THIRTY-NINE
I glanced involuntarily down at my boots. I knew exactly what he wanted and I had no intention of giving them to him.
“The shoes don’t belong to you,” Mombi snapped. “They belong to Oz.”
“Oz will shortly belong to me, you impertinent old fool,” he said. He flicked his fingers at her and a ball of black smoke sent her flying across the clearing. She hit a tree with a thump and crashed to the ground.
“You can’t take them from me,” I said with more confidence than I felt. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mombi stir. At least the old witch was still alive.
“I do realize that,” the Nome King said. “Which is why I’ll take you and the shoes. I could use magic to control you, of course, but you’re much more powerful if you’re using the shoes of your own free will.”
“I won’t help you,” I said.
“I thought you’d say that. Which is why I brought along a guarantee of your cooperation.” His grip tightened on Madison’s arm and she screamed in pain. I heard bones cracking as the Nome King stared at me.
“Stop it!” I cried, unable to bear the sound. “Leave her alone! Fine, I’ll do what you want!”
“Amy!” Nox hissed next to me. “You can’t!” But too many people had already gotten hurt because of me. The Nome King had pulled her out of Kansas because of me. For all I knew, she was stuck in Oz now for the rest of her life, away from her baby and her family and everything she knew. I wasn’t going to watch the Nome King torture her on top of it all. There had to be another way to stop him.
“I’m so glad you’ve decided to cooperate,” the Nome King said in a pleasant tone. “And now, you’ll just—”
That was when Mombi hit him. Not with magic. With a branch. The old witch had crept up behind him and swung with all her might. He roared in outrage, loosening his grip on Madison’s arm for the barest instant. Glamora launched herself at Mombi, magic sparking from her fingertips. And I dove for Madison, knocking her out of the Nome King’s arms.
“Run!” Mombi screamed. “Amy, run!” She raised her branch to hit the Nome King a second time but he threw a sticky net of molten silver at her that tangled in her arms and legs. Mombi stumbled as the net tightened its grip around her. Glamora pointed the wand at her and the Nome King raised his hands. They were going to kill her. I knew it. I had to stop them. Mombi looked directly at me. Her face was suffused with an eerie calm. As if she was finally at peace. “Go, Amy,” she said. And then Glamora was on her.
“No!” I yelled, but Nox grabbed my arm. The Nome King was already turning toward us. My boots came to life, blazing with white light, and he threw up one hand to shield his eyes. I didn’t waste a second. I grabbed Madison’s hand, pulling her after me, and ran. “Take my other hand!” I screamed, reaching for Nox. The Nome King was right behind us. I could feel his magic moving toward us like a silver wave. But the shoes carried me faster and faster, and Madison and Nox with me. Madison was sobbing in fear. “Trust me!” I yelled to her. “I’ll keep you safe!” I had no idea if I could keep that promise but I knew I would do my best.
And then I tripped over something glinting in the grass and fell, sprawling, onto the Road of Yellow Brick. Nox tumbled next to me. Madison crashed into me from behind. The road heaved and buckled under us, tearing away from the grass with a huge ripping sound just as the Nome King reached its edge, but he was too late. The road lifted us up into the air and he dwindled to a tiny speck below us.
We were flying toward the stars. I ducked as they came rushing toward us, but just before we ran into them the road stopped and hung, hovering, in the sky. I could have sworn it wiggled a little, like an impatient puppy.
“It’s helping us,” Nox said in disbelief. He climbed slowly, painfully, to his feet, and then helped me and Madison up, too.
“Amy?” Madison whispered. Her cheeks were streaked with tears and her voice was shaking. “What—what is this? What’s going on? Who was—what was Assistant Principal Strachan? Where’s Dustin?”
“It’s kind of a long story,” I said. She still looked terrified but determination was creeping into her expression, too. Madison was tough as nails. She’d do just fine in Oz.
“Why would the road help us?” I asked Nox.
“I don’t know.” Nox reached up and flicked the nearest star, sending it spinning. Its light refracted around us like sunlight through a prism. My boots sparkled as if in answer. “I don’t know where it’s taking us either.”
The road was pulsing with a strange, golden energy, stretching ahead of us until it dwindled to a point on the horizon. I took a deep breath and grabbed Nox’s hand.
“Well,” I said. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”
Together, we took the first step.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DANIELLE PAIGE is a graduate of Columbia University and the author of the New York Times bestselling Dorothy Must Die series. Before turning to young adult literature, she worked in the television industry, where she received a Writers Guild of America Award and was nominated for several Daytime Emmys. She currently lives in New York City.
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BOOKS BY DANIELLE PAIGE
Novels
Dorothy Must Die
The Wicked Will Rise
Yellow Brick War
Digital Novellas
No Place Like Oz
The Witch Must Burn
The Wizard Returns
Heart of Tin
The Straw King
Ruler of Beasts
Novella Collections
Dorothy Must Die Stories
Dorothy Must Die Stories Volume 2
CREDITS
COVER ART AND DESIGN © 2016 BY RAY SHAPPELL
HAND LETTERING BY ERIN FITZSIMMONS
COPYRIGHT
YELLOW BRICK WAR. Copyright © 2016 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. www.epicreads.com
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015959756
ISBN 978-0-06-228073-2 (trade bdg.)
ISBN 978-0-06-245860-5 (special edition)
ISBN 978-0-06-245930-5 (special edition)
ISBN 978-0-06-245842-1 (int. ed.)
EPub Edition © February 2016 ISBN 9780062280756
Hand lettering by Erin Fitzsimmons
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