Not many days went past until Evergreen had a dream. Or was it a vision? With the things that he usually saw in his dreams ever since accepting his magical pedigree, he couldn't be too sure. According to the Divination and Xylomancy professors of Ilvermorny, he may possess what they called 'the sight'. This meant that he may have been able to not only see visions but speak prophecy. So far, it was only the weird dreams that always woke him up with a yelp, a cold sweat, or sometimes some kind of major magical emission.

It was during one of those nights that Evergreen found himself once again flying over a large, dark forest. He did so until he came to a stop just before a large, creepy-looking castle on the edge of the forest on a large cliff. He recognized this castle as the abode of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, Mom's ex-best friend and schoolmate. He entered her main living quarters on the very top floor of the castle through a large door that opened to a large balcony that overlooked the dark forest.

He found himself within the living quarters, a neatly made four-poster bed was to his left while a large living area with a fireplace was off to his right. Within the living area were two individuals. One was a flying monkey, dressed in dark green and the other was the witch herself. She was angry and the flying monkey was the only one there, unfortunately, so he was the brunt of her tirade.

"What do you mean he's gone?!" yelled the Wicked Witch.

The winged monkey replied with a variety of hoots and hollers.

"Well, do you know where he went?" she challenged, holding her gnarly, twisted, black wand in the face of the primate.

He shook his head at the witch, and she lowered her wand. She turned away to pace around the room, her black, lacy dress billowing out from beneath her black robes. behind her wand back behind her and a large, metal basin came out of a far closet. It flew at her with incredible speed, and she turned around the moment it was exactly behind her. She pulled out a small vial of some potion and poured it into the bowl.

"Tell me the location of Fiyero the Scarecrow."

Within the bowl, the potion bubbled and sizzled. Then, in a moment, it went still, showing the Scarecrow in question clearly in the liquid as if it were some kind of video. The witch's eyes lit up in what appeared to be relief and she smiled. It was the first time that Evergreen had seen her smile, and he wasn't sure what to feel about it.

"I know where he is and what you must do." She said, calling the flying monkey over to her.

She grabbed the monkey about the shoulders when he got close. Her face lit up with a confusing expression and she looked him in the eyes.

"You need to go to the Land of the Banished." She spoke with foreboding.

Waking with a start, Evergreen jerked his body and fell clean out of bed. He woke Seta, Link, Aaron Talbot, and a few other boys with a heavy thud. He looked around and remembered that he was in a rental home in Ashland Oregon. The house was, in reality, haunted and the ghosts spent most of their time in the attic where the boys wanted to stay. Professor Ani Park, the organizer of Ilvermorny's theater club had a summer program where she would take some of her new students to a new Shakespeare festival over a weekend every two years. They were in Ashland that summer and the next and were set to go to Washington DC for the next two years. The previous night, they had seen The Tempest which was very much magic-centric, so it was no surprise that Evergreen had another of those crazy dreams where he was able to see clear into the land of Oz.

It was mostly kids in Evergreen's year that went on the trip. Link, Aaron, Maggie, Beatrice Gale-Larson, Grace Moonbeam, and a few others that Evergreen didn't really know at all. Professor Park and Professor Viola Highmore, Ilvermorny's professor of music, were their chaperones. Evergreen was finally much taller than Professor Park, who was Korean, but had grown up in some part of Europe that he wasn't sure about. She always wore the most shimmering robes and was quite animated. Professor Highmore was around Professor Park's height, she was likely in her 40s and had vibrant, blonde hair with the beginnings of gray showing underneath. Her clothing, however, wasn't quite as wild-looking as Professor Park's. Where Professor Park would go off on a lively tangent, Professor Highmore would just say a few even sentences. They were like each other's yin and yang. It was quite entertaining to watch them interact.

"Hey nerd," Link said, turning over in his bed, "you're supposed to sleep in your bed, not just nearby."

"Oh, I'm sorry." came Evergreen's response, "I thought b-bruising my backside was the best way to start the day. Try it sometime."

Link just rolled over and fell back asleep. Aaron responded in kind. Seta, however, leaped the short distance over to Evergreen's spot on the side of his bed.

"Are you alright, Evergreen?" Seta asked, his nose rapidly twitching, causing his whiskers to tremble slightly.

"Yeah. I am. I just had another dream with the Wicked Witch."

Seta's violet eyes narrowed, and he sauntered over to Evergreen's lap once the boy managed to climb back up into his bed, sitting up. Evergreen breathed deeply to bring his heart rate back to normal. It was another vision. He was certain of it.

"I know where the Scarecrow is headed." Evergreen then looked Seta in the eye. "Have you heard of the Land of the Banished?"

"I have been out of Oz for so long, that I have no idea what that is." Seta replied with a slightly disappointed note to his voice. "Do you think Peter might have an idea?"

"I don't know," Evergreen replied, "I could always ask Dad. He was older than you when he last left."

"Good idea."

Later that morning, Evergreen was able to call Dad with their twin pocket watches. Dad had given Evergreen a pocket watch the previous year that acted as kind of a walkie-talkie with another pocket watch that Dad always kept close by. It was meant to be used in times of danger or uncertainty. Needless to say, Evergreen used it quite a bit. As it turns out, Dad didn't really have very much information about the Land of the Banished, only that he remembered hearing the term years ago from Mom. That was helpful, Evergreen thought. The only thing that did was verify that the place likely did exist.

Eventually, the boys all got up and got presentable before heading down the stairs to the heart of the rental house. Many of the girls were already there with the two professors. The women were both wearing thin, light-colored robes to anticipate the temperature. Evergreen, in a moment of daring asked Professor Park if she would rather dress in the No-Maj style to blend in better. She laughed good-naturedly and remarked that he had obviously never been to the Shakespeare festival before. If she dressed as a No-Maj, she wouldn't 'blend in', but kind of stand out, amongst the other actors and enthusiasts of Elizabethan-era theater.

Once everyone was together, they had a brief, yet filling breakfast and headed out on the town. The thing about Ashland was that it was a small town with big city energy. There were thousands of people from locations far and wide who came to see one of the dozen or so shows that were to be presented over the few weeks that the festival would run. Evergreen had decided to wear a summer robe that Link's mom had gotten for him. Lynette, his mother, had mentioned that Evergreen and his dad likely wouldn't think to get a summer robe, so she took it upon herself to make sure it got to him, in case he needed it. She was right. Dad being a No-Maj, and Evergreen only having like a year's worth of exposure to wizardry, he didn't even consider it.

On this day, they were to head to Lithia Park, which was the biggest, most beautiful park in Ashland. It was completely covered in greenery on every side, there was a relatively wide creek that ran alongside the park and a kind of Saturday Market going on there on the outskirts of the place. The group checked out all the little tents that were set up and bought a few small things with money that had been previously changed for No-Maj dollars. One of the things Evergreen picked up was a purple quill. It wasn't magical at all, he just thought it looked neat.

That evening, they went to see On The Razzle which was a funny little play about romance, too much drinking, and mistaken identity. Evergreen found it hysterical. He always enjoyed a chaotic story with a happy ending. He was a sucker for those kinds of stories all the days of his life. Growing up reading comic books really set a certain story in him that he really enjoyed. Victorious villains have never resonated with him because to him, truth and justice must prevail over all else. Sure, he may only have been 12 years old, but he knew that much.

While The Tempest was held on Ashland's Allen Elizabethan Stage, an awesome outdoor theatrical experience, On The Razzle was in the Angus Bowmer Theatre, which was a more traditional-looking theater. Professor Park spent her time before and after the plays and even during intermission telling stories and inserting pieces of trivia here and there about productions, playwrights, and the small town itself. No one asked more questions than Maggie. Evergreen was glad to see her so animated and so positive. He wasn't sure how the search was going to find her mom, but it looked like Maggie carried it with grace and with poise.

"…and that was why so many people thought William Shakespeare didn't write those plays. They claimed it was the 17th Earl of Oxford. But with 10 plays released after the death of the Earl, one would assume he was some kind of ghost writer, if you will. But my mentor checked years ago. He did not turn into a ghost when he died, so that quashed that theory!" Professor Park said as they returned to the rental property.

"Wasn't Henry the Eighth released almost 10 years later?" Maggie asked.

"It was." Professor Highmore cut in. "And what an end to such a career."

Professor Park nodded solemnly as the ghost that haunted the rental home appeared.

"Did someone mention a ghost?" came the ghost's airy voice.

She was a female ghost in her late 40's. Apparently, she died of a sudden stroke during the construction of the Allen Elizabethan Theatre. Poor thing.

"Yes, we did, Dolores," replied Professor Park, "We were discussing the foolishness surrounding the 17th Earl of Oxford."

"Oh, how dreadful." Dolores the ghost said, sinking through the floor.

"I don't trust that spirit one bit." Spoke Beatrice who was wearing an awful lot of denim. "While I was bathing earlier, her head popped right out of the showerhead. Near jumped clean out of my skin!"

This prompted a general chuckle of assent. Over that weekend, they all had odd experiences with the ghost including how she was deathly afraid of Seta and the symbol he bore. Maybe because she was a ghost, she could sense that he had briefly visited the afterlife but was soon taken back to the living plane. Such a being would be just as odd for the dead as the living, Evergreen guessed.

After they enjoyed a late-night snack, people gradually filtered out of the room which left Evergreen alone with Beatrice. They were alone, other than the fact that Seta and Beatrice's crow were with them. Somehow, Beatrice got special permission from the school to bring a crow instead of an owl or a raven. She was quite pleasant, for a blackbird and Beatrice called her Mischief.

Evergreen removed his robes so he could just lounge about in his band t-shirt and cargo shorts and Beatrice quickly removed her hair from her tight pigtail braids. They sat in silence for a moment as Evergreen made sure that there was no one else around who could listen in to their conversation.

"Hey Beatrice. How are things?" he began.

"To be frank," she said, "I'm a lot better than I expected. It's been three months since that day and my ma has been a tremendous help to me moving past it. She had seen dear friends get cursed in the worst of ways, so I'm putting it into perspective."

The young wizard took his seat next to the young witch and reached out to touch the black, curse mark on her neck. He hesitated before he made contact to get her consent to the touch and she gave it. Evergreen's fingers lightly brushed the dark area, and he was surprised at it. The skin on her neck around it was smooth and warm, tanned beneath a hot Kansas sun. The curse mark, however, was cold and rough. Like how he imagined sandpaper would feel if it were somehow frozen. He was then overcome with a feeling of shame.

"I'm sorry, again Beatrice. I should have been faster or smarter, or anything else."

"Oh, my dear Evergreen Quandary. What am I ever to do with you?" she replied with a laugh from the back of her throat. "I'm fine, really. You saved my life and if this is the worst that comes from a near death experience, I'll be damned if it ain't welcome."

"Speaking of last year, I never got the chance to ask you then why Swab Capital was following you." Evergreen asked with a slight grimace.

"He's my pa's stepbrother. My ma must've known about some threat straight outta Oz meant for Ilvermorny. To tell you the truth, the man gives me a right headache." Beatrice replied with a similar grimace.

"I actually wanted to tell you about something else."

"Oh?" she replied, "Didja get a pair of glasses and a new pair of shoes to keep you from tripping over yourself again?"

Even though he knew she was jesting in a friendly way, his face still burned with embarrassment. He was a major klutz, that was for sure. That last year, he had run into her, dropped his breakfast on her and nearly taken her head off with a flying book. If anyone could talk about his complete and total lack of grace, it was her. He probably needed to take some kind of dance class for this reason, truth be known.

"No. Nothing like that. I-I had a vision or something last night."

He then proceeded to tell her that in the previous year, he had begun to have visions of things that were actually happening. Visions of the Wicked Witch in her castle in the west Ozian forest, visions of Mom in the dark and drafty dungeon who knows where, and visions of the Scarecrow doing some wild acrobatics. Beatrice listened with wide eyes, but clearly recognized various phrases and names that he was using. He then told her about his most recent dream with the Wicked Witch mentioning the Land of the Banished. When he asked Beatrice if she had heard of it, it was the same response as before. She too had never heard of it. Fabulous.

"Elphaba's alive?" she asked, shocked.

"Yeah, so's my mom. But that's all I really know."

"Well, at least we know where to look for the Scarecrow." Beatrice corrected.

"But we have zero idea of where to look."

"I reckon that we'll be able to rustle up some answers at Ilvermorny, once school's in. With most things, there's more than meets the eye."

"I guess you're right. Thanks for listening, Beatrice."

"Yeah. Sleep tight, Evergreen."