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. This is your most important magic, Gothel. This is how you will stay young as long as you wish.
Protect the flower, my blackhearted daughter, until you are ready to meet me and your ancestors in the mists.
Mother
Gothel ran out of the vault, slamming the door behind her and forgetting to lock it. She ran up the stairs as fast as she could, but before she got to her sisters’ bedroom, she met Lucinda, coming down the stairs to find her. “Oh, Gothel, I am so sorry.” Lucinda was crying. She took Gothel’s hand and led her to her Hazel and Primrose’s room, where she found Ruby and Martha with wet blotchy faces. They were crying over her sisters.
“What happened?” Gothel asked, but she could see for herself what had happened. Her sisters had died. They had died while she was musing in the vault. They had died because she had taken too long.
“We’re so sorry, Gothel. Lucinda was coming to get you!” said Martha, crying.
“What happened?” asked Gothel again, running to her sisters’ bedside.
“I don’t know! They just suddenly stopped breathing!” Martha said, clearly heartbroken.
“Jacob! Jacob!” Gothel screamed. She ran to the fireplace and pulled the lever that rang the bell for someone to come.
“Let me go find him,” said Lucinda, running out of the room. “I will find him, don’t worry!”
“Tell him to bring some others. We need to get my sisters to the greenhouse now!”
Gothel paced around the room, her heart pounding. “They can’t die! They can’t die. Oh please, don’t let them die. This is all my fault.”
Ruby and Martha went to Gothel and wrapped their arms around her, trying to calm her. “Shhh, Gothel, it will be okay.”
Soon Jacob and his minions crowded into the room. “Jacob! Take my sisters down to the greenhouse, quickly.”
Everyone in the room could see Jacob didn’t think that would work, but he followed his queen’s instructions. The minions took Primrose’s and Hazel’s bodies into their arms gently and carried them down the stairs, spiriting them away to the greenhouse.
“Jacob, please be careful! Don’t hurt them!”
Gothel and the odd sisters followed the skeletal creatures out of the house, through the courtyard, and into the greenhouse. The greenhouse wasn’t as large as the conservatory had been, but it was a beautifully built structure, with paned glass windows and a hinged ceiling that could be opened to let in the elements when desired. The skeletons stood there, wondering where Gothel wanted her sisters. “Put them there, on the ground next to the flower!” said Gothel.
“What can I do?” asked Jacob after the skeletons followed Gothel’s orders.
“Nothing, just give me some room,” Gothel replied.
She took out the crumpled letter she had shoved into her pocket. Her hands were shaking, and her voice quivered as she recited her mother’s incantation.
Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine
Heal what has been hurt
Change the fates’ design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine…
What once was mine
The flower glowed brighter as Gothel said the words, but her sisters remained the same.
