C L Riley

Falling Into OZ C L Riley

The "Big One" hit hard, creating chaos far worse than anyone could have predicted. My parents' home was swallowed into a gaping maw, deep in the ground, or so I thought...until I opened my eyes. Imagine my shock when I discover three suns and two moons, hanging in the violet sky-yes, sky-not some gravesite for sunken houses demolished during earthquakes. Landing in an alien landscape was bad enough, but when I learn the way home requires stealing a magical emerald from a dangerous fanged creature and delivering it to an unpredictable sorcerer, things go from bad to worse. Forgive the cliché. From the Yellow Brick Road, to the three companions I find along its winding, blood-splattered path, my reality begins to resemble a popular fairy tale I watched as a kid. Only my OZ isn't the same OZ I remember from our TV screen. It is a prison planet and the final address for dangerous criminals banished by their own galaxies' governments. And as far as I can tell, there are no ruby slippers. I have no choice but to trust Lornand, the golden lion shifter; Strax, the sexy alien dependent on robotics; and Trophus, the space pirate, if I want to survive and escape. But nothing for me is ever simple. Somewhere along the Yellow Brick Road, my three protectors steal my heart, and returning to earth becomes less important when a fourth, unlikely ally joins our relationship. There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home. I'm certain now Dorothy's heel-clicking mantra was all wrong because my heart is convinced that home is wherever my four mates reside. Falling Into OZ is a fast-burn (short story, after all) reverse harem romance that was originally published in the Once Upon A Fairy Tale Night Collection, which is no longer available on any reading platform. This story is based on Wizard of Oz and takes place in the same world as the upcoming Vamp Camp Series. A new, super-extended epilogue and various updates have been added; unavailable in the collection version.