Dorothy Gale's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

Dorothy walked out of the throne room and found herself on a white stone path. The palace rose behind her, all towers and bridges, but every archway she passed through led to the same view: red flowers stretching to the horizon. She reached a pair of iron gates covered in twisted metal vines. Beyond them, the poppies started. A wooden sign wrapped in the same red flowers stood beside the path, its words half-hidden: TURN BACK. Someone had tried. Someone had known it wouldn't be enough. On the ground near the gate lay a wand with a gold handle and purple crystal, the kind of thing that should have protected whoever carried it. Dorothy picked it up, felt its weight, then set it back down. Magic hadn't saved them. A woman in a blue dress walked past Dorothy toward the flowers. Her face was calm, almost peaceful. Dorothy grabbed her arm. "Don't," she said. The woman looked at her with unfocused eyes and smiled. "It's the only way through," she said, and pulled free. Dorothy watched her step into the poppies. Within three steps, the woman's smile widened into something empty. Within six, she was swaying. Within ten, she stopped walking altogether and just stood there, staring at nothing. Dorothy backed away from the gate. Every road out led through those flowers. She'd seen it from the throne room windows, confirmed it walking the palace grounds. The queen had known. That's why she'd offered the shoes—because there was no other path, and Dorothy would eventually get desperate enough to take them. But now Dorothy understood the choice wasn't between the shoes and walking through the poppies. It was between losing herself Icelia's way or finding another route entirely, even if that meant going back through the palace to search for one. She turned away from the flowers and started walking along the palace wall, looking for a door she'd missed.