Tip’s frown deepened. “You’ve been expecting me how?”
Dorothy just gave him this friendly smile. “Please come with me. I’m sure you have questions for us. We’ll answer what we can, and we have some questions for you too.”
“Who are you? You aren’t going to hurt my friends, are you?”
“My name is Dorothy Gale. I won’t bite, I promise. If you’d like, your friends can come with you instead of their own rooms.”
We decided to question Tip in Dorothy’s rooms. They were in an area with less traffic than my rooms. Tip, Jack, the pumpkin man, and the sawhorse all followed her with Saffron, Idris, Oprix, and I following behind. Tip had a lot of questions about my green skin and the color of me and Saffron’s hair. Idris had changed into a man, so luckily Dorothy wasn’t answering any questions about Flying Monkeys.
Tip sat on her sofa like he was going to bolt at any moment. “What is this all about? I was just running away from home, but you were somehow expecting me?”
“You were raised by Mombi, correct?” I asked.
Tip shuddered. “Please don’t send me back to her.”
“We don’t plan to, Tip. Did you ever notice Mombi with a baby girl? Or a girl that she visited with pink hair?”
Tip shook his head. “Mombi hates children. The only reason she kept me around was to work me to death. Mombi liked to scare children. Even if there was some special girl with pink hair like you are saying, Mombi would just as soon hex her before she was nice to her.”
“How did you come to be with Mombi?” Oprix asked.
Tip just shrugged. “She’s not my mother. I don’t know how she got me; I’ve just always been with her. When I asked, she told me it was a magical deal gone wrong, and she got stuck with me.”
“Tip, do you ever feel like you’re someone else?” I asked.
“Nope. I’ve always just been Tip, Mombi’s servant. I’ve seen some bad things go down in that shack. When I saw her bring the pumpkin man I made to scare her to life, I thought about all the evil things she could do with that powder. I stole the powder, and Jack and I ran away.”
I thought I knew what to do here. Tip looked like a boy and thought he was a boy. Was this some sort of magic I didn’t know about? It could be a combination of two spells. Mombi could have gotten someone else to cast it for her if it didn’t require ingredients.
“Tip, you know Mombi was into some bad magic. Would you be opposed to me scanning you to see if she used any on you? I should be able to remove it if she did.”
Tip just shook his head. “Mombi threatened to curse me every day, but she never did. If it makes you feel better to scan me, go ahead. Mombi never hexed me because she needed me to do all the work at her shack.”
I stared at Tip and let my eyes go out of focus. I could see the lines of three spells woven around him. There was a glamour on him, a compulsion spell, and a binding spell. They were all woven pretty deep. This was out of Mombi’s league. Someone more powerful than Mombi made him look like a boy and made him think he was too.
I found the frayed edge of all three spells. I could have yanked the threads and undone it. But what would that do to Tip? This kind of spell was something I’d never seen before. It was pretty much a horrible thing to do to anyone. I could easily break this spell, but not without talking to Tip first. I needed his consent.
“Tip? I’m going to tell you something, and I want you to stay calm. Someone did place a powerful spell on you. You are not Tip, a simple boy from the North. You were kidnapped as a baby. You are actually next in line for the throne of Emerald City. I can undo the magic that done to you, but your entire life is going to change.”
Tip didn’t even get upset he was kidnapped or question being next in line to the throne. He just blinked at me. “Change how? I’m pretty happy just being Tip.”
“You wouldn’t be Tip anymore. You’d be Ozma of Emerald City. You’d rule over all of Emerald City. You have magic, but it’s been bound. There are three spells on you right now. I can undo all of them, but not without your permission.”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “You’re telling me if I give you permission to undo this spell, I’m going to be a girl with magical powers, and I have to be a princess?”
“Tip, you always were a girl with magical powers and a princess. That was stolen from you when your father was murdered, and you were kidnapped. I can let you stay just Tip, but you will have to run and hide because all of Emerald City is looking for you because you are our only lead to Ozma. Only the people in this room know your secret, and I’ll help you keep it, but you don’t understand how important you are to Oz.”
“I can’t be important. I’m nobody.”
“Saffron and I both have a birthright that means we help defend Oz. There was a spell done that has made everyone turn against most of the Sentinels. Locasta in the North might be in on the spell, and Glinda in the South is up to something. Oz has two young Sentinels that haven’t completed their training trying to fix things. We could really use your help, Tip.”
Tip took in a deep sigh. “I know Locasta. She’s friends with Mombi. She brings her awful things for her hexes. She likes to pretend like she’s this harmless old lady, but when she came to our shack, she changed her appearance to a younger woman, and she always scared me. You’re telling me to stop Locasta, I really have to become a princess?”
“There’s a compulsion spell on you that makes you think you’re a boy that completes the glamour put on you. I’ve got no idea what you are going to think and feel about being a princess when I remove it. The kind of magic that was put on you is evil, Tip.”
“I suppose you’d better call me Ozma if you’re removing that spell. It’s my name, right? Is it going to hurt when you remove it?”
“It’s not going to hurt, but you won’t be Tip anymore. You’ll be Ozma. I’m not sure how much of Tip will be left.”
“If Tip was never real, then just get it over with.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
I’d just told some boy who was just maybe a few years older than me that his entire life was a lie, and he had this massive destiny to save Oz with me. I could remove the spell, but he had been Tip for a long time. He grew up learning and growing as Tip. How much of who he was would be left?
I let my eyes unfocus and found the frayed ends of the threads again. I didn’t know which one to unravel first to make this easier on him. Maybe this would all make more sense if Tip had his magic back. I kept calling him Tip, even though I knew he was really Ozma. Would I still slip up once I was looking at a girl?
I tugged the thread that bound his magic. I could feel a hum coming from Tip that was similar to what I felt around other Sentinels. Tip would have strong magic. I tugged on the compulsion thread next. I didn’t remove the glamour until the very last. I didn’t change his appearance until he had his magic back, and the compulsion was gone so that he might actually understand what was happening to him better.
There was a loud crack as the entire spell broke, and I was practically flung across the room. I sat up, dazed, and looked over a Tip. Tip was no longer Tip. The most beautiful pink-haired girl I’d ever seen was sitting on Dorothy’s sofa swimming in Tip’s old clothes.
She gracefully stood and helped me to my feet. She kissed both of my cheeks and smiled at me.
“I thank you for breaking my curse and restoring my birthright. I still have all of the knowledge and skills I learned when I was Tip, but I know who I am now. I can feel Oz is fractured and damaged. I know from being Tip that Locasta was doing horrible things with Mombi in the North. Can someone fill me in about what has been going on with the rest of Oz? Mombi kept me ignorant about everything about the outside world. Does someone want to tell me why everyone thinks Locasta is the Good Witch of the North?”
Chapter 48
Frankie
W
e all had vital information to share with each other, and we’d gotten this far, but before
we could get everything out, Glinda found out from her spies we had Tip and where we were. She didn’t even knock. She just came barging into Dorothy’s room like she owned the place. She took one look at Ozma and stopped. Ozma looked every inch the princess as she rose to her feet and stared Glinda down.
“Excuse me? This was a private conversation, and I don’t remember inviting you,” Ozma commanded.
I could already tell she wasn’t going to take shit as the new ruler of Oz. Glinda just stood there with her mouth open.
“Where did you come from? I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
“Francesca removed the curses that were put on me, and we’ve been discussing the problems in Oz that need to be fixed.”
Glinda cut her eyes to me. “And you thought the Sentinel of the South didn’t need to be included?”
I may not have gotten a lot of information to Ozma, but I’d gotten out enough. “If I thought I could trust you, I would have sent for you,” Ozma sniffed. “Why were you given the title Good Witch of the South when the spell was cast against the Sentinels? Locasta was the only other Sentinel to get that title, and I can tell you from personal experience, she’s not good at all.”
Glinda sighed. “I didn’t know at first. I woke up one morning, and everything had just suddenly changed. I tried reaching out to Azami and Adora through magic parchment, but they didn’t trust me anymore. They were being held hostage in their castles by angry Winkies and Munchkins. They thought since I wasn’t in the same situation, I’d been the one who cast it. I reached out to Locasta, and she acted like she was under the influence of the spell and that Azami and Adora were bad. That was when I knew I couldn’t trust her. I knew something was coming, but I didn’t trust Locasta, and Azami and Adora didn’t trust me. I tried to protect the South from what was coming and figure out how to reverse the spell on my own. To this day, the only reason I can think of that I didn’t get the same Wicked Witch title was because they wanted the four Sentinels divided.”
Since Glinda was finally answering questions, I think we all had a million for her.
“Why didn’t you get involved until after Dorothy killed my mother?” I demanded.
Glinda sighed. “I didn’t deliberately sit out until after you and Saffron’s mothers were dead. I heard a powerful witch landed in Oz and killed Adora, but she landed in a house, and it sounded a lot like the balloon the Wizard landed here in. I didn’t think Dorothy was a witch. I thought she was someone with no magic like the Wizard, who just fooled everyone. I thought the Wizard would recognize one of his own people and hear about what she had done. I thought he would use that balloon to send her home because the people of Oz would try to replace him with her after her house dropped on Adora.
“Everything about Dorothy’s mission to kill Azami was kept secret by the Wizard. I didn’t hear anything about it until the deed was done. When I got to Emerald City, I found a scared child who thought she defeated a Wicked Witch with mere water. I chose to let her believe the lie, but I needed to get her home. My plan was to get Saffron’s shoes back, as the Wizard intended to take them both back in his balloon. Dorothy’s dog ran off, and he left without her. You all know those shoes grant wishes. It was the only way to get her back home with that balloon gone.”
“Why did you lie about me being related to the Fisher King knowing what the Munchkins would do to me?” Dorothy demanded.
“I didn’t lie. It’s a theory I have, and the only thing to explain why you and the Wizard ended up in Oz. Not to be offensive, but both of you damaged Oz in the time you were here. The Wizard worked with Mombi to kill the king and steal a baby, and you killed two Sentinels. What you did was accidents, and you were only a child, but the Wizard meant harm. The Fisher King has been the only person from your realm to end up here, then the two of you come centuries later when Oz is in chaos. I have to think it’s connected to the Fisher King.”
“But you have no proof any of this is related to him,” Saffron pointed out.
“I do,” Ozma said. “The Fisher King is a name I often heard when Locasta visited Mombi. When they talked about him, they tried to do it where I couldn’t hear it, but the few times I heard them mentioning this name, it was with the awe someone uses when they speak of someone they consider great, not a man they fear.”
I frowned. Everything Glinda talked about was Locasta wanting a long lost relative pulled from guard duty. Had Locasta wanted to free the Fisher King this entire time? What would her relative say about that?
“Ozma?” I asked. “Can you remember anything Locasta and Mombi said about the Fisher King? All we know is that one of Locasta’s relatives guards his prison. Everything Glinda has told me is that the Sentinels in the North think someone else should take their relative’s place guarding the prison and give her a break.”
Ozma shook her head. “One of them would say the name Fisher King like he was important and this amazing man, then Mombi would need something done outside. I don’t know what was said about him, just that they speak of him like he was a good man. Who is this Fisher King?”
“An immortal evil tyrant who nearly destroyed Oz trying to steal its magic. He could only be imprisoned, not killed.”
“That’s sloppy,” Ozma said. “Separate his head from his body, burn both parts, and scatter the ashes across all corners of Oz, and there’s no coming back from that.”
Oh, I liked Ozma. She called Glinda out, and she had a solution for the Fisher King if he was acting up. Even if he wasn’t, that should probably be done anyway. Locasta would be dead in the water if she planned to free the Fisher King and his ashes were all over the place.
“Should we go to the Fisher King’s prison and do that?” Idris asked. “I mean, technically, it probably should have been done ages ago.”
I shook my head. “If this was never about Locasta’s relative and always about the Fisher King, if we can’t trust Locasta, then we can’t trust her relative. What if Locasta visited her relative at the prison, and they planned this together?”
Glinda just looked around the room. “Then, we are all doomed.”
Chapter 49
Oprix
W
e were all back in Frankie’s room. We had Ozma, and Frankie managed to reverse the spell on her. She was something else. Ozma was just as fierce as Frankie and didn’t take much from anyone. There were many times when we were talking I saw cool, collected Glinda start stammering like a nervous Winkie farm boy on his first date.
We didn’t learn much. We knew Locasta and Mombi were working together, and Locasta could reverse the spell that made her a little old lady when she wanted to.
Mombi never cursed Locasta. She cast the spell herself and took it off when she wanted. Ozma didn’t know what their end goal was being she was worked like a horse when she was Tip. She was sent outside when Locasta came over to do hard labor outside the shack.
I did have to ask her if she thought Locasta would come for her and Mombi since we had both of them. Ozma didn’t think Locasta would come for Mombi, but it was probably a good idea to keep it a secret we had her. As for Ozma, Mombi probably already told her she ran away because Ozma said she encountered a lot of danger on the way to Emerald City that was probably Locasta.
Frankie and Saffron had always been able to do this too. All of us at school needed potions. Ozma smoothed her hand over her long, pink hair, and it turned red—Glinda red. She said she was now one of Glinda’s long lost relatives until everything was safe, and she could just be Ozma.
We were all piled into Frankie’s bed, snuggling. It was late by the time we finished talking. We ate lunch and dinner in Dorothy’s room. Frankie had her face buried in my neck and Idris was spooning her back.
“We still don’t have all the answers, but it feels like we won something tonight,” she sighed. “I’ve got no idea what’s really going on with the Fisher King, but I helped Ozma.”
I kissed the tip of her nose. “Yes, you did. I think she’s happier as a
girl.”
“She said as much,” Idris said. “She said she finally felt like she was home, and everyone knows there’s no place like home.”
I sighed. I missed the West. Emerald City was nice, but I missed the simple farm life. I missed my parents and my sisters. Learning magic was great, but I didn’t like fighting. I knew this was part of Frankie’s life, and I wanted to be a part of it, but I wished we could just hit pause sometimes and just have fun.
Frankie noticed my sigh and pulled me in for a kiss. “Didn’t Idris want to celebrate our victory in the North by getting naked? The North was a disaster, but I’d call this a victory.”
Frankie jumped out of bed and ripped her sleeping shift off. I was staring at the most perfect pair of green breasts with dusky nipples I’d ever seen. Okay, I had nothing to compare them to, but I imagined if breasts were perfect, they looked like that. My throat instantly went dry. She tugged her undergarments off and was it warm in here too?
She was standing there totally nude with her purple braids spilling down her back. Idris and I were just gawking. She placed her hands on her curvy hips and glared at us.
“I know I’m not putting on a show and the only one getting naked tonight.”
I went to jump up, and Idris slammed his hand against my chest and smacked me back against the pillow. What game was he playing?
“We need to set some rules. What’s on the table tonight, and what isn’t?” Idris said.
All of Frankie’s bravado melted away. She trailed her toe against the rug. “I don’t think I’m ready for sex tonight, but maybe touching, kissing, hands, and mouths.”
I think that was all I was ready for too. My head might explode if I got to make love to Frankie after all this time. I just gave her a nod. I didn’t think I was capable of speech. I couldn’t stop staring at her. She looked like some sort of fairy goddess with the moon coming in from the window and shining on her green skin.
Sentinels of Oz: A Reverse Harem Academy Romance (Emerald City Academy Book 1) Page 20
