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The sisters laughed again as they pressed their way into the house inch by inch.
“Who are you going to call?” asked Martha, advancing on Lady Tremaine, causing her to back up farther and farther into the house. The two women were practically nose to nose.
“Keep away from me, you witches!” Lady Tremaine stumbled backward as all three witches slowly bore down on her. The odd trio laughed even louder.
“Your lady’s maid is off sending a letter to your friend in London that will never reach her hands, and your nanny is so old she has forgotten she is the most powerful witch in the Many Kingdoms, aside from our sister Circe, that is. You are quite literally alone and powerless, Lady Tremaine, but we can help you. Just take this.” Martha took Lady Tremaine’s hand, put the small glass bottle in it, and closed her fingers over it with a theatrical wink.
“Keep it. Just in case you need it,” Ruby said.
Her sister Lucinda added, “And should you ever need us, just call to us from any of your mirrors and we will be here.”
But before Lady Tremaine could reply, the witches went flying backward all at once, and the door slammed closed behind them with a powerful blast. Lady Tremaine quickly turned around and saw Nanny standing there.
“What in the heavens just happened, Nanny? Did you…How did you do that?” asked Lady Tremaine, clutching at her chest and wishing her brooch was there. She ran to the window and saw the three strange sisters standing a good twenty feet away, dusting off their dresses. “They’re still here, Nanny!” She rushed to lock the door.
“Those locks won’t help you. Go to your room and bring me your brooch. It’s time we give it back to its rightful owners,” Nanny said.
But Lady Tremaine didn’t comply. “Those women said you would ask me for my brooch. They were trying to help me, encouraging me to wear it.” She eyed the old woman warily.
“Of course they’re encouraging you to wear it; it’s cursed! They know you’re too smart to fall for their trickery and manipulations, so the only way to seduce you is through curses,” said Nanny, heading up the stairs.
“And just where are you going, witch?” spat Lady Tremaine.
“Upstairs to get your brooch,” Nanny said. “That’s one thing the sisters weren’t lying about. I did come here to retrieve it, but Rebecca was always encouraging you to wear it.”
“What does Rebecca have to do with it, and why did those women say my letter would never reach London?” asked Lady Tremaine, trying to wrap her mind around all this.
“I imagine the Odd Sisters are intercepting your correspondences, to keep you under their control. They say they want to help you, yet they lured you here just as it was written in the book of fairy tales. I’ve always found their ways confusing, honestly. Their good intentions tend to run afoul. Oh, Lady Tremaine, I wish I could tell you more, but I fear I’ve already overstepped by telling you my purpose. I fear you will just have to trust me when I say it’s of paramount importance that I have your brooch.” She started to make her way up the first set of stairs, but Lady Tremaine was right behind her and seized her by the arm.
“You will not take my brooch! It was given to me by my first husband, and it’s the only thing I have left of him. You and Rebecca are the witches, hiding in my house, plotting against me, making me look the fool in front of Sir Richard. Those women warned me about you. They said you would want to take the brooch!”
Nanny sighed. “It’s true,” she said. “Those women are the Odd Sisters, and I’m afraid Rebecca has been working with them. I have the strangest feeling she thinks she is helping you, encouraging you to wear the brooch, keeping the book of fairy tales from you, but believe me, Lady Tremaine, every time the Odd Sisters and their ilk try to help someone it turns into a disaster. You have to trust me; I’m not here to harm you, I’m here to help. Haven’t I kept your secrets from Sir Richard? Don’t I care for your girls and teach them in secret? Does that sound like a person who is plotting against you?”
Lady Tremaine released her grip on Nanny’s arm, realizing she had been squeezing it rather hard. “What are you then, if not a witch? Some sort of fairy godmother?” Lady Tremaine asked, making the old woman laugh.
“No, that’s my sister. But a fairy godmother is closer to the mark than witch, at least in the way you think of witches anyway,” she said, giving Lady Tremaine a kind but sad smile.
Lady Tremaine could see this old woman was telling the truth. She had cared for her daughters for five years and had been nothing but loving and caring to her and her girls since the day she arrived at the château. If only she had known this woman was magical, she would have asked her for help sooner.
“If you’re a fairy, then please grant me my wish and free me and my daughters from this horrible place.” Lady Tremaine heard her voice crack as she pleaded with Nanny, willing herself not to burst into tears.
Lady Tremaine had never seen so much pity in someone’s eyes, not even after her husband had passed away. “Oh my dear, I’m so sorry. I truly wish I could. But I’m simply not allowed to help by using my magic. That’s why I have been here, doing what I can without it.”
“I don’t understand,” said Lady Tremaine, throwing her hands up. She was so angry. This place made no sense to her. Maniac witches showing up at her door with a bottle full of poison and fairies pretending to be nannies? “I thought that’s what fairies were supposed to do—use magic to help people. Why else would you come here if not to protect me and my daughters? We are in danger! You see how Sir Richard is with us!” Lady Tremaine was desperate, and it seemed only to break Nanny’s heart.
“We’re not allowed to help villains, my lady, and the book of fairy tales has decreed that’s exactly what you’re about to become. I physically can’t do any magic that would help you.”
Lady Tremaine scoffed. “Lies! All of this is lies! Then what may I ask did you just do in the entryway downstairs?”
“I broke the rules. That’s what I did, and moments from now I will be summoned back to the Fairylands against my will, and if I don’t get that brooch before I go, I fear something terrible will happen. Please listen to me, don’t trust those witches. I hope with all my heart you are able to turn this story around and break the curse. Will you please try, Lady Tremaine, try your very best? And I promise I will do what I can with the Fairy Council to talk them into letting me intervene. I’m sure once they realize we fairies have this story all wrong they’ll see you’re not the villain, but your husband is. Please, Lady Tremaine, I won’t be able to help you if you—”
But before Nanny could finish her sentence she disappeared right before Lady Tremaine’s eyes.
Lady Tremaine blinked. “Nanny?” she whispered. Lady Tremaine stood there wondering if any of this had actually happened. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t heard the stories of beasts, witches, fairies, dragons, and giants, but she truly hadn’t expected to have any of them in her home, casting spells and refusing to help her. But then again, the Odd Sisters had offered her help, hadn’t they? She feared, however, that she couldn’t trust them any more than she could trust Nanny or Rebecca. She was utterly alone, and it was up to her to help her daughters out of this horrible place.
Lady Tremaine went right to Rebecca’s room looking for answers. She felt she didn’t have the entire story. She rifled through Rebecca’s vanity, her wardrobe, and even under her mattress. She was almost at the point of giving up when she felt one of the floorboards under the rug shift beneath her feet. She might not have even thought twice about it, if she hadn’t been searching for something. She pulled back the rug and pushed on the loose floorboard until it popped up, revealing what she had been looking for: a stack of letters all addressed to Lady Hackle. So it was true; Rebecca had never sent the letters. That was why Lady Hackle hadn’t responded to a single letter in the last several years. What she didn’t expect to find was the book of fairy tales, hidden under the stack of letters. She sat there on the floor thumbing through it, feeling foolish that she hadn’t believed Nanny now that she had this proof right in front of her. But then she found a name she recognized. Cinderella.
