Then he turned dark again. “Almost here,” he said. I followed his gaze and saw thick, black smoke rising up from a forested area at the foot of a mountain range, curling into the sky.

“Get ready,” Gert said, not opening her eyes. “We’re coming in for a landing.”

The knot in my stomach tied itself right back up as our velocity reversed itself and we hurtled for the ground, picking up speed.

But her warning was unnecessary. We landed like feathers in a field on the outskirts of what must have been Pumperdink. It was on fire, its small, dome-shaped houses consumed with flames as panicked townspeople raced in every direction.

The smell filled my nostrils and stayed there, churning. It was disgusting—a horrible combination of smoke and blood and burning flesh and other things, I’m sure, that I didn’t even want to know about.

As I looked around, unsure what to do next, I saw something moving above me. Monkeys—they were weaving through the burning sky. The almost humanlike way in which they swooped and dove into the chaos made me shiver.

“Mombi and I will take down the beasts left in this village and save as many of the children as we can,” Gert said, turning back to me and Nox. “Amy, you go with Nox to find the Lion. Send a summoning spell when you’ve got him in your sights. Don’t try to defeat him yourselves—he’s too powerful for either of you to take on without us.”

Nox nodded and Mombi and Gert disappeared.

He balled his hand into a fist, and when he opened it he was holding a glowing ball of blue flame, which he blew on gently. It spun from his hand and hovered a few inches in the air. Nox blew on it again—it circled lazily around us, then darted back and forth for a few seconds before zinging off in the opposite direction of the village, leaving a trail of blue energy in its wake.

Nox jerked his head wordlessly toward the forest on the other side of the field. I pulled the knife he had given me out of the air, like he’d taught me to do, and his eyes met mine. The rest of his face was stony and emotionless, but his eyes were flashing with something else that I couldn’t place. Pride, maybe? They seemed to be saying, See? This is it. This is what I told you about.

I nodded, hoping he knew that I understood. And we went racing off, chasing the light.

It got darker as we went farther into the trees, until finally the only illumination was the dim light from the tracing charm that was leading us. But my training served me well now, and my feet nimbly avoided every obstacle as if I’d run down this path a thousand times.

After a few minutes, we heard a roar in the distance. Nox put a finger to his lips and slowed down until we reached the edge of a clearing.

“Stay back,” Nox whispered. “They won’t notice us yet if we’re careful.”

The clearing was crowded with animals, some I recognized and others I didn’t. There were foxes and crocodiles and wolves and tigers and bears. A few were walking around on their hind legs, while others were pacing on all fours. It was a nightmare zoo—a menagerie of wild mutated animals of every size and shape. These were the Lion’s beasts.

Did the Lion command every animal in Oz, or did they have a say in the matter? I wondered, thinking of Star. If anyone was stubborn enough to show a little backbone, it was my pet rat. With any luck, Pete was keeping her nice and safe, but if she ever had the bad luck to meet this guy I hoped she would give him a good, hard bite.

The beasts had surrounded a group of Gillikin people, who were lined up neatly in the middle of the clearing like they were waiting for something.

Or maybe like something was waiting for them: at the front of the line, I saw the Lion himself for the first time in the flesh. He had been a vague, hazy shadow in Glamora’s scrying pool, but now, in person, I realized exactly how terrifying he really was.

Really, he was barely recognizable as a lion at all. He looked like a monster, like some warped nightmare version of the king of the jungle. He was huge and golden, with bulging, grotesque muscles and a filthy, snarled mane. His lips were curled back, baring a mouth crowded with sharp, long, crooked fangs.

“Is that what he’s always looked like?” I asked under my breath. Nox just shook his head and signaled for me to keep watching.

There were about ten townspeople in line. At the front of it, a trembling man with a top hat and a purple beard stumbled forward to where the Lion stood. He clasped his hands in front of him, and I could tell that he was pleading with his captor, but they spoke too quietly for me to hear what he was saying. I snapped my fingers, casting a listening spell. As I did it, I felt energy flowing out of my knife and into my body. The knife made magic so much easier.

“We’ve given you everything that you asked for,” the man was saying. “We have nothing left. Please, just leave us alone. We’re Dorothy’s loyal subjects. We’ll help you in any way we can.”

“There’s still plenty you can give me, Mr. Mayor,” the Lion said. He widened his jaw lazily, almost like he was yawning. Thick ropes of drool rolled down his chin as he leaned forward on his haunches. The mayor levitated a few inches off the ground to meet him.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away. At first it looked like the Lion and the man were kissing. But they weren’t—their mouths were inches apart, not quite touching. The man looked like he was struggling, but then his mouth fell open, too, as his face contorted in pain and something that looked like red smoke came spewing violently out of him. I couldn’t tell whether it was vomit, or blood, or something worse. Whatever it was, the Lion lapped it up hungrily.