“Well, I think that is a good idea. Who is on the council now besides you and me?” asked Nanny.
“The three good fairies, the Blue Fairy, and Oberon if he chooses.”
Nanny reminded herself that she wanted to send a firefly to Oberon with a message about the meeting in the event her sister had conveniently forgotten. “Do you still employ fireflies to send messages, my sister? I want to send one to Oberon.”
The Fairy Godmother wrinkled her nose. “Oberon hears all, my sister, there is no need to summon him. Besides, I am sure he is busy with Tulip, healing the wounded Tree Lords.”
Nanny shrugged her sister off. “Well, I want to send him a letter nonetheless, and I’d like to know how Tulip is doing. So if you could direct me to some paper and a quill when we get to your cottage, I would appreciate it.”
“Well, here we are now.” The two fairies had arrived at the Fairy Godmother’s cottage. “Oh! Look at this!” The Fairy Godmother clapped her hands together in delight. “Isn’t it lovely?”
The good fairies had apparently been very busy while awaiting their arrival. Fauna, Merryweather, and Flora had decorated the cottage in pink and blue sashes, large glittering bows, and festive banners. The house looked like one of Mrs. Tiddlebottom’s birthday cakes, but far more garish. Nanny had forgotten her sister lived in such an idyllic cottage, with its perfect white picket fence and trestles covered in frosting-pink flowers. It was like something out of a fairy tale, and then Nanny laughed. This was a fairy tale. They were in the Fairylands, after all.
The three good fairies flitted around the Fairy Godmother like buzzing bees, zooming to and fro and lavishing her with greetings, love, and admiration. And then came a litany of rapid-fire questions that made Nanny’s head spin, each of the fairies talking over the others. “So what is this I hear? Have the odd sisters really brought Maleficent back to life?” “Do you think she will be in her dragon form?” “You don’t think she can bring back Ursula, do you?” The questions went on unceasingly until Nanny loudly cleared her throat.
“Fairies, fairies, please,” the Fairy Godmother said. “I would like to get my sister inside and settled. We can discuss all of this at the council meeting later this afternoon.” The three good fairies blushed; they had forgotten to greet Nanny. “Yes, of course, we’re so sorry!” said the three fairies. “We will get everything ready for our meeting while you settle in.” And they flitted away before Nanny could say hello or good-bye. She laughed, remembering why she hated the Fairylands. How frivolous and silly fairies were, even though she was one herself. It was why she had decided not to wear her wings, and to identify as a witch.
As if she could hear Nanny’s thoughts, the Fairy Godmother said, “You realize you will have to wear yo
ur wings for the meeting, my sister.” Though Nanny’s sister didn’t share her gift of mind reading, she could often read Nanny’s expressions and guess what she might have been thinking.
Nanny frowned. “What about Circe? If she takes your offer, will you fashion her a pair of wings and make her wear them? She is a true witch and has no fairy blood within her, yet you have offered her an honorary wish-granting-fairy position.”
Nanny’s sister stamped her foot in frustration. “But you are a fairy! And you should be proud!”
Nanny didn’t want to argue with her. She had to remember her sister had taken on the responsibility of ruling the Fairylands for many years and she really was doing the best job she knew how to do, without Nanny’s help or Oberon’s. And now Nanny and Oberon were back, telling the Fairy Godmother she’d been doing everything wrong when she had just been doing it the way she’d learned and the way she thought was right. Nanny saw that clearly for the first time and decided she would help her sister make changes in stages; otherwise it would turn the Fairylands upside down. Nanny intended to change everything. She would just have to see what the other fairies had to say. She knew the three good fairies would take the Fairy Godmother’s side, but she was almost sure the Blue Fairy would agree with her. And Oberon, well, he always chose what was right.
The more Nanny had thought about it, the more she had come to believe it was the fairies’ duty to take care of all those in need—not just the princesses. And that would surely come out at the odd sisters’ trial. If Grimhilde and Ursula had had fairies to intervene on their behalf, perhaps the odd sisters wouldn’t have destroyed them with their foul, meddling magic.
Nanny knew that wouldn’t make sense to someone like the Fairy Godmother—someone sworn by oath to protect the innocent, whether that be a princess in need or a little boy brought to life by the wish of a doll maker. And that meant bringing more fairies into the council, and witches, like Circe, to change the way fairies had been doing their magic for centuries. Their first change would be Nanny taking the Fairy Godmother’s place as the head of the Fairylands, but that, too, would have to happen slowly, for fear of hurting her sister.
Nanny just had to go about all this as gently as she could.
“Yes, Sister, I will wear my wings if that will make you happy. Should we make our way to meet with the other fairies? Are they waiting for us?”
The Fairy Godmother smiled. “Yes, I hoped we would have time for you to get more settled in, but I do think we should start making our way to Oberon’s fountain fairly soon.” Nanny took her things to the guest room and sat on the end of the bed for a moment, gathering her thoughts and her courage to make her fairy wings visible. She was in the Fairylands, after all, and perhaps in making these changes, she would finally feel proud to be a fairy.
“Sister! Sister, come quick!” It was the Fairy Godmother. She was screeching from the front room. Nanny ran in.
“What is it?” she asked, looking at the assembled fairies, all crammed into her sister’s cottage, and all in a state of panic. “What’s happened?”
The three good fairies and the Fairy Godmother were too upset to speak. It was the Blue Fairy, the ethereal creature of light, who spoke. “Fairy Godmother just got a crow from Oberon. It’s the odd sisters. They’ve somehow managed to escape the land of dreams. They’ve awoken and left Morningstar.”
“But how did this happen? Not even Circe can break the fairy magic keeping them there! How did they escape? Was it Maleficent?”
“Oh dear! I hope not!” the Fairy Godmother said.
“Then who woke them? They didn’t wake themselves. Who would be foolish enough to unleash the odd sisters on the many kingdoms?” asked Merryweather.
“I can only think of one creature so loyal to the odd sisters that she would risk everything to set them free,” Nanny said. “Pflanze.”
Snow White and Circe sat in Mrs. Tiddlebottom’s front parlor, feeling stunned and confused. The flowers had brought Hazel and Primrose back to life, just as Gothel had hoped. Her poor sisters had finally woken up and ventured off to the dead woods.
Alone.
“We have to go there now! They’ll be devastated when they see what’s happened to the dead woods!” said Snow White, and Circe knew Snow was right.
“Well, my dears,” Mrs. Tiddlebottom said, “I will pack you a nice basket if you think you ought to go. The dead woods aren’t too far from here, and I bet that’s where they were headed. Back to their home.” Mrs. Tiddlebottom went straight to the kitchen and started making them sandwiches for the journey.