Maleficent felt a lurch in her stomach, in that place where she kept all her pain, in the place where she kept her adoptive mother, the odd sisters, her daughter, and her former self. “I know, Grimhilde. Thank you.”
“It’s not too late,” Grimhilde persisted. “You can release the prince. You can ask the fairies to enchant him so he doesn’t remember who you are or what you’ve done to him. They owe you that much at least! You can wake up your daughter. Just go down to your dungeon and release him, Maleficent. All of this can end!”
Maleficent seemed to be considering everything Grimhilde said. Then her face became rigid. It was hard and almost completely motionless before she said simply, “No.”
“Why? Please put aside your pride, and your anger. This isn’t about the One of Legends or the other fairies. I know they betrayed you, but please don’t let this anger consume you. Don’t kill your daughter because others have hurt you. You’re not punishing them by doing this. You’re hurting yourself! You’re hurting Aurora!”
Maleficent wondered why no one saw her motivations in this. It seemed so simple to her, so obvious. But no one, not even those who had once been closest to her, knew her reason. The odd sisters would understand, though they would’ve wanted to keep the princess awake, and they’d have reveled in the disaster they created by doing so.
“I have to kill Phillip. Don’t you see? He is her true love. They fell in love with each other without even knowing they were betrothed. He has renounced his place in his father’s kingdom for his love of her, without knowing that it is she he is intended to marry. If he kisses her, she will wake up! It’s all too perfect, really. Predestined, like it was written many years ago and the two are just playing their parts. And of course, I’ve played my part, the mistress of all evil, determined to keep the young lovers apart! And why? Because I was offended by being left off a guest list? No! Was it my adoptive mother’s betraying me and giving my daughter to those horrible fairies that caused me to want to see my daughter die on her sixteenth birthday? It all seems so simple, doesn’t it? There are so many mundane reasons to choose from. But no one sees the truth. No one sees why I need to keep my daughter safe!”
She threw her staff across the room in anger, making a loud clatter. “Why do you think I chose her sixteenth birthday? Do you think I just picked an arbitrary number out of the ether? I came into my powers on my sixteenth birthday and I destroyed the Fairylands. I almost killed everyone I loved when I came into my powers, and I don’t want that for my daughter. She will have my powers. She’s probably already showing signs of them now! I don’t want her to suffer the way I have. I’m trying to save her that pain. She needs to stay in the land of dreams!”
Grimhilde understood. She understood more than anyone else ever could. “I understand. And I agree.”
“You do? Truly?”
“I do. If you think she has your powers, if there is any chance, any chance at all, you have to protect her. You mustn’t let her wake, even if you have to kill Prince Phillip.”
“Thank you, my friend.”
“Now go, save your daughter!”
Maleficent was in the bowels of her castle, where she did her great magic. My important magic. Her goons were there, dancing in the green flames, as she stroked her beloved Diablo. She had to cast everyone and everything out of her mind. She had made herself vulnerable in the past few days and had been betrayed. She was alone, and she belonged to the crows. The creatures danced in her honor. They belonged to her, and they did her bidding. She started to feel like her old self, the way she had felt before she ventured to Morningstar Kingdom. Her power was returning to her in this place, her home, her place of strength. She knew she was the Dark Fairy, but she wondered: Did she really have to kill him? Did she have to kill the prince?
As her goons danced in the flames, she thought of Phillip, alone in his cell, and her hatred for him grew. He was a threat to her daughter’s security. And she would do anything to keep her daughter safe. To keep her from becoming the monster she herself was. And as she stroked her pet Diablo while they watched the festivities, she thought she’d better pay the prince a visit. “What a pity Prince Phillip can’t be here to enjoy the celebration. Come, we must go to the dungeon and cheer him up.”
Diablo led the way down the long hall that was guarded by his mistress’s goons. They went down a long, narrow cylindrical staircase that wrapped around the east end tower, even farther into the depths of the castle. It led to the dungeon, where Maleficent had told her minions to imprison the prince. Diablo perched on a protruding column while his mistress used a skeleton key to unlock the large wooden door, which groaned in a warning when she opened it. She found Prince Phillip much the way she expected to, chained to the wall with his head down. He was exhausted and in despair. Was she really doing this? Was she going to kill him? Was she taking on the role of the Dark Fairy? The mistress of all evil? But she’d already resigned herself to the role. This is the way it was written. This is how it was meant to be.
“Oh, come now, Prince Phillip, why so melancholy? A wondrous future lies before you. You, the destined hero of a charming fairy tale come true.” The mistress of all evil waved her hand over the sphere at the top of her staff, enchanting it so the prince could see into his future. Maleficent decided that she didn’t have to play the role exactly. She could take another path. Maybe she could save the prince and still keep her daughter safe. And maybe, just maybe, Maleficent would live. “Behold, King Stefan’s castle. And in yonder topmost tower, dreaming of her true love, the princess Aurora. But see the gracious whim of fate: why, ’tis the selfsame peasant maid who won the heart of our noble prince but yesterday. She is indeed most wondrous fair; gold of sunshine in her hair; lips that shame the red, red rose; in ageless sleep she finds repose. The years roll by, but a hundred years to a steadfast heart are but a day, and now the gates of the dungeon part, and our prince is free to go his way. Off he rides on his noble steed, a valiant figure straight and tall, to wake his love with Love’s First Kiss and prove that true love conquers all.” Maleficent laughed at the evil brilliance of her plan. She laughed as she saw the prince struggling against his chains, realizing she intended to keep him there for a hundred years. “Come, my pet, let us leave our noble prince with these happy thoughts. A most gratifying day.”
As she locked the dungeon door behind her, she felt relief wash over her. “For the first time in sixteen years, I shall sleep well.” Maleficent made her way to her tower, comforted by the thought that her daughter was safe. She wanted to sit and think. She wanted to talk over her plan with Grimhilde to see if she thought Maleficent had made the right decision in keeping the prince alive, but Diablo was making a terrible screeching noise. She heard the clamor of weapons and thought her goons were fighting among themselves, being the witless fools that they were.
“Silence! You tell those fools to—Ah! No!”
My precious one. My old friend.
Diablo had been turned into stone! And she knew who was responsible.
The three good fairies!
Aurora didn’t understand why the odd sisters didn’t simply say their little sister’s name to make her appear in the mirror. They stood baleful and wraithlike before her in their tattered white dresses. Wait. When did they change their dresses? Aurora’s head was spinning. Is any of this real? Why are these witches tormenting me?
“Because, my dear, this is your dream. We have invaded your corner of the dreamscape, and you control the mirrors here. Now say our sister’s name! Show us Circe!”
Reluctantly, Aurora did as they asked. “Show me Circe.”
Images of Circe appeared in all the mirrors, but the one in the mirror on the right-hand side of the chamber caught Aurora’s eye. That Circe seemed to be staring directly at Aurora. It sent chills down Aurora’s spine that she couldn’t explain. There was something unnerving about that image of Circe. It was as if she could see right into the princess’s very soul. But the sisters didn’t seem to
notice; they were focused on another mirror, where Queen Grimhilde was screaming at Circe, threatening to kill her. “I will see the queen Grimhilde rot in the bowels of Hades for this!” Ruby screamed, but Lucinda was now concerned with what was happening in one of the other mirrors. “Shhh! Sisters, I don’t think that’s happened yet! But look!”
In the other mirror, Circe was at home, searching through the odd sisters’ books, desperately looking for something. “Oh, Snow! I think I found it. I think I found what Maleficent was talking about. It’s a spell!” Circe said, panicked. The odd sisters watched as all the color ran from Circe’s face. She looked ill, like she might faint.
“What is it?” Snow asked, running to Circe and putting her tiny hand in hers. “Are you okay? Come sit down over here. I will get you some more water. You look dreadful.”
“Take your hands off our sister!” Ruby shouted. But Snow White couldn’t hear her.
“What is that horrible brat queen doing in our house?” Martha yelled, but Lucinda quieted her sisters. She wanted to hear what Circe was saying.
“I understand now. It all makes sense. Everything. Every foul deed. My sisters’ mania. My powers. Everything.”
“No!” The odd sisters’ screams filled the chamber, but they were distracted by some of the mirrors that were now flashing images of Maleficent.
“Sisters, look! It’s Maleficent!”
Ruby shot Aurora a wicked look. “Why are you changing the mirrors? We asked to see our sister!”
“Ruby! Look! The Tree Lords are going to kill Maleficent!” Martha cried.
“This isn’t how she dies! This isn’t how it ends!” Lucinda screamed, panic-stricken.
“No, Sisters, look!” Ruby said, pointing at another mirror, where the prince was escaping Maleficent’s castle on his white horse with the help of those wretched good fairies. From the parapet of her castle, Maleficent waved her glowing staff, summoning her dark magic. Shouting the words of her evil spell, Maleficent took control of the thorny vines, making them encircle King Stefan’s castle.
“Good girl!” Lucinda yelled. “You control the darkness, evil one! Make a dark storm! Surround the castle with thorns!” She looked to her sisters. “This is what’s happening now! She is pursuing the prince!”
Lucinda was worried about the good fairies’ helping the prince, and she was fearful they would overcome Maleficent. She took a little crescent moon-shaped sickle from her bodice belt and sliced her hand. She held her hand open, palm up, and let the blood pool there until there was so much it started to seep between her fingers, dripping onto the floor. “Sisters, come.”
Ruby and Martha held out their long, clawlike hands, letting Lucinda slice open their palms with a quick unceremonious gesture. Aurora watched in horror as the odd sisters placed their bloodstained hands on the mirror while Lucinda said the words: “Let us help this witch, this fairy true, and see into her heart and give her her due.”
The odd sisters started to convulse, shaking uncontrollably as they repeated the words, this time more loudly than before.
“Let us help this witch, this fairy true, and see into her heart and give her her due.”
The odd sisters could now see into the Dark Fairy’s heart. They knew she wanted to kill the prince. They could feel what she felt—all her sorrow, her loneliness, her anger and pain. The weight of it was crushing.
This is how the story goes. This is who I am and who I was always destined to be. I am the mistress of all evil.
The odd sisters felt cold hearing Maleficent say those words. In a confusing flash, they saw the young Maleficent, they saw themselves young, all of them different, much different from how they were now. They remembered the young girl they had loved, the young girl they had hoped would never see this day. The little witch fairy they wanted to protect. Suddenly, without understanding why, their perspective changed; they were brought back into themselves, feeling quite different, quite like themselves again. They were eager to see Maleficent embrace her powers and her dark destiny. To see her control the darkness and use it to her advantage. They’d always known this day might come, even if there had been a time when they wished it wouldn’t. The witches they were now knew that it was meant to be, and that they themselves had played an even larger role than the Fairy Godmother in bringing Maleficent here, to this place in time. The time Nanny had always seen. The time Nanny had dreaded with all her being.
Nanny just hadn’t seen them, the odd sisters. Hiding behind the mirrors. Where they always were.
The odd sisters knew Maleficent wouldn’t betray herself. They knew she was no longer afraid to kill the prince, especially now that he was thrashing his way through the forest to the sleeping Aurora. She was the mistress of all evil! But they were brought out of their reverie by Aurora’s terrible screams as Maleficent stood confidently against the prince, a green inferno surrounding her. The foes faced each other on the drawbridge of King Stefan’s castle, Maleficent’s powers reaching their apex. The sisters had never seen her so powerful. Aurora’s hysterical crying was distracting them. Lucinda put her hand on Aurora’s face, almost tenderly at first, and then pushed her backward. The princess fell gently, almost as if she were floating in reverse onto the floor.
“Sleep, child! Sleep in the land of dreams!” the sisters cried together.
Martha gasped as she saw Maleficent erupt into a tempest of black and purple storm clouds, growing and towering over the castle. They were connected to her, by spell craft and by blood. The sisters began to tremble violently again, their hands bleeding all over their tattered white dresses and staining their porcelain skin. The first to fall to the floor was Ruby, then Martha. Lucinda stood over them, doing what she could to comfort her sisters and keep them from injuring themselves while they convulsed. They were sprawled on the floor, shaking and screaming unintelligibly, their eyes rolled back into their heads. Then, suddenly, they went completely quiet and still. Their eyes bulged from their deep-set sockets. Lucinda could see only the whites of their eyes, and she knew she could now communicate with Maleficent through her sisters. She put her right hand on Ruby’s heart and her left on Martha’s, making a deep red bloodstain on her dress from the cut her in hand.
“Embrace your destiny, Maleficent! Die if you must to keep your daughter safe!” Lucinda screamed. She smiled as she heard Maleficent say the words.
“Now shall you deal with me, oh Prince! And all the powers of hell!”
Lucinda watched as Maleficent grew, towering above the storm clouds that were crashing and erupting in the tumultuous sky. She could feel the power surging through Maleficent as she transformed, making her feel more wondrous than ever before, and Lucinda knew in her heart that Maleficent was finally herself.
Her true self.
The mistress of all evil.
As Maleficent transformed into a magnificent beast, she didn’t feel pain. How she loved being in this dragon form. She wished she had embraced her evil long before; perhaps then her transformations wouldn’t have been so painful. If only she hadn’t resisted who she really was for so long. She reveled in destroying the prince. She wanted to taste his blood and feel his bones snap within her powerful jaws. I’m going to save my daughter. Time to die! Her terrible jaws snapped at Prince Phillip, the pain from the blows of his sword not even registering. She had one purpose. She would kill the prince to save her daughter. And she would enjoy it. She would stand watch for an eternity, protecting Aurora from anyone who dared try to wake her. Nothing else mattered. Everything had been building to that moment. She was free. She would finally be able to give her daughter the one thing no one had ever been able to give Maleficent: peace.
Lucinda’s scream echoed in Maleficent’s ears. “The sword! They’re enchanting the sword!” But it was too late.
“Now Sword of Truth, fly swift and sure, that evil die and good endure,” Flora chanted.
The prince threw the enchanted sword into the dragon’s heart. Her scream echoed through the many kingd
oms, reverberating in the hearts of those who had once loved the Dark Fairy. They felt her pain as she used her last breath to blast the prince with fire before she fell over the precipice to her demise. The prince expected to find the dragon’s body lying at the base of the cliff, but he saw only his sword plunged into Maleficent’s empty tattered robes. It was over. The young prince had taken Maleficent’s life so he could begin his own.
Lucinda knew there was nothing she could do to save Maleficent. It was over. No spell would bring her back to life, and there was no body to resurrect. There was nothing left of the Dark Fairy. She looked at her sisters on the floor and decided not to wake them. She was too exhausted to deal with the inevitable theatrics bound to overtake the dreamlands when her sisters learned that the Dark Fairy had lost her battle with Prince Phillip. The only thing that gave Lucinda comfort was the knowledge that Maleficent was finally free of torment—that in her last moments she felt happy, because she had embraced who she really was.
“No!” Circe screamed from one of the mirrors.
Lucinda spun around frantically, searching for her daughter.
“I’m right here,” Circe snapped, glaring at Lucinda from the rightmost mirror.
Lucinda had never seen Circe so angry, and so sad. “My darling! I’m happy to see you,” Lucinda said.
“Maleficent’s death is on your hands! That foul spell wouldn’t have worked if she hadn’t embraced evil! You’ve meddled in the lives of too many people. You’ve caused too much death. Too much destruction!”
“We only wanted to help her, Circe! We gave her someone to love!”
“And you destroyed her in the process. You took everything away from her and gave it to that girl lying on the floor! Maleficent didn’t start to become evil until you performed that spell to create Aurora, just as you destroyed yourselves by creating me!”
Mistress of All Evil Page 15
