Welcome to Oz

Chapter Two

When I opened my eyes, I couldn't quite understand the scene before me.

The sky was an unnatural blue - it was not simply free of clouds, but it was also a strange, artificial-seeming shade of robin's egg. The grass seemed too brightly emerald to be real, but the light breeze moved the individual strands in a way that proved they were naturally grown. To our right was a small cottage that looked like something straight out of a fantasy movie.

I glanced down at myself. I looked the same...except for the fact that I was standing atop a completely golden brick street.

The girl who had tugged me through the attic closet was standing before me, her arms crossed, tapping her foot impatiently. "Are you ready yet?" she asked, obviously annoyed.

"Who...where...what?" I gasped, glancing wildly over my shoulder for the doorway through which we had traveled. There was nothing. The road stretched on over rolling emerald hills for as far as the eye could see.

The girl let out a blustery sigh. "We don't have time for this," she muttered to herself. Then, she uncrossed her arms as if trying to calm herself down. "I'm going to give you the short and condensed version of this story. Hold any and all questions until after we develop a plan to save Oz, please."

"Oz?"

"What did I just say?"

I shut up.

"You are in the wonderful world of Oz," the girl started mockingly. "Yes, I am aware that there is a book and movie about us, and they are surprisingly accurate and actually rather enjoyable. But that's beside the point. In the year 1900, a little girl named Dorothy fell out of a tornado, dropped her house on a wicked witch, and in doing so, changed Oz forever. Yes, she did encounter a scarecrow and a tin man and a lion. Yes, they ventured to the Emerald City and had a jolly old time of it all. But that is where the similarities between your story and ours ends - and the truth lies in our version of the tale.

"The wizard refused to help Dorothy return home. He also refused to give the scarecrow brains, the tin man a heart, or the lion courage. He was, in fact, a cruel dictator, and didn't want Dorothy to spread tales of Oz outside of this world because he was afraid of Earthen leaders finding and conquering it. He didn't want the scarecrow to become intelligent enough to teach his victims to fight back. Giving the tin man a heart would mean he would feel sympathy for those affected by the wizard's cruelty. And if the lion had courage, he could attack the wizard then and there!

"So Dorothy had to forge her own way home, finding her friends the objects of their hearts' desires and stirring up a little rebellion in the process. Everyone thought that afterwards, the wizard was gone for good - she was as thorough with him as she was with the two wicked witches! But his evil minions have somehow been escaping our imprisonment to travel goodness-knows-where. We believe that the wizard may be rising again. That's why we needed you. We believe that you know where Dorothy is."

My eyes widened. "You're...you're telling me that Oz is real?" I stared at everything around me in shock. "Is this Oz?"

"Yes," the girl confirmed. "Welcome, I suppose." Her tone was dryly sarcastic.

"We...are in Oz. As in, the wonderful wizard of Oz."

"Not so wonderful," the girl muttered.

"So who are you?"

The girl smiled slightly, her stern facade finally breaking. "Why, I'm Dorothy's granddaughter."

I physically stepped backwards. "You're Dorothy's granddaughter?"

"Yes."

"I - I - "

"Do you know where Dorothy is?"

"Why would I know where Dorothy is? She would be over a hundred years old by now, and that's if I believe this story! I hate to break it to you, but she's probably dead."

The girl cocked her head. "Do you not know Didi Clark?"

My jaw dropped. "D - Didi Clark is Dorothy?"

"The spell that I performed should have taken me directly to the person most strongly connected to Dorothy - I didn't want to shock Grandmother at her elderly age. How do you know Didi?"

My mouth opened and closed until finally I managed to force out the words.

"Didi Clark is my grandmother."

*

The strange girl had led me into the nearby cottage after our conversation. Now, she bustled around the cozy, old-fashioned kitchen, preparing tea of some sort. I stared silently at the top of the table at which I was seated, tracing my finger over the grains as I tried to understand what was happening to me.

"What's your name?" the girl finally asked, seeming almost apprehensive about speak to me.

"Callie," I replied dazedly, my focus shattered by the multitude of questions running through my mind. "And yours?"

"I'm Kipper."

"Like the fish?" I blurted before I could think my response through. Kipper scowled, obviously having heard this one before.

"No, not like the fish. Like a human girl."

I wanted to ask who her parents were, who would cruelly name their baby after a fish, but refrained from doing so. "So...we're cousins? Kind of?" I asked instead, unable to stop focusing on this piece of information. Of course, I was far more confused by the fact that I was in the world of Oz, just as Dorothy - my grandmother? - had once been, but I was focusing on the more manageable of revelations for the moment.

"In a way," Kipper agreed. She pushed her springy black curls out of her face and poured two cups of tea. "Milk? Sugar?"

I had only drank tea a couple of times in my life, and wasn't sure what I really prefered, or if I even liked the beverage. "All of it," I replied as firmly as possible, hoping that would sweeten it enough for my tastes. Kipper nodded wordlessly and followed my command, placing the sweetened tea in front of me. I took a sip and blinked in surprise, eyes widening at the incredibly strange but not unpleasing taste. "What is this?" I asked wonderingly, eagerly taking another swig.

"Family recipe," Kipper said, tapping the side of her nose knowingly. "A secret ingredient."

"Well, since I'm technically part of your family now..." I trailed off, raising my eyebrows and grinning.

Kipper smiled as well. "I probably should have done more research about what the spell would do before bringing you here."

"Kidnapping me, more like," I corrected her, but there was a note of humor in my voice. "You just grabbed me and pulled me into a closet! And right after I found the shoes, too!"

Kipper's eyes widened and she flew to her feet with a slight gasp. "You have the shoes?"

Frowning in confusion, I stood, displaying the gorgeous red shoes. "Yeah. They were in my grandmother's attic."

Kipper pressed a hand to her forehead. "Oh, goodness." I thought she was upset until she turned to me with another dazzling smile. "Now we're sure to prevail!"

"Okay, wait," I said, holding out my hands. "What do these shoes have to do with fighting the wizard?"

"Those shoes are extremely powerful, Callie, but dangerous as well. Haven't you read the book? Watched the movie? Death follows them wherever they go - so let's take them right to the wizard!" She clapped her hands excitedly, as if she was talking about receiving a good grade and not murdering someone.

"How - how exactly are we going to fight the wizard?" I asked tentatively. Then, I shook my head and scoffed. It was such a ridiculous sentence, one that I could never have foreseen myself saying.

"You're on board, then? Good," Kipper said briskly. "Well, to begin with, I'm going to need to teach you some things."