Circe saw into the sea witch’s heart. She was foul. She was ugly. She was monstrous and loathsome. She was everything her brother said of her, and everything the Dark Fairy foresaw. And the sea witch had known she deserved that end. She had known it the moment before she died. She had betrayed the odd sisters, her dear friends for this…for this power and for revenge. A power that was destroying her. A power she couldn’t control. She had no will of her own. The seething hate had taken possession of her. It was its own creature, and she had no will to command it.
She had been dead before Eric took her life.
Circe pealed a frightful scream so loud and so terrible she thought the force of it would rip her throat.
She was herself again, but diminished, not only from her ordeal but from seeing into Ursula’s heart in the sea witch’s final moments.
When she reached the surface, she could see purple and black billowing smoke rising from the ocean like a menacing cloud of ruin, filling the sky and blackening the ships that had been docked near Morningstar Castle. Ursula’s remains had floated to the surface and mingled with the sea foam, turning it a putrid grayish black. Her hate seemed to linger even after her death.
The Lighthouse of the Gods stood shining in exquisite brilliance, however, as if refusing to be diminished by the foul smoke of decay. As Circe stepped out of the waves and onto land, it was comforting to have feet again and to feel the sand beneath them. She felt her sisters were near, and rushed to the castle in a panic, because she knew there was something horribly wrong.
She didn’t bother with the guardsmen at the gate and simply willed them to let her in. Mr. Hudson greeted her at the door with a panic-stricken look. He was pale and his eyes were full of terror.
“Miss. Circe, thank the gods you’re here! There is something terribly wrong with Princess Tulip, and Nanny has been attacked!” Circe tried to clear her head, which was still muddled from her transformation from mermaid to witch.
“Where are they? Take me to them.”
Mr. Hudson directed her to the main room, where several guardsmen were trying to chop their way in with axes, succeeding only in breaking their weapons, which lay in a heap on the floor.
“Stand back, gentlemen.” Circe cast her hand forward, blasting the door inward with a violent splintering crash.
Nanny and Circe’s sisters were lying on the floor, unconscious.
“Where’s Tulip?” she asked, looking around the room.
“In her room, miss. Rose has been trying to wake her for hours.”
Circe couldn’t fathom what had happened.
“I need everyone out of this room.”
Mr. Hudson tried to protest, but Circe silenced him with an uncustomary sternness.
“Hudson, now! Order everyone out of this room so I can tend to Nanny and my sisters.”
As Triton made his way through the murky waters, trying to find his daughter, he was sickened by the horrors that surrounded him. He could feel his sister’s hate embedded in the decay that littered the ocean floor. He thought he would choke on it and assumed that was her intention. He knew he deserved her hatred, and he felt an overwhelming sense of dread for the part he had played in her demise. There was nothing Triton could do to atone for his malversation toward his sister, but he could make things right with his daughter, even if it meant turning her into a human.
And he thought that Ursula had her vengeance after all, because he was about to turn someone he loved deeply into the thing he most hated.
A human.
Circe was sitting near Tulip’s bed, watching her as she slept. She checked to be sure Tulip wasn’t wearing anything unusual that could have cast the sleeping spell, and came to the conclusion that one of the many witches under that roof must have cast the spell, and Circe was unable to break it. She wished she knew what had happened while she was held captive by Ursula. But much of it remained a mystery while Nanny and the sisters were still unconscious. Circe was sitting there holding Tulip’s hand, feeling helpless and alone, when she saw a magnificent rainbow soar through the sky over a beautiful ship. The scene sent a surge of joy through her heart, but she didn’t know why.
“It’s a wedding ship, dear, that’s why.”
Circe looked up and saw Nanny and Pflanze standing in the doorway.
“Nanny! What’s happened?”
Nanny sighed in relief that Circe was safe and their sacrifice hadn’t been in vain.
“What sacrifice? Not Tulip?”
Nanny smiled weakly. “No, dear. Tulip will be fine. I can wake her whenever I wish.”
And then Circe knew. There was something terribly wrong with her sisters. “Yes, my dear. To reverse magic so embedded with hate took great strength. I’m astonished your sisters survived the ordeal.”
Circe now understood why Ursula had felt her own magic was being leveled against her.
“I don’t understand. What magic needed reversing? Why would my sisters…” And then she understood. They had done it to release her from Ursula’s garden.
“Come, my darling, we should see the wedding ship off, and then we shall have some tea and Nanny will tell you everything.”
Nanny could hear Circe’s thoughts, her confusion, and the myriad questions weighing upon her.
“After you’ve heard my story, you will be glad you saw the happy couple off to live their life together. Trust me, my dear. Nanny knows your heart almost as well as you do.”
Two witches, divergent in age and in schools of magic, though with very similar hearts and sensibilities, stood on the windy cliffs as they watched Ariel and Eric’s wedding ship sail off into the future. Ariel was happier than she had ever been. She was venturing into an entirely new world with the man she loved. She would finally dance, and run, and know what it was to live and love as she had always imagined.
“My sisters stopped Ursula from killing this girl?”
Nanny decided the simplest answer was best.
“Yes, my dear, they did. Your sisters saved us all.”
Circe thought Nanny was right: perhaps in the retelling of the tale she would find pleasure in the little mermaid’s story, and she would be happy that Ariel’s wish to become human and marry her prince came true. But for now she could only think of her sisters and of Pflanze sitting beside them, watching silently with fearful eyes, waiting and wishing for her mistresses to wake from their deathlike sleep.
Then a shiver came over Nanny and Circe, a tingling sensation at the backs of their necks that told them someone was coming.
A witch.
A powerful witch. But neither could make out her intentions.
THE END
Keep reading for a preview of the next book in the Villains series, Mistress of All Evil!
The Dark Fairy’s castle was eerily silhouetted against a tempestuous sky by a magnificent spiral of glowing green mist. Suddenly, a brilliant burst of green light shot up from the highest tower, warning every nearby creature that Maleficent was in a terrible rage. Her goons shuddered as the castle shook violently with the power of her anger, sending her beloved murder of crows into flight. For nearly sixteen years, her creatures had been searching for the princess Aurora. But it had all been in vain. Now the girl was home in King Stefan’s castle for her sixteenth birthday, ready to take her place at the royal court.
Maleficent paced back and forth in her private chamber. She hadn’t been able to reach the odd sisters by raven or crow. “Why didn’t they listen to me?” she muttered furiously. “They should never have trusted Ursula!”
Maleficent needed the sisters now more than ever, and she feared they were lost to her. She went to the enchanted mirror hanging on her wall. The three sisters had given it to her many years before.
“Show me Lucinda! Show me Ruby! Show me Martha!” she commanded. The mirror’s surface swirled with a glowing violet light. The Dark Fairy had never quite mastered mirror magic like the odd sisters, and she seldom used their gift. Nevertheless, after a moment, hazy image
s of the sisters appeared in the glass. They were wandering aimlessly through a large mirrored chamber. They seemed to be calling out a name over and over again, but Maleficent couldn’t discern their words.
“Lucinda! Can you hear me? Sisters! I need you!” Maleficent cried. For a moment, she thought that the sisters had heard her, because they abruptly stopped their ceaseless wandering.
“Sisters! Where are you? I need your help with Aurora!” Maleficent shouted.
Suddenly, Lucinda grew more distinct in the mirror. Her face flickered in the swirling purple haze of magic as she ushered frantic orders to the Dark Fairy. “You must get into that castle, Maleficent! Go by fire! Go by smoke! Go by rhyme! Go by any means available to you, but go! Create the mundane instrument of her doom if you must and send her to the land of dreams. We will be waiting for her. But you must find a way to make sure she never wakes! Our powers are not the same in this place. It’s all up to you! Now go!”
And then, as quickly as she had appeared, Lucinda was gone. Maleficent only saw her own green face reflected in the mirror’s surface. No matter how many times Maleficent called for Lucinda and her sisters, she couldn’t summon them again. She smashed the mirror into tiny pieces with her staff, angrier than ever with the odd sisters for their foolishness.
Maleficent turned to her beloved pet raven Diablo, who was perched on her shoulder. “It seems the odd sisters are lost in the land of dreams. I told them something like this would happen if they helped Ursula! They didn’t listen, the fools!”
Maleficent tightened her grip on her staff. The green sphere on the end began to glow. “I will use fire, smoke, and rhyme! Those meddlesome fairies thought they could keep their darling Rose hidden from me. They thought they could keep her safe. But I know the king and queen have their precious princess within their castle at this very moment!”
Maleficent stormed to her fireplace. “I shall use fire!” she cried as she slammed her staff soundly on the stone floor. Her castle rumbled as a large blaze appeared in her fireplace, followed by a matching fire in Princess Aurora’s chamber. Through the flames, Maleficent could see Aurora crying. “Poor dear, she doesn’t know she’s betrothed to her one true love! All the better.
“Now I shall use rhyme,” Maleficent declared, extinguishing the fire and closing her eyes as the words of her dark spell swirled through her thoughts.
Bring me to their cherished Rose
And bring this chapter to a close.
By smoke, by fire, and by night,
Touch the spindle I shall ignite.
Sleep will come to their fair Rose,
Forever trapped in her repose.
A tiny wisp of smoke curled ominously from Aurora’s fireplace. Maleficent’s yellow eyes contrasted brilliantly with the fireplace’s darkness as she transported herself to King Stefan’s castle.
Enchant the Rose with burning light,
No fear, no sorrow, no flight from fright.
Let her follow without despair
So she may slumber forever without care.
An odious green orb appeared in the princess’s room, casting an unearthly green glow on the girl’s pale face as she rose from her vanity. The luminescent sphere danced before her eyes, bewitching her to follow it through an enchanted passageway Maleficent had conjured in the fireplace. The spellbound princess followed the orb up a cold, dark stairway with an archway that eerily resembled a tombstone. Maleficent heard the troublesome good fairies calling their Rose’s name. With a flick of her hand, she closed off the passageway, leaving the good fairies behind.
Higher and higher Aurora climbed, until she reached the tallest tower in the castle. The Dark Fairy transformed the malignant glowing ball into a spinning wheel. At last her curse would be complete.
As the wheel spins, so does time,
Unstoppable and divine.
Weaving my spell of endless sleep,
In dreamscape she shall keep.
The princess reached for the spindle but hesitated. A force within her seemed to be struggling against Maleficent’s evil spell.
“Touch the spindle! Touch it, I say!” Maleficent commanded. Her dark magic prevailed over the poor princess, who reached out and lightly touched the spindle’s point. The sharp needle pierced her skin, sending a sickening feeling through her entire body. She felt all the life draining from her as her world went black. The princess fell to the floor at Maleficent’s feet, hidden beneath the Dark Fairy’s long robes.
At that moment, the three good fairies burst into the room, their little faces filled with fear and worry.
Maleficent smirked at the trio. “You poor simple fools! Thinking you could defeat me! Me! The mistress of all evil!”
Finally, she had the princess Aurora.
After all those years, her curse had put their beloved princess to sleep, just as she’d decreed. Their attempts to keep her safe had failed. With a flourish, Maleficent swept her cloak to one side. “Well, here’s your precious princess!” she added, cackling triumphantly.
The three good fairies gasped at the ghastly scene. Their beautiful Rose’s lifeless body lay on the cold stone floor. Her tiara lay beside her, like an omen that she would never become queen.
Black crows circled overhead, following the Dark Fairy as she made her way through the tangled forest. With each step she took, the trees grew increasingly dense. The forest was a living thing, moving and breathing. Its vines curled themselves around everything in her path, unknowingly creating a deep, penetrating darkness as they ensnared the treetops and obscured the sky. In the shadows, the Dark Fairy could keep the grasping trees and vines at bay. Even though she didn’t understand that aspect of her magic, Maleficent used it to her advantage. Contrary to the tales surrounding the Dark Fairy, the vines weren’t entirely subject to her will. She had heard stories about how she could control nature. How she could direct terrible forests to destroy her enemies. It was ironic, given the truth. Nature had cursed her for a past transgression. Nature was her enemy, and this forest was no different.
Though Maleficent could keep the forest in check in the shadows, she wasn’t entirely sure what would happen once she left the protection of the darkness provided by the canopy. She wondered if she would be able to fight off the forest when she wandered into the full blaze of the sun.
For now, it gave her great satisfaction to see the emerald greenery wither and retreat before her as heat emanated from her staff. The trees on nearby cliffs were joining with the vines. The foliage banded together, creating an army of sorts against her.
There is nothing more frightening to a forest than the threat of fire.
The Dark Fairy laughed as she sent a surge of green light toward the branches, which recoiled from the heat. She wished the forest would give her a reason to set it ablaze. But she reined in her desire for destruction, reminding herself of her purpose and destination.
Maleficent resented having to travel at that time; she hated being so far away from the Sleeping Beauty and the lovestruck prince who threatened her plans. A few short days earlier, the princess had pricked her finger on a spindle, just as Maleficent’s curse had decreed. Maleficent had ordered her goons to abduct Prince Phillip and bring him back to her dungeons, where he would be well away from the sleeping princess. She couldn’t have him intervening in her masterful plan. But even so, the Dark Fairy needed help. She needed witches—powerful witches who could help her bind Sleeping Beauty’s curse so that the princess would never wake. If she couldn’t kill the princess, Maleficent would have to content herself with Aurora’s forever dwelling in the land of dreams. So the Dark Fairy ventured to Morningstar Kingdom.
How she wished she was traveling by her preferred method of flames. But she wanted the witches at Morningstar Castle to know she was approaching. She wanted to give them time to grieve the loss of the sea witch and the odd sisters before she arrived. Maleficent knew the reason for her visit would be obscured by fear if she showed up without warning. So she took her time
and walked slowly to Morningstar Kingdom, following her beloved crows. The canopy was so thick now that she could not see her birds flying overhead, but her magic was strong and it allowed her to see the path that lay before them through their eyes. She loved that aspect of her magic more than any other. It made her feel like she was flying with them, untethered from the world. But Maleficent did not need magic to find her way. The witches’ hearts drew her to them, shining like a brilliant beacon among the ruins of some of the greatest witches of their age.
Maleficent had sent Diablo ahead to Morningstar Kingdom. As he circled the castle, she could see the extent of the carnage and destruction left in Ursula’s wake. Engulfed in the remains of the sea witch, the ancient fortress was almost pulsing with hate. Maleficent had no love for Ursula and didn’t grieve her loss. In fact, she thought the many kingdoms on land and sea were better off without such a power-hungry and foolish witch. Ursula had put all their lives in peril by creating a spell so dangerous that the odd sisters were now suffering its consequences.
Maleficent couldn’t see into the future like some witches and fairies, but she was a good judge of character. She had sensed the amount of power Ursula had been hoarding, and she had been certain the sea witch would betray the sisters. She only wished that the odd sisters had listened to her warning. Maleficent had once loved the odd sisters deeply, though lately they were more like strange relatives she barely tolerated, and avoided at every opportunity. She struggled to remember them as they once had been, to remember how she’d loved them. But that feeling—love—was a mere memory.
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