The Scarecrow of OZ by S. D. Stuart Read Free Book Online Page A

better off. Asking such questions would only invite trouble they didn’t want to have.
    His mind swirled over the same questions, for what seemed like hours, without coming to any new answers. Even without a window in the small room, he knew their journey was coming to an end. His ears popped as the airship descended. A final bump signaled that the airship had come to rest on the landing platform.
    It was no surprise that, within five minutes of the airship landing, he heard the lock on the door to his small room engage and the door swung open. But it was a complete surprise when the first person who came through the door was Zee.
    She placed balled fists on her hips and shook her head at him. “I told you. If you kept sneaking out, one day you would get caught.”
    “What are you doing here?”
    She held up the cast iron key that would unlock the shackles on his hands. “I’m here to help you make the right decision.”
    “You told her I left as soon as I went through the fence, didn’t you?”
    She ignored his question and twisted the key in the lock. The shackles dropped free and he massaged his wrists, trying to bring blood flow back to his numb hands.
    He couldn’t believe Zee, who had become his closest friend in the colony, was working against him.
    “How long have you been working for the Southern Marshal?”
    She headed for the door when he grabbed her arm and forced her to look at him. “How could you do this to us?”
    She met his stare. “There is no us. There is you, and there is the rest of the colony.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Unlike you, we like the Southern Marshal. She has given back to the hybrids everything that humans took away from us. When you first arrived, I thought the colony was complete. You were supposed to usher in a new era for the hybrids. “
    “What was your reward for turning me in?”
    She broke free from his grasp. “There was no reward. I didn’t turn you in. You got caught outside the fence all on your own. I had nothing to do with that.”
    “Then what are you doing here?”
    She spoke so quietly with her head lowered, he missed what she said.
    “What?”
    This time she screamed it. “I’m here, we are all here, to watch you be crowned king. The council decided that, the biggest reason you are resisting your duties, is that there was no formal ceremony. We came here to make official what everyone has already accepted. And you don’t deserve it!”
    This was certainly news to him.
    “What are you talking about? I’m not being crowned king.”
    “Yes, you are. I am here to help you get ready and to convince you it is the right thing to do. Even if I don’t believe it myself.”
    This was getting all too surreal. “I don’t deserve to be king.”
    “That is something we can both agree on. But it has already been decided. It is out of our hands.”
    “I can refuse.”
    She grew somber and spoke in a monotone as if she had practiced the same sentence over and over again.
    “Then you will be executed for violating the rules of the colony. You only have two choices. Become the king or have your head chopped off by a Woodsman. I’m sure you can guess which one I prefer.”
    This was the first time Zee had ever been hostile toward him. This was not like her at all.
    “What’s the matter with you Zee?”
    “There’s nothing the matter with me. You’re the problem. We finally have a place we can call our own and all you want to do is leave. You spent so much time away from your people, you don’t even identify with them anymore.”
    “It has nothing to do with that, Zee. I have to find my friend.”
    She laughed. “That’s right. Your little friend Dorothy. What can she offer you that none of us, who are your own people, can offer you?”
    “It’s not that. I made a promise to her.”
    “Yeah, well, your ancestors made a promise to my ancestors. And blood is thicker than water.”
    “What are you talking about? There are no ancestors. We are