Poor Unfortunate Soul (Villains 3)

“No! We cannot betray the sea witch—or there will be a price. Likely far worse than any Maleficent could dole out!” said Lucinda. “And stop ruining your dress, Ruby, please! You look frightful.”

“Maleficent is an ally, too!” said Ruby, looking at the state of her beautiful red dress, which was now in shreds. “What are we to do? What are we to do?” she asked, pacing the floor.

Lucinda was furious with her old friend and went out to the cliffs to speak to the crow. She made an effort to speak clearly and in a straight line, as Circe would call it, so there would be no mistake in the translation when he took the message to Maleficent.

“You tell your mistress to keep her foul screeching creatures away from our home! We need none of her nasty spies about us! Do you understand?”

The crow snapped at Lucinda, but she knew the creature had no real power to harm her.

“Our business is our own, and if Maleficent wants our continued support, she will stop sending threatening messages, no matter how well intentioned she thinks they may be! We appreciate and value her friendship, as ever, but we will not submit to her demands!”

With a violent caw the raven flew off into the mists, away from the sisters, to the land of fairies and the sleeping princess.

“Do you think you should have been so harsh, Lucinda?” asked Ruby.

“I don’t fear Maleficent! Her powers are no stronger than ours! And by no means are they stronger than Circe’s,” said Lucinda.

Ruby wasn’t convinced. “I wonder! She did know what we were up to even though we were careful.”

Lucinda rolled her bulbous eyes at her sister. “We didn’t think of the crows!”

Ruby pressed on. “But what if Maleficent is right? What if we can’t trust Ursula? Ursula has always been our friend! She has no reason to betray us! But neither has Maleficent! It’s all so confounding.”

“Not really, my dear sisters,” Lucinda replied. “The Dark Fairy has never had any love for Ursula. It’s like I said: water and fire don’t mix.”

Princess Tulip’s gentlemen callers had caused the sequester of the entire Morningstar household in the highest tower; the ladies were at the mercy of the guards’ protection while King Morningstar was away on diplomatic matters. The young man in the sky-blue velvet and white lace, who they learned was Prince Popinjay from two kingdoms over, was shouting orders to the other young men, who had a battering ram and were attempting to break down the gates.

“Crash the gates, good men! To my bride! We shall take the castle by force!”

“Good gods! Did you hear that? They’re getting in! You, over there, push that case against the wall!” Queen Morningstar was in quite a state, which wasn’t her custom; she had never been one to let her emotions get the best of her. But now she was shaking as she pointed out the large piece of wooden furniture for the guard to shift. Tulip turned away from the mayhem and toward her mother.

“Mother, please! No one is getting in! Please sit down and calm yourself.”

“Princess Tulip! Princess Tulip!” the men chanted. “Princess Tulip! Princess Tulip! Princess Tulip! Princess Tulip! Princess Tulip! Princess Tulip! Princess Tulip! Princess Tulip! Princess Tulip! Princess Tulip!” Over and over and over.

“Do you hear that? What’s come over them? They’re going to hurt my baby girl!” Tulip’s mother was clutching her kerchief, eyes wide with terror. “Darling, please come away from the window, come over here with your mama.”

Ignoring her mother, Tulip turned her attention to her nanny. “This is madness! Were you able to get a message to Circe?” she whispered to Nanny.

“No, my dear, we were brought up here before we could.”

Tulip was frightened, truly frightened for the first time since she had been in the Beast prince’s company.

“Nanny, please do something!” she shouted.

“Come on, Pflanze, we have no choice but to do it here.” Nanny went to the desk, got out three candles, and placed them on the floor. With a piece of chalk she drew a sign of conjuration within the triangular configuration.

“What’s going on over there? What are you up to?” cried Queen Morningstar. “Some sort of devilry? Stop it! Stop it at once, I say!” Nanny casually waved her hand in the queen’s direction, not taking her attention away from her task, and simply said, “Calm,” putting Queen Morningstar into a deep sleep.

“Nanny! What have you done to Mother?” Tulip shouted.

“Hush now, girl, and let me do my work!”

Nanny and Pflanze stood before the place of power and called Circe.

“We beseech the winds, fire, and sea, bring us the witch, bring Circe to me!”

And in the candlelit triangle, they saw Circe’s form, slight and wispy, translucent like pale smoke. She looked deeply