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She shot her hand up into the air, extending her fingers. The moment she did, the Dragon’s Eye began to shake, as if something about Mal herself was prying it loose from the very light and air that bound it.
Evie smiled. “I’ve got it—”
Mal saw Evie’s hand curl toward it, almost in slow motion. The scepter itself seemed to glow, as if it were beckoning Evie toward it.
Everything around Mal seemed to blur until she could only see Evie’s small, delicate fingers and the bewitched Dragon’s Eye, just beyond her grasp.
In a split second Mal had to make the decision: could she let Evie touch it and be cursed into a deep, death-like sleep for a thousand years?
Or would she save her?
Stop her?
Do something…good?
While betraying her own mother’s wishes, and giving up on her own dream of becoming something more than a disappointment?
Was she content to remain only a Mal her entire life?
Never a Maleficent?
She froze, unable to decide.
“No!” cried Mal finally, running toward Evie. “Don’t!”
What just happened? What was she doing? Why couldn’t she stop herself?
“What?” asked Evie, shocked, just as a familiar voice boomed from the Dragon’s Eye.
“WHOEVER AWAKENS THE DRAGON WILL BE CURSED TO SLEEP FOR A THOUSAND YEARS!”
Maleficent’s voice was coming from the staff even now, echoing and reverberating around the room.
Her mother really had left an impression behind her. W
hat remained of her power and her energy crackled off the walls of the room, sparked to life by one accidental moment and latent until now, when it had victims to torture.
Evie’s fingers brushed the air next to the staff.
While Mal’s hand closed upon it, and when it did…
She fell to the floor, asleep.
Mal blinked her eyes. She could see herself lying on the floor of the throne room, purple hair spilling out like a stain beneath her head.
Her three companions huddled nervously around her.
So I’m sleeping, then? Or am I awake? Or maybe I’m dreaming?
Because Mal knew she was seeing something else as well.
She wasn’t in the Forbidden Fortress anymore.
She was in a palace, and there was good King Stefan and his queen and a baby in a cradle.
They were happy. She could see by the light in their faces, and by the way their eyes never left the child.
Almost like a magnet, Mal thought. I know how that pull feels.
