Dorothy was 12 in the last chapter (a couple months after her first Oz visit), and now both Beth and Dorothy are 19. Think young Idina Menzel for Beth. I just thought of her that way.

(Beth's POV)

I woke up to sunlight streaming through the window. A comforting sight, considering I had just woken up from a sad and weird dream. Putting on my favorite pair of overalls (Aunt Em let me wear them on the farm, but she always made Dorothy wear a dress), I went downstairs to the rest of the family. Aunt Em had cooked pancakes, as a special treat.

"Good morning, Beth! How are you?" Em said cheerfully.

"Very well, thank you. Although, I had a weird dream last night."

"What was it about, child?"

I sat down at the table, stabbing my pancakes thoughtfully. "I saw a girl, about age five, and she was in someplace dark. Out of nowhere, some man came and struck her with light."

Em frowned, concerned. "Light?"

"Yes, light." I said, blushing "Everything went dark. I saw some lady dressed in white muttering something to her, then I saw her among a very happy family."

"Strange dream." Dorothy remarked.

"Don't worry Beth, it was just a dream. Besides, we're celebrating today!" Em said.

After breakfast, Dorothy and I sailed through our farm chores, counting down to the hour when Aunt Em would take us to the town. There, we would window shop and I could sign up for the upcoming box social. "I still don't know why you want anything to do with would you want to have lunch with a boy?" Dorothy remarked.

"It'll be fun! And it's not like I'm marrying anybody!" I retorted. Dorothy rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out playfully. I stuck my tongue out right back at her, but I understood why she was this way. Last week, a group of boys were bullying her, and it really got to Dorothy. I tried my best to stick up for my (almost) sister, but I couldn't save her from them all the time.

Despite the painful memory, we had a grand time. Since we had saved up our money, I got a copy of Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the opera, and Dorothy got a small monkey figurine. I suspected it had something to do with Oz, but I didn't know what. After a long day of fun, we headed back toward home.

We were on the roads at the edge of the town, when the tornado alarm sounded. I immediately started to panic. I have never gotten used to tornadoes, and I swear I would probably go batty if Dorothy wasn't there to calm me down. Only this time, we had no storm cellar to run to. Aunt Em frantically led us back to town for shelter, but a man stopped us. "There's no time to go back!" He shouted "You won't make it! Get into the ditches on the sides of the road, they're safe!" Aunt Em hollered a thank you and we scrambled into the ditch for dear life. Dorothy grabbed me, and we prayed the twister would pass soon. It got closer and closer until it was almost on top of us.

By now, Dorothy and I were suffocating each other, our eyes squeezed shut. From what I felt debris was flying everywhere, and the cyclone winds were blowing our world apart. Aunt Em seemed miles away. "I feel like I'm being sucked away! What are we gonna do?" Dorothy yelled.

"I don't know! Where is Aunt Em?" I shouted. Suddenly the tornado became much more intense. Was it trying to wipe us off of the earth? Dorothy and I screamed, as a flash of light blinded us….

….

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa….huh?"

I realized the air was still again. Was the twister gone that fast? Slowly, I opened my eyes, and saw little men and women staring at us. They were accompanied by a lady wearing a giant pink dress and a tall silver crown. She was smiling warmly at us, as if strangers turned up every day in wherever we were. "Dorothy?" I said. She was still had a tight grip on me, but she was now looking around, slowly letting go. She was as bewildered as I was.

I glanced back at the crowd of dwarfs that had more or less greeted us.

"Um, hi?" I said.

The lady in pink stepped forward. "Hello, who might you be?" she asked.

"I'm Elizabeth, but you can call me Beth."

"Hello, Beth. You must be Dorothy's friend, correct?"

I was shocked. How was Dorothy already known here? "Wait, how do you know Dorothy?"

"Don't you know? You're in Oz." Glinda replied, gesturing to the landscape. Looking around, there were tiny houses in all different colors, and Dorothy and I were on a road of yellow brick that stretched to the town center. Dorothy turned back to us and curtsied to Glinda.

"Miss Glinda, why are we back in Oz? Is there another wicked witch to kill?" Dorothy asked.

Glinda suddenly became very severe. "Not exactly. You see, there is a new threat to Oz. His forces of darkness can only be defeated by the Lost Princess of Oz, and by chance, it seems you two have been chosen to be two of the Guardians."

"Wait a minute." I said "We weren't chosen. We don't even know what this evil is."

"You were chosen, at the moment you came. The prophecy states that two of the guardians will come from another faraway world. They will join with three others to find the princess. For now though, your injuries must be attended to."

I looked down at my arms and legs and saw fragments from the storm had battered and cut us mercilessly.

"Thank you." I said, and the Munchkins (for that was who they were) led us away to clean and bind our wounds. Later, we were taken to the border of Munchkinland and were met again by lady Glinda. She gave us a map of Oz and the surrounding countries, a spell book, and provisions for our trip.

"Follow the yellow brick road, and you shall come to the Emerald City. From there, you will meet your old friends, the other three Guardians."

Dorothy gasped. "Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion?"

"Yes. With them, you must travel to the outer regions of Oz and find the princess. These gifts will help you find her."

"Thank you." I said.

With a few more goodbyes from the Munchkins, we set out on the Yellow Brick Road.