Once in Oz 1.3

Pan knelt where Felix and Toodles had fallen through, placing one hand on the ground.  He could barely feel any residual magic. 

“What was that?” one of the Lost Boys asked.

“A portal,” he answered, his eyes half closed.  “The question is, where did it take them.”

No, he thought, drawing back his hand.  Why not the Enchanted Forest, or even Wonderland?  Anywhere would be better than there. 

“Oz,” he answered, standing.  “Of all places-“ He stopped and kicked at a rock.

“Can’t you send the shadow to bring them back?”

“No, Oz is closed to me now,” Pan said.  He looked around at the other boys, his pensive expression replaced by a more optimistic one.  “Don’t worry, lads.  Felix can handle most anything; they’ll be fine.  I’ll think of some way to get them back.”

Some of them nodded, others continued to stare at the ground as if they expected another portal to appear and swallow them too. 

Pan picked his spear up off the ground.  “Come on boys, let’s get back to camp.”

They started back through the forest.

“Are they really going to be all right?” Jonathan asked in a low tone.

Pan nodded.  “They’ll be fine.  As long as they don’t go to Glinda.”

                                                  . . .

“I have an idea,” Toodles said.  “Let’s find Glinda.  She’s supposed to be good.  She should know a way to get us home.”

“The Good Witch of the North?” Natalie said, raising an eyebrow.

“South,” Toodles corrected.

“Either way,” she said, “that’s not where we are.  And I can’t even find the yellow brick road.  Of course, the monkeys don’t let me get very far.”

“So first we have to get the monkeys on our side.”

“Don’t they work for a wicked witch?”

“Only because she has the magic hat.  They have to obey whoever owns it,” Toodles said.

“How do you know that?” Natalie asked.

“It was in the book,” he said, looking at her incredulously.

“Oh, I forgot there were books.”

“How do you know about Oz then?”

“I’ve seen the movie a few times,” she answered.

Toodles eyes widened.  “They made a movie?”

Natalie nodded.

“With sound?”

“Mmhmm.”

“And color?”

“Yes.”

“Anyway, about the monkeys,” Felix interrupted.

“Right,” Toodles said.  “We’ll have to find the witch’s castle and steal her hat.  Once it’s ours, we can make the monkeys do whatever we want.”  He turned to Natalie.  “You haven’t happened to see a castle while you’ve been here have you?”

She shook her head.  “I haven’t seen any buildings at all.”

Toodles nodded, thought for a second, then shrugged.  “Then we’ll just have to start walking.  Eventually we’ll either find our way out of this part of the country or the witch’s castle.”

“Ok,” Natalie said.  “Just let me get another stick first.  The monkeys will probably come back.”

                                                      . . .

Natalie tested the weight of her new weapon.  She now carried a tree branch the size of a walking stick, which the boys had helped her pull off a tree.  Then, Felix had brought out a buck bone knife, which must have had at least an eight inch blade, and cut off all the smaller twigs growing out of it.  This would definitely be of more use than the branches and rocks she had been using to fend the creatures off.

She wasn’t quite sure what to make of her new companions.  Toodles, more than a head shorter than herself, with wavy brown hair and a smile she had yet to see disappear was friendly and seemed good natured enough.  Felix was quieter, or at least had been so far, and harder to read.  She tried to blame her uneasiness about him on the scar running across his face from the middle of his forehead nearly to his jaw.  It was just years of media stereotypes telling her men with scars were up to no good.  Still, she thought, I’ll keep my eyes on him.  She was also having trouble with the idea that they should both be dead.  But even with her misgivings, she was glad for their company.  This wasn’t the type of place she wanted to travel in alone. 

The monkeys at least were more wary now that there were three of them.  They had been walking most of the day and hadn’t run into any again. 

“Look.” Toodles pointed ahead.  “That’s got to be where the wicked witch lives.”

Just coming into view was a large house, surrounded by a high stone wall.  Natalie didn’t think it was quite a castle, but it was close. 

“What kind of witch are we dealing with?” Felix asked. 

“I don’t really know,” Toodles answered, pausing.  “The book never really said much about her powers. Oh well,” he shrugged and started walking again, “she can’t be as bad as the Dark One.”

“So you two have had experience with witches before then?” she asked.

“Sort of,” Toodles said.  “Besides, the Dark One is much worse than a witch.”

“It’ll be dark by the time we get there,” Felix said, mentally measuring the distance between them and the castle.  “I don’t much like the idea of going up against any kind of witch in the dark.”

“Maybe we’ll be lucky and she’ll be asleep,” Toodles said.  “Then we can take the hat and go before she knows we were there.”

It’s never that easy in the stories, Natalie thought, but kept it to herself.