Oz: The Great and Powerful Junior Novel Disney Book Group by Disney Press Read Free Book Online Page A

said. After ordering Finley to toss him his satchel, Oz began to rummage through it. With a cry of triumph, pulled out a bottle of quick-drying glue. “Here it is!” Oz said in triumph. But China Girl was confused.
    “What is it?” she asked.
    “Magic in a bottle,” Oz said with a smile. “Let’s give it a try!”
    The girl’s eyes widened in amazement as Oz began to gather up the pieces of her broken legs. One by one he started gluing them together. As he worked, the shrieks of the baboons grew louder and closer.
    “Oh, no! They’re coming back!” China Girl exclaimed. Oz quickly gathered her and Finley into a tight huddle. A dark shadow passed outside as the creatures flew over the house and then continued on their way. Oz let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
    “The Witch sent them,” China Girl explained. “The whole town was celebrating, out in the streets, because we had heard that you’d finally arrived.”
    The little girl continued her tale. She told them how everyone was so happy and they couldn’t help but make noise. That they kept cheering, right up until the Witch’s baboons came in and began to destroy everything. As she spoke, the little girl’s eyes welled up with tears.
    Oz listened, feeling a strange sense of guilt. His arrival had caused all this destruction, all this loss. Shaking his head, he glued the last piece of the girl’s leg. “Would you like to stand?” he asked, smiling weakly.
    Nodding, the little girl mustered up all her strength and heaved herself into a standing position. A huge smile spread across her face.
    “Now walk to me,” Oz said. But China Girl was afraid. She didn’t want to break her legs again.
    “I don’t think I can,” she said.
    “I think you can,” Oz said as he looked into her eyes. “Come on.”
    China Girl steeled herself as Oz held his breath. Tentatively, she moved her foot forward, taking a small step. Then she took another. And another. Soon, she was walking all around the room.
    Oz burst into laughter. He had done it! Reaching him, China Girl fell into his arms, overjoyed. Oz was surprised at the outpouring of emotion, and the fact that he, too, felt an overwhelming sense of both pride and hope. He turned to look at Finley, but the flying monkey had already looked away. He was trying to conceal the tear in his eye. The last thing he wanted was for Oz to see him crying.

C HAPTER E IGHT

    Z’S GOOD FEELINGS were replaced with guilt when he tried to send China Girl back to the Emerald City. Even though it would be safer behind the city’s walls, the little girl wanted none of it. She wanted to help Oz.
    “On a witch hunt?” Oz asked. “No,” he said. “You’re just a little girl.”
    “I’m not as delicate as I look,” China Girl said. And with that, she ran over and kicked Oz in the shins.
    “That didn’t hurt,” Oz said, even though it did. But the girl wouldn’t budge.
    “Look,” Oz began. “We have one rule in show-biz. Never work with kids or animals,” he said as he glanced over at Finley. Then he turned back to her. “The answer is no,” he said with grim determination. But Oz wasn’t prepared for what came next.
    China Girl looked up at him and her eyes filled with big tears. Then her lower lip began to quiver. Before Oz knew what was happening, she was in hysterics. “You’re going to leave me alone? On a road? In the middle of nowhere?”
    Oz was a goner.
    China Girl continued to cry and cry until Oz could take no more. “Fine!” he yelled. “Fine! You wanna come? Come! We’ll all go! It’ll be a big party!” he said as he threw his arms in the air, exasperated.
    And with that, China Girl immediately stopped her crying. “Great! Let’s go kill ourselves a witch!” she said as she skipped down the Yellow Brick Road.
    Oz shot Finley a look of utter disbelief. “I think I just got conned,” the con man said to the monkey.
    “Yeah? How does it feel?” Finley asked. The two