THIRTY-EIGHT

Warily, Nox and I eyed Mombi. Whose side was she on? What about what we’d just overheard?

“You’re going to tell me you think Glamora is Glinda,” she said gruffly. My jaw dropped, but Nox nodded. Mombi sighed. “It’s more complicated than that. She’s still Glamora, but Glinda’s a part of her now. I think they’re still battling it out in there. Glamora is keeping Glinda in check for now, but who knows how long that will last.”

“When did you guess?”

“Right after the battle. Gert should have known, too, but Glamora is using Gert’s ability to read minds to cloud her thinking. The connection runs both ways if you’re powerful enough. It wasn’t safe to move openly against her. But now, with all this talk of controlling Amy . . .” Mombi shook her head. “She’s going to do something soon and we have to be ready to stop her. Glamora might still triumph but Glinda is incredibly powerful. And if she wins, she can use the Quadrant magic that binds us together to control us.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Nox asked.

Mombi shot him a sympathetic look. “Sorry, sonny, but it wasn’t safe. And no offense, but Gert and I are stronger than you, Quadrant or no Quadrant.” Mombi sighed. “The Nome King in the Other Place, Dorothy who knows where, Glinda trying to defeat Glamora and take control of the Quadrant . . . Not good, not good at all. And if the barriers between Oz and Ev are as malleable as the barriers between Oz and the Other Place, we’re in trouble. The Nome King has a whole host of nasty creatures at his disposal.” She shook her head. “Never a dull moment in Oz,” she said.

“I have to go back to Kansas,” I said urgently. “I have to help my mom against the Nome King.”

“Not a chance,” Mombi said dismissively. “Even if we knew how to send you back—which we don’t—you wouldn’t last for a second against the Nome King without magic. He’s already shown that his power isn’t limited in the Other Place. He’ll crush you like a bug.”

“But the shoes—”

“No buts. First things first: it’s time we figure out how to stop Glinda and get Glamora back.”

“Well, well,” said a voice from the darkness. “We certainly do learn a lot when we eavesdrop, don’t we?”

Glamora stepped out of the shadows. “It’s not very nice of you to run around behind my back, dear sister,” she said. I recognized Glinda’s menacing, sickly sweet syrupiness in her voice. Mombi met her gaze steadily. She didn’t look too surprised that Glamora had been spying on us.

“I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to try anything before now, but apparently I was wrong,” Mombi said. “You know that even as strong as you are you can’t defeat the rest of the Quadrant and Amy combined.”

“Oh, I don’t need to be,” Glamora said with a smile. “I have help.” The air beside her began to glow with an all-too-familiar silver light. A twisted metal wand appeared in Glamora’s hand and she held it aloft. More silver light ran down its length like mercury, dripping to the ground and spreading outward into a flat pool of molten metal.

“Get back,” Mombi said urgently. She didn’t have to tell me twice. The pool’s surface shimmered and grew transparent. I could see through it as if it were a window to another world—and it was. Below us was the main hallway of Dwight D. Eisenhower Senior High. I recognized the worn tiles and watery fluorescent lights immediately. A perfect square of less-faded linoleum marked where the diorama had once stood. The windows were boarded up where the Nome King’s storm had broken the glass but the rubble had been cleared away. The hall was empty, but daylight filtered in through the few unbroken windows. Class must be in session. Nox grabbed my arm as if to restrain me and I realized I was leaning toward the pool as though I wanted to jump through it to the other side. “You can’t, Amy,” he said urgently. “It’s not a portal.”

“Not for you it isn’t,” Glamora said. “But for some of us it works quite nicely.” She smiled and waved her wand. “It’s time,” she said. At first, I had no idea who she was talking to. And then Assistant Principal Strachan strode into view in the deserted hallway. And he wasn’t alone. He had Madison by the shoulders. Dustin Jr. was held tightly in her arms. Dustin Sr. ran behind them. His mouth was open as if he was shouting something but I couldn’t hear him.

“Get out of there!” I yelled, but it was obvious he couldn’t hear me either. Whatever window Glinda had created, it only let us see into Kansas. <