Disclaimer, you know.

As dorothy lay on the couch in the living room, Ozma sat on the floor watching the triplets silently play, alongside the cats and toto. She reflected how mentally exhausted she was. It was only the first day of the standardized testing and there were still two days left of it too go. She dozed but in the bizarre state between sleeping and being awake she could only see her desk, and the papers that had been on it.

Read the question, check. Do the work, check. Double check the work, check. fill in the bubble on the paper, scribble, scribble, scribble. Oh, the pencil wore down or broke. need sharpen it, scribble, scribble, scribble. Rinse repeat until your brain is completely fried, salt and pepper to taste.

This was going through her head along with the egg analogy from the discussion about standardized testing. It didn't make her giggle or give her any amusement. It would be more accurate to say that it left her feeling a little more on edge.

When she had gotten up that morning, she found alex already awake and dressed, the rain had mostly let up, but there had been occasional low rumbles of thunder. Dorothy had insisted that this time he bring the scepter with him for the sake of his own protection. But now found herself wishing that he was here with it. he had extended the offer to Ozma to join him, but she had declined saying that it be best if at least one of them remained at the house for when dorothy came home. And while she was glad for the company, the two of them found themselves in agreement that neither knew how to fully cope with this situation.

Alex had, as far as Annabella had made her aware during what little she had seen of both him and her that day. Apologized profusely to their mother for what had transpired the previous evening. Which to dorothy came as a relief, but even taking solace in that didn't help take her mind off the testing.

"Unable to nap, since I have testing on the mind." Dorothy said groaning.

"And not wanting to stay awake for the same reason." Ozma added nodding, "I looked in on the testing earlier using some magic, how do you all manage to get through that on a regular basis?" she asked curiously.

"Usually with an extreme amount of reluctant stubbornness." Dorothy sighed and then looked down at them, "and usually with several months of schooling behind us."

"I mean, it's a fair argument." Aislynn said from the table, "we usually don't do standardized testing until later in the year and so our brains aren't well acclimated too it."

At that moment the phone rang. Aislynn got up and answered it.

"Gale residence." Aislynn said as she held it to her ear. "Oh, Eliza? What's wrong?"

Dorothy sat bolt upright at this, and Ozma looked over as well. Three times in a week that something had gone wrong was a terrible track record, and whatever it was justified a phone call.

"Dorothy, Eliza needs to talk to you" Aislynn said, her eyes wide open, seemingly unsure what to say about whatever Eliza had told her.

Dorothy quickly got up and walked over, her heart pounding. What could have possibly happened to alex this time? Her mind racing at a thousand miles a minute. Her heart still pounding to the point where she could hear it. she took the phone.

"Eliza?" was the only thing she said.

"Dorothy, we have a situation." Eliza said sounding very shaky, "I don't know what alex did, or tried to do, but the scepter's gone on the fritz." She said.

"What?" dorothy asked worriedly,

Not long earlier.

It had been half passed noon when the two of them arrived at the house. Eliza had been sat on the porch as was waiting for them as her parents came out the front.

"I've only ever seen this place from the outside and only once." Alex said looking at it

"Drove him by here after we got him discharged from the hospital." Mr. teak said.

"And you brought the scepter, I assume on the off-chance lightning decides to strike twice?" Eliza asked curiously.

"Dorothy insisted, and I can't say I disagree." Alex said looking at her.

"Look, al, I don't I can…" she was cut off by him.

"Apologize enough for…" and he was cut off by his father.

"Look, you two, I know exactly where this is about to go, and none of us want any arguments, who does it help?" he asked curiously.

"Sorry." They both said.

And with that they entered the house. As alex looked around, he noticed how the place seemed to be held frozen in a specific point in time. As though once dorothy had left it for the last time and his family had taken over taking care of the place, that nothing was changed, nothing was touched. It all looked immaculate. Looking into the sitting room, the color scheme reminded him of the sitting room at gale hall and wondered if they had taken inspiration out of memory for it. by the fireplace there were three chairs set up, an armchair that looked rather big and comfy. And two rocking chairs. One normal sized the other one small. Letting go of the scepter he walked into the room, his work boots clacking against the creaking hardwood floor.

"it's always creaked like that" Mr. Teak said rocking back and forth on his feet, "Frank and I had intended to take it up and redo it all when you and dorothy got a little older"

"When we could be left mildly unsupervised and be assured not to make a mess of things, I take it?" alex asked curiously as he got to the fireplace mantle.

He hadn't been paying attention to his father's response to that, but assumed it was along the lines of yes. On the mantle were several pictures, mostly of frank and Madeline gale at various points in their lives, but there was one that appeared to have been taken either before Dorothy's father had fallen ill, or around the time his health had suddenly begun to fail him. as the way dorothy looked in the picture, was how he first remembered seeing her all those years ago. Along the walls were other pictures. A young Madeline Gage with her parents hungover the couch alongside a picture of Frank Gale and his. It had been one of the few times alex had ever seen Dorothy's grandparents. He was sure he had glimpsed them in some of the albums. He could only reflect on how much dorothy resembled her mother. He couldn't help it. looking at the eyes, he knew their spirits and their drive also rested within her. He smiled and continued scanning the room with his eyes. There were other pictures, on a set of drawers by the window and long side the windows were other pictures and portraits of relatives that shared resemblances to the gale and gage families.

"You going to stand there all day and admire our handiwork?" Mr. Teak asked as he came up to him and snapped his fingers in front of him.

Alex blinked and looked at his father.

"The Teaks and gales have been working together for a long time, haven't they?" Alex asked curiously.

"Worked together, and rivalled on several occasions, though I'll keep the rest of that thought too myself." He said as he led him out of the sitting room.

Alex chuckled, and looked at his reflection in a small mirror that was hanging by the entrance to the sitting room, he and the beast knew full well the end of that thought. That he and dorothy were right now the closest to a Gale marrying a Teak. Something that a few people had pointed out over the years.

As they went down into the basement, the stairs creaked loudly with every step.

"Okay, step one, make some space." Barbara said pulling the cord on a hanging light.

The basement seemed just as clean as everywhere else in the house, which alex thought was amazing. The only problem being that it was filled with boxes, and most of them taking up one area. Though there was plenty of room for all the boxes and them. Alex immediately walked over to one and picked it up. Carefully moving and setting it down next to some furniture that had been placed down there. And this was how it went for about half an hour.

"Step two." Eliza said "move down here what needs to be moved down here" she said wiping sweat from her brow.

This took less time, by the time they were finished it was around half passed one. Aunt Barbara had made some sandwiches for a late lunch, and they were sat in the kitchen eating them. As he ate however alex reflect that the scepter hadn't been following him the entire time like it normally would. He quickly finished his sandwich and excused himself, going to look for it. it hadn't been where he had left it, instead it had moved to another area of the house. Infront of a red wooden door, a door he recognized to be that of a child's bedroom. He knew this as the paint on the door, while faded, had another image on top. In light gold paint, so light it was almost like it was a shadow cast onto it. were the silhouettes of children playing, running around with various toys, kits, and pets. His room had a similar stenciled design on it when he was a kid, but he had eventually got to make his own when he learned his trade with dad.

"Good to know teak craftsmanship just never changes or leaves the families" alex said reaching for the knob, he caught himself, however.

"I'm not usually one to question the morality of things but would dorothy mind us going through her old room?" the beast asked from a mirror behind them

Alex turned to face him.

"I think so long as we don't take anything home with us." Alex said sighing, "the I don't think she'd mind us taking a peek he said going for the knob again.

Turning it, the latch clicked, and he opened the door. Stepping into the room he looked around. Turning on the light, to get a better look around. Dorothy's room seemed rather plain; the walls had been painted a dark greenish color which for some reason alex found fitting. To his right was a dresser, rather plain, made from dark stained wood. On the top of it were little toys and trinkets. The only thing that didn't fit that description was a small box on it. it was made of smooth light brown wood and looked rather ornate. Opening it he found some coins and an ancient piece of wrapped caramel candy. Walking across the room to the window, he noticed a nice view of the backyard. As he opened the curtains to take a better look, he suddenly felt he was being watched.

The scepter, seemingly feeling as though it were too quiet, or at least that's what alex felt at the time. It let out a ping. He turned to look at it and immediately noticed something he had only been told about. Sat on the toybox at the end of the bed, facing towards the dresser and closet was a rather large doll. Dorothy had described it as being rather creepy as had Eliza. The doll was the only thing in the room that wasn't very plain or boring looking. It was roughly the size of a small child. He had always felt sorry for anyone who wanted those kinds of dolls, as he too found them kind of creepy as they were usually close to the heights of the children who would play with them.

Looking at it though, he noticed something off about it. walking around and crouching to get a proper look at it. there was a rather regal look to it, dressed in a bluish green raiment, it looked rather fancy. It was the face that seemed off. From a distance the doll looked like it could have been made from porcelain, but relatively close to it, one could observe that it was made from a hard wax. It had blonde hair and blue colored glass eyes. But there was something about them. The idea that dorothy kept mentioning when the doll was brought up was that it creeped her out as a kid. But that wasn't what he saw in the eyes of the doll, what he saw was something akin to sorrow, or desperation.

He wasn't sure why this was and was about to reach out to pick it up for a closer look when the scepter let out a very loud ping which drew his attention. He turned to look at it and observed that it was glowing rather brightly.

"What?" he asked it curiously

It let out a few pings that he interpreted as the scepter not wanting him to touch the doll. This he found curious, as did the beast upon consulting him.

"Its just a doll." They both said turning to it again, and he turned back to it. making to pick it up again the scepter let out a louder ping.

He looked at it is getting rather annoyed and was about to turn back to the doll when it repeated the act and repeated the feat it performed the previous day at the school, tendrils of light formed from the crystal orb at the top and lashed out wrapping around his wrist.

"What are you doing!?" Alex shouted trying to pull away from it.

The scepter let out three pings and then pulled him back. And then something happened that he hadn't expected. All of a sudden, the scepter started letting out the long droning, bong sounds.

Bong! Bong! Bong!

Alex made to cover his ears, but he and the beast knew for a fact what that sound entailed. It meant danger. suddenly, it was like a bomb going off. A bomb however that didn't make a mess. A loud thundering back went off and alex suddenly found himself surrounded by a green and gold dome.

"DAD!" He shouted, "ELIZA!" he called.

But he got no response. Looking at the window he saw what he could describe as multicolored vortex surrounding the house. And a shadow running past it on the other side. It stopped and looked up at the sky. He tried again to pull away from the scepter only to get pulled back again. He tried to go towards it and the door but was repulsed back. He couldn't move without the scepter countering him and he wanted to know why.

As soon as the scepter started going off however, everyone in the knew what usually followed that noise. And with a bang and a flash suddenly found themselves outside at the edge of the front lawn. Looking around it didn't take them too long to realize alex wasn't there.

"Is he still in there?" Eliza asked, shouting over all the noise.

"He has to be!" Mr. Teak shouted worriedly, "what the heck happened."

"Well, we know the scepter went off, but what did it do!?" Eliza asked.

"How should I know!?" Mr. teak asked, "Barbara, where's the nearest phone?" he asked.

"A booth like a mile down the road."

Mr. teak turned to Eliza to asked her to come along, but she was already running around the back. The vortex had in fact surrounded the house and seemed to stretch up for a good amount of height. For the first time, she found herself feeling frightened, and properly worrying about alex. running back around the house, she rejoined the others.

Trying to approach the vortex, all of them found themselves pushed back again.

Back at the gale farmhouse.

As Eliza told her what she knew, dorothy felt immediately scared. It seemed that she was always fated to end up in a mess one way or another. However, she was drawn out of her thoughts by Glinda's voice coming from the phone.

"Dorothy, I need you to listen for a moment, alex isn't responsible for this, at least not completely." Glinda said, dorothy could hear the concern in her voice. "The scepter triggered the protections Locasta, and I put around the house, but something has gone wrong, somehow, the scepter caused the spells to mix, and we can't break through it alone."

Dorothy's heart sank as she knew where Glinda was going with this. She knew what was about to be asked of her, and she really didn't want to do it.

"dorothy I hate asking this of you, but you need to come here, wear the slippers, but don't try to use them to get here, they may be powerful, but I don't know what will happen when the back end of a transport spell mixes with It and for the sake of whatever's going on, I don't want to find out." she said, "are your aunt and uncle there?"

Dorothy looked behind her and found that yes, they had both joined her in the living room without her noticing. She handed the phone off to her aunt. And before she even registered what was going on. She was in the car with Ozma grasping tightly onto her hand. And they were on their way. Retracing old steps, a route she had never forgotten, landmarks still untouched despite the numerous tornados that had ripped through over the years. Her heart was still pounding in her chest. She hadn't said word since handing the phone over to her aunt. She remembered running to grab the slippers, she remembered picking up toto and pockets, and she remembered getting into the car. But it all felt like a blur.

It didn't take them long to find the place again. Her uncle had been driving and he seemed to have had the route memorized.

"Sweet Lurline!" Ozma exclaimed looking at the vortex around the house.

"He's still in there, but even I cant break through." Madeline said running to them as they got out of the car.

"Maddie, what happened?" Dorothy asked loudly.

"I Don't know!" Madeline said looking at it, "I was able to reach out to him with this" she said holding up the bracelet with the charged moons tear in it.

"Let me guess, he is rather angry." Ozma asked, her own fairy wand in her hand "I can hear him in there, but I cant make out what he's doing, he's not fighting, he's not talking, but the scepter is making that bell sound that it makes when in danger."

"Lovely" dorothy said looking down at her pets, "you two, stay by Ozma."

Both made noises in agreement. At that moment Mrs. Teak arrived with Annabella, both of them exited the car and stood in shock at what they were seeing.

"I cant tell where our spells start and the scepters begin, how is that even possible?" she heard Locasta shout.

"It shouldn't be, it's a storm Locasta, a magic storm, not just magically manipulated weather, but an actual storm!" Glinda said.

Dorothy found herself, as if on instinct, approaching the vortex. The house it surrounded was a place she never wanted to return to, and now only did because alex was in danger.

"Dorothy, Step back from the barrier." Came the voice of Zinnia, "the magic is unstable!" she said.

"Unstable?" Locasta asked, "what do you mean unstable?"

"She means that none of the spells that activated when the scepter when off should never have mixed!" Glinda said, "and neither of us are completely clean here."

"So, we're in unknown territory again." Dorothy said mostly to herself.

She wanted to break through the barrier and the vortex that had been created. And she felt that given a moment, she could. She reached out to the scepter, trying to get something. But found she couldn't concentrate enough.

"Dorothy, I told you, STEP BACK!" Zinnia said.

Dorothy did so, taking a few steps back, looking down she noticed the slippers were glowing. She wondered, the scepter caused this mess, but it wouldn't let alex out. The thought occurred to her that it may be waiting for her. To let her in.

"Dorothy, I know what you're thinking, and DON'T YOU DARE!" Madeline shouted pointing her wand at her

Dorothy didn't listen to her, taking another step back, it felt like she was trapped in castle west all over again. And taking one more step back, she suddenly sprinted forward. Raising an arm to protect her face, she ran straight for the vortex. Suddenly a bunch of things happened at once. Her ears began ringing, bright colors blinded her vision for a moment, and she found herself tumbling over the threshold. She laid on the ground for a moment before getting to her feet. The sound of the scepters ringing reaching her ears. She stood and looked around the place. Despite the spells activated around the place, nothing appeared to have been disturbed, and was left just as she remembered. She felt overwhelmed for a moment by several emotions, several memories. Her hand going to her face wiping some tears from it.

"Dorothy!?" came Alex's voice, snapping her from the thoughts she was having

Her focus turned back to alex, and she found herself retracing her footsteps. The wood creaking as she walked to her old bedroom. She was surprised to find a barrier surrounding the room as well. However, this one she could see through compared to the maelstrom outside. She saw alex looking up at her. He had sat himself on the floor. The scepter for some reason appeared to have lashed out at him and stopped him and bound of his wrists again. On the floor in front of him seemed to be the starts of a game of solitaire.

"Alex, what happened?" Dorothy asked

The scepter let out a ping and the barrier around the room dispersed. She realized that she felt energy going into her. This was unusual as she never found she felt it go into her like this before.

"I don't know kitten, well, I have an idea, but I don't know what really set it off." Alex said looking at the toy chest, "I was trying to pick up that doll and she didn't want me to do it."

"Well, it set off the protections around the house, apparently she mixed all the spells together." Dorothy said

"I know, Mads told me that." He said sighing,

"Can you release his wrist now?" dorothy asked the scepter.

It pinged and the tendrils of light faded. Alex sighed in relief, his voice mixing with that of the beast again.

Dorothy looked around her old room and let out a long sigh, it really had been as though she had never left. Her eyes, however, were drawn to the doll. Alex cleared up the cards on the floor and put them in his pocket. She walked towards the toy chest, looking at the doll. She had always found it creepy as a kid, but something seemed off about it now.

"The eyes." Alex said, "it made me want to pick it up and the scepter fought back." Alex said looking at it, but scooting away from it again, "the scepter led me to your room, its where I found it when the work was done."

"I'm surprised it didn't follow you." Dorothy said looking at it.

"I'm more surprised you did." Alex said, "I mean, I'm not surprised, I heard someone come in, it wasn't until I caught your odor that I realized it was you."

"Well, we're presently trapped in the middle of an impossibility, and I am not in the right frame of mental state to be dealing with this."

"So, we cant get out and they cant get in?" alex asked.

"I don't know if we can't get out, but I certainly got in." dorothy said sighing and looking at the doll again.

"Well, anyone can break into a prison." Alex said, "Madeline is using the moons tear to reach out to me, and I know that the scepter mixed the spells, something that according to them shouldn't be possible, she says she cant penetrate your mind for once."

"that's a shock." Dorothy said, her gaze falling to the doll again.

She wondered what it was that was drawing her towards the doll this time. Alex said it was the eyes, which he had a point to. She always remembered them being creepy, penetrating, almost intimidating. But now they seemed sad or mournful. She reached to pick up the doll and held it for a moment looking out the window at the multicolored maelstrom outside. They both could make out shadows behind it. suddenly she started remembering again

"What is it?" little Dorothy asked looking the doll over.

"it's a doll, I think it made of wax, but it might be porcelain, I thought you might like to have to play with." Madeline gale said to her daughter as she went into a kitchen drawer.

She produced some twine, a piece of paper, and a pen, and wrote on it 'if found return to' and her name and the address to the house. Which she wrapped around the doll's wrist.

"I don't like her." Little dorothy said.

"Why not?" her mother asked curiously,

"The eyes." little Dorothy said looking into them, "the don't look right."

"I think they look fine." Madeline gale said giggling, "At least keep her on top of the toy box, carefully, she's almost as big as you are." She added

And for years, that's where the doll stayed, sitting vigil, always watching. Dorothy could never forget the eyes.

"Where did you find it?" her father asked that evening.

"In town, the lady at the shop said she wasn't sure where she had got it from anymore" she said. "Got it cheap too, only 20 bucks"

she turned to look at the scepter, tears forming in her eyes again. She swore she saw a vision of her younger self running out the bedroom door and into the living room.

"The scepter wanted me to come here." Dorothy said with a sniff "I never wanted to come back here, I thought it would hurt too much."

Alex got to his feet and took her hand.

"Does it?" alex asked worriedly.

She didn't answer, she simply squeezed his hand tightly. They looked out the window together at the backyard, staring into the maelstrom

"I'm sorry to butt in as this is very touching and all." Came a new voice, "but could you please put me down?"

The two were stood in shock for a moment, and it took another moment to realize that the voice had come from the doll which dorothy now held in her arms.

anyone wanna take a guess as to what this is gonna lead to?