THE FARAWAY LANDS OF OZ - Book One

Part One, Chapter Two: A New Beginning

EVANORA

The first rays of today's sunlight were what woke me this morning. I blinked my eyes open and the second I saw the canopy of my four-poster at the Emerald City I shot up straight in my curtained bed. The nightmare was over.
What a dream this had been and yet I felt different today. More than a little confused and with something inside me seeming to be missing... But I did not feel like I missed it.
"Lady Evanora, breakfast is ready and the king requests your presence."
The king? Father? God, I had too much of this nightmare in my head. For a second, I was very much convinced that he had died at my hand. Thank the Virtues this was not the case.
"I'll be right downstairs! Just need to change into something appropriate."
"I'll inform your family."
"Thank you, Ventner!"
I heard him descend the carpeted stairs down to the morning room until his steps were no longer audible to me. Only then did I stand up, remove the curtains of my four-poster, and drag myself to my closet to pick out something proper and formidable for the morning.
Usually, a maid would do these honors in a royal household, but we had only Ventner and according to father, this was enough. He was responsible that we go after our duties and was something like our nanny. I had known him since my childhood and could not imagine a life without him.
I decided to go for a green sleeveless dress and knee-high black boots. There was no time for exquisite make-up today though and I only powdered my cheeks, put on my mascara, and painted my lips in deep black, my go-to color.
"This should be enough," I murmured to myself and stepped downstairs, the same way our housekeeper had gone and found my family waiting for me at the long table in the center of the morning room. Theodora, Glinda, Aliyah, Marceline, father, and mother. This nightmare still plagued my mind's eye.

"Good morning, treasure. Decided to finally join us?" My father's voice was deep and radiated love and kindness, whether he was sarcastic or not. He was the kindest man I knew and the humblest ruler ever to sit on the emerald throne: King Basil Fawkes.
"I have not slept like this since my teenage years." I threw an instinctive glance towards Marcy. She liked to sleep in and soon, she would be a teenager herself. The most beautiful time in one's life if you ask me. "What do we have for breakfast though?"
"Everything. Like always - why should you ask?" Theodora said with a provocative smile, and I tried to punch her arm as I sat down. But a force that remained a mystery to me kept me from it. I was merely inches away from her sleeve when a blast of unusual magic threw me away from her.
"Theodora! What have we said about magic at the table?!" Father snapped in a way that removed all the kindness from his voice for a short while.
"I - it wasn't me," Theodora tried to explain but he did not want to listen.
"Sure. Help your sister up and no more talking!" Although father did not seem to, I believed her. This had not been Theodora's abilities. This was a magic that was far greater and beyond all our magic combined.
We finished our breakfast in silence and my mind was spiraling around the dream that I seemed to remember more and more of and towards the force that had just prevented me from slapping Theo. After we had finished, my sisters and I stayed behind to put our dishes in the dishwasher and return the remaining food to the pantry.
"Guys, can we talk?"
"What about?" Glinda rested the bowl of remaining fruit on her hip and looked at me with furrowed eyebrows.
"Some strange things are happening here, I can tell. First, I had a nightmare about being evil and killing father and almost killing you all, Theodora was evil too! Then some strange force repels me from her when trying to hit her without her even doing anything. I'm worried that there's something upon us..."
Glinda looked between me and our sisters. "Evanora... We had the same nightmare... All of us."
Now I did what Glinda had done mere seconds ago. "How is this possible?"
"We don't know," Theodora took over, "But perhaps it has something to do with you not being able to hurt me. Should we try in turns and see if we are all affected?"