For the following week, Anthony, Argy, Natalee, and Ben were closing the distance between them and the invisible castle of Mombi Noskilwin. The evil Queen in waiting. Her only obstacles were Bens remaining existence, and Ozma's unwillingness to secede from her crown. Mombi was quickly loosing patience, and even faster loosing faith in her leader of the Bone Army, the Skeletones. She was dressed in a huge black thick cloak made of tortured Unicorn's wings, and wore her bell sleeved red dress with the pointy gold crown. You see, when such an innately charming and good-natured creature such as a Unicorn is tortured, it turns black, and the goodness is discarded, leaving a rotten, tarnished shell. She was furious and had recently returned from a rather informative meeting with the Mirror of Mirrors in the Cloud Swamp.

"What did it tell you Mombi?" Asked Lousepher. Mombi looked at him with a completely disgusted and infuriated face.

"It said I am still not yet strong enough to take the crown of the Emerald City. And that stealing the souls of other lives is no longer good enough. I will give you one last chance Lousepher." He for once was afraid. Mombi was walking closer to him, and the ugly black cape made her even more menacing.

"Anything you desire," Lousepher quietly agreed to let her continue.

"Have you found Ben? Did you capture him or weaken his advances to my castle? Elphaba help you should you tell me no, OR! That you have attacked Glinda without my order!" She yelled, the cloak twitched and writhed on her shoulders. Lousepher refused to answer from fear of what she could do to him. "WHERE…IS HE?" Mombi yelled so loud her throat felt like it was being burned.

"He was last seen… Stopping at Lake Chorge with Natalee. Stella Jinjuria wanted you to know that Natalee has returned not with out powers of her own… She has the power to bring loved ones back from the dead," Lousepher ashamedly reported. Mombi grabbed the dagger on the end table beside her. She screamed with anger and the walls of the mock palace shook with fear. Even the Clouds above turned blacker in the grim moment. Lousepher now scared for his cursed life spread his wings and tried to walk backwards away from the enraged Mombi. Mombi knew if she could capture Natalee, she could bring back the great agitator's of Oz's past like Roquat, or Langwidere, or worse…However, her only issue with that is now even if she does kill Ben, Natalee can bring him back easier than was necessary to kill him. Lousepher figured as much, and could not make eye contact with her. She backhanded him so hard; his boney skull cracked, and like the head of an Owl, turned all the way around.

"YOU'RE THROUGH! YOU HAVE FAILED ME, FOR THE LAST TIME!" Mombi with all her raging might threw the dagger, into Lousepher's chest, and held him up above the floor higher than her own height. She opened her mouth and stared staring at his closed eyes, and began to steal Lousepher's own soul. The palace shook and the floor rumbled, loose glasses and vials and books fell off the shelves, lights flickered and outlets sparked. Then with a final rush of new energy in Mombi, she dropped his empty useless body, and fell to the ground exhausted. She moaned in awkward discomfort. Her stomach ached and her head was splitting, her heart slowed down drastically, and then stopped. No, she was not dead; there was a change to be done after taking the Grim Reaper's own soul. She now not only has all her own powers, but now those of him as well. The dagger turned to sand and went away. Mombi stood up; her crown grew taller and sharper, and now had black pearls on each triangular point. Her dress slowly appeared as a human bleeds through a white shirt turning it red, her red dress shed the red dye and turned it black with diamonds scattered all about. The neck was now more hidden as the feathery cloak grew a collar that curved behind her neck and head like the head of a King Cobra. Or in this case, Queen Cobra. To complete her new image, there was a trident hanging decoratively above her mantle where an enormous human tall fireplace roared. The trident fell off the wall and grew to be proportionally as tall as she was. The three prongs were replaced with ribs from Lousepher. The middle prong was a blade; it was the tallest of the three, and the deadliest. Surely, Mombi was now a full-blown Witch. A Witch of Death specifically. It is important to note that Mombi even though now is immensely powerful, and presumably unstoppable, she is not as esteemed immortal. Mombi woke up and still weak from the transformation that happened after she killed Lousepher crawled serpent-like and grabbed the silver trident. The amount of energy she had just acquired from Lousepher alone was incredible. She tried to drink form the Forbidden Fountain, but the water turned black, and refused to go down her throat, and fell out of the goblet as rocks to the ground. Mombi chuckled deeply and darkly, liking the amount of her new powers. She turned away from the Mirror throwing the goblet down, and made a vow.

"Make no mistake about it. I will give that wretched boy the Witch Mother he deserves," The mirror frowned, and in a disapproving manner, shut its self down. Mombi did not care, she was too powerful to pretend to notice, and she aimed the prongs of the trident.

Simultaneously, Ozma before Mombi made herself a Witch accidentally, was outside with Lady Glinda on her balcony, watching the clouds darken on the horizon. They were above the geographical spot in Oz where Mombi's castle was.

"Glinda we need to let Natalee know she can't continue this mission with Ben and Anthony. If Mombi learns her power, she will certainly capture her, Lurline only knows what will wait for her in that awful place." Ozma was stressing, and knew Mombi very well, better than even Glinda did.

"Natalee is not closed minded, she knows the risk of the mission. And I can assure you even if I were to tell her of the risk assuming she doesn't already know what it is, she would deny my request for her to return to your Palace. My Lady? Ozma what is the matter?" Glinda placed her hand under Ozma's chin trying to feel both temperature and pulse. Ozma began breathing heavily and quickly, and then began crying. Her emerald rings turned black and Glinda's Pearl necklace, the one that turns black to expose lies, lit bright red like blood, and they both looked out into the distance. At this moment Mombi was stealing Lousepher's soul. An act so evil, dark, and far worse than the rumored Kumbric Witch's acts, that they both were actually feeling an aftershock of sorts.

"Glinda, it's Mombi, she's killed her own ally, Lousepher and took his powers. You must go warn Ben and Anthony, all of them. Go now and hurry or we should be too late."

"What about you? Madame Ozma I will not abandon my Queen when there is much to protect you from here as well," Glinda tried to protest,

"No, I need you there with them, please, do as I say we haven't got much time and I can take care of my self, but they will need your help in any moment," Ozma stood and in a small gold spark summoned her glorious staff of power. Glinda did the same, and then ran out down to the stables behind the Palace near the fountain. Transportation by bubble would be off-limits for the time being, Mombi would now surely be able to intercept and pop the bubble. An act which would seriously injure and possibly dismember Lady Glinda.

Anthony, Ben, Argy, and Natalee had finally reached the half way point and for the night, decided to make camp at Lake Chorge, a good refreshing swim could occur for them as well. To their horror, the new Witch Mombi was about to return.