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Dorothy didn't awaken again until really early the next morning. She looked around and was surprised to find Alex sitting in a chair next to the bed reading.
"Alex?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Yes?" Alex replied looking up from his book
"How long have I been out?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Since yesterday after noon, it's now, four in the morning." Alex said looking at his pocket watch.
"Is everyone alright?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Everyone is fine, oh, good morning Glinda." Alex said.
"Good morning Alex, good morning Dorothy." Glinda said walking into the room.
"What brings you here Glinda?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"I knew my dreamless sleep spell would wear off soon so I've been waiting outside." Glinda said.
"Glinda, he's making it so much harder to want to destroy him, how can I destroy a person who has saved my life and spared me several times now?" Dorothy asked as the question popped into her head.
"Somehow I knew you were going to ask that." Glinda said.
"Well?" Dorothy asked.
"Dorothy, in the end it's your decision, you know what he's capable of." Glinda replied.
"My choice? Why is it always my choice?" Dorothy asked curiously.
Glinda sighed and shook her head, she knew she didn't need to answer this question. Dorothy knew it too. They both knew the answer well enough to not say a thing about it.
"Glinda, on another note, can you tell us about the accident that led to Cassandra's retirement?" Alex asked curiously.
"I think Locasta is better suited for telling you that story." Glinda said.
"Telling what story? Oh good she's awake finally, but back on to subject, telling what story?" Locasta asked walking into the room.
"About the event that led up to Cassandra's retirement." Glinda said turning to her cousin.
"Oh the same event that led to your hair having white streaks in it?" Locasta asked.
"Cassandra said her aging was accelerated by high amounts of magical energy I think." Dorothy said.
"Indeed it was, it was my mistake that led to it, and it's the reason I don't do much really powerful magic anymore." Locasta replied.
"Dorothy, I told you I have experience with absorbing magical energy, just listen to this story." Glinda said.
"In the past when Glinda, Cassandra and I were much younger a few years before Glinda came into power over her domain to put it into perspective, Cassandra was our teacher in sorcery." Locasta said.
"Yes well we got that part." Alex said.
"Right, well, you see, one day Glinda and I were being careless with magic and I went into Cassandra's spell book, not my best decision." Locasta said trailing off.
"Go on." Alex said.
"well I thought it would be a good Idea to try and cast a really powerful spell so I picked up the wand I was using at the time and tried to cast, Glinda tried to stop me since I was saying it wrong, Cassandra ran into the room when she heard the commotion, the next thing I knew there was a large explosion of magical energy, Glinda and Cassandra were both knocked back, Glinda's hair color was turned to what it is now, Cassandra however just started aging, getting older and older, that's how we learned the effects of absorbing full on magical energy, Cassandra took up her staff that she uses and retired to the mountains, yesterday afternoon was the first time in years that I've seen her." Locasta said as her tone changed to one of sadness.
"But surely you could find a spell that would change her back, she said absorbing magical energy always left traces, that it was a curse." Dorothy said.
"If Cassandra couldn't find a spell surely we couldn't." Locasta replied.
"Well make up a spell, or potion, or something." Dorothy said.
Locasta didn't respond, she simply sighed and walked out of the room.
"She's tried before, it would take a spell more powerful than the one she messed up to reverse it." Glinda said.
"I'm sorry I mentioned it then." Dorothy said now feeling a bit guilty.
"Don't fret over it dear, she gets over it rather fast, she just has a lot of regret from that day." Glinda said sitting on the edge of the bed.
"But now there are three of you, surely your magic combined could make something." Dorothy suggested.
"Dorothy, I'll ask Ellie if she wants to try something, but I can't make any promises even if Locasta agrees to it." Glinda said getting up and living the room.
"Alex, what room did Ace and scarecrow end up in?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"The room next door." Alex said.
Dorothy smiled and held her hand out. The scepter then flew from its position unseen behind Alex and into Dorothy's hand. She got up and she and Alex walked out of the room to hear Aislynn and scarecrow having a chat. Dorothy smiled and walked into view of the door. Aislynn was the first of the two to notice.
"Dorothy!" Aislynn shouted getting up and running over to her, pulling her into a crushing embrace.
"Ace, not so tight, she has to breath." Scarecrow said chuckling and walking over.
"sorry." Aislynn said releasing Dorothy.
"It's alright ace, I'm just glad you guys were freed from the jester." Dorothy said.
"The jester changed us into puppets out of anger, originally he couldn't force himself to do it." Aislynn said.
"I was told we have a dragon now." Scarecrow said.
"Yea, it's in a jar in my satchel." Dorothy said.
"You shrunk it!?" Both scarecrow and Aislynn asked in surprise
"No, I was knocked out while Alex, Jon, and Emma took care of it." Dorothy said glaring at Alex angrily.
"Hey, it was either that or wait it out and surrender." Alex said.
"But you could have been severely injured, you could have…" Dorothy said as Alex placed a hand over her mouth.
"Dorothy, don't get yourself worked up." Alex said taking his hand off of Dorothy's mouth.
Dorothy sighed and took a few deep breaths. She then turned around and walked out of the room. She then proceeded down stairs where she found herself being pulled into a crushing embrace this time by Ellie who was accompanied by Glinda. Dorothy returned the embrace and sighed.
"How do you guys always know when I'm coming?" Dorothy asked curiously as Ellie released her from the embrace.
"It's a witch thing." Glinda said smiling
"Oh how silly of me." Dorothy said.
"anyways, Dorothy, we just looked at Kansas in the crystal ball, it's in the middle of a large rainstorm, there doesn't appear to be damage but it's impossible for people to leave their homes." Glinda said.
"I don't expect anything better from the jester." Dorothy said.
"Funny, your aunt and uncle said the same thing." Glinda said looking back at the living room
"Well, the jester has been around long enough for us to be used to what he does." Dorothy said.
"Fair enough, but did you know he has, Mr. Alistair, Donna, Kelly, Mr. and Mrs. Pryce, Officer grey, Mr. and Mrs. Maitland. And Eliza?" Glinda asked curiously.
"What!?" Dorothy asked with extreme shock
"Yes, your aunt and uncle told us." Glinda said.
"I heard Eliza's name mentioned, what happened?" Alex asked coming down stairs.
Dorothy turned to Alex and told him what she had just been told.
"What!?" Alex asked in the same tone as Dorothy.
"That's what I said." Dorothy said.
"I really despise him sometimes, I mean sure I don't get along with Eliza that well but I would never wish that upon her or any of my family and extended family." Alex said.
"If I had known they were there." Dorothy said sitting down on the stairs and feeling guilty all of a sudden.
"But you didn't, and that can't be helped." Ellie said sitting on the stair below Dorothy.
"Okay Ellie has a point there Dorothy, don't beat yourself up over what you didn't know." Alex said.
Dorothy sighed, she then set the scepter down and looked at them. For a moment she wanted to go back to her room, grab the slippers and try and go back to the city. However the look that Glinda shot her was one that told her that she knew what Dorothy was thinking and she wasn't going to allow it. Then something occurred to her.
"Wait a minute, where's Cassandra?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"In the kitchen, making a large pot of tea." Glinda replied with a sigh.
"Dorothy, it's a very admirable thing, wanting to try and restore Cassandra to her former self, but if you remember anything, it's that magical energy always sticks around, remember it's the reason I'm blonde while my sister's hair is orange with white streaks." Ellie said.
"But there's always hope." Cassandra said hobbling into the room carrying a tray of tea cups.
"How much do you know of what we are talking about?" Dorothy asked looking through the railing of the stairs.
"Just about all of it my child and like Ellie said, it's a very admirable thing but it's impossible as far as I've been able to find." Cassandra said
"Did you try asking for an apology?" Alex asked.
This however warranted a rather hard punch to the arm from Dorothy.
"Ouch, no need to be so aggressive, it was just a suggestion." Alex said.
"Yes and a dumb one at that Alex." Dorothy replied.
"What did my son do now?" Mr. Teak asked walking out of the living room.
"Nothing Mr. Teak he just made a stupid suggestion, nothing worth scolding." Dorothy said.
"Right, Alex, stop making dumb suggestions." Mr. Teak said before walking back into the living room.
"Alex has a point though, Locasta never did apologize for it though she ran from us as fast…"Glinda started to say before she was interrupted
"As fast as I could, yes, and I would appreciate it if you'd not talk about this story behind my back cousin." Locasta said sounding a little irritated as she entered the area
"Locasta, we weren't…" Glinda started to say before being interrupted again.
"Glinda, shut up!" Locasta said storming off.
Dorothy was now beginning to wish she hadn't brought the subject up in the first place. She felt that once more the happenings were her fault. Alex saw that something was wrong as did Ellie. Dorothy looked like she was about ready to run, and in fact she did. She grabbed the scepter and ran right back to the bedroom. Shutting and locking the door behind her. She then changed out of her nightgown and into her dress before sliding on the slippers and going over to the balcony. It was still pouring rain but she didn't care. She simply climbed onto the scepter and sighed just as she heard the lock click
"Take me to someplace safe and far away from here!" She shouted.
Immediately the scepter took off and she was on her way.
Oh dear, well Dorothy has broken the rules once more. Where will Dorothy end up? Is there really any safe place left in Oz far enough away from the munchkin city to meet her criteria? And when will the musical number show up? Will Dorothy be punished for running away in anger of what she did? Fond out in the next chapter.