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king?” Oz finished.
    Evanora nodded. “Not yet, no. You still have to defeat the Wicked Witch. And killing her…won’t be easy.”
    “No, I can’t imagine it would b—” He paused. “Now wait a minute! Nobody mentioned killing anyone!” Defeating and killing were two very different things. He had thought maybe he would have to give her a firm talking-to. But killing? That was a little, well, violent, for his tastes.
    Evanora frowned. “Oh, well,” she said, her tone stern. “If you’re not interested in being king, that’s all right with me. We can just forget about the whole thing. The gold, the rubies, the chalice…”
    “But I am interested!” Oz cried. “I’m just not too keen on killing a lady.”
    “She’s a wicked witch !” Evanora clarified. “And your magic is the only thing strong enough to destroy her. All you have to do is journey to the Dark Forest and destroy her wand.” She looked into his eyes, begging him silently.
    “Her wand?” Oz inquired.
    “Yes, it’s the source of all her power,” Evanora informed him. “Without it, she dies.”
    “Uh, I haven’t even said good-bye to Theodora. She will be upset,” Oz said, trying to buy himself some more time.
    “I will talk to her in the morning,” Evanora said. “I will tell her how much you love her, how much you—”
    “No,” Oz quickly interrupted. “No, don’t say anything.”
    “All right. I will say whatever it is you want me to say, but, are you going to save us all, or not?” Evanora asked with all sincerity, her eyes locked on his.
    Oz sighed and tried to muster a smile. He had no choice. He wanted the kingdom. No matter what the cost. It looked like he was going to go on his very own witch hunt.

    Once again, Oz found himself walking along the Yellow Brick Road. This time, though, his only companion was the surly flying monkey. As the Emerald City faded into the distance behind them, Oz turned to Finley. The monkey let out a troubled sigh. “We really going to do this?” Finley asked.
    “How hard can it be to kill a wicked witch?” Oz asked.
    Finley narrowed his eyes. “Hard,” he began. “Really hard. It’s very, very hard to kill a wicked witch. And what about that poor girl back there? I think she really liked you,” he said, referring to Oz’s relationship with Theodora.
    “She’ll get over me. They always do,” Oz said. He had been through this plenty of times before back in Kansas. “She’s a pretty young witch; plenty of wizards will be knocking at her door.”
    Finley shook his head. “Every lie you tell gets us one step closer to the Emerald City dungeon,” he said.
    “Then don’t think of them as lies, think of them as stepping stones on the road to greatness!” Oz said, completely believing his own fibs and fabrications. But Finley wasn’t buying it.
    “Wait! I’ve got it!” the flying monkey began. “We’ll turn around and go back. You’ll come clean. You apologize for lying about being the Wizard and for lying to that poor girl. Okay?” Oz glared at him, but Finley was just getting started. “You gotta really seem contrite, you gotta sell it,” the flying monkey continued. “Maybe you can even cry. Can you cry? I could cut up an onion.”
    “We’re not going back,” Oz said with a marked confidence. “We’re going to find this Wicked Witch, and I’m going to steal her wand. I’ll get that big pile of gold, and you can have a nice pile of bananas, all right?”
    Dumbfounded, Finley dropped Oz’s bag. “Bananas?” he asked, as he gave Oz a long, cold stare. “Oh, I see,” the monkey began. “Because I’m a monkey? I must love bananas, right? That is a vicious stereotype!” the monkey exclaimed.
    “You don’t like bananas?” Oz asked.
    “No, of course I love them. I’m a monkey; don’t be ridiculous,” Finley said. “I just don’t like you saying it. How about this—we offer to wash all the windows in the Emerald City for an entire year. They’d