It was dark and cold. That's the first thing I noticed when Dorothy shook me awake. With a start, I realized we were back in Kansas.

"We're home?" I aksed, getting up off the ground.

Dorothy nodded in response, "And now we need to help Karen,"

As we made our way to the cellar, my heart lurched at the devastation around us brought on by the twister.

"Karen!" we called out as we ran down the stairs.

Sitting before us dazedly and in a pool of blood was Karen. Quickly, I grabbed a blanket from the shelf and passed it to Dorothy. She wrapped it around Karen's cold body.

"Karen. Karen. Karen." Dorothy said, trying to keep her awake as we sat on either side of her.

The sound of police sirens in the distance filled my ears as we waited for the ambulance to come.

2 Weeks Later...

I stared out at the vast wasteland of dried grass but I saw nothing. All I could see in my mind's eye was Jack. His smile, laugh, voice, the way he held me...kissed me. My fingers went to my lips and I could almost feel the lingering pressure of his lips still. It had been two weeks since I arrived back in Kansas, two weeks since I last saw him. He's all I thought about lately.

My last memory of him was our argument and I hated it. I hated that he was angry with me. I still felt no remorse for Langwidere's death though. She deserved it. I'd told Dorothy and she had agreed there was nothing else I could have done. I fingered the markings near my thumb.

The ones Jane...mom had tattooed on my skin. Gosh, I missed her. And Jack. I missed Oz. The sound of a door slamming shut broke me from my reverie. Glancing up, I saw Dorothy stepping out the door.

"Where you headed?" Aunt Em asked from the table on the porch where she sat in a chair.

I situated myself to face them from where I sat on the porch railing.

"Hospital. To check on Karen," Dorothy told her.

"Dorothy, both of you just got back," she said.

"Well, maybe she's awake. Maybe she can talk now," Dorothy said, putting her dark hair up out of her face.

"And maybe you're gonna wind up next to her if you don't take care of yourself," Aunt Em called after her, "Sit! One minute. Do you some good,"

Reluctantly, Dorothy walked back over to us and sat down across from our aunt.

"I used to know a little girl who could gobble up walnuts faster than I could crack them," Aunt Em coddled her.

"I'm fine - we're fine," Dorothy told her, purposefully including me in the conversation.

I shot her a grateful smile and she returned it.

"Now you really got me worried,"

"Just...I'm just thinking..." Dorothy trailed off.

"Oh, sheriff called again. Needs you two to come down to the station and make a statement," our aunt informed us.

"I don't know what to tell him," I told her glumly.

"Just tell him the truth," she shrugged.

"Truth... We went to check on karen, she was hurt so we went to go get helpand we were swallowed up by a twister. Ten minutes later, we woke up right where we left," Dorothy recounted to her.

Aunt Em watched us suspicously.

"That's all you remember?" she asked, glancing between us.

Dorothy looked at me out of the corner of her eye and I turned to Aunt Em.

"That's the truth," I lied.

"Well, when you're ready, they'll be happy to have you back at work and you can check on Karen all you want." she told her favorite child.

Rolling my brown eyes, I jumped down from the railing, landing deftly on the ground. Dorothy and I had made-up but I guess she'd always be Aunt Em's golden child. I walked out towards the cornfield, my hands in my jeans pockets. Suddenly, I saw something sitting in the field. As I neared, it came into focus and I realized it was a dog. But not just any dog. It was Toto!

"Dorothy! Dorothy! You might wanna see this!" I called her, my eyes wide in shock.

I heard her run over to me before stopping by my side. Slowly, I made my way over to the animal.

"Toto?" I questioned and the dog's ears perked up.

Bending down close to him, I patted him on the head. His fur was soft beneath my fingertips.

"Well, he's definitely real." I said, standing up and turning to my sister, smiling.

We turned to head back to the house but stopped dead in our tracks. Roan stood before us. My brown eyes widened in shock.

"I'm just dreams," Dorothy mumbled, unbelieving as she glanced up at him.

"It's just a dream, it's just a dream..." I reassured her half-heartedly.

After all...it couldn't possibly be true...could it?

"Dorothy-" Roan started but she took a step back.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," he told her.

"You're not real!" I piped up, staring at him.

He rolled his dark blue eyes.

"I am indeed real, thank you very much," he said agitatedly.

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p', "You're just a figment of our imaginations,"

Roan just scoffed and turned back to Dorothy.

"That's not why I'm here," he pressed on.

"Then what?" Dorothy asked.

"Your mother sent me," he told us.

I blinked.

"Our mother?" I repeated,"...Jane..."

"Where is she?" my twin asked him.

"Tell us. Tell us now!" I demanded, on the verge of shaking him.

"She's a prisoner of the Beast Forever," he informed the both of us.

Dorothy shook her head in disbelief.

"No! That can't be true!" I shot back.

Jane...

"And only you two can stop it," he said, glancing between us.

"You've come to bring us back?" Dorothy asked, her brown eyes meeting his.

"I've come to bring you both home." he answered solemnly.

I grinned at my twin.

"Back to Oz we go."