Flashing Friday

Oops! Sorry, I got my flash written in time, I just forgot to post it!


The Quest

They were hers by right of salvage but she was never meant to keep them. I just thought it was safer to let her wear them while the rest of us voted on who was to inherit them.

You have to understand something about the ruby slippers. They were never meant for mortals. The only ones who can safely wear them for any length of time are we witches. The chaos that child has created in her world is nothing compared to the chaos she left behind when she took those slippers home with her.

It takes the power of six witches to keep Oz going. It can be done with four, but only if one of the four is wearing the ruby slippers. Even then it has to be the strongest witch wearing them. We were already down to five witches (and one incompetent wizard) when the house landed.

I was the one who sent her to that fool wizard, who should never have been put in charge of the Emerald City in the first place, thinking he’d keep her out of trouble. After the vote was cast and it was decided the Eastwitch should have the slippers, it just seemed easiest to have him send the girl East.

Instead of telling her to deliver the ruby slippers to their rightful owner, the old coot turned it into some kind of mythic quest. Eastwitch got impatient, which she usually does, and tried to retrieve them herself, just making matters worse.

I tried to intervene but I was too late. The water had already been thrown and the girl was back in the Emerald City. That rumour that I was the one who told her about the power of the slippers? Lies, all lies.

So technically it was my fault we lost not one, but two witches – and the ruby slippers – which made me the logical choice to retrieve them. Now, can anyone tell me the way to Kansas?