The Librarian (Book Two: Unhappily Ever After) (18 page)

Taylor watched as the swarm slowly changed into a pile of dead bees at the Tinman's feet. Her friend reappeared from within the madness. His chest was out, his chin held high. It was an image Taylor would cherish for the rest of her life. Books were better than movies, but both were fading stars next to the supernova known as real life.

She wished Wesley were there to see it.

THE WITCH WATCHED until the last of her killer bees fell. Afterward, she stood frozen in anger, her thin lips quivering as she watched the Tinman help the other companions to their feet.

"Fools!" she screamed. "This isn't over! You hear me?! I'll never stop. You should have learned your lesson the first time!"

Not missing the opportunity, Douglas stepped toward her. "Have you learned
your
lesson?"

The Witch turned to face him. "It was exactly as you said," she muttered. "I will do as you ask. I am your servant." She lowered her head in a slight bow. "What would you have me do?"

Douglas waited to make sure the Witch was sincere before answering. She seemed to be. She never lifted her eyes. She stayed there, her head bowed as she waited for instructions.

"I know your instincts tell you to send out your Winkie army, but something tells me they're a cowardly bunch and will only waste our time."

"I'm lucky they can push a broom," she agreed.

"You have a Golden Cap that gives you control over the race of winged monkeys. Bring it to me."

"How do you..." Her answer came before her question was out. "Ah, yes.
Your book
."

She snapped her fingers at a guard near the door. "The cap!" she ordered in a demanding voice, no doubt an effort to remind those in the room that she still ruled, even if it seemed to some that Douglas might have taken her throne.

TAYLOR FINISHED STUFFING straw beneath the Scarecrow's shirt, and he popped up to a sitting position.

"Did it work?" he asked joyfully.

"It did," she answered.

"Yes," the Tinman said. "That was a splendid idea."

"We didn't even d-die," the Lion added.

Everyone laughed. The Scarecrow's lips were sewn in the shape of a constant smile, but Taylor could tell that news of his plan's success had made him happy beyond belief.

"C'mon!" The Scarecrow bounced to his feet. He pointed at the shadow of the Witch's castle looming on the horizon. "I bet she's scared to death now! We don't want her to get away!"

Taylor watched as the Scarecrow led the Tinman and the Cowardly Lion away. They were skipping through the meadow, all three ready to take on the world as a song from the 1939 movie began running through Tay's head.

They're going to be so disappointed
, she thought.

The companions were ready to storm the Witch's castle, and while she suspected they might eventually make it, Taylor had a different destination in mind, a goal of her own.

And they were almost there.

THE WINGED MONKEYS had arrived.

Randy had followed Douglas and the Witch onto the castle's balcony where the Witch had replaced the pointed hat on her head with the Golden Cap. Made of an animal's hide, the cap was tall and rimmed at the bottom with a ruby-encrusted gold band. It looked heavy, but the Witch seemed to wear it with ease. As soon as it was in place, she began to chant spells in a language no one from Randy's world had ever spoken.

"Shekhanah! Retrasrak! Meilon!" The Witch doubled over as if the spell caused her great pain. "Ziz! Zuz! Meilon!"

The sky turned green. The gold band along the bottom of the Witch's cap began to glow. And then, the monkeys came. Dozens of them.

Randy stepped closer to his dad. He'd done his best to appear brave through their journey, but he couldn't hide his fear any longer.

The monkeys looked like one of the gruesome monsters drawn in a horror comic he'd stolen form Wesley's locker. Their faces were pink but seemed strangely human. They had floppy ears and rotten teeth. Each had long arms wrapped in dirty gauze with three-taloned claws in place of hands. Randy could deal with most of this. Oddly, it was their wings that sickened his stomach. The giant wings spanned nearly ten feet and were covered in furry skin stretched so tautly that it appeared translucent. Even worse, some of the wings had strange holes that looked like they were rimmed with black mold – as if they were infected with some strange virus that was eating away at their flesh a little bit at a time. Randy tried to look away, but the hideous wings kept drawing his gaze. He just couldn't help it.

One at a time the monkeys began to land on the balcony's ledge. Then, a monkey wearing a small cap stepped forward, his sunken eyes fixed angrily on Douglas.

"Greetings," Douglas began. "We've called you here because—"

"Who are you?" the monkey demanded. "The winged monkeys answer
only
to Her Highness!"

Douglas drew a deep breath. "Actually, you answer to the owner of this cap." He held out his hand. Though reluctant to give in under watchful eyes, the Witch took the cap from her head and handed it over. Douglas tucked it beneath his arm.

The monkey's face twisted in frustration. "Very well."

"There are strangers approaching the castle," Douglas continued. "They are coming to
kill
Her Highness. I want you to go to them and bring the girl to me. Unharmed."

"What?!" the Witch howled. "I want that girl strung up! I want the flesh peeled from her—"

Douglas silenced her with a cold look. "That little girl is from
my world
. She's not to be touched unless I say."

The Witch bowed her head, and Douglas continued.

"The others will try to stop you," he told the monkey. "Do what you want with them but the girl is not to be hurt. Are we clear?"

"Indeed," the monkey said. "But understand this, it matters little who is wearing the cap. You have called us for the third and final time. Agreed?"

Douglas nodded without a word.

"Then we shall carry out your command to the letter." The monkey bowed his head just as the Witch had a moment before. This time, Douglas matched it with a slight nod of his own.

The monkeys took to the air and came together as a group in the distance. Their leader spoke briefly with his brethren, and they started away from the castle.

"Shall we return to my observation room?" the Witch asked. "We can watch just as we did with the bees."

"Why?" Douglas smirked. "I already know what happens."

WESLEY HAD BEEN running off-and-on for most of the morning. The sun was high now and unbearably hot. His skin was covered in a slick sheen of sweat. His legs burned. A stitch in his side begged him to stop. Not that he would. Not now. He'd found the pile of bees, and it had filled him with new life and energy. Not only did he know he was heading in the right direction, he knew he was close. A few of the bees had still been alive, bouncing around within the heap, their wings buzzing too weakly to take them off the ground as they went through their final death throes. Whatever happened had happened recently. Taylor hadn't been gone long.

He pushed on, jogging for an hour without break, only stopping when he came to a gravel path that disappeared into a deep ravine cutting through the countryside toward the Witch's castle.

The embankment leading into the ravine was steep. While there was a fresh stream winding through the valley, much of the ravine was covered in dense undergrowth. Jagged rock shelves jutted out from the ground. Gnarled trees grew sideways from the ravine walls.

Wesley looked into the valley, using a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. Going into the ravine would be a huge waste of time if Taylor and the others hadn't done the same.

His eyes lit up!

Taylor and the others were in the valley below.

He yelled into the wind: "Tay!" She didn't turn, and he tried again. "Taylor! Up here!"

Nothing.

He was so far away that the companions looked like four ants walking in single file along the ravine floor. It didn't matter, though. They were walking. He was running. He'd be with them in a matter of minutes. With Tay.

Wesley started down the path, minding his excitement, careful not to slide in the gravel. The footing was uncertain, and any misstep would send him careening down the embankment, ending his celebration before it began.

He steadied himself before moving forward but stopped short when he saw a flash of movement from the corner of his eye. He turned, focusing his attention on the cliffs that topped the ravine's east wall. There was nothing, until—

Something black bobbed from behind a boulder then disappeared. Then, a moment later, a dark, winged figure appeared from behind a rock. The figure waved a hand and three more of his kind appeared from hiding. They were moving along a path parallel to Taylor's, ready to swoop down on the group when the time was right.

Wesley swallowed hard.

He wasn't the only one chasing Taylor.

And the monkeys were closer.

"Taylor!" He screamed so loudly this time that her name felt like a razor blade traveling the length of his throat.

She didn't turn.

Wesley hopped down the path, gravel giving way beneath his feet like tiny rock slides. He didn't have time to be careful. Not if he was going to catch up with—

His foot slipped. He grabbed onto a twisted tree root protruding from the ravine's wall. He steadied himself then looked down at them again.

The monkeys were moving in on Tay and his friends. Wes used his free hand to cup his mouth, hoping it would help his voice carry so he wouldn't go unheard again. Instead, the ground gave way beneath his feet before he could call her name, and his weight pulled the dead tree root from the earth.

Wesley began to fall.

THE LION STOPPED to drink from the stream, lapping up water with a fat tongue. Taylor thought it wise to do the same. The stream was the first water they'd seen since leaving camp, and the road ahead looked rocky. Who knew how long it might be before they saw water again?

After her drink, the Tinman noticed Taylor was looking back once more. "What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I just... I thought I heard someone whisper my name." She frowned, shaking her head as she turned to rejoin the others.

"Ah," the Tinman said. "The wind can play tricks on you in a valley like this. I've seen it many times before."

Taylor thought her eyes were in on the joke, too. She thought she'd seen something on the cliffs above but saw there was nothing there when she turned to look.

She knelt for another drink. As soon as her attention shifted, the monkey she'd nearly spotted came out of hiding and took flight.

The Lion pulled away from the creek, his golden mane wet and dripping. He looked up just in time to see the monkey sailing toward them with its wings spread.

"Look out!" the Lion cried.

The monkey swooped down, passing over the companions and arcing straight for Taylor. Instinctively, she dropped to her knees, falling just out of her attacker's reach.

The companions scattered as more monkeys seemed to appear from nowhere. They came out of the brush. They jumped down from the cliffs above. They dropped from the sky. Tay thought she saw one of the winged demons spring out of the creek they'd been drinking from.

The others ran for cover, but Taylor quickly collected herself and held her ground.

She'd made it.

This was exactly where she was supposed to be.
 

In the book, Dorothy had been captured. Taylor would let them take her, too. Just as the story demanded.

"R-r-run!" the Lion roared. "What are you doing?!" He galloped forward and tried to nudge her along with his nose.

Tay pulled away.

"They're going to take us," she explained. "You and me," she told the Lion. "I know it's hard for you, but don't be scared."

"W-w-what are you t-t-talking about?! Go!"

One of the monkeys dropped beside them and bared his teeth in an ugly snarl. The Lion cowered, but Taylor didn't look.

"You're a lot braver than you think. You'll see."

BATTERED AND BLOODIED, Wesley arrived just in time to see one of the winged monkeys duck beneath the Tinman's hammer. Momentum sent the hammer swinging wildly, and it caught the Scarecrow's chest and sent him flying.

"Taylor!" He was desperate for Tay's attention, but the battle cry of monkeys was enough to drown everything out.

Wesley had slid and somersaulted most of his way into the ravine, only stopping when his body crashed to a stop on a boulder near the bottom. His hands were scraped. Tree limbs and thorny bushes had opened jagged cuts on his arms and face. Something in his leg had popped in the fall. And yet, somehow he'd made it – if not in time to warn them, in time to help.

Only he couldn't get Taylor's attention.

What is she doing?!
he thought.
She's just standing there!

He ran toward her and was just seconds away when a monkey dropped between them. The beast seemed to smile at Wesley before turning to grab his friend.

"No!" Wesley launched himself forward, sliding through the dirt and latching onto the monkey's leg. The creature screeched. With Wes dragging behind him, the monkey skidded across the ground, its giant wings batting the air to no avail. For a moment, it looked like Wesley's weight was enough to anchor the monkey down. But then, the monster looked back at Wesley with annoyance and promptly kicked at the boy's face. His grip loosened, and the monkey broke free.

"No!" Wesley screamed. "No!"

Wes leapt to his feet, charging after the monkey as it took flight with Taylor in its iron grip. He reached out again, diving forward, but this time all he got was a face full of dirt and hands full of air.

"No! Tay! TAY!"