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

by JB Trepagnier

  “Put it out! There will be no fighting at my school. You, come with me,” he snapped, pulling me to my feet.

  His school? Wasn’t this Glinda’s school? I followed him to an office up twenty flights of stairs. Who the hell was this Quadling, anyway?

  “Sit,” he ordered, pointing to a chair on the other side of a huge desk. “Introductions are in order since I have a feeling I’m going to be seeing a lot of you. My name is Daxar, and Glinda appointed me headmaster of this school. She told me all about you and your cousin, and I’ve had a knowledge transference spell done on me. You and your cousin have a rough road ahead of you at this school because of what people believe about your mothers, but you’ve been trained to rise above that. I’m holding you and Saffron to higher standards than the rest of the students here, and I won’t tolerate you using superior skills to hurt anyone. Leave the Gale girl alone.”

  “She insulted me and threw food at my head! She murdered my mother!”

  “The fact remains that everyone here loves Dorothy, and until we can figure out how to reverse the spell that made everyone forget the Sentinels and that your mother was protecting them, you are outnumbered. The Munchkins already want to kill your cousin, and I’ve spoken with them. Dorothy is their hero, and I can’t protect the two of you if you hurt that girl.”

  “You’ve talked to me. You’ve talked to the Munchkins. Have you talked to your precious Dorothy Gale yet?”

  “No. I feel sorry for the poor girl. Glinda is putting out the word she sent for her for this school, but that’s not true. We don’t know why Dorothy keeps ending up here in Oz. A storm took her the first time, and the ground opened up and swallowed her the second. Glinda is trying to figure out how Dorothy keeps ending up in Oz when she’s not supposed to. We don’t have magic shoes to send her home this time.”

  “She lost Saffron’s shoes?” I shrieked. “She just takes them off the woman she murdered, and then she loses them?”

  “Enough!” Daxar yelled. “Your mother was killed when you were sixteen, correct?”

  “Yes. I found her body.”

  “I’m sorry. But you missed a vital part of your training that would have started when you hit your seventeenth birthday. Glinda has given me this knowledge. You will meet with me every day after dinner, and I will train you on centering your emotions. That should stop you from doing anything stupid at my school.”

  “Where the hell is Glinda, anyway? I thought this was her school? Why are you the headmaster?”

  Daxar’s green eyes sparkled. “Because I’m better at discipline than she is, and she wanted to teach history.”

  “What kind of discipline?” I asked.

  Discipline in the West was hard labor. If you acted out, you worked it off in the fields or by scrubbing the house down. Oprix and I did our share of labor because of pranks Idris talked us into. It was worth it just to get my mother or one of their parents. It was always best when we got Idris’ father, the King of the Flying Monkeys, because we didn’t get punished. He always thought it was funny.

  Daxar’s mouth spread into a cruel grin. “Quadling style discipline. We do things differently in the South. I’ll turn that little green ass of yours a lovely shade of red.”

  I gulped. “You’d hurt me?”

  Why did that excite me? There was something about Daxar that intrigued me. It was the way he said he would turn my green ass red. He said it with a smile like both of us would enjoy it.

  Would I? I guess there was only one way to find out. I was going to have to get into trouble. With Dorothy Gale here, that wasn’t going to be a problem.

  Chapter 9

  Daxar

  F

  rancesca of the West was such an interesting creature. When she challenged me, I wanted to tangle my hands in those long, purple braids and claim her mouth. I wanted to show her who her master was. But that was an idle thought. This girl had no master, no matter how things were in Quadling country. She was her own woman. I had a feeling I’d be teaching her a few things in discipline and opening her eyes to a few new things she hadn’t considered before. I knew she planned on getting into trouble. When I mentioned the Quadling method of punishment, she looked positively intrigued.

  I hated what Glinda was doing to her. Quadlings were always honest about everything. Francesca was our best shot at ending this, and she didn’t even know what was going on. Glinda told me. I knew, but the agreement for telling me and helping out at this school was that I couldn’t talk about it. A geas had been placed on all of us that knew the truth. We couldn’t tell Francesca even if we wanted to, which I did. We could barely think about it without getting confused.

  I struggled to remember why this school was set up. Oz was in danger. I knew that much. From whom, I couldn’t tell you. I knew Francesca and Saffron were supposed to be given extra lessons and treated like precious cargo here. I was to be giving Francesca lessons, and Glinda managed to snatch a Gillikin sorceress away from Locasta to teach Saffron since she was younger.

  I knew Francesca thought Glinda was the bigger danger. She wasn’t. There was something bigger than a bad Sentinel going on in Oz, but I couldn’t remember what it was, and I wouldn’t until the geas was lifted.

  Why did I agree to this? I couldn’t prepare Francesca for anything if I couldn’t remember what we were fighting against. At least I could set her mind at ease it wasn’t Glinda. She seemed to suspect anyone and everything. I didn’t blame her. Someone turned Oz against her family, and she and her cousin paid a steep price for it.

  The missing heir of Oz was important, and so was Dorothy Gale. Now, if I could just stop Francesca from killing Dorothy before we ended this, we might be able to save Oz.

  Chapter 10

  Oprix

  F

  rankie’s nightmares were much worse here at Emerald City Academy. Idris and I came running again and just decided to sleep with her for good to see if we could stop her from getting terrorized in her sleep. I hated it. I felt so helpless when I heard her screaming at night. I hadn’t asked if she wanted me to sleep with her full time when we were at my house because my parents wouldn’t find it proper, but we weren’t in the West anymore.

  I expected her to argue, but she didn’t. Her nightmares must be worse here because she wanted us both with her. Saffron was off in her own little world as usual. She hadn’t said a single thing about all the screaming the past two nights. She seemed to be just enjoying all the pretty things here. Saffron was still young, even if she had been fending for herself for the past five years.

  I don’t think any of us held it against Saffron that she was enjoying the palace. She’d been living in a cave fending off Munchkins, and she was trying to ignore the fact that there were Munchkins here that wanted her dead. I’d be focusing on anything else too.

  Our first day here was just kind of an orientation. We were just shown around. After Frankie got yanked off with the headmaster, it was up to Idris and me to protect Saffron. Most everyone left us alone after Frankie had her display of magic and because we had Idris with us as his monkey, but Dorothy was surrounded by a group of Munchkins, and they kept looking at us and laughing loudly. I could tell they were making fun of Saffron.

  Idris kept growling and threatening to eat her. None of the monkeys had forgotten their continued slavery was because of Dorothy. Maybe Frankie could have released them, maybe she couldn’t just yet, but they wouldn’t be sitting there wondering if someone was going to summon them for some stupid wish at any minute.

  Breakfast was just as succulent as usual. We had our class schedules and were comparing them. They put us all in the same classes, even Saffron, who was younger than us. A Gillikin woman named Frabess had come to fetch Saffron about private lessons. Frankie gave her the third degree about it, but Saffron said she seemed nice.

  Frankie had a tutor from the South, and Saffron had a tutor from the North. The two regions we didn’t trust right now. I think I spoke for all of us when I said we trusted the
North a little more than the South. Everyone called Locasta Tattypoo because she was just this sweet old lady. She’s probably just been fooled by the Wizard.

  We had basic spell-casting first. Something that I had no idea what I was doing, but Frankie and Saffron were experts at. There weren’t as many students at the school as I would have thought. I thought people would be lining up to go to a school to learn magic run by Glinda. Glinda was kind of famous now, and so was Dorothy.

  It was like she didn’t advertise. I was so suspicious now. Everything Idris overheard was that this school took everyone. What I saw with my own two eyes was that it looked like someone had gone out and recruited. There were almost no Winkies here and no Gillikins at all. The school was almost entirely Quadlings with Dorothy’s Munchkin fan club following her around. Quadlings were Glinda’s people.

  I was shocked when we sat down in the huge classroom. I was one of two Winkie students in our class, but the professor was a Winkie and someone I knew. Why would Glinda recruit a Winkie professor, but hardly any Winkie students? I used to bring herbs from our farm to Equora, the Winkie standing at the head of the classroom. She hadn’t exactly rushed to Frankie’s defense when Dorothy set out to murder her mother. I stopped bringing her herbs after that.

  There were tables with cauldrons and ingredients set out across the room. Frankie went to take a seat in the back, and I knew why. She already knew what we were going to learn and she didn’t want to be seen as showing off. Frankie didn’t have an ego. She did her job, and she might not like that these people were learning Sentinel magic, but she wasn’t going to show them up and rub it in their faces that she knew better than they did.

  Equora zeroed in on us right away and clucked her tongue.

  “I don’t think so, you four. Take a table in the front, where everyone can see you.”

  Frankie scowled, but held her head high as she walked up to the front. The only other table in the front just so happened to be right across from Dorothy and three Munchkins who were hanging on her every word.

  Dorothy’s hand shot up. “Um, Miss? I don’t feel safe with those two right next to me. What if they turn us all into toads?”

  Equora narrowed her eyes at Dorothy. “If you don’t behave in my classroom and continue to insult students, I’ll be the one turning you into a toad. I want Francesca and Saffron to demonstrate the best way to make a levitation potion. Walk us through it like you are teaching a child. Class, I want you to listen closely. If you mess this up, then you don’t belong here at this school. This is a basic potion. This is the first potion a child Sentinel learns at the age of five. If you can’t manage what a five-year-old can, then you pack your bags and leave my classroom.”

  So, it was that kind of school, was it? Maybe we wouldn’t have to deal with Dorothy after today without Frankie or Idris killing her. Saffron looked petrified at the idea of teaching the class. I was close enough to hear Frankie lean down and tell her just to demonstrate and let her do all the talking.

  “The potion starts with simple water,” Frankie started. “You heat the water, and when it’s boiling, you add powered swamp leaves and only a pinch of the pollen of the swamp flowers. If it’s more than a pinch, the entire potion will explode. Once those two ingredients are added, you stir clockwise three times, then counterclockwise four times. The potion should be a thick purple at that point. Once it’s bubbling, you add exactly four petals of the swamp flower, and the potion should turn a clear lavender if you’ve done it correctly. See? Saffron has brewed a perfect levitation potion. Watch what it does.”

  Saffron sprinkled some of the potion onto a quill, and it floated eye level with her. She snatched the quill, and we finally got a confident smile from Saffron around the other students here. Normally, when we were around the rest of the student body, she kept her head down and hid behind Frankie or Idris. She was meeting every eye in the room and grinning proudly now.

  “Perfectly done,” Equora said. “You two will be my teaching assistants since you are more advanced than the rest of the class. Stay at your desk and help your friends, but if anyone has a question and I’m occupied, they can come to you.”

  I heard Dorothy snort. She wasn’t even trying to be quiet. “I’d rather die than ask two Wicked Witches for help.”

  Saffron’s smile immediately fell, and Frankie’s eyes cut to Dorothy’s table.

  “That can be arranged, bitch, and I can do it without magic too,” Frankie snapped.

  “That’s enough!” Equora yelled. “This is a school, not a battleground. There are no Wicked Witches inside these walls, and some of you are going to have a rude awakening later. I’m looking at you, Dorothy Gale. Now, Francesca and Saffron were kind enough to demonstrate this potion without hexing any of you. You think about that while you try to brew this potion.”

  Frankie flopped back in her seat and pouted. “Everyone keeps telling me she was brought here for a reason, but it seems like it’s just to piss me off. I need to just ignore her. They seem strict here. Idris and Oprix, did you need help with the potion? I doubt anyone else is going to ask us.”

  Idris and I didn’t need help with the potion. We’d been around Frankie during her lessons enough to know how to brew a potion once we’d been given the directions. The rest of the class seemed to be having issues. Two Munchkins had to leave because their potions exploded in their faces. Saffron jumped at the explosion, but Frankie just rolled her eyes.

  After the two explosions, the class was starting to realize this wasn’t as easy as Frankie and Saffron made it look, and everyone was asking questions. Dorothy was hogging Professor Equora and wanting her to stay right there and walk her through all the steps again. Idris and I had already completed our potions and were just waiting to have them checked.

  Frankie was scowling and glaring at her cauldron, and I was staring at Frankie, trying to figure out what to say to her. Neither of us noticed there was a Quadling girl standing in front of the table trying to get her attention until she cleared her throat. Frankie looked up, and I just hoped she was nice to this poor Quadling because we needed friends here.

  “Can you help us over at my table?” she asked. “You said a pinch for one of the ingredients, but we all have different sized hands. My pinch is different than my brother’s pinch. We don’t want to get kicked out, and you made it look so easy.”

  Frankie actually smiled. It looked like this Quadling girl had given her the best gift in the world, just asking her what a pinch meant. Frankie pushed her chair back and gave the Quadling girl a friendly smile.

  “Let’s get your potion right, okay? You and your brother won’t get kicked out today.”

  Saffron leaned over to Idris and I. “What is Frankie doing?” she whispered.

  Idris just grinned. “Hopefully, making some friends. Dorothy has a fan club. It’s time the Wicked Witches had one too.”

  Chapter 11

  Idris

  T

  here was so much trouble I could get into here, but I wasn’t even trying after that potions class. If they were going to kick someone out on the first day just because they couldn’t get the first lesson right, then they would definitely give me the boot for what I had planned for Dorothy and her little Munchkin friends.

  They needed to watch their damned mouths around Francesca and Saffron, or I would do something so epic, they would be the ones too scared to raise their eyes to anyone, not Saffron. Saffron was getting a little better. After potions, we went to fight lessons, where no one knew what the hell they were doing.

  Saffron was an expert with a bow, and Francesca was deadly with a sword. They were teaching everyone like baby Sentinels. They started them with the staff. Our professor was another Winkie, someone who knew Francesca and also didn’t help her or her mother when they needed it. There was no love there for that Winkie with me.

  I had no idea what the hell Professor Ixius was thinking. He wanted a demonstration with the staff, but instead of pairing up Francesca and Saf
fron, he paired her up with me. Professor Ixius just tossed us both a staff and told us to show the class how a staff fight went down.

  The staff was the first weapon a Sentinel mastered, and I knew Francesca was deadly with one, but I was also a Flying Monkey and was a lot bigger than she was. The Flying Monkeys never lost a fight. That’s why everyone wanted their hands on that cap so badly.

  Francesca was grinning at me like a total fool. She spun her staff gracefully. She wasn’t a tall girl. She was small and curvy. I totally dwarfed her in every way, but she was just grinning at me like she wasn’t afraid of me. She had never been, but I don’t think she was considering how this might go down. She couldn’t lose in front of the other students, and neither could I. I was a Prince, and I couldn’t lose a fight to a girl, and she needed to earn the respect of the student body by showing them she was stronger than just her magic.

  What the hell was that Winkie thinking pairing us up? I could let her win, but she would know it and hate me for it. She was a fierce fighter and just as deadly with the staff as she was with the sword. Did either of us really need to get knocked in the head with a staff just to show these students how it worked? Why did she have to demonstrate everything? If a transference spell had been done on the professors, they sure were making Francesca do a lot of their work for them.

  She and I were pretty evenly matched on the staff. She was learning from her mother as I was learning from my father, and we practiced together growing up. We taught Oprix because he wanted to learn. Oprix wasn’t a fighter. His heart was never in it when we sparred. He wanted to learn to be close to Frankie, and he could handle himself just fine, but he didn’t like to fight.