Or rather, dropped into.
I glance up at the darkened sky. There isn’t much to see other than rolling blackness edged in blue silver. There’s nothing about it that will help orient myself. I could be in Kansas or Missouri or California.
“Take the slippers!” a voice calls out from the crowd.
I turn back to the crowd.
“Yes!” several agree. “The magic slippers!”
“What slippers?” I ask.
Mathian goes over to the witch and yanks the shoes from her feet. Her dead legs thud back to the ground. And as soon as the shoes are off, her body shrinks in on itself and turns to dust.
I blink several times, clearing my vision, but the pile of ash remains. None of the Enders seem bothered by the body literally bursting into ash.
I’ve never been to California, or Missouri for that matter, but something tells me I’ve gone much, much farther.
“They are yours now, Sorceress Dorothy.” Mathian bows his head and holds the slippers aloft to me.
The cut of them reminds me of ballet slippers with a small heel. They appear to be constructed of soft leather, but even without sunlight, they shimmer like silver.
They’re the kind of slippers meant for a Halloween costume. Or a theater show.
I’ve never owned anything so elegant.
“I’m not taking the shoes of a dead woman.”
“These are no ordinary shoes,” Aakin says.
“They are powerful slippers,” Mathian adds. “Charmed with magic.”
I laugh. “Magic. Really.”
“Yes.” Mathian shifts his grip and the slippers sparkle.
“What kind of magic?” I ask.
They all share a look.
Mathian frowns. “Well… we don’t know.”
Of course they don’t.
“I think I’m losing my mind.”
“Fear not.” Aakin claps once. “You’ve done a great deed this day. May the Cardinal Gods bless you, should they return to us.”
I scrub at my face, forgetting I’m still covered in blood. Some of it smears across my cheeks. Grumbling, I use the sleeve of my nightgown to swipe it away, but I’m not sure it’s done much good. My nightgown is also covered in blood.
“I need to get home to my aunt and uncle,” I tell them and glance around, looking for something that might be familiar. “How do I get there?”
“Where’s home?” Mathian asks.
“Kansas.”
Aakin shoves his hands into the pockets of his pants and gives me a reluctant shrug. “Oz is surrounded on all sides by an impassable desert. If your Kansas is beyond the desert, we know of no way to reach it.”
“What is Oz?”
