Even if the truth totally sucked. Which, in Oz, it usually did. So at least I had practice.

This time, though, I had feelings. And if Nox’s history with Lang was what I thought it was—if he had been in love with her once—I knew there was no way it wouldn’t hurt.

And I also knew that even if it did, I was strong enough to deal with it. Old, Kansas Amy might’ve blamed her problems on her druggie mom or Madison’s bullying or her significant lack of friends. But I was a different person now. And I’d learned that everyone has a story—even Madison.

Whatever Nox told me, I could handle it.

I looked at him. “So, now that we’re alone—it’s time you tell us how you know Langwidere.”

He looked stricken and stopped pacing. I watched his face as grief and worry moved across his features, and I steeled myself for what was coming.

What if he’s still in love with her? I thought suddenly.

Okay, new Amy or no new Amy, if he was—that was one truth I might not be able to face.

I was so wrapped up in my new worry that I barely realized he’d already started talking.

“She was Lanadel when I knew her,” he was saying.

“I got that part. Who is she to you?”

“She trained with the Order before Mombi sent her here. It’s a long story.” I raised an eyebrow. “I’ll tell you,” he said. “I promise. But I really don’t think it’s important right now. I’m sure she’s not happy that we’re here, but I don’t think she’ll hurt us.”

“You don’t think?” Madison asked.

He shrugged. “I haven’t seen her in years and we didn’t . . . well, we didn’t exactly part on the best of terms.” I stared at him intently. There was no sign he was about to say anything about having been in a relationship with her. But if Nox was anything, it was totally unreadable. If he did still have feelings for her, I’d never know unless he actually told me.

Which was not his strong suit.

“But I know she hates Dorothy—maybe even more than we do,” he continued. “And it sounds like she’s no fan of the Nome King either. We’re more or less on the same side.”

“Is that Wicked? Or Good?” Madison asked.

“Same thing,” Nox said.

“Sometimes,” I muttered. He smiled at me. My heart did this gross flip-flopping thing. Knock it off, I told it.

“Okay, sometimes,” he agreed. “The side that’s fighting Dorothy, anyway. And if Dorothy is somehow allied with the Nome King now . . .”

“Enemy of my enemy is my friend?” Madison asked.

“Welcome to the wonderful world of Oz,” I agreed.

Nox leaned against the wall opposite us, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor with his long legs stretched out in front of him. “If Dorothy and the Nome King are working together it makes sense that the road brought us here to stop them,” he said.

“Unless the road brought us here completely at random,” I said. “Which it’s been known to do.”

Nox grimaced. “Let’s try for the best-case scenario.”

“I like how ‘we have no idea why but we think maybe there’s some reason we’re probably supposed to be here to do something we can’t figure out’ is the best-case scenario,” Madison said.

I laughed. “Yeah, that’s Oz for you. The road has seemed to act randomly in the past. But I think it’s always just had a mind of its own. It’s always acted for the good of Oz before. Nox is right; it’s the only answer that makes sense. But if we were barely strong enough to fight Dorothy on our own, there’s no way we can take on both of them. The Nome King is incredibly powerful.”

“And so is Lang,” Nox said, meeting my eyes. I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was.

“The road brought us here,” I said. “To her doorstep, basically. Which means: if we work with her, we have a chance. I think.”

“It means there’s something here we need,” Nox agreed. He looked pensive. “I wish we had some way to contact Ozma. If anyone could tell us something about what the road wants, it’s her. But she . . .”

He trailed off. I thought about what he wasn’t saying: that we had no way of knowing if Ozma was even alive. That with Mombi dead and Glinda in control of Glamora, things in Oz were very likely . . . bad. Really, really bad. Maybe even worse than they’d been when Dorothy ruled.

No, I thought. Nothing could be that bad. When Dorothy was in charge, Ozma had been enchanted so that she was basically three sheets to the wind. She wouldn’t let Glinda trick her again. And she was incredibly powerful—surely as powerful as Glinda, especially now that she knew the only side Glinda was on was Glinda’s. I couldn’t start thinking straight-up doom and gloom. The road wouldn’t have bothered to rescue us from the Nome King and carry us all the way across the Deadly Desert if we’d already lost Oz, I told myself. There was still time to find out what we needed to do in Ev, get back to Oz, and restore Ozma to her rightful place.

And once all that was done, maybe, just maybe, Nox and I could settle in for a solid makeout session.

“Why can’t you talk to Ozma? You can’t just, like, enchant a telephone?” Madison asked.

Nox knitted his brows together. “A telephone?”

“You know? E.T. phone home?” He looked even more confused.

“Madison, they don’t have telephones in Oz,” I said. “Telepathy, yes. Telephones, no. But trying to contact Ozma all the way across the Deadly Desert with no magic . . .” I stopped. There was something I wasn’t thinking of. Something important. Something Lurline had said.

I tried to remember what she’d told me during my brief visit to her world. I’d drunk the water from her spring. I’d walked through her garden with her. And then . . .

The words materialized in my mind as clearly as if she was standing next to me repeating them. And as I heard her voice, my boots began to flash with a faint but unmistakable silver light.

I will help you as much as I can. I will hear you when you call me. Be strong. There is more power aiding you than you know.

“Amy? What are you doing?” Nox had jumped up and was staring at my shoes with an expression of awe. “How are you doing that without your magic?”

“It’s Lurline,” I said. “We have to call her.”

At that, Nox gave me a questioning look.

“She told me she’d be able to hear me when I really needed her,” I said excitedly. “And the shoes are hers, right? They’re fairy magic, not just Oz magic. They’re like . . . original Oz magic. I might not be strong enough to use them to get all of us back to Oz, but I bet I can contact her with them somehow.”

Nox was nodding, although he looked uncertain still. “‘Somehow’ leaves a lot of room,’” he said. “Are you thinking a specific spell? I don’t know how you can use the shoes if you can’t use your magic.”

“I don’t either, but it’s the only thing I can think of,” I said.

“It’s worth a try,” he agreed. “What do you need?”

“I’m not sure,” I said. I closed my eyes, reaching within myself the way I’d always done in Oz, searching for that indescribable feeling of power. Of feeling something wake up inside me—something that only existed in me in Oz. Something I’d worked incredibly hard to learn how to harness.