Free The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige Page A

longer than anyone else in this whole messed-up fairyland, and I still don’t know you at all. All you’ve done is lie to me. So yeah,” I spat. “I like you. I think. But I think you’d better start giving me some explanations.”
    Pete just nodded with resigned understanding. He took a deep breath and slumped against the wall, folding his tense, sinewy arms across his chest. “Okay,” he said. “But you might as well have a seat, ’cause I wasn’t kidding when I said it was a long story. And I don’t even know the whole thing.”
    I considered it, and then sat back down in the hammock I’d slept in, leaving my bare feet firm on the ground to steady myself. For now, I kept my knife in my hand. I didn’t think I would need it, but you could never be too safe around here.
    â€œLet’s hear it,” I said. “Just tell me everything you do know.”
    â€œWhere should I start?”
    â€œThe beginning.”
    So Pete started at the beginning. “Once upon a time . . . ,” he said.

SEVEN
    â€œOnce upon a time,” Pete began, “there was a little girl—a fairy, actually, but who knows what a fairy really even is? I’ve always been sort of fuzzy on that. Anyway. She was a princess. Or, well, really she wasn’t a princess at all, because she had no parents, so technically she was the queen. But everyone thought it seemed dumb to call her a queen, because she was just a baby. I mean, she couldn’t even walk. So they called her Princess Ozma.”
    â€œHow can a baby be queen?” I asked. “Was she just crawling around the palace by herself? Who was taking care of her? And, like, who was ruling Oz?”
    â€œShe had a nursemaid,” Pete explained. “A winged monkey named Lulu whose family had worked for the royal family for ages. She took care of Ozma, and after a time, Lulu came to think of Ozma as her own.”
    I did a double take. “Wait a minute,” I said. “ Queen Lulu?”
    â€œI guess that’s what she’s calling herself these days,” Pete saidwith a rueful smile. “Everyone and their babysitter’s got a crown in this stupid fairyland, huh?”
    â€œActually, Queen Lulu wears a tutu and cat-eye sunglasses,” I pointed out.
    Pete snickered. “I meant, like, a metaphorical crown , ” he said. “Because, look, the thing about Oz that you have to understand is there’s only one true queen. It didn’t matter that Ozma was a baby or whatever. She’s the only living descendant of the fairy Lurline, so that makes her the one in charge. It’s like the law or something. They call it Old Magic. Look, I don’t totally understand it either, but I don’t have to. Everything sort of depends on it, you know?”
    â€œNot really,” I said. “But keep going. Maybe I’ll get it later.”
    â€œThe point is that basically no one was in charge. So when the Wizard showed up from god knows where, well—let’s just say the people of Oz were ready for some real leadership. Didn’t even really matter that he wasn’t a wizard at all. So he sets himself up in the palace, takes the baby Ozma, sells her to Mombi, and—”
    â€œHold up,” I interjected. This story was getting more confusing by the second. “He just takes the baby?”
    Pete raised his eyebrows in consternation. “If I have to give you every little detail it’s going to take all day.”
    â€œBut what about Lulu?” I asked. “If she was supposed to be taking care of Ozma, why didn’t she stop him?”
    Pete shook his head sadly. “He found this magic hat thing. If you have the hat, you control the monkeys. This was a long time ago, remember—Dorothy must still have the hat lying aroundsomewhere nowadays. Anyway, the Wizard gave the magic hat to the Wicked Witch of the West in exchange for her help, and