Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 60487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
They each took a figure and planted it on its correct base and waited . . .
Nothing happened.
Carl double checked. Dorothy first, the scarecrow who wants brains, the tinman who wants a heart, the lion who wants to be courageous. Wait, was that a smaller base beside Dorothy?
“Ohh, ohh, I got it. We’re missing Toto.”
“I don’t see a dog anywhere,” Sage said.
“I know, I know.” Leo tugged his mum’s sleeve. “I saw Toto in the first room. Help me get it. He was in one of the big boxes.”
Two heads of straw-coloured hair ducked and disappeared into the tunnel to the first room, leaving behind Carl and Grayson and a truck-load of tension.
Grayson edged over to the tinman and fidgeted with his clock-heart, trying to straighten it to some invisibly perfect line.
Carl shouldn’t find the nervous tic quite this charming. But he did. Before he knew it, he was slinking up behind Grayson, observing how his ears reddened.
Carl touched the tip of his finger to the shell of one. “How did you get that scar?”
Goosebumps lifted on the back of Grayson’s neck; he clamped a palm over his nape. “Surfing. Clipped a rock.”
“Pity you can’t wear a helmet. Have your own trusty Toto.”
Grayson glanced at him, and took in the themed walls around them. “You seriously named my helmet Toto?”
“Those first days here, I felt pretty far away from home.”
“And now?” Grayson sounded like he was suppressing his curiosity. He even sucked in his lips as if to keep from prying more.
“Well, Wellington is so green, it could be the Emerald City.”
Grayson turned to face Carl fully. “Does that mean you’re closer to home?”
Carl swallowed.
A grey glimmer hit Grayson’s eye but he quickly smiled. “I might have some silver tap shoes somewhere, if you want to click your heels—”
Carl elbowed him, chuckling. But it wasn’t a chuckle of humour. It felt heavy. “Stop.”
Grayson looked away from him, and his voice thickened. “You need to have your conversations.” He adjusted the tinman’s heart again.
“Not today.” Carl leaned in and turned Grayson’s chin until he faced him. “Today we have to deal with feelings.”
Ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-crazy-thunk.
Carl croaked, “Didn’t you promise?”
The half inch separating them disappeared. Warm lips pressed softly against Carl’s, and Carl took a sharp intake of air. Electricity sparked. Crackled.
Carl closed his eyes and felt Grayson’s soft breath trickle into his mouth and spill over his bottom lip. “Gosh,” he murmured, “it might take a fair bit to get this out of my system.”
A sudden smile formed around Carl’s unintentional one, followed by a naughty slip of tongue . . .
Carl hiccupped, and laughed. He pressed his lips—
Leo and Sage crawled back into the room and within the second, they’d ripped themselves apart, Carl spinning to face the wall where he spent a good ten seconds fanning his face.
“Got the dog!”
As soon as the figurine was set in place there came a series of clicks and a drawer popped out of a wall. A map, of the Emerald City. Clues hidden around the room helped them match landmarks to points on the map, and the area where everything intercepted revealed another riddle. Together, they answered the Wicked Witch’s Stumper, unlocked the next door to The Courageous Path, translated the Flying Monkey Cipher, found a pivotal clue in a miniature Poppy Field; found the Witch’s Broomstick, and unlocked a large closet filled with emerald green light.
The light waned, revealing a large mirror at the back and magnetised alphabet letters scattered on the wooden floor.
“Heartfelt Reflection,” Grayson read. “What’s the most important thing in the world?”
“Home,” Leo called. “What Dorothy wants most.”
“Not so sure,” Carl said. “She wants to go home to the people that love her. It’s love that’s most important.”
“But scarecrow, lion, and tinman all end up loving her, if it was about love, wouldn’t she stay?”
Grayson was still staring into the mirror, unmoving, and there was something about his gaze that had Carl shifting from foot to foot. “She might have found a new family on her adventures, and she might even love them back, but . . .”
Grayson snapped out, “But there’s no place like home.”
Sage tucked Leo under her arm. “If you find someone you love very much one day, I hope you’ll also return.”
“Listen to your mum,” Grayson said gruffly. “If she ever asks you home, go right away.”
Carl’s throat tightened. He touched Grayson’s sleeve quietly and dark eyes lifted to his, a struggle in their depths. “Home is most important.”
He said it like he was reminding himself. Reminding Carl: he must go home too. He must not make the same mistake Grayson did.
Carl felt the swell of emotion and the need to calm it. He lifted onto his toes and whispered in Grayson’s ear, “Remember what she’d most want for you.”
Grayson let out a shuddered breath over his cheek. Carl made sure to look into those dark eyes until he was sure Grayson had understood. Then he rocked back on his heels, picked through the magnets, and wrote the four-letter answer on the mirror.