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

by JB Trepagnier

  I pointed my sword at the table of Munchkins. Dorothy had tried to turn to watch me, but I could see she was shaking. She was petrified I was about to cut her head off or something.

  “The group of you are a bunch of miserable little shits. Dorothy didn’t do a damned thing to you that you didn’t ask for, and until history class, all of you were falling over yourselves to kiss her ass. If I see something like this again, I will turn the lot of you into roaches. Leave her alone and leave my cousin and me alone. I’m not kidding. None of you are Sentinel material, and I’m not sure why you are here. If I catch you bullying someone else, you’ll find out what it means to face a Sentinel.”

  The Munchkins didn’t make a peep. They all focused on their food, and you could hear a pin drop in the dining hall. That was the only reason I heard Dorothy whisper thank you to me. I didn’t do it to be nice to her. I still hadn’t forgiven her for what she had done to my family or what she had done since we started this school. I just loathed bullies. Hopefully since the Munchkins knew what I really was now, they’d keep in line.

  I sent my sword back to my room and marched back to my table. Everyone was looking at me in confusion.

  “Why did you do that, Frankie? I’d throw an apple at her myself,” Saffron said.

  “One day, you and I will get ours with Dorothy, but today is not that day. Look at her. She’s beaten down and crying. We can’t do or say anything we want with Dorothy while the Munchkins are on this campaign. It would be like striking a crying baby. It needed to be said anyway. Those Munchkins are out of line. First, it was us, and then it was Dorothy. Eventually, it would be someone else.”

  Saffron shook her head sadly. “They didn’t use to be like this.”

  “I know. They used to be kind and generous. I always loved visiting the East with my mother because the Munchkins were always so nice to us.”

  “Enough about those little shits,” Idris said. “If we’re going to catch Glinda before she disappears where no one can find her, we need to catch her in her rooms. I haven’t just been looking for that boy she wants me to find. I’ve been trying to find her office at this school. I think it’s enchanted where students can’t find it.”

  “Wouldn’t she be staying in the royal suite?” Oprix asked. “I mean, the Scarecrow is in charge until she finds the heir, but it’s not like he sleeps.”

  “No, she has a room in the Quadling section of the dorm rooms,” Emari said. “It’s up at the top floor, and we hardly ever see her, but she’s there if we needed to talk to her. I know several Quadlings went to see her privately after that history lesson about the Sentinels.”

  Idris just let out a little growl. “No wonder I couldn’t find her in the palace. She hardly ever walks anywhere. She always travels by magic, so I can’t follow her.”

  Emarus just shrugged. “She might have an enchanted office, but really, she spends a lot of time in the Quadling dorms. You’ll probably find her there. We have an hour before magic class. Can you have the conversation you need to have with her in that time?”

  Could I? There was so much that needed to be said, and I had a million questions. I didn’t think anyone here would take kindly to Saffron and I missing our magic class, even if we’d learned those lessons when we were children. We were still being asked to help the other students if they would actually get up the nerve to ask us.

  After history and fight training, we had the entire afternoon free until I went to my lessons with Daxar. The afternoon would be better. We’d have more time. I’d bring it up, but we’d only do it if everyone agreed. I wasn’t the queen of this group, and I did what the group agreed on.

  “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think that conversation is going to take longer than an hour. After fight training?” I asked.

  Saffron nodded. “I have the same questions for her you probably do. If Locasta had gone bad, why didn’t Glinda get involved until after your mother was murdered? I still don’t trust her.”

  Emarus squeezed her hand. “Don’t back down. Make her answer for both of your mothers.”

  Saffron straightened her shoulder. “I won’t. I want to know how Glinda missed out on all the Wicked Witch assignments, and she managed to survive all this if she wasn’t working with Locasta. Frankie, you trust this information that it was Locasta the entire time?”

  “I trust it, but pieces are missing to the story. Glinda might have those answers.”

  “Then, after lunch, Glinda is going to have to answer. She’s been avoiding us since we got here. It’s about time she looks us both in the eye and explains why she didn’t get involved when both our mothers died,” Saffron growled.

  Chapter 32

  Idris

  T

  here was so much going on, and it felt like I was being pulled in a million directions. I was supposed to be finding this green-haired boy for Glinda, but I was also trying to find Glinda because I knew Francesca was eventually going to have questions for her. I had no idea where Francesca was getting her intel, but I knew she would tell me when she was ready. Sentinels could always tell when someone was lying, so if she was keeping her source from us, it was because she thought she was protecting them. Maybe she was.

  Flying Monkeys had their own means of magic, but learning Sentinel magic was interesting because it made me feel closer to Francesca. I knew these lessons were boring her to tears. She learned all this ages ago. Francesca and Saffron would still demonstrate the potion for the class and help anyone who asked.

  Maybe I was a total shit, but I got my entertainment when a Munchkin’s potion would blow up in their face, and they would have to leave the school with their eyebrows singed off. I used to like the Munchkins when I visited the East with Francesca and her mother, but I don’t know that I’d ever forgive them for what they did to Saffron when she was just a kid. Spell or no spell, you don’t tell a child their mother is dead in the same sentence where you tell them you plan on murdering them next. Who hurts kids anyway? Saffron was just this skinny thing with knocked knees and long blue hair at that age. She wouldn’t hurt anyone any more than Adora would.

  Maybe it was because Oprix and I sat in on Francesca’s lessons, but we always easily managed our potions after we were shown how. I had no idea if the professor was planning on moving from potions to glamours, but today, we were learning a basic potion to change the color of your hair.

  I only had my monkey fur like this because I was hiding from the school I could shift into a man. This was one time I was regretting it. It would be nice to show off long matching purple braids like Francesca. Instead, I only got to turn my fur purple. Oprix had the same idea and turned his blonde hair purple as well. Emarus did the same and turned his hair blue like Saffron.

  The rest of the class was not so adventurous. No one got kicked out today because something exploded, which was disappointing because after watching the Munchkins throw food at a beaten-down girl, I was hoping all of them would get the boot today.

  The Quadlings all turned their red hair the same unnatural red as Glinda’s hair. Dorothy made her brown hair blonde like a Winkie. The Munchkins were bitching about the entire assignment and having to look like anything but a Munchkin. I kind of liked our professor. She told them to deal with it or leave the school. She told them that often.

  Every single Munchkin turned their black hair white, like they couldn’t deal with having the same hair color as another region or the colorful hair of a Sentinel. I remembered again that Locasta was in the East when Adora died, and the Munchkins were the only region that had such a drastic personality change when everyone forgot the Sentinels. What was Locasta doing in the East and why did every Munchkin here choose Locasta’s hair color when they were asked to change theirs?

  I wanted to get to Glinda as soon as possible, but we still had fight training. I still hadn’t forgotten how exciting it was sparring with Francesca, but we never got to do it again. Professor Ixius divided our group up after he decided to make an appe
arance again after he let a student fall off the roof.

  We didn’t even have time to talk to each other. We had to go around teaching the other students how to master the staff. I noticed today, no one would spar with Dorothy. Normally, her Munchkin fan club was lining up to spar with her. Did I actually feel bad for this girl? She’d been a miserable bitch to my girlfriend and Saffron, who was like my kid sister. She murdered their mothers. All the same, she didn’t exactly ask to be brought here.

  I looked over, and everyone else in our group was busy. I decided to just do it. Her face was red like she hadn’t stopped crying since Francesca told her off, then it just got worse when she found out she might be related to that Fisher King. She was just leaning on her staff staring at the dirt and sniffling.

  I walked over to her and cleared my throat. “Raise your staff and try to strike mine.”

  Her big brown eyes came up to meet mine. They were red-rimmed and it looked like the tears were about to start again. “You’d actually be seen with me?”

  “I have more honor than a Munchkin, and so does Francesca, Saffron, and Oprix. We aren’t friends, but I’m not going to have you left alone in class, and none of us are going to let the Munchkins treat you the way you treated Francesca and Saffron.”

  That was when the tears started falling again. “Everyone told me they were bad. All I was ever told was that I saved Oz from great evil. No one told me they had kids.”

  “Save it,” I said sharply. “Whatever apologies or speeches you have don’t need to be heard by my ears. You need to say them directly to Francesca and Saffron. You wronged my people too, but you didn’t kill one of us.”

  “I thought I saved the Flying Monkey,” she whispered.

  “Azami was trying to break the curse on the cap. Francesca would have done the same. You took it and gave it to Glinda, who has not returned it as promised.”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t know the Wizard was a fraud. I thought you could get us to Oz, and then he could break the curse on the cap. I thought Glinda giving it back to you was the next best thing. The Wizard fooled everyone in Oz. I was only nine, and I was told he could help me. I thought he could do anything. I thought he could help you like he would help my friends and I.”

  “Raise your staff, Dorothy. You have my forgiveness. You were just a kid, but you need to make things right with Francesca and Saffron. If you’re here because the Fisher King called for you, then you need to learn to defend yourself. Now, stop this crying and fight me.”

  “You’ll teach me?”

  What the fuck was I doing? I actually felt bad for this girl despite everything she did. She was younger than Saffron when she ended up here the first time, and Locasta sent her to a fraud knowing what he was probably going to ask her to do. I always had this soft spot for kids after Saffron.

  “I’ll be your permanent sparring teacher in class. I’ll teach you to master the staff, but you have to make things right with Francesca and Saffron.”

  “How? After everything, how?”

  “You aren’t stupid, Dorothy. Figure it out. Now, raise your staff and show me what you’ve learned so far.”

  Francesca and Saffron would hear her out if she tried to talk to them. They would both give her an earful, and she would probably cry again, but Francesca and Saffron needed closure in the worst way. Talking to Glinda and finding out who was behind the spell would help, but killing Dorothy Gale wasn’t going to help either of them.

  They both just needed to talk things out with her. It wouldn’t be a smooth conversation, and it may take time, but hearing Dorothy’s side of the story would heal both of them.

  Chapter 33

  Frankie

  O

  kay, what game was Dorothy Gale playing? She turned on the waterworks and summoned two of my boyfriends to her. Oprix was comforting her when she nearly murdered a Munchkin, and now Idris was over there teaching her the staff, and it looked like he was trying to comfort her. Were they both into that? Crying women? I cried for ages after I found my mother, then I hadn’t cried since. Sentinels didn’t get that luxury. Did they want me to go around moping all the time as she did?

  I was about to go grab Idris and ask him what the fuck he was thinking, but before Professor Ixius dismissed the class, he made my group and Dorothy stay behind. She stood away from us and, thankfully, wasn’t crying anymore. I wanted to go to Glinda’s room, not stand here on the rooftop garden and wait.

  I smelled magic. Glinda, Daxar, and Frabess all appeared in front of us. Damn it. Now I was never going to get her alone. Glinda waved her hands, and tables and chairs appeared along with an elaborate meal. Glinda sat at the head of the table and gracefully arranged the train of her gown.

  “Francesca and Saffron, you’ve made it clear over the last five years you don’t want to hear what I have to say. I’m hoping this school has changed that because there are things you need to hear, and there is work that needs to be done.”

  I immediately yanked a chair back and plopped down. I rested my chin on my hands and boldly met her eyes. “We were actually coming to find you after class to talk. I want the truth. If Locasta was working with someone to cast the spell that made everyone forget the Sentinels, why did you not step in until after our mothers were murdered?”

  Glinda eyed me over her crystal wine goblet. “I’d ask who has been whispering in your ear, but I suspect you won’t tell me.”

  Saffron slammed her fist on the table. “I’ve had the entire East trying to murder me since I was eleven and you did nothing except asking to talk to me. You got involved with Dorothy after she murdered Azami. Frankie doesn’t have to answer a damned thing. You’re the one with a lot to answer for.”

  “And why is she here?” I demanded, cutting my eyes at Dorothy.

  “Because not only do you need to hear what I have to say, you need to hear Dorothy out too.”

  “I don’t have to do a fucking thing!”

  “Francesca!” Daxar yelled. He was so stern, he startled me, and I jumped in my seat. “That is not what we are working on in our lessons. Control yourself like you’ve been training yourself to do, or your next lesson will not be to your liking.”

  I just ignored Dorothy. She was only staring at her plate like she wished she was hiding under the table anyway.

  “Fine. Locasta. How did she pull it off, and what is this big mission?”

  “I told you five sorceresses went up against the Fisher King. It was two sets of sisters. Three of the sisters took positions in the East, West, and South. The other two sisters split up. One sister stayed behind to guard the cave entrance of the Fisher King’s prison, and the weaker sister took up her position as the Sentinel of the North. The two sisters, the one who stayed behind and the one who took the North were different and special. Do you know anything about how Sentinels are chosen?”

  “It’s your birthright. You inherit it. Everyone knows that,” Saffron said.

  “Correct, but not in the way you think. It’s different for you two because your mothers only had one child. Back then and a long time ago, those women used to have more than one child. Do you know how it is decided who takes over as Sentinel when there is more than one child?”

  Saffron and I just blinked. What kind of question was that? Did it just go by who was born first?

  Glinda answered for it. “It goes by the color of your hair. I’m sure you’ve noticed you are the only people in Oz with hair of that color. In every generation, the child born with colorful hair was always the strongest at magic and the better fighter. That was how the new Sentinel was determined when more than one child was born. It was always only one child except for the two sisters. They were identical twins, and they were both born with colorful hair. One was slightly stronger than the other, and it was her that stayed behind to guard the Fisher King.

  “As the years passed and new generations took over in the North, they all said the same thing. Someone should volunteer to relieve the one wh
o stayed behind so she could be free. They all said she suffered enough. Locasta has always been the most vocal about one of us taking her relative’s place at the cave. She claims we are keeping her prisoner because none of us will take her place. Locasta wanted us to all go to the Fisher King’s cave together and do a spell that would determine who stayed. None of us would. Everything was decided ages ago for a reason, and we can’t challenge that no matter what the North thinks.”

  “So, Locasta made everyone forget the Sentinels because they wouldn’t go guard a prison for a relative she’s never met? That still doesn’t answer the question of how. From what I’ve learned, it takes more than one person to cast a forgetting spell.”

  “Locasta has her own agenda that is not just about her relative,” Glinda said. “I let Munchkins into this school to watch them. You can’t deny they’ve changed since the spell. Locasta was in the East when Dorothy arrived for a reason. She told her to take the shoes and see the Wizard for a reason. Everyone knows Locasta as this loving grandmother type who saved the North from the Wicked Witch Mombi, but all my intel tells me Mombi still has her powers and was instrumental in hiding the missing heir. Everything points to Mombi and the North to find the missing ruler of Oz.”

  “Don’t we have bigger problems than a missing prince or princess?” Idris asked.

  “I agree with Idris,” Oprix said. “Why are we worried about Mombi when it was Locasta that did all this?”

  Glinda just gave him a serene smile. “Because the missing heir is one of us—strong in magic and a deadly fighter. The royal family used to have pink hair. It used to be the Sentinels at the four points with the royal family at the center. It’s how Oz has always been. That changed when the Wizard arrived.”