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“What about the West? Who has it since the Wicked Witch of the West is dead?” He shrugged again. “Another fae like Locasta.”
Tin
But Dorothy… Her heat, her compassion, sent humming vibrations through him even now.
“I’m every bit the monster and they know it.”
Tin gripped the fabric over his chest. Something behind his breastbone cracked, shattered, exploded and a painful pounding suddenly assaulted him from the inside out. He gasped, his wide gaze locking onto Dorothy’s sleeping form. The raging pulse in his ears, the heavy thump thump thump beneath his ribs. His heart. It was back. Fuck!
Dorothy
Be sure to keep your head on your shoulders. Even with Glinda there, the South isn’t a good place to be anymore. Most have fled.”
What if Crow was changed like Tin?
Tin
Dorothy
“Lion,”
what had happened with Tin. He’d changed, seen her differently. What if it was the same with Lion?
“Who are you?” he cooed, inching closer, ever the animal. “It’s me. Dorothy.” She couldn’t have been that unrecognizable to him too. Her face was the same, even if her body wasn’t. Lion’s expression appeared stunned for a moment before his eyes narrowed as he searched around the small area. “Where’s Tin?”
“I…” She bit her lip. “It’s not his fault. I left while he slept to come here and search for Crow.” “It really is you, then?” Lion smiled. It was the same smile he’d worn when she’d found him in the forest, where she’d offered to save him and bring him with her, Crow, and Tin to the Emerald City. He held out his arms and she rushed forward, folding herself around him. “I’ve missed you.” She sighed, inhaling the fur scent of his cloak. “I’ve missed you more, Dorothy,” he said, stroking her hair. “What is going on here?”
“Let me take you to Glinda. She’ll be able to explain everything.” “Glinda’s all right?” Dorothy exclaimed, a new sense of hope filling her chest. Glinda had given her advice about how to defeat the Wicked Witch. She knew how to get around, be sneaky, and get things done. “She is,” Lion murmured, bowing his head, “but for how long? She needs your help, just like the last time you were here. Langwidere’s tactics have gotten more savage.”
“I’ll go with you, but what about Crow?” Dorothy couldn’t forget about him. He’d already been without a working brain once. What if this Langwidere had already taken his head after he’d gotten here? She held the nausea stirring inside her back. “He’s already there.”
Tin
What if they’d decided to venture closer to the South to hunt Dorothy?
“We don’t have time for this. How many more businesses did you ask to rat us out?” “All of them,” Crow said casually. “But if you think I hadn’t heard of your late night visit to a lovely nymph, you’re wrong. Go on. Applaud me for my restraint.”
“Your restraint?” Tin mocked. “I had half a mind to bust through your inn room door but didn’t want to jeopardize Dorothy’s safety.” So he knew where they were staying, yet waited. The fool. If he’d come after Dorothy last night, she wouldn’t be lost right now and the whole situation with Crow would’ve already concluded. With Dorothy at his side
and Crow far, far away, even if Tin had to tie him to a tree to accomplish it. “I wouldn’t hurt her,” he snarled. “No?” Crow’s masked face tilted. “Why don’t I believe that?”
“She went south,” Crow said as he emerged again, chest heaving. Tin rubbed his chest where his heart throbbed painfully. “Are you sure? Is your source reliable?” “Don’t worry your pretty face. I want to find Dorothy as much as you do. She and I have too much to discuss for us to follow false leads.”
“Coming?” Crow called. Tin spun to find Crow striding down the street and hurried after him. “You can’t believe them without investigating.” “Ah, Tin. Ever the trusting one.” “It’s better than trusting everyone.” “Is it?” Crow stared at him with disdain, his brown eyes blazing within his perfectly fitted mask. “Would you like to waste time patting down the nymphs … again, or would you like to find Dorothy before she crosses the border into the South?”
While the East was dangerous, the South was worse, and he had no idea how much of a head start Dorothy had. “You’d better not be wrong about this,” Tin growled. Crow’s face grew concerned. “You did warn Dorothy about Langwidere, didn’t you?” “Of course I did,” Tin lied, his heart thumping with guilt.
Glinda had still managed to keep her land from withering as the rest of Oz had. Although it appeared safe, Tin knew Langwidere was still a problem here.
“If you were Dorothy,” Crow began as they passed the pink and gold southern signpost, “where would you go from here?” “How should I know?” “You spent the last few days with her, which is more than I have. What’s she like?”
Crow scratched his head. “Will she wander into the woods or stay to the path?”
hadn’t warned her about Langwidere taking heads in the South. “I don’t know,” he finally snapped. His hands fell back to his sides and he huffed, annoyed. “She doesn’t seem to have fully grasped how different Oz is now. Being as fearless as she is, she probably walked right up to a goblin to ask for directions.” Crow whipped around to stare at him. “She wouldn’t dare approach something so vile. It’s suicide.” Tin swung out his arms as if to say: she would and that’s exactly the problem. “Why don’t you shift into your bird form and take a gander from the sky?” Crow bristled. “Listen, asshole.
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“Fuck my heart. Why the hell is everyone so worried about that?” Tin snarled. “Perhaps because of all the trouble you went through to get it?” Crow waved a dismissive hand through the air. “But you’re right. Fuck it. I see the way you’re worried
about Dorothy, and my daughter deserves better than you.” Tin froze. His daughter? That was impossible. Dorothy grew up in the human world with a human family and an oversized pet rat. Crow wasn’t smart enough or strong enough to open a portal and visit Kansas. Maybe his brain was completely gone after all. He didn’t remember Crow being delusional before, but then again, Tin hadn’t always been a murderer. “Okay,” Tin said slowly. He’d play along until they found Dorothy, then he’d get her as far away from Crow as possible. “Dorothy’s half fae… Got it. Can we go now?” “She’s not half anything.”
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No, they weren’t done yet. Tin followed on his heels. Dorothy looked nothing like a fae. Her ears were round, her cheekbones low, though he supposed that could be from her mother’s side. But even if it was true—which he doubted—how would Dorothy have made it to Kansas? And why? Crow seemed the type to adore children. He was patient and kind, protective. Fatherly. It didn’t make sense for him to give his ...
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“The town’s been abandoned,” Crow said from behind him. “Not everyone left,” he rasped. Even though he’d personally decapitated hundreds of fae, Tin couldn’t look at the headless body another second. He knew where Dorothy was. In his gut, he knew. “Langwidere was here.” Crow peeked inside the bakery and jerked back. “That’s not Langwidere’s work.” “Who else do you know that steals heads?” Tin shouted.
“If he harms one hair on my daughter’s head, I’ll cut his off and shove it down Langwidere’s throat,” Crow vowed.
He would cut Lion’s head off for Crow if it came down to that. Hell, even if they found Dorothy unscathed, he would swing his axe. And he wouldn’t miss.
Dorothy
She found herself missing the Lion from her past. “Why aren’t you talking? You always talked. Are you like Tin? Lost a piece of yourself?” He stopped in his tracks and narrowed his eyes. “Are you implying I’m a coward again?”
“No.” She held up her hands. “That’s not what I’m saying. I never thought you were a coward to begin with. I mean, you just don’t seem yourself.” Perhaps she should just stop talking for a while. She was making everything worse. “You know, I didn’t want to have to tell you”—Lion bit his lip and toyed with the end of his tail—“but you shouldn’t trust Tin.”
“And why’s that? Just because his heart is stone, that doesn’t make him malicious—he didn’t have a beating one the last time I was here. The Gnome King is to blame for that.” He’d kept her safe from the faerie fruit
addict on the yellow brick road and the flying fae at night. “Because he was going to give your head to Langwidere,” Lion pursed his lips. He looked as though it haunted him to say the words. “What?” That couldn’t be true. There was no way that was possible. “I think you’re mistaken, Lion.” “No, Dorothy, I’m not. I can’t hide it from you any longer. When I saw him last, he told me his plan and asked me to join in on it. I tried to stop him then, but before my blade could slice his throat, he took off. Even Glinda and Crow want him dead.” “Why would he do that?”
“He said you were paying him to bring me to you to help the South.” “Lies. All lies.” He waved his hand in the air, a scowl on his face. “You can’t trust someone without a beating heart.”
She’d been up all night traveling, and she needed a break, and something to eat and drink. “Let’s stop here and rest for a bit before we move on,” she suggested, heading in the direction of the water. “No!” Lion shouted from behind her. She whirled around, scanning the area for any sign of danger. The trees still appeared empty, quiet. “Why not?” He sauntered up beside her, hand on the blade at his hip. “Because I need to get you to the palace as soon as possible.” “I need to eat. All I’ve had were nuts, and I need water. There’s a stream right there.”
“You’ll be fine.” Gripping his arm, she tugged him to the side. “Lion, I need water or I won’t be making it to the palace. And even then, I have no power to help the South. The slippers are what helped me before, and now that I don’t have them, I’m nothing. Only a woman with a machete, who wouldn’t be able to hold her own against a true warrior. So everyone here needs to stop believing that I’m some miracle saint, because I’m not. I’m Dorothy Gale, a farm girl, and that’s all I’ll ever be. Even then, I may have been stronger as a child when I held hope and believed nothing bad could happen in
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Dorothy remembered when she, Crow, and Tin had stumbled upon Lion for the first time in the woods. Winged beasts had been out, swarming the trees, attacking something with their sharp talons. Lion had been curled up on his side, filthy, disheveled, not even fighting back. Toto had stood brave and ran toward Lion, barking at everyone, scaring them away. Dorothy had grabbed the male’s hand and helped him up, and he’d smiled. For the rest of the journey, Lion held on to Toto and
stayed behind Dorothy, as though she was his protector. “Why haven’t you asked about Toto?” Dorothy asked, resting her back against the tree, and bringing the nut in between her lips. “Who?” He tossed a fishbone to the side. “Oh, the dog. I forgot about him.” Yet Lion still didn’t ask about him. Dorothy kept to herself that Toto was dead, because this Lion seemed as if he wouldn’t have cared. She took a bite of the nut, but it wasn’t hardness she felt. It was soft, juicy. A thin line ran down her chin. Dorothy jerked the nut from her mouth and tossed it to the ground. Her eyes widened and met
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faerie fruit. “That’s not a nut,” she breathed. “That’s fruit.” Lion rose from the ground, standing above her, his shadow enveloping her. “Oh, my mistake. They may also contain a numbing aid.” Why would you give me a numbing aid? The words came in her head, but her lips wouldn’t move for her to speak them aloud. Dorothy’s arms grew heavy when she tried to raise them, and her body slumped to the side. Lion scooped her up and held her close. The new smile he’d given her earlier had returned, only thi...
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Lion leaned forward, his golden irises flashing. “You once told me fairy tales to build my courage. Remember Snow White? She was never the hero, only a damsel in distress. The witch had truly won, because Snow White did indeed eat the apple. There’s no prince here to save you. From your story, I wanted to be more like the Evil Queen, so thank you for that. And thank you for making my job easier after Tin failed. Now, you’ll stay silent as I bring you to Langwidere.” Dorothy tried to scream, to reach for her machete, to do something, but she couldn’t do anything beside...
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them, can you?” He pressed two fingers to her eyelids and shut them. The only thing left f...
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Tin
“Hold on,” Crow warned quietly, throwing an arm in front of Tin before he could storm the door. “It’s too quiet.” “I think what you mean is blissfully empty of Dorothy’s screams.” Which meant they needed to hurry, because Tin refused to believe they were too late. Lion only wanted Dorothy for one reason and Tin didn’t imagine he would wait long to collect his prize. Crow uttered a soft shh and lowered into a crouch just inside the tree line. Tin stared down at him as if seeing him for the first time. “Did … you just shush me?” “Of course I did.”
It wasn’t until Tin had dispatched the first round of them, and spun in search of his next target and came up empty, that he realized Crow had helped. How much he had helped was unclear, as he was relatively clean everywhere but his hands. Four silver
