Glinda hugged the two teens. She was the last to say goodbye-all of the others had already said their farewells. It was not a very tearful goodbye. Vella and Shay were too exhilarated to be sad.
The day beforehand, Glinda had told the two of her plan on how to get them home. A friend of hers specialized in teleportation and was able to help Glinda figure out a way to transport Vella and Shay back to their homes.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Glinda asked. The two teens nodded. "Then farewell and good luck. And do not forget the rule about flipping."
"Right," Vella said. Glinda took a deep breath, preparing to send the two home. Vella grabbed Shay's hand and all at once they were gone.
Vella and Shay stared on in awe. Stars-real stars-moved past them and a thin, iridescent membrane, reminiscent of Glinda's bubbles, surrounded them. It was something they could only describe as a tunnel. Shay hesitantly reached out a hand, swirling the membrane and all of its colors and patterns. Pulling themselves out of the daze, the two teens remembered Glinda's instructions and flipped in a complete circle.
Shay was the first to spot the part of the tunnel that just didn't quite look the same. They crashed into the weak spot before either could react.
The two lay in a heap on the ground. They took a moment to get their heads straight before getting up, brushing themselves off, and looking around.
A sort of half-smile plastered itself to Vella's face as she looked around. It felt like she'd spent so much time in Oz that she'd forgotten what home looked like. But she hadn't. She hadn't forgotten. She never would.
A gentle breeze stirred the air, rustling the branches above their head. The branches of the tree that she knew all too well.
"We made it," Vella whispered. She nearly broke down then and there. "We're home."
Shay was intaking his surroundings too-he'd never been here before. But then again, he hadn't really gotten much of a chance to explore Vella's world and actually enjoy it-he was too preoccupied helping his parents and trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened that day. That one fateful day when everything fell apart and put itself together at the same time.
Memories came flooding back to both of them, and both took some time to collapse internally in silence at the top of the hill. For a tender while, the two let the pain and sorrows and confusion come back, no longer bolstered by the constant adrenaline rush they had in Oz. After they collected themselves, Vella looked down the hill, towards home.
The two walked down towards the town. It was calmingly familiar to Vella and yet, at the same time, it all seemed so foreign. She hadn't been gone long, but a lot had happened in that time.
She took a deep breath before she raised a hand to knock on the door-her own door. Shay watched from behind her, knowing that there was a good chance Vella's parents would know where his were. Vella just stood there, one hand raised, half of her mind telling her to knock and the other half refusing. She shook her head and lowered her hand.
"I can't." Vella looked back at Shay. "Let's find your parents first. I'll come back later."
"Are you sure?" Shay asked. Vella nodded.
They found their way into the center of the town. A few people gave them odd looks-they were still in the clothes Glinda had provided for them, which were quite out of place outside of Oz-as they tried to get someone, anyone's attention.
"Excuse me, you look a bit lost," a woman said, tapping Vella on the shoulder. "Can I help?"
Vella looked at the woman for a second-she looked vaguely familiar-before saying, "Yeah… do you know the Volta family?"
The woman smiled. "Not personally, but it would be hard not to know of them. They were the talk of the town a few weeks-living inside Mog Chothra and all, and then coming to live here." She pointed in the direction from which they came. "They live right over there, three houses from the end of the road."
Vella and Shay said their thanks before walking off in the direction the woman had pointed.
"Oh, and by the way," the woman called, stopping them again. "Be gentle. They lost their only son a few weeks ago and haven't been taking it all that well… And it probably has not helped that there are some people who are a bit… obnoxious with their charity." The woman sighed. "It really is a shame. First you find out you've been living in a monster and your whole life is a lie, and then your son dies, his body never to be found… Just be gentle, okay?"
Vella and Shay nodded and went off again. It didn't take them long to find the house, but they found themselves in the same situation as before, all too hesitant to knock. The woman's words had hit the two of them hard and robbed Shay of all the things he thought about saying.
"You do it," he said, pushing Vella in front of him.
"Okay," Vella whispered, raising her hand to the door.
And then she knocked.