Disclaimer, the usual.
As the winter weather came into full gear and the holiday season started. Kansas very shortly found itself covered in a blanket of deep snow. Packets were sent to the homes of everyone to keep up with school work. Betsy and Trot were over often getting help from Aislynn with the work. Dorothy had still kept Oz a secret from them, as she couldn't think of a good way to explain it to them. Alex still had the large blister on his leg which he consistently complained was causing him pain. Eliza was still staying with the Teaks and so far, no arguments had occurred that dorothy was aware of. Every now and again Ellie would drop by if she wasn't busy working on the packet with her father. And sometimes she would go to Oz and help Glinda with things. now dorothy found herself sitting on the couch in the living room with toto asleep on her lap. While Betsy, Trot, and Aislynn were sitting at the dining room table working on some of the work. Her aunt and uncle had left with their kids a few hours ago, to get a checkup and a flu shot at the hospital. And she was beginning to get bored before Betsy relieved the monotony.
"Hey dorothy?" Betsy asked curiously.
"yes Betsy?" Dorothy replied.
"where were you the other week? You just sort of vanished, ace here said you were with some friends, but she wouldn't go into more detail than that." Betsy asked curiously.
"Betsy, your mom says it's not polite to poke into other people's business." Trot said.
"Betsy, there are things you and trot will learn about me in time, but right now is not that time, anyways, it sounds like auntie Em and uncle henry are back." Dorothy said carefully moving toto from her lap.
As her aunt and uncle came into the house with the triplets toto immediately got up and barked loudly. The cats were also woken from their little huddle in the corner.
"man, the doctor's office was full up today, so many cases of the sniffles and the flu already." Em said helping her kids with their jackets.
"so, you had fun then?" Aislynn asked.
"oh definitely, thrill a minute." Henry said.
"have you three been doing school work the entire time?" Em asked curiously.
"yes." The three of them replied.
Em smiled and walked over to dorothy.
"what about you sweetie?" Em asked.
"I've been sitting here, bored out of my mind, was alex at the hospital today?" Dorothy asked.
"yes actually, he's getting the blister drained today, and getting a physical exam." Em said.
Dorothy said nothing, she simply sighed. Alex hadn't been around recently, he actually spent a lot of time resting.
"Well, I should be getting home, dad's going to need help setting up the Christmas tree, I see you guys have a nice one, but dad went out to a farm earlier and I imagine he must be back by now." Betsy said.
"I think I'll stay here till my mom calls." Trot said.
"if that's what you want to do, Mr. and Mrs. Gale, thank you for letting me come over." Betsy said getting up from her chair and walking over to the coat rack.
"feel free to come over any time Betsy." Em said.
Betsy smiled and bade goodbye to everyone before putting on her jacket and scarf and leaving. The triplets then walked up to the couch and climbed up onto it.
"I find it funny how the three of them get along so well." Trot said getting up and stretching.
"they perfect siblings." Aislynn said.
"no matter what happens they have each other." Dorothy said.
"two perfect sisters." Alicia and amber said.
"and a perfect brother." Robert said.
"it will take a lot to separate them, school might be difficult, since they don't normally allow siblings to be in the same class." Em said chuckling.
"yet they let Donna and Alex be in the same classroom and they're cousins." Dorothy said.
"That's different." Em said.
"Dorothy, when can we go to Oz again?" Amber asked curiously causing dorothy to shush her.
"What's Oz?" Trot asked curiously
Dorothy sighed and looked at her aunt and uncle. Then she turned to Aislynn who had gone pale.
"Oz is not a what, it is a where." Dorothy said with a sigh.
"well, where is it?" Trot asked.
"in all honesty, I haven't a clue." Dorothy said as Madeline appeared in the room causing everyone to jump.
"Well, at least one of them has been told." Madeline said.
Dorothy would have glared at Madeline had she not known what she was thinking at that very moment. Dorothy sighed and got up. Walking to her bedroom she grabbed the slippers and the scepter and returned to the living room.
"We didn't know how to tell you and Betsy about it, but you're more likely to believe in Oz than she is." Dorothy said sliding her feet into the slippers.
Trot said nothing, her heart was still racing from the shock of Madeline just appearing in the room. Aislynn snapped her fingers in front of trots eyes a few times till she eventually regained her composure.
"Oz is a fairy land, full of majestic, beautiful, and sometimes dangerous creatures, it's got many beautiful countries, and just about anything can happen, but I think it's best if we just show you." Madeline said a knock came on the front door.
Dorothy immediately walked over to the door and opened it. Mrs. Griffiths was standing before her covered in snow.
"Claire, I thought you were going to call first?" Em asked.
"I was, but I had been at the bobbin's place when Betsy got home, am I interrupting something?" she asked?
"well, um, Mrs. Griffiths, no time to explain really." Dorothy said as the scepter began to glow brightly.
As if on instinct dorothy grabbed her wrist just in time to feel herself lurch forward. As the colors whizzed past her, she couldn't even think about the dizzy feeling that was welling inside her, but she was paying attention to the knot forming in her stomach as she had just inadvertently been forced to reveal Oz to two people in no less than 10 minutes. As she felt her feet touch the ground she found herself falling forward only to be steadied by Mrs. Griffiths, who, though completely shocked by what had just happened was still keeping her composure. A few seconds later, Trot, Madeline and Aislynn appeared, Trot, though turning a little green from the transport seemed to be okay. Looking around the room she found that she was back at the chambers of the emerald city. When she turned around however she found Glinda behind her smiling.
"What just, where are we?" Mrs. Griffiths asked breaking the silence.
"Welcome to Oz." Dorothy said.
"What?" she asked.
"dorothy, I'll explain it, you go find the others." Glinda said.
"I'll go get Wendell and Morris." Madeline said.
However as if to answer her call there was a ding, and suddenly a metal cage service elevator appeared baring Wendell in it.
"did you really have to bring the elevator?" Madeline asked.
"I can use it to go anywhere, so why not?" Wendell asked.
Dorothy shook her head and was about to leave the chambers when Morris ran in.
"Oh, boss, there you are, Jack wanted me to tell, oh, new company, goody." Morris said.
Dorothy sighed and ran out of the chambers, and almost instantly into scarecrow.
"Whoa, slow down kiddo, is something on fire?" Scarecrow asked.
"no, we have some new friends in the chambers, can you get Tin Man and Lion?" Dorothy asked.
"sure thing kiddo." Scarecrow said turning around and walking in the opposite direction of where he had been going.
Dorothy sighed and walked to the bedroom of the china princess and marshal mallow. Knocking on the door it immediately opened and she found the china princess instructing her husband how to cut paper snowflakes.
"oh, dorothy, I didn't know you were back in the city." The china princess said.
"you're, making paper snowflakes?" Dorothy asked.
"everyone needs a hobby, for me, it's crafts, for marshal, it's being the one in charge." The china princess replied.
"okay then, anyways, we have some new friends in the chambers, you should go greet them, and if you see wiser, let him know, I have to go get Ozma." Dorothy said.
"Oh, new comrades?" Marshal Mallow asked.
"sure." Dorothy said.
"Your majesty, we well go right away." The china princess said giggling.
Dorothy sighed and left the room, stopping next at Ozma's. as she approached the door it opened an Ozma walked out running right into dorothy.
"oh, dorothy, I thought I heard someone in the hall, I'm sorry I should have been more careful." Ozma said.
"it's all right Ozma, actually I was coming to get you." Dorothy said.
"oh, have the new friends arrived?" Ozma asked.
"did you plan this?" dorothy asked.
"mostly, how did they find out?" Ozma asked.
"amber let it slip." Dorothy said
"so, who do we have?" Ozma asked.
"Trot and her mother, but, better question, what about Betsy and her parents?" Dorothy asked.
"well, the bobbins will find out soon, but I think we should let trot ease Betsy into it." Ozma said.
Dorothy nodded and sighed. Ozma smiled and hugged dorothy tightly before running off. Dorothy let out a longer sigh and went to her room. Going to the closet she found a nice tiara that looked like it had been laid out for her to wear in this event.
"Dorothy, how do you get yourself into these situations?" dorothy asked herself.
As she left her room she immediately began to start worrying again. she wasn't sure if it was the fact that she had to bring Mrs. Griffiths with her. or if she was worrying about alex, or the fact that she had just remember that she still had to get a flu shot. Her mind was running at a thousand miles a minute, and the next thing she knew she was sitting in a chair next to a potted plant. She felt very dizzy and nauseas. Leaning against the scepter she caught her breath. As she continued her way back to the chambers she overheard the explanation that Madeline was giving them.
"and eventually Ozma was crowned queen of Oz." Madeline said.
"and I was crowned a princess." Dorothy said walking into the chambers.
"Should we be bowing in your presence then?" Trot asked as her mother just stood there, shocked.
"please, do not, to you and your mother, I just want to be dorothy, I hate it when people call me your majesty and bow and curtsey, these guys all do it as a bit of a joke, but it's rather irritating." Dorothy said.
"oh, come on kiddo you know it's all in fun." Scarecrow said.
"yes, yes, you know we would never do anything that would hurt you, that would make me feel miserable." Tin man said oiling his neck.
"Metal mouth's right dorothy, we wouldn't intentionally hurt you." Lion said.
"so, have introductions already been done?" dorothy asked.
"the condensed version, Madeline can speak rather quickly, but I think I understood most of it." Trot said.
"I'll need some more explanation." Mrs. Griffiths said not even looking at her.
"I think she's in shock." Ozma said.
Dorothy sighed and walked over to Mrs. Griffiths.
"I know it's a lot to take in, I'm sorry for dragging you into this, but it saves me the trouble of explaining why I just vanished, by taking you with me." Dorothy said.
"I-I-it's all right dear, it's just, I've read so many stories about lands like these, I never thought I'd end up in one." Mrs. Griffiths said.
"but what about Betsy?" Aislynn asked.
"I think trot should be the one to tell her." Ozma said.
"why me?" trot asked.
"you're her best friend." Ozma replied.
"What about her parents?" Dorothy asked.
"Glinda is taking care of them, Betsy is blissfully unaware." Madeline said.
"Maddie, you didn't put her to sleep, did you?" dorothy automatically asked.
"no, she's in her bedroom right now, going over her school work, making sure she didn't leave out anything." Madeline said.
Dorothy shook her head and turned around to find Wendell holding a cup of tea up to her. dorothy smiled and took it, handing it to Mrs. Griffiths.
"thanks." She said taking it and taking a sip.
Dorothy smiled and turned to Wendell.
"Where are the girls?" she asked.
"well, I seem to recall seeing Alyssa and Elena heading to the business district, Brianna is in the kitchen with wiser, and the others, I'm not sure where they are." Wendell said.
It was then that trot's face lit up. She called Wendell over. She immediately whispered something into his ear.
"of course, but why?" he asked.
Trot whispered the response.
"the elevator can travel between worlds, but I don't, oh I get it, no I don't have to be in it myself for it to work, and I can conjure more than one, it's a little trick I picked up from a friend." He replied.
Dorothy shook her head, she wasn't sure what trot was planning but she knew she definitely didn't trust that elevator of Wendell's.
So, what is trot's plan to bring Betsy to Oz? find out in the next chapter.
