Mombi squinted at me. “Let me explain it this way. When I teleport, I travel through another place. A kind of limbo, I guess you’d call it. It’s not very pleasant but you move through it so quick you barely even know you were there. Not this time. I lost my anchoring point—the part of the spell that takes us where we’re going. Lost my hold on the others, too. Before you know it, I’m stuck in limbo, and they’re gone. They’re not teleporters really, don’t have much of a feel for it. They could be anywhere. For all I know, they’re still in the in-between trying to get out.”

I let out a breath I didn’t even know I’d been holding. It wasn’t great news, but at least it meant that Nox was still alive. Probably. Maybe. “We have to find them,” I said.

We had finally reached the bottom of our descent through the trees, and Mombi gingerly stepped onto a platform. She wriggled free from my grip and fixed me with a withering glare.

“Don’t you think I know that? How do you propose we do it?”

“We have to go back in and get them. Into the in-between or whatever.”

“Go back? It doesn’t work that way. It’s not like taking a weekend in the country—you can’t go in without fixing your out first. That’s how you get stuck. And speaking as someone who was stuck in there for longer than I care to think about, I’m not willing to take that risk. Especially since we don’t even know that’s where they are. Just as likely, they never got stuck in the first place—could have been spit out the moment I lost them; could be anywhere in Oz. You just can’t say.”

I wasn’t happy with her answer, but I could see that she was right. Still, I wasn’t going to give up on finding Nox. I kept that to myself, though. I had a feeling Mombi wouldn’t be happy with my priorities.

“How did you get out?” I asked instead. “And how did you know to come here?”

“My, my, aren’t you full of questions? Don’t you think I’ve got a few of my own to ask you?” Mombi countered tartly. Then she paused, and sighed. “The truth is, I don’t know,” she said with a grimace, like it pained her to admit there was something she didn’t know. Or maybe she was just in actual pain.

“It’s like being underwater in there. Like under the mud, really. It’s dark, it’s cold as a fairy’s ta-ta, and you can’t see past your own two fingers. There are things in there, too—and I don’t mean kitty cats. Evil, slimy things. Things you’d run away from if you saw them caged up in a zoo—not that you can see them anyway. They just hiss in your ear, drool on you, rub up against you in the dark. I’m a tough old witch, but even I have my limits. You want the truth? I was about to call it a day, just flip the off switch on this old bag of bones. There’s a spell for that, you know, and I was ready to cast it. To just give up for good. And that’s when I saw you.”

I stepped back in surprise. “Me?”

“No, I’m just pulling your braids. Yes, you. Now, don’t get confused—you’re no favorite of mine, but seeing you in there, out of nowhere, lit up bright as day in all that darkness, you were a sight for sore eyes. So I followed you. You disappeared before too long, but by then it didn’t matter—I had myself a new anchor point, and it was you. Had to sniff it out some, but I kept at it, and then I was here. Would have preferred somewhere with less monkeys, sure, but beggars can’t be choosers, can they?”

I tried to sort it all out as we walked, with Mombi staggering along behind me. What did it mean that she had seen me? Had I sent a signal to her somehow, without meaning to?

I was still thinking about the question of how to find Nox and the others when we were finally back at our hut. It had taken forever for Mombi to drag her battered body across the rope bridges and suspended platforms of the monkey village and now the sun was beginning to set. It occurred to me that time had been passing with a surprising regularity. I wondered who was turning the Great Clock—Dorothy sometimes forgot to do it until it felt like it had been the same day for a year. I put my hand on the door and then stopped.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly.

“Sorry? Sorry for what?”

“For leaving you guys. For screwing up. If it weren’t for me . . .”

Mombi rolled her eyes and shook her head dismissively.

“Look, you did good, kid. Didn’t kill Dorothy, but the way I hear it, she’s on the run now, and that’s a start. Heard about what you did to the Tin Woodman, too. Good for you. We got the magic back, for now at least, and that’s not nothing. We tore the whole damn city down while we were at it, too, just to show Dorothy we could. Got that princess out of the palace, hopefully for good. Plus”—she wiggled her eyebrows—“we weren’t the only ones who got beat up. I had the pleasure of taking a big chunk out of Glinda’s pretty face. Been waiting a while to do that. So buck up, girl. Could be worse.”

Mombi gave me a weak little swat on my arm. I knew that my guilt wouldn’t disappear completely until I saw with my own two eyes that Nox was safe—and that he didn’t hate me leaving him when I should have stayed behind to fight—but knowing that Mombi had forgiven me made me feel a little bit better. I gave her a thin smile and opened the door, eager to tell Pete about everything that I’d learned.

I felt a surge of disappointment when I realized I wasn’t about to get my wish. Pete wasn’t there. Instead, Ozma sat cross-legged on the floor, amusing herself with a game of cat’s cradle using an old string she’d found somewhere. She was so engrossed with her private game that she didn’t even notice us come in.