Part of this World

Sapphire City

Meanwhile, the Wicked Witch was still spying on Lori and her friends. "I think I know how to get those slippers," she smirked.

Meanwhile, with Lori and her friends...

"I don't know about being swept up in that tornado and coming here, but this has to be the most gratifying day of my life—Dorothy's too," Lori smiled. "It turned out my mother is the Good Witch of the North."

"You're the daughter of a Good Witch?" Sebastian asked.

"It looks that way," Lori said, sitting down. "She died in a tornado when I was ten, and she said she came here and became the Good Witch of the North. Momma was an amazing woman, and she still is."

As Lori continued to talk about her mother, a pile of seaweed came up to her. Suddenly, the diamond on her bracelet beeped and turned red.

"What's that?" Scuttle asked.

"I don't know," Lori said.

"Lori, look out!" Starr warned.

Lori jumped to her feet in shock, and it turned out that the Wicked Witch was in the seaweed.

"You haven't seen the last of me!" the Wicked Witch growled. But then she realized that she smelled rotten. "Oh, not my best idea ever." Then she disappeared.

"That was close," Lori said. "We'd better hurry and get to that Wizard." She and her friends went down the road.

It was yet another long walk, but then the group saw a bright blue light in the sky.

"There's Sapphire City!" Lori gasped. "We're almost there at last! It's so beautiful. He really must be a wonderful wizard to live there."

"Let's go," Sebastian smiled.

The group went down the road, and it was yet another long walk, but they finally made it to the entrance.

"We're here!" Lori beamed.

"We finally made it to the Sapphire City!" Scuttle smiled.

"Next stop: the Wizard of Oz!" Starr cheered.

Lori rang the bell, and the guard came out.

"Yes, how may I help?" the guard asked.

"We've come to see the Wizard," Lori said.

"The Wizard?" the guard asked. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, we have to see the Wizard—not only did the Good Witch of the North send me here, but she's also my mother," Lori declared.

That caught the guard...well, off guard. "Is she?" he gasped. "Well, bust my buttons! You really do look like her! That's the horse of a different color! Come on in!"

The guard opened the gates to the Sapphire City, and a cabby came up with a horse-ridden carriage.

"Just what you're looking for—I'll take you anywhere in the city," the cabby smiled.

"Can you take us to see the Wizard?" Lori asked, holding Dorothy in her arms.

"The Wizard?" the cabby gasped. "Sure, but first, I'll take you to a place where you can get cleaned up."

"Thanks so much," Lori smiled. "We've been traveling for so long, and..." Then she saw that the horse had turned green. "What kind of horse is that? I've never seen a horse like that before."

"No, and you never will," the cabby chuckled. "There's only one of him, and he's it."

The cabby drove the carriage through the city, and Lori saw that the horse had turned pink. By the time the carriage stopped in front of a salon, the horse had turned green. Lori and her friends entered the salon. Starr and Sebastian were each in a tin tub of water to cool down, Scuttle was getting his feathers fluffed, Dorothy was having her fur brushed, and Lori was having an Aloe Vera rub down. She even got her hair styled like her mother's. By the time the group was ready, they went off to a building where the Wizard was. Once they were inside, they saw the Wizard inside a crystal ball.

"I am Oz, the Great and Powerful," the Wizard declared. "Who might you be?"

"I am Lori Prescott," Lori spoke up.

"And I know all about you," the Wizard declared. "A tornado blew you, your cat, and your music shop here, and you wish to go home to Kansas. Scuttle wishes for a brain, Sebastian a heart, and Starr courage."

Lori and her friends were rather surprised.

"Can you help us please?" Lori asked.

"Indeed, but I need you to do me a task first," the Wizard declared. "Please bring me the seashell necklace of the Wicked Witch of the West."

Lori was horrified at that—she knew that the Wicked Witch was after the ruby slippers, but there was no choice.