. I’m still holding Prince in my arms.
“Wow,” Robin says. “That tornado took us at least a block away.”
Shivers spread down my spine.
Why do I get the feeling that we’re much more than a block away? I’m almost positive that, somehow, the tornado took us to a different world, the way my magic mirror does. But where could we be? A fairy tale? A book? Or somewhere else?
Prince squirms out of my arms and I put him down on what looks like a road.
A yellow road. A yellow road made of bricks.
Wait.
A yellow road made of bricks?
A yellow brick road?
A yellow brick road!
A tornado!
Far off on the horizon, I see a massive wall of green. Bright, sparkling green. Emerald colored, even.
An emerald city?
NO. Way.
Oh, wow.
The Emerald City!
It’s Oz. It has to be.
We’re in The Wizard of Oz!
Penny grabs my arm. “Abby,” she whispers.
“Yes?” I squeak.
She laughs. “I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Smithville anymore.”
I smile. I can’t help it. “Have you figured out where we are?”
“I have!” she squeals.
“Me too,” I say, laughing.
I love The Wizard of Oz! I’ve never read the book, but I’ve definitely seen the movie. It’s about a girl named Dorothy who gets whisked away by a tornado from her farm in Kansas to the magical Land of Oz.
I sneeze again, but Penny is in too good of a mood to notice. She bends to sniff a hot-pink tulip and does a little dance. “I’ve been wishing for something like this to happen ever since our last adventure! Hurrah!”
Frankie, still understandably clueless, puts her hands on her hips. “Are you guys going to tell us what’s happening or just make us feel bad for not knowing?”
“Oh, you know where we are, too,” Penny says. And then she points to the right. “Look over there.”
We turn to look.
There are a bunch of short men and women, about my height, dressed in blue, whispering to one another. They are all wearing tall, pointy hats with bells on them. Pointy boots, too. They keep looking at us and looking away.
“Who are they?” Frankie asks.
“They’re Munchkins,” I say.
“Munchkins?” Robin repeats, looking confused. “The donut holes?”
“Not that kind of Munchkin,” Penny says. “They’re people, not food. Think about it. Munchkins. A yellow brick road. A tornado that carried us away … sound familiar?”
Frankie crosses her arms. “Penny, clearly you’re referring to The Wizard of Oz.”
“Like … the movie?” Robin asks.
Frankie nods. “A movie based on the book called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. There are fourteen books in the Oz series, but I only read the first one.”
“I never read it,” Robin says, shrugging. “Or saw the movie.”
“Really?” I ask. “How can that be? It’s a classic!”
Robin shrugs again. “I don’t think it’s on Netflix.”
“Well, you’ll get to see a whole lot of Oz right now!” Penny says excitedly. “Because that’s where we are.”
“Do you mean like Disneyland?” Frankie asks, looking around. “Or Harry Potter World? Did they make an Oz World?”
Penny beams. “No, I mean we’re in actual Oz.”
Frankie throws her arms in the air. “How is that possible?”
“You might want to ask Abby about that,” Penny says, grinning, but then instead of letting me answer she continues. “She has a magic mirror in her basement, and while she refuses to take me through it, sometimes the magic pulls her into different books, which is probably what happened here. We all went to Alice in Wonderland together, but you guys don’t remember because of the magic powder. But I do. And it was awesome.”
Frankie frowns. “Penny? Did you hit your head on the wall during the tornado? I think you might have.”
I sigh. I guess I have to tell them the whole story. “She didn’t hit her head. The four of us really did go into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. And now it seems like we’re really inside The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”
“Abby,” Frankie says, looking worried. “I think you may have hit your head, too.”
I guess it’s possible, but it’s more possible that the same thing that happened when we went into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is happening again.
And that thing is an evil fairy named Gluck.
Did Gluck create the tornado to send us here? To trap us here? So I’ll stop trying to save Maryrose?
Yeah. He probably did.
And now the four of us are here in a story. Again.
Crumbs.
Woof! Woof-woof! Prince starts barking again and running around in a circle. I freeze. Did Prince just spot Gluck somewhere? I glance around but don’t see anyone aside from the Munchkins, who seem to be ignoring us.
Prince peers up at the sky and howls. Uh-oh. I hope it’s not another tornado.
I look up, too. We all do. Frankie, Robin, Penny. The Munchkins.
Oh, wow. A house is in the sky!
IN THE SKY. Flying in the sky? No. Falling from the sky!
The house is falling faster and faster — and it’s headed right toward us!
Ahhhh!
“Run!” I order.
We all dive for cover. I hide behind a row of sunflowers, cradling Prince in my arms. Frankie, Robin, and Penny crouch down beside us. And the Munchkins seem to vanish from sight entirely.
Then, with an ear-smashing crack, the house lands right on top of Robin’s tree house. Since the house that fell is an actual-sized house, and made of brick, there is nothing left of the tree house at all. It’s just totally gone. Smashed to smithereens.
Poor Robin!
I cough and sneeze, though not from my cold. Dust from the crash is everywhere. I wave the air in front of my face to try and see.
Wait — the door to the house is opening.
The dust begins to clear.
We’re all staring at the house’s door.
A girl steps out. She’s wearing a blue-and-white gingham dress and white chunky shoes, and is holding a small picnic basket. Her brown hair is woven into two braids that fall just past her shoulders. She has pale skin and big brown eyes, and she looks a little younger than me and my friends.
She’s also carrying a little black dog.
I gasp. It’s … her. It’s Dorothy!
Believe us now?” Penny says to Frankie and Robin.
They both just stare at Dorothy, awestruck.
Penny runs over to Dorothy. “Hi, Dorothy. I’m so psyched to meet you! I love your dress. It’s so … Wizard of Oz!”
Dorothy looks at Penny, her big brown eyes getting even bigger. She’s clearly freaked out. “How do you know my name?” She glances all around. “Where am I?”
I stand up, still holding Prince, and make my way over to Dorothy. I need to explain everything to her. Penny hasn’t yet learned how to talk to story characters. You have to ease them into things and not give away too much information. You don’t want them learning something they shouldn’t know, which could lead to them messing up their own story.
Frankie and Robin follow me, still awestruck. But before I can say anything to Dorothy, Prince springs out of my arms and bounds toward her. He leaps up on his hind legs, his tail wagging, and barks excitedly at the little black dog in Dorothy’s arms. Oh! Prince never gets to see another dog when we fall into stories! He must be happy to have a new friend.
But Toto whimpers and cowers against Dorothy. He does not look happy to see Prince.
“Down, Prince!” I say. “You’re scaring Toto!”
Dorothy frowns at me and clutches Toto even closer to her. “How do you know my dog’s name? Where are w
e? What’s going on? I’m so confused!”
“Join the club,” Robin says.
“Listen,” I say, turning to Frankie and Robin. “I know it seems impossible, but we really are inside The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. And we really have to figure out how to get out of here.”
As soon as possible. Gluck could be anywhere. Or anyone. When we were in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, he turned into the White Rabbit to trick us.
“We’re really not dreaming?” Frankie asks.
I shake my head. “Do you want me to pinch you?”
She puts out her arm.
I pinch her.
“Ouch. Not dreaming,” Frankie says. “And that house falling was no special effect. And this is clearly Dorothy. So … I guess we’re in Oz?”
“We are definitely in Oz,” I say.
Robin blushes. “Since I’ve never seen the movie, can you guys tell me what the whole story is about?”
“Of course,” I say, feeling bad that she’s embarrassed. “See, there’s a girl named Dorothy.”
“Me?” Dorothy squeaks.
“Yes,” I say. “And you live with your aunt and uncle in Kansas. Right?”
“This is really creeping me out,” Dorothy says, taking a step back.
Oops. So much for easing her into things.
This is why I never tell the story in front of the main character. Knowing your future can cause you to make different decisions. And we don’t want to mess up Dorothy’s story.
Okay. Change of plans.
“I mean, there’s a girl named Dotty,” I say, looking at my friends meaningfully. “Everyone got it? Dotty. Not Dorothy. Good?”
My friends nod, clearly catching my don’t-freak-out-Dorothy drift.
“And Dotty got caught in a tornado. It picked up her house and took her to the magical Land of Oz. And when the tornado dropped her house, it landed right on the Wicked Witch of the East and, um, killed the witch. And then —”
Wait a sec. Something occurs to me then. Dotty — I mean Dorothy — didn’t land on the Wicked Witch of the East! She landed on Robin’s tree house! And I definitely didn’t see the Wicked Witch of the East under the tree house!
Just to be sure, I look over to where Dorothy’s house sits. In the movie, there was a pair of witch’s legs sticking out from under the house. But now … no legs. No witch.
Uh-oh. Did we already mess up the story?
Wait. Maybe what happened in the book is different from what happened in the movie. My mom says movie people sometimes change the original story to make it more Hollywood-y. For instance, in the original Snow Queen, there’s no Anna or Elsa. And in the original Little Mermaid, the Little Mermaid dies. Yes, dies. Worst ending ever. No wonder Hollywood changed it.
“Abby?” Penny asks. “You still there?”
I blink. “Yes! Sorry. Frankie, you read the Wonderful Wizard of Oz book, right?”
She nods.
“Does Dotty’s house land on the Wicked Witch of the East like it does in the movie?”
“It does,” Frankie says. “That part is exactly the same.”
Crumbs.
“One difference from the movie,” Frankie adds, “is that Dotty sees the witch’s silver shoes sticking out from underneath the house. Silver slippers. Not ruby ones.”
Penny makes a sour face. “Silver shoes? Why’d they change them to ruby?”
“I guess they wanted to make the movie more colorful,” Frankie explains. “It was one of the earlier movies filmed in color.”
I glance back at Dorothy’s house again. “I don’t want to worry you all, but I don’t see any silver shoes. Or ruby shoes. Could they be under the tree house? We REALLY need those shoes to get home.”
“I want to find the shoes!” Penny says. “I’m just gonna circle the house and look for them. I bet they’re ruby, though. Silver is just not as cool.”
“I’ll do the circling,” I say.
“I got it, Abby,” Penny says, hurrying ahead of me.
I chase after her. The last thing I need is Penny finding the shoes before I do and putting them on. What kind of Penny- magic would she try to do? Make sure everyone on the planet wore stain-free T-shirts?
I catch up to her as she turns the corner of the house.
“You better wait for me,” I say.
“You’re not in charge,” Penny says as she hurries by one of the windows.
“Um, yes, I am,” I say. “I am absolutely in charge. We’re here because of me!”
“Look! Silver shoes!” she cries.
I glance to where Penny is pointing, directly on the grass in front of us, and I gasp. She’s right! Sparkly silver shoes!
And there are legs in the shoes. Legs in striped green-and-black tights.
And above the striped tights is a woman in a gray cloak. She has long, knotty silver hair that cascades to her waist and … OMG. Just one gray eye in the center of her gray forehead. So creepy.
She’s also holding a broom in one hand and pointing at us with a long, gnarled gray finger.
And she’s standing.
And totally alive.
“Um, Abby?” Penny whispers at me. “That’s the Wicked Witch of the East, isn’t it?”
“I think so,” I whisper back, trembling.
“Um, Abby?” Penny says again. “Why isn’t the witch under the house?”
“Excellent question,” I say.
The wicked witch puts her gnarled hands on her bony hips. “I knew it,” she snarls at us. “When I saw that first tiny house falling from the sky, I assumed it was trying to squash me! And I was right. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it? And then when your plan failed, you sent another, bigger house down from the sky to get the job done! But see, when that first tiny house fell, I figured out your plan. And I hid! So your second house didn’t get me! It landed on the tiny house! You wanted to crush me like a bug. Or a pancake. But your plan failed!”
Crumbs, crumbs, triple crumbs.
“OMW,” Penny says under her breath.
“OMW?” I say.
“Oh my witch,” Penny exclaims.
OMW is right.
I step forward, trying to keep calm. “We didn’t want to kill you, Ms. Witch of the East,” I say. “We just thought that maybe we had. See the difference?”
The witch scowls at us. “Liars!” she snaps.
I want to defend myself, but then I sneeze.
“Curse you!” the witch says. “That’s what my sister and I say instead of ‘bless you,’” she explains.
“Gee, thanks,” I reply, sniffling.
Just then, Robin, Frankie, Prince, and Dorothy run over to us. Dorothy is still clutching Toto. When they see me and Penny facing off with the witch, everyone gasps, and Prince barks worriedly.
“Is that the Wicked Witch of the East?” Frankie asks me. “She’s not dead?”
“I thought Dotty killed her,” Dorothy says.
“Who’s Dotty again?” Robin asks.
“Dotty is Dorothy,” Frankie snaps. “C’mon, keep up, Robin.”
Gee. What is Frankie’s problem today?
“We messed up the story,” I rush to tell my friends. “Robin’s tree house wasn’t supposed to land in Oz. But when it did, the witch saw it fall, and she moved out of the way before Dorothy’s house could land on her. And now she’s alive. Instead of dead.”
Not that we’re to blame for landing here. Gluck for sure sent the tornado. He’s the one who wants us trapped here. He’s the one who messed up the story.
Toto leans his furry head forward and growls at the witch, snapping at her with his little white teeth.
“How dare you, you insolent beast!” the witch yells at him.
“He didn’t mean to!” Dorothy says nervously. “He’s sorry! He’s usually a very good boy!”
Gr-rowl! Prince barks, narrowing his brown eyes at the witch.
“Ugh, your animals are repulsive!” the witch says with a wave of her hand. “I bet they smell, to
o.”
“Hey!” I say defensively. “Prince is NOT smelly. I just gave him a bath!” I look over at Penny to make sure she heard that.
The witch ignores me and claps her hands.
“Munchkins!” she calls.
Suddenly, all the Munchkins who were pretending not to see us earlier appear and start running toward us. How did I not notice before that they were holding spears?
“Yes, Witch?” the Munchkins ask in unison.
“Take these five girls to my castle dungeon,” the witch orders, waving her broom. “And their little dogs, too.”
Wait, what?
I scoop up Prince and hug him close. The Munchkins surround all of us, looking menacing and pointing their sharp spears in our direction.
“Don’t listen to the witch!” I cry out to the Munchkins. “She’s evil! Help us instead.”
“Take them away immediately,” the witch insists.
“Yes, Witch,” the Munchkins say in unison.
“Why are they talking to her and not to us?” Penny asks. “Shouldn’t they be singing that song? Ding-dong something something?”
“The witch has the Munchkins enslaved,” Frankie explains. “They have to do whatever she says. See, in the book, when Dorothy kills the witch with her house, she frees the Munchkins. But now that the witch is alive, they’re not free. They still have to do what she says. So they’re not singing ‘ding-dong, the witch is dead’ because —”
“She’s not dead,” I finish.
“Definitely not dead!” the wicked witch cries out triumphantly. Then she hops on her broom and it shoots straight up into the sky. Whoa. “I’ll see you all at my castle!” she shouts down to the Munchkins before flying off into the distance.
“Move it!” one of the Munchkins yells, poking me in the back with a spear.
Ouch.
The other Munchkins poke and prod us until we have no choice but to start marching down the yellow brick road.
“I want to go home,” Dorothy announces.
Don’t we all.
This way,” the Munchkin in front says, twirling the ends of his dark blue mustache.
Abby in Oz Page 2
