The ashen color surges up her arms, then her neck. Cracks appear along her jaw, then her cheeks. The bridge of her nose splits and smoke spills out.
Please. Take her.
Back then, when she urged me forward into Em and Henry’s arms, she was wearing a scarf. A scarf to hide her third eye.
“You’re her.” I claw at her jacket. More water pours from my hands. I can’t stop it now. “You left me at the farmhouse.”
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I’m sorry for what I’ve done.”
“Wait!”
Ashes flake from her and carry on the wind.
“I could only see this far.” She smiles and her mouth cracks open. “Dorothy,you are home.”
She crumbles in my hands.
“No. Wait!”
I fall to my knees as her clothing puddles on the floor, surrounded in nothing but ash.
I am a girl again, lightning flashing in the distance.
She’s screaming at me, but there is no sound.
FORTY-FOUR
Dorothy
I sit back on my butt, my vision tunneling as my ears ring.
What have I done?
The witch is gone. Only her clothing and the golden mask remain.
How did I miss it?
I squeeze my eyes shut and she flashes in memory. Her on the farmhouse porch, telling Aunt Em to take me.
I want to go home.
Who was she?
What is happening?
Most of my adult life, I’ve been desperate for answers as to who I am and where I came from. Answers were within my grasp and I… she…
The water. She made it.
I turn my hands over and examine the fleshy palms. They look no different from before, but I saw water literally pouring from me.
Water kills the witch.
“Oh god,” I mutter. “I’ve killed two Cardinal Witches.”
I scramble around in the witch’s clothing, looking for something, anything, to give me a clue as to what she meant.I could only see this far, she said.Dorothy, you are home.
A scrap of paper catches my attention.
