“See?” Remy tells Ana. “We should open up the entire rainbow. Emerald green is his color. Not ours.”
“Whose?” I ask.
“The wizard,” Ana answers and steps past me for the inn. “I happen to like emerald green.”
“Do you?” Remy challenges.
“Yes. I do!”
“I didn’t mean to open a can of worms,” I say.
“Emerald green is a good color,” Ana tells me over her shoulder. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
I glance down the street, back toward the wizard’s statue, as the rest of the council makes their way into the inn. Em once told me green was the color of harmony and luck. And everyspring, I wait for the first bloom of green to tell me warmer months are on their way. Surely green must portend good things about the wizard?
“I do love green,” I finally say, which causes Ana to clap and Remy to frown.
“Of course you do!” Ana says and then makes her way inside.
The exterior color scheme is carried over to the inside of Remy’s place. The interior walls are painted the same shade of red, while it’s the hardwood floor that’s painted gold, almost giving it the same feel as the Yellow Brick Road.
Art and photographs in gilded frames are hung all around the room, claiming every spare inch of wall. There are portraits of people harvesting corn, and shots of people dancing in the streets of the Hollow, and pictures of people in an antique kitchen kneading dough.
I pause at the latter, feeling a pang of longing and a sharp reminder of home.
Remy leads Ana and me to a table near a large fireplace where a few blackened logs are spiderwebbed with glowing embers, the fire dying out. I suppose with this many people packed into the inn and tavern, the fire is no longer necessary. The body heat is enough to keep the plaster and wood-beamed space feeling cozy.
The rest of the council fans out, claiming the two remaining tables in the back corner.
The din of conversation fills the main room, but I notice the volume drop as people become aware of my presence, watching me as I slip through the tables, trailing behind Ana. The attention makes my skin crawl, but I breathe deeply, trying toremind myself it’ll wear off. Eventually they’ll find something far more interesting to focus on.
The Red Wander not only offers beds for the night but has a full-service tavern on the ground floor and tonight there’s stew, fresh-baked rolls, and ale.
I don’t think I like ale, but Ana says it’s the best ale in all the Hollow and it pairs well with the stew.
I tell them I have no money to pay, but Remy waves me off and says it’s all on the house, even the beds.
“That’s very kind of you,” I start, “but I’m not sure that’s fair to Remy. I’d like to pay in some way if—”
“Nonsense!” Ana cuts in. “You’ve saved us all from the Witch of the East, who up until now was unkillable, mind you. I don’t think you know the gravity of what you’ve done for us.” She reaches over and squeezes my hand. “We owe you at least a million more meals.”
I check Remy’s reaction since it’s their food and their bed.
“It would be my pleasure. Please know that.”
“If you’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Then thank you. Truly.”
Remy nods and heads to the kitchen to put in our order. And as soon as we’re alone, Ana scooches her chair in and leans toward me, all her attention squarely on me.
“So,” she says. “I’m told you arrived in Oz by a cyclone and a house that fell from the sky?”
She asks the question matter-of-factly, as if traveling by house is no different from bus or carriage.
“It was a storm that brought me, yes. And now I’m trying to get home to Kansas.”
