The Tinman writhes on the floor.
“Stop this. Stop it!”
She doesn’t even blink.
I toss the canteen aside. “I don’t know what you want or what you think you’re doing, but this isn’t right. I don’t belong here. I don’t want the slippers. I didn’t want to kill the East Witch.”
The ground trembles beneath me.
Wind blows in through the open balcony doors and the fire crackles.
“You killed a witch in cold blood, Dorothy.” She cants her head, regarding me like a bug. “Do you think you deserve to be free after that?”
Panic crawls up my throat.
“I didn’t… she came after me.”
“Do you have proof?”
“The East Enders… Cleo! Cleo was there.”
“Who?”
“We left her with Rook in the woods. We can get her. She’ll tell you.”
“I sent Lon back to the woods. There was no one there.”
“What?” My breathing is shallow now, my mouth dry. “That’s not right. The Tinman killed Rook. We left Cleo with the body and—”
“There was no one there. No Cleo. No body. You’re lying.”
“I’m not!”
“You landed your house on top of the Witch of the East, and then when that didn’t kill her, you did.”
“No! I don’t even want to be here! I just want to go home!”
“You will never go home.”
A breath stutters down my throat.
My ears ring.
The wind picks up and the fire gutters out.
All the windows fly open, the shutters banging against the stone walls.
I lunge forward and grab the witch by the wrists. “I just want to go home!”
Water pours from my hands, soaking the witch’s clothing.
Smoke rises from her shoulders and her skin turns ashen.
Dark hair pulls free from her clip and several strands fly in front of her face.
I’m a girl again on the porch of the Kansas farmhouse, surrounded by dark, stormy skies and winds so fierce they make my chest ache.
“No,” I breathe out as realization seeps in.
