Disclaimer: See previous chapters. I'm still riding a horse and not a Tin Man, if that tells you anything…

A/N: If there were words to express how sorry I am for the hiatus of this, I'd say them here. But there aren't and I know my suckdome knows no bounds. I can only hope that you enjoy this and will continue to review and let me know if you're still enjoying it. Or if you've had to go back and reread the whole thing to remember what the heck was going on. Also, poetry is NOT my strong suit, so don't laugh at my clues that attempt to rhyme.

Chapter 10 "Progression to Obsession"

The second sun dipped below the mountaintops, setting the sky ablaze in reds and oranges while the first moon slowly rose from its slumber and lifted its head above the peaks. After spending time in the frigid north, the warmth of the spring-like climate of Finaqua seemed to awaken the princess's senses. DG felt every breath of air, heard every warble of the evening larks as though she'd just emerged from an ice cave – intensely and urgent.

It had been almost two weeks since her return to the south, since her discovery of the Oraculum. Most of that time had been spent scrutinizing each section of the cumbersome tome, but to little avail. She could only make out bits and pieces of the histories, usually only if they had pictures, and the rest of the book was an illegible mystery. She was afraid to ask Azkadellia for any more help; her sister had already had an admittedly odd experience with the book, and DG didn't feel like listening to any more of Az's warnings.

It was easier for DG to sequester herself away with the book, taking most of her meals into her room and shutting the door to all around her. The few lessons she attended with Tutor were tense and often ended in a shouting match.

"You're not even trying anymore, Princess!" He blustered one rainy morning, when DG had failed to move a flowerpot from one side of the atrium to the other.

DG wiped the beads of sweat from her brow, before jamming her fists onto her hips and glaring at her shape-shifting teacher. "Yes I was! You think I'm sweating just because it's a little humid in here? What do you want from me?"

Tutor seemed nonplussed by her recent terse mood. "I don't know what's come over you lately, DG. It's like you don't even want to learn anymore." He tried a different tact, and put a hand on her shoulder. "You have to keep trying. If you don't keep utilizing your magic, it really will fade."

"More than it already has? Can't see how that would be possible," she muttered under her breath.

DG had noticed that she seemed to be more on edge as of late, especially since they'd returned from the vault in the restricted section of the library. All of her spare time had been spent combing through the Oraculum, jotting down ideas on the things she understood, and making notes on the things she didn't for future research. Holed up in the library, she referenced spells and histories, anything that might help her understand what the book's importance was to the Old Man.

DG's sleep was frequently interrupted with dreams of her home in Kansas, of the Old Man from the woods beckoning her with the promise of returning home…of Cain. She hadn't heard a word from him since the night of the Mid-Winter Ball, and for all she knew, he could be on the other side of the Realm.

Far away from her. Where he obviously wanted to be.

DG's stomach rolled uncomfortably at the thought of the Tin Man whose face she'd been fairly successful at banishing from her thoughts; relegating his countenance to occupying only a few minutes a day, instead of the majority of her waking moments. She knew he was with Jeb, and that the youngest Cain would watch out for the older one, although it wouldn't have killed Cain to send a note saying they'd made it to the Imperial encampment.

She thought, perhaps, that Jeb had sent a telegram a couple of weeks after their return to Finaqua, but if so, it went straight to the Queen because she never saw it. After their last words, DG knew she shouldn't expect any Hallmark cards from Cain.

The youngest princess slumped into her chair in the atrium, as Tutor mentioned something about taking a little break. A servant brought in a tray of tea and crackers for them. While her teacher partook of the refreshments, DG felt a buzzing sensation at the base of her skull.

It was the same sensation she'd grown accustomed to when in the presence of the Oraculum. In truth, she rarely let the book out of her sight. It was under her pillow at night, and in her satchel that she kept slung over one shoulder during the day. Idly, she reached down and touched the red leather binding of the magical tome.

Her fingers tingled. Lately, DG had taken to jotting down, on a separate sheet of paper, anything that sounded like a spell for future experimentation. Angling her body away from Tutor, DG plucked a few sheets of the same paper out of her bag, carefully unfolding them in her lap.

Only two other people knew she had the Oraculum, and she wasn't about to make Tutor the third. Az already didn't trust the damn thing, and Tutor was sure to confiscate it before she could get it to the Old Man.

Not that he seemed to be in a huge rush to get the thing from her. He'd given her the 'don't call me, I'll call you' line in the forest that night, but he hadn't called. And DG had been vigilant for any telltale glowing light messengers around the palace. Text message by magic glow-bug. DG figured his method of getting her attention was no weirder than people sending each other virtual nudges from their computers to cell phones on the Other Side.

DG scanned the sheet of paper in her hands, looking over the words she'd scribbled the night before. She'd found something that looked like a defensive spell and had been itching to try it out. But she'd spent an hour trying to sound it out, only to have it sound like some garbled form of Ewok language.

"Daa-va-tee oreh-dahnee zeev-le-jenjee…" DG licked her lips, trying to form the words. "Mock'kay mi."

Nothing happened. DG frowned and glanced back at Tutor, who was sipping his tea and looking at a book in his hand. Okay, she thought, what am I doing wrong? Just then, the Old Man's voice seemed to slip into her consciousness and tickled the inside of her head with a quiet humor.

Think about where your magic comes from: Mother Zone. Allow her to guide you, child.

Maybe it's in the pronunciation. Maybe that's where I'm screwing up. DG closed her eyes and relaxed her muscles. She reached within her being to find her magic. She thought about all that the Zone encompassed, and allowed herself to remember the feeling of her hand against the tree in the Papay field. The Zone had channeled her Light that day, causing a reaction that DG herself had no control over. If she could only tap into that flow again…

The words sprang to her mind again and her body thrummed for a moment.

Then she heard Tutor scream.

Her mouth hung open, useless, as she looked around her. DG had nearly fallen out of her chair when she heard Tutor let out a mangled, terrified scream. She'd whirled around to see her usually impassive teacher ashen and clinging to the table next to him for dear life.

"What?" DG squeaked, watching Tutor closely. "What happened?"

Tutor's eyes bugged as he shifted them around the room, and DG followed his eye line. The atrium was large; glass walls to allow in the suns' light to reach the myriad of Ozian plants that had been cultivated to grow inside the Southern Palace. Large flat green leaves created a tropical feel, while hundreds of flowering plants dotted the floors in ornate pots.

To the princess's horror, everything that had been green and living was now brown, shriveled and very much dead. The trees that had grown nearly to the glass ceiling, reaching out as if yearning to be free of the gigantic terrarium, started dropping their lifeless leaves. A slow rain of dead plant matter began to fall, and DG felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.

"What the hell…" she breathed.

It was as if something had sucked the life out of everything in the room, save for her and Tutor. DG had the absurd thought that this was some sort of joke. A dream, perhaps. Maybe she'd just dozed off in the chair and hadn't woken up yet.

Tutor silently crept up beside her. "This is some sort of dark spell. It has to be."

DG swallowed and looked over at him. "What do you mean?" Something black and slippery crawled up her spine, causing goose bumps to erupt on her skin. She secretly folded the sheet of paper with the jumbled words and surreptitiously stuffed it into her jeans pocket.

The old man was still looking around the room in muted horror. "Look at this, DG. Something caused these plants to wither within the span of a few seconds. As if their life force was swallowed." Then he looked down at her for the first time, his face pinched. "The only time I've ever seen magic such as this was in the presence of the Witch."

Oh. Shit. DG's throat suddenly felt like cotton. Her knees felt a little wobbly, and there was something pressing down on her chest. She bent and retrieved her satchel, pressing it to her side.

"Well," she said, a little shaky, "I'm fairly sure it isn't the Witch. So, it must have been something else. Maybe it was an accident?"

Tutor looked at her as if she had just grown a second head.

"No, really. What if, say for example, someone…somewhere was trying to do a spell and it backfired." She edged away from him a half step, trying to sound convincing, but with the way her voice was shaking, she was only coming off as a little manic. "What if the spell just, I don't know, didn't go the way it should have. And ended up here."

"Ended up here," her teacher repeated, lowering his head and raising a brow.

Not convinced. C'mon Deege, you've got to spin something better than that. She fiddled with the strap on her bag, the Oraculum within it suddenly feeling like an anvil strapped to her shoulder.

A bushel of dead leaves tumbled to the ground beside her, causing the princess to jump to the side. "No, I mean…what if it was like a bullet, ricocheting off something and hitting the atrium. Like…like a stray magical bullet or something…"

She winced internally at the stupidity of that statement. A magical stray bullet? Seriously?

But Tutor's face became thoughtful. "I don't know, Highness. Who ever conjured the spell would have to be nearby. Something of this magnitude cannot flow over long distances."

DG looked away, worrying her lip. She needed to get out of there before her shape-shifting teacher decided to take notice of the bag on her shoulder, whose strap she now had in a vice grip. Pretending to inspect the dead flora around her, DG started in the general direction of the exit, when the door flung open and Glitch barreled in, looking like he was ready to do battle.

"What happened? Is somebody hurt? Who screamed?" He swung around in a circle, fists ready. After a second, he looked around the atrium. "Great Gale," he breathed, "What happened in here?"

DG supplied, trying to keep her tone light, "Must've been a magical mishap somewhere."

"Mishap?" Glitch touched the trunk of one of the trees and the whole thing fell apart. The advisor looked like a startled hare, leaping out of the way of the falling plant refuse. "This is some mishap, doll face."

DG was just about to make it to the door when Tutor called out, "You haven't been trying spells I expressly forbade you from studying, have you, Princess?"

The young woman froze. "Noooo," she drawled as innocently as she could.

She started toward the door again, hoping her statement would placate her teacher, when a hand on her shoulder caused her heart to leap into her throat.

"You've got that book, don't you?" Glitch was at her side, leaning down to her ear.

Tutor had moved farther into the atrium, looking around and shaking his head, and DG wetted her lips before looking her friend in the eye.

She clutched the satchel to her. "What of it?"

"You've shut yourself away with that book for weeks now, DG." Glitch's face held Ambrose's firmness, but she could see her friend's worry in the lines around his eyes. "I know that thing is a spell book of some kind. And from what Azkadee said, it isn't happy magic." He guided her through the door, but when she tried to walk away, Glitch held onto her elbow firmly.

"You've been playing with some kind of spell in that book, haven't you," he pressed.

"Is that a question?"

"Just answer me."

DG absently reached into her bag and withdrew the red leather tome. She clutched it to her chest possessively and tilted her head. "Define playing with."

Glitch crossed his arms and looked annoyed. "Look, cupcake. I got my brain sewed back into my head, but it wasn't yesterday."

DG would have snickered at that, if she hadn't been feeling more and more paranoid that Glitch (or anyone else for that matter) would take the Oraculum from her. There was something oddly addictive about it; like a good mystery one couldn't put down. While she couldn't understand half of it, she had, however, learned a great deal about her ancestors. And the spells within it had to be more interesting than spinning toys.

"You've changed, kid. Ever since we got back from the Ball and we found that book, you haven't been yourself." Glitch softened his pose and implored her, "Me and Az, we're worried about you. And since Cain isn't here–"

"What does any of this have to do with him?" She snapped. It was bad enough everyone was watching her, smothering her, taking note of every move she made and what her moods were every second of the day. It was bad enough that Ahamo and the Queen had tried to talk to her after they returned to the south, and DG nearly choked on the awkwardness.

It was even worse that it seemed like everyone thought she was pining for the Tin Man – whom she refused to even mention. DG hadn't been sleeping, had hardly been eating – every moment spent searching for answers to questions she couldn't even define yet within the Oraculum. And now her friend had just snapped her camel's back.

"I'm so sick of everyone thinking that every shift in my mood has something to do with Wyatt-freaking-Cain. News flash, Glitch – he's gone! And I can take care of myself."

She felt her cheeks burn with emotions she'd held inside. "Nobody thinks I can handle the truth, so they just sugar-coat it. Or, on the flip side of the coin, people want me to grow up and accept things. But when I do, all I get for my troubles is you guys fretting over the fact that 'I'm not myself lately'!" She rubbed her forehead and sighed when Glitch look down at his shoes. "You can't have it both ways. I can't be both ways."

He nodded. "And you can't have friends who love you and not expect them worry about you when there's obviously something hinky about that book, DG." He pointed at it. "Look at the way you're holding it. Your holding it so tightly to you, you're going to have the title imprinted on your chest. I bet you even sleep with it next to your bed."

"So?" DG suddenly realized how juvenile that sounded.

"And people call me eccentric," Glitch huffed.

DG edged away from him. "Look, Glitch. I'm sorry if you and my sister have been worried about me. But I'm fine! Really." She even tried to smile to allay his tense look. "It's just that this book…might answer some the questions I've had since landing in this circus sideshow."

"Then why don't you let Az and me help you, DG? We might be able to decode that thing together."

No, that wouldn't work. If she was going to get the Old Man to keep his part of the deal, she had to find the Codex that referred to the next artifact. And explaining to her sister and Glitch about why she was on this scavenger hunt (and in particular, for whom) didn't sound like such a bright idea. They'd try to stop her for sure. Or worse. Tell her parents.

Keeping her research a secret was best.

"No," she said, reaching out to lay a reassuring hand on Glitch's arm, "that's alright. I think I'm going to give this book a break for a while, anyway."

Glitch gave her a skeptical look, raising a brow very much like Tutor had done when she spun her "stray magic bullet" yarn. So, DG smiled woodenly and said, "Really. See, I'm putting it away." She slipped the heavy volume back in her satchel.

"Out of sight, out of mind," the princess lied. Hitching the bag up on her shoulder, DG strode away, leaving the former advisor to watch after her.

"Whatever you say, Deege," Glitch muttered doubtfully.

The lamp at her desk cast a diffused golden glow throughout her cavernous room, as DG sat hunched over the leather-bound Oraculum. Scarcely noticing the time, or the fact that she hadn't eaten since her light snack earlier in the day, DG pinched the bridge of her nose in weary frustration.

She'd been through the book backwards and forwards and still hadn't seen anything referring to a ruby goblet, a plain goblet, or any other special dishware. How was she supposed to move forward in her search if she couldn't find the stupid clues?

Idly, she flipped a section of pages through her hands. Her mind went back to the spell she'd unwittingly conjured in the atrium. Shuddering, DG had a new appreciation for the phrase, "words have power." Apparently in the O.Z., they have power even if you think them.

The same, inky, slimy feeling crept up her back again, and DG suddenly thought that maybe Glitch was right. This book didn't have a 'happy' vibe – certainly some of the things she'd found in the histories she'd read were anything but Disney material.

But the Old Man had assured her that he could teach her how to harness the Zone's magic and utilize it. She'd be able to go home again. She might even be able to fix some of the calamities she'd set into motion as a child. Better late than never, right?

She ran a finger along the edge of the book, and gooseflesh erupted on her arm. Maybe handing this book over to the Old Man wasn't such a good idea, after all. He definitely wasn't some jovial old codger, looking to sit her down with a 'once upon a time' story and a warm glass of milk.

DG leaned over, folding her arm underneath her head, and sighed. Maybe all this worrying, deflecting and hiding was taking its toll. She was seeing conspiracies around every corner. Yawning, the princess told herself she'd only rest her eyes for a moment.

She was back in the forest. The white of the snow on the ground starkly contrasted with the blackness of the woods around her, and DG hugged herself with her arms. There was no sense of wonder; no impetus to explore tickled her psyche.

Dead silence greeted her but the echo of her heart thumping in her breast was nearly deafening.

"Not giving up on me, are you dear child?"

The heart that thundered in her chest one minute, stopped cold the next, as the Old Man's raspy voice floated to her ear. DG slid her gaze cautiously to her left, where the figure of the shriveled creature materialized.

Those haunting, filmy eyes stared out from beneath the cowl. DG gulped down her fear. "I don't know what I'm looking for."

A flash of yellowed teeth. "But of course you do, my dear. You already discovered the power of the Oraculum, when coupled with your own Light. You've tasted the magic, seen what it can do…"

"That spell killed nearly everything around it," she said hollowly. "I didn't mean for it to happen."

The Old Man shrugged on shoulder. "You are simply untrained in the intricacies of thaumaturgy. I would surmise that caution should be taken when uttering certain words. Words can be very powerful, whether uttered by the tongue or the mind, as you have experienced."

Yeah. Your timing with the warnings leaves a lot to be desired, she thought.

"Your friends have warned you against the research," he hissed. "What sort of friends are these that do not want you to better yourself?"

DG lowered her chin, looking off to the side. "I'm beginning to think they're right. This whole thing is starting to scare me."

In the blink of an eye, the Old Man had her by the arm. His claw-like fingers dug into her flesh, and little pools of blood welled up around the punctures. DG didn't even have time to breathe.

"Scare you? If it is fright that you wish, Princess, let me show you what may happen if you go back on our little deal," he whispered.

DG let out a half-cry before her mind was assaulted with images. She saw her home in Kansas, rotten and overgrown. A travel storm appeared in the field, and Longcoats poured out of it. She thought for a moment that this was a flashback to her sojourn to the Realm, until a face appeared among the Longcoats trudging toward her town.

Zero.

He was leading them toward her hometown with a malevolent determination.

"With the O.Z. snatched from his grasp, I am sure that Zero and his men will be looking for…other realms to conquer. Perhaps one that is unprotected by magic."

DG struggled to breathe as she watched scenarios of Zero plundering her small town. "No…that's-that's impossible."

"Is it?" The Old Man chuckled. "Happy endings do not occur much on the Other Side, do they Princess? But, perhaps Zero need not travel such a distance to live out his plans."

A flash and DG stared into a scene of Zero torturing someone. Someone with shocking blond hair…and a tan leather coat.

"No!" She wasn't sure the sound of screaming was in her head or erupting from her throat.

"These are but two of the possible futures to come if you do not keep up your end of our bargain, my child."

DG found herself choking, on her knees in the snow at the Old Man's feet. "You'd…you'd let that happen?" She coughed, her body trembling. "You're helping the Longcoat factions, aren't you?"

"Perhaps I am, and perhaps I am not," he purred. "But I guarantee you that one of those two futures will come to pass if you don't find me what I need."

"And if I get you your artifacts?"

He touched her cheek with one, spindly finger. "Then all will be set right. You shall have what you need to tap into the Zone's power. Perhaps even the one your heart longs for will be safely at your side."

DG cringed as the Old Man tightened his grip on her upper arm. "Do as I have instructed, Your Highness, and you shall have all that you desire."

She started to pull against him, tears blurring her vision until she wasn't sure where the old wizard was, but she still felt trapped. DG let out a choking scream just as she awoke in her chair; her arms splaying out in defense of unseen terrors and the Oraculum clattered to the floor at her feet.

The princess tried to breathe, but her lungs felt like they'd been compressed under water. She gasped in her breaths for a few moments. Her face and neck were drenched in sweat and every inch of her was trembling.

"God," she whispered, running her hands through her matted hair.

Bending over, DG noticed the book had fallen open to a section she swore she hadn't read through. Gingerly, she knelt on the floor next to the book and inspected the page. It was full of sigils and runes that she didn't recognize from her previous studying sessions. The ink that the words were written in seemed to glow.

Flipping back, DG looked to see if she had simply skipped this page when going through the book the first hundred times, but she had definitely never seen this page before. She moved the book into the light to read the short passage, only to discover that when the light hit the page, the words disappeared.

Squinting, DG ran her hand over the blank page. She looked where the book had originally fallen: to the side of her desk, in the shadows.

Couldn't hurt to try, she figured. Walking back to the darker side of her room, DG held the Oraculum out until the page fell into shadow. The green letters reappeared.

"Let there be dark," she murmured.

Carefully, DG let the words she'd searched for during the past two weeks glide off her lips in an awestruck tone:

"In the Shining City it was built atop her throne,
Where her minions once took flight,
Beneath the Deeps, the ruby chalice waits,
For the one who'll defeat the darkness with her Light."

Azkadellia stood outside the enormous wooden door and sighed. She'd heard her younger sister cry out in the night, and now she stood in her robe and slippers, leaning slightly on her cane as she listened through her sister's door.

Her face was like a marble statue, inscrutable and pale in the wane moonlight streaming in from the outer hall window, as the inventor came to her side.

"Az?" Glitch touched her hand.

Az turned to him, her features melting into concern. "We have to help her, Glitch. That book – it's evil. And it's calling to her, I can feel it."

Glitch looked to the door, his worried eyes traveling over the wood as if he meant to see through it. "I know. I tried to talk to DG earlier, but she blew me off." He held up a letter, and after looking at it, Az seemed to let out a breath of relief.

In his crabbed little scrawl, a name was visible on the parchment envelope: Wyatt Cain.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures."

TBC…

Time to READ AND REVIEW and let me know what YOU think!

AN2: The spell DG uses is actually in a mix of Serbian and Slovic. Ewok language was an ancient form of Mongolian, (according to Wiki) and the internet translator didn't offer Mongolian. It means, roughly, (and I mixed up the words so this isn't a true translation): "Give thy life force unto me." Or something like that.

Huge thanks as always to betas of extraordinary skill: Celia Stanton, SpikesSweetie and Meredith Paris.