Welcome to Oz

Chapter One

"Callie, I'm going to take this stuff downstairs," Mom called over her shoulder as she walked to the doorway, her muscular arms bulging with the weight of the cardboard box she was holding.

"Okay," I replied, not even turning as I examined the contents of this latest box. "How long has it been since someone cleaned this attic out?" I murmured to myself. Then, guilt hit me. In the state that my grandmother had been in when we moved her into the nursing home, there was no way she could have had the presence of mind to clean out her attic. Not that she would have even if she wanted to - there were so many memories up here, after all.

I flipped though what I was fairly certain was my mother's baby book, although the page containing the personal information had been jaggedly torn out, leaving the official identity of the baby within a mystery. I shrugged, tossing it aside. I wasn't a materialistic person, and neither was my mother. I doubted many of these memories would survive our vigorous cleaning.

I pushed aside a box inexplicably filled with old newspapers and paused when I saw what was hidden underneath it.

It was a shoe box.

This shoe box didn't look like any I had ever seen, though. It was plain cardboard without a label or logo in sight. When I picked it up, I sucked in a breath and almost dropped it at how surprisingly heavy it was - it was made from slabs of wood, not cardboard.

Carefully, I slid off the top panel and peered inside.

Two beautiful red shoes rested within.

My eyes widened at the sight of them as a small memory tickled at the back of my mind. My grandma's raspy voice, back when she still had her wits about her, whispered in my ear: "Dorothy had beautiful red shoes, my dear. You would have loved them. They were bright and sparkled even in the darkest of places. They could take you wherever your heart desired."

Dororthy...who was Dorothy again? Suddenly, my eyes widened and I snapped my fingers in triumph as I remembered. Dorothy as in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!

I removed the shoes from the box, being as careful as if they were centuries old. Furtively, I glanced over my shoulder. For some reason, I didn't want my mother to catch me doing this.

I reached down and slipped on the beautiful crimson shoes. They fit perfectly and were the most comfortable things I could ever have remembered wearing.

I took a few experimental steps and grinned. It felt like I was floating above the ground, the shoes were so soft and padded.

"Who would just leave these stuffed in an attic?" I murmured to myself. These shoes deserved to be worn.

I wondered why my grandmother even owned Dorothy look-alike shoes, and where she had gotten them. But then, maybe it wasn't so strange - Grandma had been obsessed with the world of Oz ever since I could remember.

How did it go? Dorothy tapped her heels together and then got transported wherever she wanted to go. But how many times did she tap her heels together?

Feeling slightly foolish but entertaining the fantasy all the same, I slowly clicked my heels together, just once.

Nothing happened, of course.

Now feeling a blush spreading to my cheeks at my own oddness, I reached down to remove the shoes. Silly childhood fantasies.

Just as I was about to slip them off, however, I heard a rumbling coming from behind a stack of boxes. Brow furrowing, I moved over to them and began removing the boxes from their perilous pile.

I worked far faster when I realized that behind them, there was a door.

"Does Mom know about this?" I began to ask myself, and then the door creaked open.

I barely managed to choke down a shriek as I stumbled backwards. My eyes felt as round as saucers, and my heart pounded wildly against my ribs.

A girl stepped through the door.

Her hair was raven black - no, impossibly black, as if it absorbed all light - and was arranged in fat little sausage curls. Her features were delicate and childlike, but from her height, she looked to be about my age. She was wearing a red and white checkered dress.

And on her feet was a pair of sparkling shoes that exactly matched those on my feet but for their rich teal color.

"You found the shoes!" the girl exclaimed, her voice bubbly and thin as she stared gleefully at my shoes. She raised her gaze and her eyes locked with mine as her voice took on a serious tone.

"Oz needs you."

She stepped forward and grabbed my forearm before I could react. Her grip was shockingly powerful, and I winced at the power behind it.

Before I could protest or struggle, she dragged me over to the dark closet and shoved me inside - and the world went blank.