Nanny nodded, letting her sister speak first. “I’m sure you’ll agree that Maleficent did deplorably. She failed to realize her charge was actually Princess Snow White, not the wicked queen.”
Nanny scoffed. “So what do you suppose Maleficent should have done? Let the queen languish in torment and try to kill her own daughter? There was no fairy, no good sorceress to help Snow White. There was no other part for Maleficent to play in this scenario than to destroy the man in the mirror! She saved the queen and the princess! You can’t deny it!”
The Fairy Godmother was shaking her head furiously the entire time her sister was speaking. Nanny felt anger growing inside her. “You know as well as I that the three fairies chosen should be Maleficent, the Blue Fairy, and your favorites, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Do we really need to sit here and debate this all day?”
Just then, the odd sisters flew into the courtyard, screaming at the top of their lungs like wild harpies. Ruby was holding the hand of a small blond girl. The tiny girl seemed to be made of all things silver and gold, shining like a star. She was crying so hard she was shaking. “Where are those little beasts? Where is Merryweather, where are her friends?” Ruby shrieked.
Maleficent ran into the courtyard just behind them. “Where are my birds? Where is my crow tree?”
The little blond girl continued to sob.
“Maleficent! You’re frightening this young girl. Stop this screaming at once!” scolded the Fairy Godmother.
Lucinda glared at her. “It was your fairies who made our Circe cry! Not Maleficent! Merryweather attacked her!”
Nanny rushed over to Circe and the odd sisters. “Circe, what happened? Merryweather attacked you?”
“All three of them attacked me, but I think it was my fault,” she sobbed.
“What happened?” Nanny asked in her gentlest voice, hoping to calm not only Circe but also the odd sisters and Maleficent, who were equally outraged.
“When the three fairies appeared on their path, I saw into their hearts. I saw they had a terrible secret. They had taken Maleficent’s raven, Diablo, and hidden him away so she would worry and fret over him. They wanted Maleficent to be distracted at her exam today. I didn’t think it was fair, so I took the form of Maleficent to see if they would help me find her raven. But no matter how much I begged them for help, they refused to even look at me.” Circe was crying so hard now she couldn’t keep telling the story.
“How did Merryweather know Maleficent was taking the exam today?” asked Nanny, giving her sister an angry look. “Did you tell them?”
The Fairy Godmother couldn’t bring herself to meet her sister’s gaze. “I might have said something to Merryweather after the argument you and I had in your kitchen.” Nanny was incensed, but the Fairy Godmother kept talking. “But I didn’t have anything to do with this!”
“Stop your insipid squabbling and let our sister finish her story!” screeched Martha.
“Tell them what happened next, dear,” Ruby said encouragingly, holding Circe’s hand in hers.
“I…I…decided to appear further along the path. I was in the middle of a beautiful forest, standing beneath the largest of the trees there. I was still disguised as Maleficent, weeping because I couldn’t find Diablo and Opal. The fairies didn’t realize that I wasn’t the real Maleficent. They started screaming at me, accusing me of trying to ruin their exam. They hurled silver sparks at me, which made the crow tree catch on fire.” Circe sobbed even more. “I didn’t know! I didn’t know the birds were in the tree. I didn’t know the fairies had hidden them there from Maleficent. I thought it was all make-pretend!”
“And where are Maleficent’s birds now?” Nanny asked, her heart full of fear.
Circe collapsed in a heap of tears. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to put Maleficent’s pets in danger! I didn’t realize the fairies would try to hurt us!”
The odd sisters took their little sister in their arms and held her tightly as she cried. “It’s not your fault, my dear! You didn’t know. Maleficent won’t blame you. It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault!”
“Where are Maleficent’s birds?” Nanny asked again, frantically searching everyone’s faces for answers they didn’t have. “Maleficent, where are your birds?”
Maleficent was crying. “I don’t know. My crow tree isn’t in our yard.”
Nanny was trying to stay calm. “Circe, darling, are you sure it was the real Opal and Diablo with you in the scene?”
Circe nodded. “I am!”
Nanny waved her hand, summoning Merryweather, Fauna, and Flora. The fairies were surprised to find themselves standing in front of a legion of angry witches. “Where are Diablo and Opal? Where are Maleficent’s birds?” Nanny asked sternly.
The three fairies looked frightened and began speaking all at once. “We didn’t mean for them to be harmed, I swear! We didn’t realize that our charge would turn herself into Maleficent and threaten us! We thought she was Maleficent! We thought she was angry because we had stolen her precious birds!”
Maleficent stopped crying, her face turning a startling shade of green. She just stared at the fairies. She was deathly quiet and seething with anger. The fairies almost wished she would scream at them. Her silence was unsettling.
“Maleficent, I’m sorry! We would never hurt your birds on purpose,” Flora whimpered.
Maleficent quietly stretched out her arms, the sleeves of her robes resembling a raven’s wings. “Where are my birds?”
The three fairies gasped with fright. “We don’t know! We promise! We swear!”
Maleficent’s face became stone cold and her yellow eyes blazed. “Lies! Where are my birds? Tell me now!”
“No! Not until you stand down and renounce your right to wish granting!” Merryweather shouted. “We can’t have you sullying the good name of the fairies in this land by spreading your filth to the many kingdoms!”
“That’s enough!” Nanny yelled. “Tell us where you have put Maleficent’s birds or I will punish you myself!”
“You will not touch them, Sister!” the Fairy Godmother said, stepping in front of the three fairies. “When will you give up this wretched girl? When will you see that Maleficent will bring you nothing but pain and misery? You saw it the night you brought her home, when you looked through her time in this world. You saw it through to the end, but still you insisted on taking her in. You cared for her and defended her even though she doesn’t deserve it!”
“What is she talking about?” Maleficent’s anger was turning into heartbreak.
“Nothing, my dear, nothing,” Nanny said.
Maleficent began crying again. “What is she talking about? What did you see? Am I evil? Is that why I was abandoned?”
“Yes! You were created in evil, and you will do evil to the end of your days. You will destroy everything you have ever loved!” yelled the Fairy Godmother.
“No, Maleficent, don’t listen to her. It’s not true!” Nanny insisted.
Maleficent’s fingertips started to tingle. The terrible feeling quickly spread to the rest of her body, turning into a burning sensation that came from within. She remembered feeling that way when she was younger, before she had learned to teleport to her tree house, before she had learned how to control her anger. But this time—this time it felt different. This time she was different.
“Maleficent, no!” Nanny screamed.
Everything in Maleficent’s world went black as she became unbearably hot. It felt as if the raging heat burning uncontrollably inside her would consume her. But just when she was sure the heat would make her burst, she felt herself expanding, becoming larger and more imposing, as if her body was making room for her anger. The heat that had been growing within her was creating space for the pain, the heartache, and the betrayal she felt at hearing that Nanny had seen she would become evil. How could she have lied to her all that time? How could she have kept that from her? This awful thing inside her now raged like a beast. It was like a hungry
serpent eating away at her insides, devouring her. She screamed in pain, her cries mingling with her mother’s screams until she could no longer tell the difference between the two. She couldn’t bear it. It was the most terrible thing she’d ever experienced. She lost all sense of herself as a blinding green fire exploded from within her, destroying everything in her path.
And all she could think was they had all been right.
She was evil.
The room was eerily quiet. There were tears in everyone’s eyes except Maleficent’s. After a moment, she broke the silence. “But you didn’t die. None of you did. I thought I had killed my mother and everyone I had ever known. I didn’t find out until later that you had survived.”
“If it hadn’t been for the odd sisters’ spiriting us away, we would have died,” Nanny said softly.
“I suppose they knew what happened was a possibility. I suppose you all did. Everything the odd sisters said the night before my birthday about the stars not aligning made sense after that. I fulfilled my destiny that day.”
“Yes, we knew it was possible something disastrous might happen.…”
“Did you know I would turn into a dragon and destroy the Fairylands? Is that what you and your sister saw when you found me in that tree?”
“No! I never saw that, I swear! I knew you were capable of great evil, but I had faith you would take another path. I always saw the good within you, Maleficent,” Nanny insisted.
Maleficent turned her steely gaze to Circe. “You’ve been awfully quiet, listening from your sisters’ enchanted mirror, Circe. Have you nothing to say?”
Circe hesitated before replying. “I was a child, Maleficent. I don’t even recall visiting the Fairylands. I don’t remember meeting you, the three good fairies, or the Fairy Godmother. I’m sorry for whatever part I might have played in what happened, I really am, but it sounds as if I was trying to defend you.”
Maleficent contemplated Circe’s words. “You truly don’t remember?”
Circe shook her head. “I don’t.”
Maleficent smirked. “Then it would seem you’re almost the same girl you were then. Almost, but not quite.”
Circe didn’t understand the Dark Fairy’s meaning, but she decided not to press it. All of this seemed so unreal. Circe had heard many tales of the villainous Maleficent. It was strange to hear the story of her as a hopeful girl—to hear tales of her own sisters as they lay helpless in the solarium. And her sisters were now too close to the Dark Fairy for Circe’s liking. She suddenly felt foolish for leaving the castle while so many she loved were at risk. Her head was spinning. Circe felt as if she were trapped in a nightmare, a mixed-up fairy tale, and she couldn’t tell how it would end.
“What happened to Diablo and your crows? Were they hurt?” Tulip asked, drawing Maleficent’s attention away from Circe.
Maleficent shook her head. “No, they are all still with me to this day.”
“But what happened to them? How did they find you?” Circe asked.
“Luckily, they weren’t hurt by my destruction of the Fairylands. They were trapped in the alternate reality created for the fairy exams. I thought you would know this, Circe. You must have been with your sisters when they found my birds. Your sisters were the ones who moved everyone in the Fairylands to the alternate reality when they realized I was transforming. They knew they would be safe there.”
“I told you, I have no memory of what happened, Maleficent,” Circe insisted. “In fact, I have no memories of my childhood whatsoever. My sisters would never talk to me about that time.”
Maleficent regarded her like a cat eyeing a mouse. “Is that so?”
Maleficent lifted her gaze to Nanny, who was holding the mirror. Nanny studied her daughter. She could no longer detect any love in Maleficent’s heart. It was as if a part of Maleficent was missing. The part Nanny had loved so much was somehow gone, ripped from Maleficent’s being. And Nanny couldn’t bring herself to ask her how she lost it.
“Why did you let me believe I had killed you?” Maleficent asked, pulling Nanny from her thoughts. Her yellow eyes were blazing, and her skin had turned a light shade of green.
“I didn’t know that was what you thought!” Nanny said.
“Why didn’t you at least try to find me? I was your daughter! And you didn’t even try to find out if I was living or dead.”
“I did! I searched everywhere for you. I could not find you, I swear! I thought you had died, consumed by the flames. It took me and my sister an age to restore the Fairylands. You destroyed everything, Maleficent—and almost everyone. It took all my power and strength to bring life back into that place. It wasn’t until the odd sisters told me they had found you alive, years later, that I learned you still lived.”
“You’re a powerful witch. Had you wanted to find me, you would have! How could you not feel me in the world? Even in my dragon form!” Maleficent spat.
“You stayed a dragon? For how long, Maleficent?”
“For years,” Maleficent croaked.
She said nothing more, but Nanny finally understood. She hadn’t been able find Maleficent because she had remained a dragon. She hadn’t felt her moving in the world because Maleficent hadn’t been herself. “I’m so sorry you were by yourself all those years, Maleficent.”
“I had my birds.” Maleficent’s words were like a knife in Nanny’s heart. The thought of her little fairy alone for so many years shattered her.
Maleficent waved her hand. “It’s no matter. I’m content with my life, with my power and what I’ve achieved. I am the mistress of all evil, as prophesied by you and your sister!”
Nanny was hurt. “I never saw that for you!”
“Lies! You knew from the moment you saw me I was evil. You gave me everything I needed to become who I am!”
“Don’t you see it was my sister who caused this? Listening to you just now, I could tell it was her words. She brought about this prophecy!”
“Yes, blame everything on your sister, as always,” Maleficent sneered. “You never take responsibility for your own actions. And I suppose you will say it was she who decided to have Merryweather and her friends care for Aurora and who decided the child’s fate?”
“What should it matter to you who cared for Aurora?” Circe asked, feeling protective of Nanny.
Maleficent’s expression turned as hard as stone. “Your sisters didn’t warn you, did they? Well, let me make it plain for you, and never make me repeat it again. Never question me about the child. Ever! There was a time when I loved your sisters well, but that love will not protect you!”
In that moment Circe realized the magnitude of Maleficent’s rage. She meant what she said; her words were like a spell woven in pure hatred. Her anger was a bubbling inferno inside her, just waiting to come out.
But Nanny saw something else at the mention of Aurora; another emotion had surfaced and overwhelmed her anger: concern. It was like a shining star in the darkness. Nanny could see that this one star had guided Maleficent over the years, even as she had become more corrupt and stopped being the person Nanny remembered. That one aspect had prevailed: her obsession with the child and her relentless need to keep her asleep.
This time it was Circe who interrupted Nanny’s thoughts. “I’m sorry, Maleficent, but if I’m not mistaken, you need my help. Mine and Nanny’s, correct? Might I suggest you stop threatening me, and then maybe we can make some progress?”
Maleficent flashed her yellow eyes at Circe, mildly impressed that the pretty little witch didn’t seem to be intimidated by her. “You’ve been raised well, Circe. You are a very powerful witch, though you have much compassion in your heart. That may eventually be your downfall. But I’m happy to see you have your wits about you, unlike your deranged mothers.”
“You mean my sisters,” Circe said, correcting her.
“No, I mean your mothers,” Maleficent smirked.
“You lie just to hurt her, Maleficent!” Nanny said, raising her voice with Male
ficent for the first time since she had arrived.
Maleficent drew back. “I may be the mistress of all evil, but I do not lie. You are the queen of lies, queen of secrets, queen of betrayal, not I!” Maleficent’s voice reverberated through the castle like a malevolent storm.
“What is she talking about?” Circe asked Nanny. But Nanny didn’t know. Clearly the odd sisters had secrets they’d shared only with Maleficent.
“You can find the spell in your sisters’ books for yourself. It’s all right there. How they did it. How they created you,” Maleficent said. “You may be the only thing in this world left of them now that they are trapped within the realm of dreams.”
“I don’t believe they are my mothers. I don’t!” Circe cried.
Maleficent laughed. “You know I’m telling the truth! Read the books sitting before you. Everything is there. Learn your mothers’ secrets now that their books are open to you. I gave them the spells that protected their secrets from you all this time. But they no longer inhabit this world. Those spells are broken! Why do you think you have always had greater power than them? Why do you think they have always deferred to you, their little sister? You are them! But go! Go look for yourself. When you find the book that tells you their secrets and mine, secrets we have been hiding, you bring those secrets back here. Bring them to me and to the One of Legends, and then you will know what I say is true. Only then will you want to help me!”
Circe’s reflection in the mirror looked at Nanny, wondering what she should do.
“Go, my dear. Do as she says!” Nanny said. “See for yourself and bring the book back to the castle.”
Nanny looked at Tulip and Popinjay. “My sweet dears, I have not forgotten you. Tulip, can you and Popinjay please go attend to that matter we discussed earlier?”
“Yes, of course, Nanny,” Tulip said. She had almost forgotten that they were expecting the Fairy Godmother and the three good fairies.
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