castle runaway. ˡᵉᵉ ᵈᵒⁿᵍʰʸᵘᶜᵏ

THIRTY EIGHT

Monique's POV

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God."

"Hey, Monique—"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

"MONIQUE! Calm down!"

"No!" I looked at Haechan with a wide grin on my face. "I wanted to see this place ever since I read about it. Oh, this place is so magical!" I ran around a portion of the Yellow Brick Road, having the time of my life.

"Are we going to continue our way to the Emerald City or nah?" I looked back at Haechan. "Wait, really?" He rolled his eyes, smirking. He held out a hand and I grabbed to it. I went on top of Shimmer and she took us to the heart of Oz.

"Did Dorothy come back to Oz from Kansas?" I asked Haechan as the ride went on. He nodded. "Yep. She was just here for a visit about five years ago and then we just knew she became Oz's princess."

I raised a brow. "Wait, so you're telling me Queen Ozma adopted Dorothy?" He shrugged and nodded. "Like that. Also, her guardians passed away so Ozma decided that Dorothy will be the next ruler of Oz."

I made motions with a hand. "But Dorothy is not a fairy. Fairies can only rule Oz." He sighed. "Monique, Ozma gifted Dorothy the Modern Magic of Oz on her nineteenth birthday. She also blessed her so now, she has wings and whatever fairies are."

"So she will age about a thousand years, then?" I asked excitedly. I looked up and already saw the gates of the kingdom. "Precisely." He replied. We were now in front of the welcoming gates of the Emerald City and Shimmer dashed inside.

We went through unusual people and animals going around and I saw one horse that looks just like Shimmer. "Not what I had expected but this is better." I said to myself but Haechan heard it. "Well, what do you expect from the land of magic?"

Shimmer then strided to the gates of the castle. It opened up for us and our horse went inside. Shimmer dropped us off in front of the grand staircase to the palace. "You go ahead and meet with your friends." Haechan told her. She neighed and went away.

Haechan looked at the direction of the structure and so did I then there, we saw Dorothy — Princess Dorothy, for that matter — going down the staircase with her emerald dress, paired with a tiara on her brown hair.

"Haechan!" She exclaimed and hugged him tightly. I feel my eyebrows furrowing when I felt that strange knot in my stomach again. I tried remembering where I read this kind of feeling and the thought of Wendy being jealous of Tiger Lily flitted inside my head.

My eyes widened. Am I jealous? I felt the same when Alice and Haechan hugged, and now with Dorothy. I hugged myself and sighed. The sensation is weird, but I welcome it for some reason.

"And this is Monique, a friend of mine." I woke up from my trance when Haechan pulled me in front of him, showing me to Dorothy. She has a wide smile on her face. I smiled back and curtseyed. "Oh, please drop the formalities. We're around the same age, I'm sure?"

Haechan and I both shrugged. "Probably?" We all chuckled as Dorothy motioned us inside the Emerald Palace. "Please make yourselves comfortable. It's slowly becoming night time so I'll show you your room. Separate or not?" She turned to us, raising her eyebrows up and down.

"Separate."

"Not."

I looked at Haechan. "What did you say?" I just heard him say 'not'. Is he crazy? Dorothy's sly smile widened. "Well then. Cinthia, kindly get a guest room for two of our visitors. They are going to stay for..?" She looked at us, asking how many nights we're going to spend here in Oz.