Francesca, The Great and Terrible: A Reverse Harem Academy Romance Read online

  “Locasta only met with them and talked to them, right? She used words, not magic?” Saffron asked.

  “Just a silver tongue, aside from the people she cursed that got blamed on Adora.”

  Saffron’s face lit up like I just gave her the best news ever. “Then, we can use words to reverse what she did. Frankie, punching Todus in the face was probably the best thing you could have done because his father is going to come here wanting an explanation. We can all talk to him. Everyone in the East listens to him. We just need his ear, and then we’ll have the ear of everyone in the East.”

  This time, it was Saffron that threw her arms around my neck and hugged me. One of these days, I would get used to that. Frankie was technically my first hug. My parents couldn’t be bothered. If I skinned my knees and was crying, I was just expected to deal with it without being comforted. It was a nice sensation, just strange.

  All my hugs so far were different depending on who they came from. I felt a connection when Frankie hugged me—a connection I wanted to deepen and explore. Ozma hugged me hard enough to leave bruises. Saffron hugged like I’d just given her the keys to her own kingdom.

  As soon as Saffron let me go, Frankie flung herself at me. She actually kissed me on the cheek. That was my first kiss too.

  “Thank you, Galen. You may have just made the East safe for my cousin to go back to. She can finally go home and stop living in that cave.”

  I found myself turning purple. I hadn’t done anything. All I did was tell them the information I overheard. I bowed my head and let my hair fall in my face.

  “You were the one who showed Todus what was what and will get his father here. I didn’t do anything.”

  “You’ve been doing a lot, Galen. You may have given us what we needed to save the Munchkins and my cousin. We may be one step ahead of the Fisher King because of you. Do you mind if I take you to lunch at the little bistro Saffron and Emarus like so that we can talk? I feel like all we do is talk about your father, and I know nothing about you. Can we just get to know each other?”

  I wanted that. I wanted it more than anything. Oprix accepted me after I helped him call his magic. He offered me his hand in friendship, and he was smiling at me right now. Idris was another story. Every time Frankie hugged me or smiled at me, he would let out these little growls, even if he wasn’t in his monkey form. I needed to find a way to win Idris over too and sharing information wasn’t it.

  I realized I was hesitating to try to figure Idris out. When the girl you loved ask you out, you said yes. Was it a date? I hoped it was. Maybe it would lead to a date later.

  “I’d like that. I think, for now, we need to get down to that jail and question Mombi.”

  Chapter 15

  Frankie

  I

  knew punching Todus was going to have consequences, and I’d have to explain myself to the Munchkins. I knew based on how they were acting right now, they’d think I was in the wrong. Galen not only swooped in and saved my ass, he had the answers to make the East go back to normal and probably make it a safe place for my cousin to live in. Maybe she could even get her ancestral home back.

  It made me curious about Galen and want to get to know him better. I wanted to know why I felt this connection to him. Galen risked everything to run away and tell us what he knew, and he never asked for anything. I didn’t know where he slept or how he ate before he moved into our rooms with us, but he would still be doing that if I hadn’t demanded he move in.

  Galen had a hard life, and anyone could see how he tensed up any time anyone touched him. I wanted to help Galen. I couldn’t help him like he was helping us. Fuck, he was helping us save Oz. I’d never be able to return that favor. But I could get to know him instead of treating him like we just wanted him around for information. That wasn’t true. There was something about Galen that drew me to him. Maybe it was because we were both a little damaged because of our pasts.

  I grabbed Idris on the way to the jail. Idris was not okay with Galen, and I could tell even if he wasn’t growling all the time.

  “Can you be nice to him, please? He’s helping us, and he helped Saffron.”

  “Be straight with me, Francesca. Are you bringing him into this relationship? I told you how it worked in my culture. Everyone has to agree with it.”

  “Idris, I don’t know anything about him. All I know about him is that he’s had a hard life as the Fisher King’s son. He needs friends, and he needs kindness in his life.”

  “It certainly sounds like you are trying to get to know him. A date? We haven’t even been on a date yet!”

  “It’s just two people eating together and getting to know each other. If it bothers you, ask me on a date, and we’ll go before Galen, and I eat together. That’s all we’re doing. Eating and getting to know each other.”

  “Fine. I’m taking you to dinner and a play tonight.”

  “Are you telling me this or asking me?”

  Idris let out a little huff. “Francesca, will you go to dinner and a play with me tonight?”

  “Of course, Idris. But please, try to be nice to Galen. If anything does progress with Galen and I decide I have feelings, you know I’ll talk to you before they get too deep so you can have your manly conversation with him before you decide he’s okay.”

  “He’s not a Munchkin, Quadling, Gillikin, or Winkie, Francesca. His father wasn’t from Oz, and who knows about his mother.”

  “He’s like me, Idris, even if his father is from where Dorothy came from. If the Fisher King is as dangerous as we’ve heard so far, what do you think it took for Galen to get up the nerve and run away to help us?”

  “I’m just saying, be careful, Francesca. You don’t grow up around someone twisted like the Fisher King without some of it rubbing off on you.”

  “I think the Fisher King was so awful to Galen, nothing rubbed off on him except hate. Please. Idris. Just be nice to him.”

  “We’ll talk about it later. Let’s see if Ozma can get us into the jail.”

  We marched up to the door of the jail with Ozma leading us. When I questioned Mombi, there was only one guard at the door, and he looked pretty bored. Now, there were four scared guards outside the door.

  “What’s going on in there?”

  “There’s a Wicked Witch in one of those cells. The jail is spelled so no one can break in or out. Someone keeps trying — the spells either bang or shriek when they are triggered. Every night around midnight, they go off. The noise is horrible. It’s like there’s a wraith in there.”

  Ozma narrowed her eyes at the four men. “Have you actually gone in and made sure you still have a prisoner to guard?”

  “No way. I’m not going in there and seeing what happens to someone when that shrieking trap goes off.”

  “Then get out of our way and let us go in. We aren’t afraid of magical traps, and we can set a few of our own.”

  “Glinda went in there to talk to her and set more traps. There’s talk around the palace that Glinda has disappeared. Something bad is happening in Oz. I don’t think you kids should go back there.”

  “You’re right. Something bad is happening in Oz, and it’s going to get worse unless you let us in that fucking jail.”

  “What if the witch in there is out of her cell and just waiting on us to open those doors?”

  I stepped forward. “You let me in there once, remember? Mombi gave me a threat. She said before we could figure out what was going on, we’d all be dead or slaves. Glinda is now missing, and someone is trying to get Mombi out. We need to get in there. Mombi has no inherent magic. If she’s out, we’ll just put her back in her cell and set different traps.”

  “And if she’s not alone?” one of the guards pointed out.

  All of us that were able to summon our weapons did. I had my sword, Saffron had her bow, and Galen had his staff.

  “Then we’ll kill them. Satisfied?”

  Ozma just glared at the four men guarding the door. “Aren’t you emba
rrassed you’re letting a group of kids go in there, and you are too petrified to do your job? I swear, when I take over, things are going to change.”

  Galen stepped forward. “You can’t blame them. Oz doesn’t remember my father. They don’t remember real fear. They got rid of all their armies because they didn’t think they needed them anymore. Things will change when the Fisher King makes his move.”

  Ozma just rolled her eyes, but Galen had a point. Oz didn’t have anything to be afraid of until that spell created Wicked Witches, and now, they feared bad magic. Hearing shrieks and thumps inside a locked jail was probably petrifying to these men. I had no idea what we were going to find when we opened the door either. Locasta could have teleported her army, and they got caught in the traps. They could have just been waiting for someone to open the door to rush it.

  “Magical shield up,” I called. “Remember your lessons this morning.”

  “What about me?” Dorothy said. “I don’t have magic.”

  Ozma squeezed her hand. “Stay behind me until we know what we are dealing with.”

  “Saffron and I have the most training. Let us go in first.”

  “No,” Galen said, stepping forward. “I know the most about the Fisher King’s magic. It’s different from fairyland magic, remember? I have fairyland magic and non-fairyland magic in my veins. Let me go in first.”

  I grabbed his hand. “We’ll go in together.”

  Chapter 16

  Frankie

  T

  here wasn’t a Northern army waiting for us behind the doors. It didn’t look like anyone had tried teleporting in. No one was stupid enough to try. The entire jail was one big teleport trap, which was wholly unpleasant to be trapped in if someone just wanted to trap you and deadly if you were really not wanted.

  Galen and I stepped through holding hands. It smelled like burnt toast in the cells from all the wards that had been worn down. I studied the traps. These were deadly teleport traps, but I didn’t see any bodies. There was this horrible smell towards the back of the jail.

  Galen stopped me. “Everyone here is dead, including Mombi.”

  “How do you know? We can’t even see their cell.”

  “One of the gifts I inherited from the Fisher King is Necromancy. I can sense and talk to the dead. The Fisher King can bring the dead back to life. The powder Ozma used on Jack, and her Sawhorse that brought them to life had to come from the Fisher King. I’m guessing it’s powdered bone from someone he brought back to life and then killed again with a few other ingredients. Mombi probably had plans for it.”

  “We’d better go get Ozma. You said everybody. Is there more than just Mombi in here? The cells were empty except her when I visited.”

  “Yes. There’s a dead man in every single cell. They teleported in on suicide missions until they got to her. They killed her before the trap killed them. If we had gotten here any later, it would have stunk worse than cow dung in here.”

  “You can really talk to the dead? Why do you think they killed Mombi instead of trying to break her out?”

  Galen shrugged. “My parents didn’t speak very highly of Mombi, but Ozma may have that answer. You might as well get everyone.”

  I called everyone in. As we walked down the hall to Mombi’s cell, I realized Galen spoke the truth. There was a dead man twisted in agony on the floor of every cell. The man in the last cell managed to slit Mombi’s throat before he collapsed on the floor, and the trap broke his bones and killed him.

  Ozma took the keys to Mombi’s cell out, but Galen stopped her. “If I’m going to talk to her, it’s best to leave her locked in. I came prepared in case there were dead here to talk to. I’m going to have to summon her spirit, then send it away again.”

  “What the fuck kind of magic are they doing back in Kans-ass? I thought there was no magic there?” I demanded.

  “There is magic back where Dorothy comes from, but not everyone has it and the people that do practice in secret. There used to be a time magic was a natural thing, and everyone did it, but then people began to fear it. Back where Dorothy comes from, if it’s suspected you practice magic, they burn you alive.”

  I cut my eyes to Dorothy. “And you seriously want to go back there?”

  “Well, I mean, we don’t burn people alive anymore. Magic is thought of as fiction. Everyone, where I come from, thinks magic doesn’t exist. People who have it must practice in secret.”

  Galen was sprinkling salt all around the cell door. “I think you have magic, Dorothy. It’s the only thing to explain how you keep ending up here. It’s just a question of figuring out how to unlock it.”

  “The Wizard didn’t have any. My mother scanned him when she was summoned to his castle,” I pointed out. “He still ended up here.”

  “Glinda’s theory about the Wizard was correct. He was a distant blood relative of the Fisher King. I don’t know about Dorothy. They didn’t talk about her much. They seemed surprised she ended up in Oz in the first place and immediately started making plans to use her. I’m going to need total silence.”

  Galen had finished with his salt line across the cell door. Idris must have taken my request to be nice to heart because he went to get Galen a chair. There was blood all over the jail room floor from all the dead people in the cells. Galen straddled the chair and started chanting in some strange language. I didn’t recognize it at all. I wasn’t a language anyone spoke anywhere in Oz.

  Mombi’s corpse jerked upright. It looked like she had a second smile across her neck from where her throat had been slit. She hissed when she saw all of us. Her voice sounded like sandpaper. Ozma had already taken the glamour off her hair, and it was now its regular bright pink.

  “Ozma,” Mombi hissed.

  “Mombi,” Ozma growled, spitting in Mombi’s general direction. “Looks like Locasta turned on you in the end.”

  “Can’t an old woman die in peace?”

  “Not after what you did to me, you old bitch.”

  “That was Locasta. I was just your babysitter, and I hate children. I had to deal with your crying and your nappies. You were a miserable child—always crying and shitting. Of course, it would be you that got me killed in the end.”

  Galen grabbed Ozma when she took a step towards the bars. There was something important about that salt line, and her toe was about to brush it. I really didn’t want to know what would happen with a talking corpse when that salt line was disturbed.

  “Don’t disturb the salt,” Galen warned.

  “You can only be one person, son. Does your father know you are here? I’ll tell him, you know.”

  I hadn’t thought of that. I had no idea how this necromancy worked and if the Fisher King would summon Mombi after we did and find out Galen was with us.

  Galen just laughed. “Actually, you won’t. You might want to answer Ozma’s questions, or I’ll send you to a very bad place when I’m done with you. I’m the son of the Fisher King, remember? Care to find out how much of him rubbed off on me?”

  “Why did you summon me, boy? I’ve been in this cell. Like I know what’s going on.”

  I stepped forward. “You said something to me. You said by the time we figured out what was going on, we’d be dead or slaves. Someone went through a lot of trouble to kill you, Mombi. The question is, why and what do you know? Where is Glinda?”

  Mombi wrung her hands, and it was so gross. I didn’t know how long she had been dead, but it looked like her skin was about to rip off her fingers, and her bones kept making this awful popping noise.

  “The Fisher King talks to the dead. He can bend them to his will. I’m not even safe from him in death if I talk.”

  What the fuck had we gotten ourselves into with this Fisher King? Talking to the dead wasn’t natural. It wasn’t something my magic could do. I didn’t know anyone in Oz that could do that. I don’t think my mother would have taught me that when I was older, either.

  “What if I told you I could send your soul somewhere a ne
cromancer couldn’t summon it again? You’d be safe from the Fisher King there, but it’s not a nice place.”

  “I don’t care. I was murdered because it was considered a failure I was captured. All those men he sent, they were dead men he resurrected. He forced them to walk into death to kill me. Any place is better than what he has planned for me.”

  Ozma just scoffed, and her toe got a little too close to that salt line again. “You forget, I lived with you for over twenty years. You and Locasta said his name like you were in love with him before you sent me outside to do back-breaking work. You were miserable to me, and you worked me to the bone.”

  “I never asked to raise a child. I hate children. They are dirty, and they whine too much. I begged for you to go to someone else. It was decided to put you with me since everyone believed Locasta to be my enemy. The spell she put on you should have been impossible to break except by another Sentinel. You were never supposed to meet one. I don’t know how Glinda found out about you. You weren’t supposed to leave my yard.”

  Ozma laughed. “I left your yard all the time. I don’t need an explanation from you why you treated me the way you did. Whatever you have to say, I know you aren’t the least bit sorry for it. What we need is information. Where is Glinda? Did she come down here to talk to you?”

  Mombi cackled, and since she’d been dead and her throat was slit, it was this horrible, grating sound.

  “Glinda is petrified and getting careless. She did visit me. She informed me she was going to find out what Locasta was up to if it killed her. She probably tried, and it did. I’ve told you what I know. Now, send me somewhere the Fisher King can’t get to me.”

  Galen shot us all a look. “Do you have everything?”

  “I think that’s all she knows. You’ve filled in the gaps by what she meant by dead or slaves. How do you send her back?”

  “I need to send all of them away. The Fisher King can awaken these men at any time. When he can’t, he’s going to know I’m here.”