Sentinels of Oz: A Reverse Harem Academy Romance (Emerald City Academy Book 1)

by JB Trepagnier

  Oprix tried to pull me into a hug, and normally his strong arms soothed me, but I was too mad this time. I knew Oprix thought he was helping, but if he stuck me in the same room with Dorothy, I’d be the new Wicked Witch of the West because I was going to end the hero of Oz.

  “Glinda said some things about Dorothy that may help you,” Oprix said. “She was just a kid, Frankie. A storm blew her here, and she couldn’t help that her house fell on Adora when it crashed. She really did think it was just water she threw at your mom. Glinda let her believe that lie because she was so young. Glinda said Dorothy is eighteen now, and she’s needed back in Oz.”

  I grumped. That wasn’t much better. Nine wasn’t a kid. I’d been having lessons with my mother since I was five and I knew the difference between acid and water when I was nine. I would have found another solution than murder if what I wanted was to get back where I came from. I still didn’t know why Locasta didn’t just tell her how to get home instead of sending her to the Wizard other than Locasta hadn’t always been all there. Sometimes, I suspected the curse that made her appear like a white haired old lady addled her mind a little.

  “Come on, Francesca,” Idris said. “This will be good for your training. If you can get through this and deal with Dorothy Gale, you’ll be the best Sentinel the West has ever had. If you can restore Oz and expose Glinda, you’ll be a hero and restore your family name. We’re going to need a Sentinel in the South anyway. If Glinda is making this school, it sounds like she doesn’t want it anyway. You can scout at this academy.”

  I hated it when they teamed up on me and made sense. They hadn’t done that to me since we were children. They started getting along less when we got older, and Idris got the ability to shift into a man, but when they needed to make a point, they were always this little useful team of logic working against me.

  They were totally right. I was going to have to suck it up and not kill Dorothy until I figured out exactly what was going on in Oz. Someone did a huge spell to make Oz turn on the Sentinels. The heir to the throne in Oz was missing or dead. If Glinda really didn’t want her post as Sentinel of the South, she’d have to be replaced before she did something stupid.

  That is, if she hadn’t already. All of this, strangers coming to Oz and overthrowing Emerald City and murdering Sentinels could have been her all along. Idris and Oprix were right. I didn’t need to be avoiding Glinda. I needed to be getting close to her. Part of being a Sentinel was espionage. Glinda might have more training than me, but I was no slouch.

  I hoped Emerald City Academy was ready for the daughters of the Wicked Witches of the East and West, a Winkie, and a Flying Monkey because in two weeks, we’d all be enrolling.

  Chapter 6

  Frankie

  T

  he last time I was in Emerald City, it was right after the Wizard landed in his balloon, and everyone decided he was the new thing. He quickly disposed of the sitting ruler and summoned all the Sentinels. Construction on all the changes he wanted to make had just started, so all I really saw was scaffolding and a lot of people bustling around. I was very young then. I remember a lot of yelling from my mother and Adora because they didn’t think he had any right to sit on that throne. I guess that was how they got the titles of the Wicked Witches.

  I hadn’t been back since I was a child, mainly since my family wasn’t welcome. Everyone would know who I was if I set foot in Emerald City. Every region had its preferred color. In the West, everything that could possibly be yellow, was. All of the Winkies had golden hair and eyes so hazel, they might as well be gold.

  The Emerald City preferred green, but I wouldn’t be welcome with my green skin because everyone thought it belonged to the Wicked Witches in the West. My skin was a soft green, and my hair was purple. Saffron had bronzed skin and blue hair. Everything in Quadling country in the South was red. Glinda had pale skin and bright red hair. No one really knew what Locasta looked like. She had been cursed to look like an older lady with white hair when she was younger, and no one knew how to lift the curse.

  I expected a total shit show when I waltzed up to the gates of Emerald City with Saffron, Oprix, and Idris. Convincing Saffron to even come was like pulling teeth, but I eventually managed. I half expected the guard at the gate to take one look at us and tell us no Wicked Witches were allowed in Emerald City, but he seemed to be expecting us.

  “You must be Francesca and Saffron. Glinda told us to expect you and not to give you any trouble. The academy is built into the side of the palace, and she built dorms, but the staff has rooms inside the palace. Glinda put the four of you in the palace with the staff. Go straight to the palace and give them your names. They will show you to your rooms.”

  Now, were rooms in the palace because Glinda was worried for our safety or because she didn’t want us snooping around her school? I suspected everyone since Oz turned on us, even fellow Sentinels. Oz wasn’t supposed to have an army. It had never been to war before. There was one captain who guarded the gates to Emerald City, and that was it. So, my hackles raised when a guard carrying a sword that looked very military came out to escort us to the palace.

  I wondered if he would even talk to me. “So, Oz has an army now?”

  “Twenty-one captains,” he said, proudly. “Glinda recruited us for when we need to go find a missing heir. We don’t know who has been holding them captive. Glinda told us to treat the four of you with respect because you will be important one day. She told us you might even help us find the missing heir.”

  Well, that just opened up about a million questions. She could have either been serious or she told them that because she knew he would tell us and she wanted us docile. I decided to take in my new surroundings because I needed to know every inch of Emerald City if I was going to live here.

  The Wizard sure liked his jewels. The palace and buildings were studded with emeralds and rubies. I couldn’t decide if I thought it was pretty or something built for a guy compensating for a really small cock. He was definitely compensating for something. I didn’t even want to think about all the work that went into mining those jewels and building a city like this for one man. It was just a little too shiny for me.

  I had no idea what Oprix said to Glinda, but when we were shown to our rooms, it was an ornate suite with four bedrooms, so we all got our own room, but shared a living space. There was this huge spread of food waiting for us and candles lit everywhere.

  Idris and Oprix would eat even if their feet had been cut off, and they were bleeding to death. They immediately fixed plates and started eating. Saffron was just wondering around touching things and talking about how pretty things were. I couldn’t stay here until I knew it was safe.

  I started scanning the room for magic. Glinda did use magic in this room, but it wasn’t bad magic. Glinda put protection spells on our room? There were no listening spells for her to spy on us. There were no curses, nothing to spy on our dreams, nothing to plant things in our dreams, and nothing to whisper evil things in our heads while we were in the room. The mirrors had been protected against scrying, but there were a lot of reflective surfaces in the room someone could watch us in.

  Glinda had placed protection spells against any bad magic. If she hadn’t, I would have. Now I had so many questions. How did Glinda fit into this big cluster fuck in Oz, and why this school if she was trying to protect us? Or did this all have sinister meaning? She knew my mother. She knew my mother would have taught me to scan the room. I would have found anything she tried to put on my room. Did she put protection spells up on my room to gain my trust for something more sinister?

  “Saffron? Can you stop admiring the jewels?” I said. “Why do you think Glinda put all these protection spells on our room if she was working with the Wizard? Why didn’t she get your mother’s shoes back if she wasn’t?”

  Oprix had a mouth full of food. “I don’t trust her either, but she’s been wanting to talk to you. You can tell if she’s lying to you. I couldn’t when I talked to
her because I don’t have magic.”

  That’s when it hit me. Idris had his own magic as a Flying Monkey, but pretty soon, Idris and Oprix would know the same magic I did. I stopped worrying about the room. We were safe here. I fixed myself a plate of food and plopped down between Oprix and Idris.

  What fun we could get up to with the four of us knowing magic!

  Chapter 7

  Frankie

  T

  he Emerald Palace was nice, but I missed my home. Not Oprix’s house that I was sharing with him—the home I grew up in. My mother’s castle always had a fire going to keep it warm, and there were beautiful tapestries on every wall. Sentinel history and training might only be passed down verbally, but my house was full of books on everything you could possibly want to know. There were cookbooks from every region in Oz, history books, fiction written by the best storytellers in Oz, and even picture books when I was a child.

  This room was beautiful, but it was cold. There was no art in this room. It was all about shiny jewels and mirrors. Who needed to look at themselves that often? The bed in my room was comfortable, but I was having trouble falling asleep. I didn’t belong here. It wasn’t just that I was going to be learning things I already knew and fighting for what was mine against all of Oz.

  It was going to this academy with all these students who believed my mother was wicked, and Dorothy was right for murdering her. I knew I had to stay, but how was I supposed to clear her name and Adora’s name at a school? Whatever Glinda told me was sure to be a lie. If she needed Dorothy here so badly that she brought her back, she could have just gotten Saffron’s shoes back from her and convinced her to stay.

  When I finally did fall asleep, the nightmares were even worse. Finding my mother’s corpse after she had acid thrown at her was even more vivid. Only this time, the dream changed. I didn’t even know what Dorothy looked like. I only saw the hem of her skirt as she closed the door when I found my mother’s body. This time, in my dream, she was standing over my mother laughing with another pail of acid she threw right in my face. I could feel my flesh melting off.

  I sat up, screaming. Oprix was there like always, but Idris was there too. They weren’t fighting. Oprix had me pulled to his chest stroking my hair like he always did when this happened. Idris had no idea what was going on because I never told him about the nightmares. I didn’t want him to know. It seemed like this huge weakness. I felt like a Sentinel should have moved past it by now.

  Idris looked mad at me. He could tell this was a regular thing between Oprix and me because Oprix knew how to soothe me.

  “When were you planning on telling me someone has been terrorizing you in your sleep, Francesca? I would have killed them.”

  “It’s not a spell, Idris. When I sleep, I keep seeing what I found of my mother after Dorothy Gale left our castle.”

  Idris frowned. “Do you want me to kill Dorothy?”

  “That right belongs to Saffron or me, but we can’t yet. She’s part of Glinda’s plan, and we need her alive for now.”

  “What can I do? I’m feeling pretty fucking helpless right now, Francesca.”

  Oprix stepped in, and I loved him even more. This was always his thing with me, but Oprix was the most unselfish person I knew. His family opened their house to me, and Oprix would have given me his last meal if he had to.

  “I hold her when it gets bad, and she’s able to sleep afterward. She was screaming worse this time. Maybe if we both hold her, she can go back to sleep.”

  I knew both of them loved me deeper than just friendship. I loved both of them. I was using the fact that I was a Sentinel to avoid having to make a choice and hurt either one of them. I loved Oprix because he was steadfast and giving. He was always there for me. I loved Idris because he was always up for trouble and would call an army of Flying Monkeys if he thought I couldn’t get myself out of a situation.

  I felt safer with the two of them here. I might have more Sentinel training than any of the students, but the staff was apparently all advanced sorcerers, and fight training had been imbued into some of them. I could take on a few of them, but not all of them at once. Glinda was a full Sentinel and had been for centuries. She had a lot more knowledge and training than I did at only twenty-one-years-old.

  Could I do this? Fix Oz with just me, Oprix, Idris, and Saffron? Saffron was even younger than I was. My mother and Adora couldn’t fix Oz when they were alive. I had to try. If all the Sentinels had gone bad, then it was up to Saffron and me to fix it or die trying.

  I snuggled into Oprix and Idris. Oh, this was nice. Oprix always smelled like hay and smoke. Idris smelled of musk and wood. The two of them together were amazing. Their hard bodies were pressed against mine, and I wasn’t even thinking about my nightmare. I was thinking about what it would be like to kiss both of them. That had been something I’d been successfully ignoring since I was sixteen.

  I needed to go back to ignoring that. I couldn’t be thinking about romance and selfish desires when Oz was so broken.

  Chapter 8

  Frankie

  F

  or someone who said she wanted to talk to us, Glinda never sent for Saffron or me, nor did she come by our room. Breakfast was brought up by servants, and it was just as rich as the spread that was laid out when we got here. It was very different from food in the West. Winkie food was simple—meat and vegetables with fruit for dessert. There were sauces and rich cakes even for breakfast. I wasn’t a snob, and I didn’t think the West was better than other places in Oz. I ate the food and enjoyed it, but I didn’t eat as much as I normally would for breakfast because it was so rich, it filled me up faster.

  The moment of truth finally came. We all had to go down and meet the other students. I’d eventually come face to face with Dorothy Gale. Saffron and I couldn’t hide who we were. We didn’t look like anyone in Oz. No one else had green skin and purple hair except my family, and no one had blue hair except Saffron and her mother.

  We didn’t think it was a good idea for anyone to know the Flying Monkeys could shift into men now. Idris was always a man around me now, so it was strange to see him back as a winged monkey to go down to orientation. He wasn’t the size of the other monkeys in Oz. The Flying Monkeys stood at least seven feet tall with a huge wingspan. They preferred playing tricks instead of fighting, but everyone who got their hands on the cap wanted them to fight for them. That was part of why my mother wanted to free them so badly.

  If Saffron and I weren’t going to scare everyone, Idris would. Everyone was so scared of the Flying Monkeys because everyone who used the cap made them do horrible things. The Flying Monkeys weren’t really like that. Sure, they liked pranks, and they would have killed to protect me, but they were a gentle bunch. It would be an asset to have Idris here in his monkey form because people would be too scared to come at me, and none of us would make a scene our first day.

  At least, that was my thought process. As we made our way down to the main hall, people whispered and just parted for us. Everyone was avoiding us like we hadn’t bathed in months. That was about what the looks on their faces said too.

  There was a crowd of people that didn’t part. It looked like they were standing around someone famous. I half wondered if it were Glinda, except I couldn’t see her head. Glinda was very tall and slim, and this group was all Munchkins. The Munchkins were the shortest people in all of Oz, and they all wore blue. They always liked to wear a lot of jewels too. This entire group was Munchkins, and they seemed to be fawning over someone. All I could see was the top of their heads. It was a girl with brown hair. A Gillikin? The Gillikin were all brunettes.

  One of the Munchkins noticed us and gasped. They all turned to look at us. They pointed at Saffron and hissed.

  “That’s the Wicked Witch’s daughter! Kill her, Dorothy! Kill her like you killed the other Wicked Witches!”

  Dorothy stepped forward, and I finally got a look at the girl who murdered my mother. She was small. She was about the size of t
he Munchkins, and she was dressed in unusual clothes. Her dress was blue and white with checkers on it, and her hair was in braids. She would have been cute if I didn’t know she was a mass murderer. She made a move towards Saffron, and I stepped between them.

  I saw this surprised look pass over her face. “Why, you look just like—”

  “My mother that you murdered?”

  Dorothy just sniffed. “If she weren’t evil, then pure water wouldn’t have killed her.”

  “That was acid being used to clean parts of the castle, you bitch. You threw acid at my mother, not water.”

  If she was surprised, she didn’t show it. She just sneered at me. “Why are you green? You look like a cabbage — both of you, daughters of the Wicked Witches. You’re unnatural looking. You don’t belong in Oz. I don’t know why you were allowed into this school.”

  What I wanted to do was fling a curse at her so that her entire skin broke out into horrible boils or maybe turn her into a chamber pot, so she spent the rest of her life getting crapped in. What I actually did was just walk away. Idris was growling and was acting like he was about to bite her face off. It was her fault Glinda had the cap and not me. He had every right to hate Dorothy, even if she hadn’t killed my mother. She stole his freedom from the people trying to break his curse.

  I tried to walk away, and that stupid girl threw something at the back of my head. I felt it hit my braids with a thud and it felt like food. Who the hell threw food? I was done being civil. I whirled around with magic crackling at my fingertips. Dorothy Gale was going to be my new chamber pot.

  The next thing I knew, I was flat on my back with a huge Quadling on top of me. The Quadling was even bigger than Oprix and older than us. Age was hard to tell in Oz because people didn’t age or die after a certain point. He was just glaring down at me with the wisdom of someone much older. Quadlings all had fiery red hair, and his eyes were just as ablaze as his hair.