But Lady Tremaine kept railing on them. “I don’t care if you’re witches, fairies, or Hades himself, I will not allow you in my house! I remember you from the ball. And do you think I don’t remember you, too, Nanny? How dare you come here with your witch sister after all these years, after denying my pleas for help. How dare you let my daughters and me rot away in this squalor! Why are you here? To finally take my brooch? Well, you can’t have it! It’s mine, and I won’t part with it! My husband gave it to me. The only person who has ever truly loved me. And I won’t give it up. I won’t.”

“We are so sorry for how this turned out, Lady Tremaine, truly, and we want to make amends. May we come in? We would like to help you and your daughters. We understand they are down in the cellar. Won’t you please let us bring them out into the light and give them a better life?” Nanny searched the angry woman’s face for something of the woman she once knew. But all she saw was anger, heartbreak, and betrayal. A cold heart.

She was beyond helping, beyond saving.

“So, you have been using your magic to spy on me? Using your vile witchery! Do you think I’m an addled old fool? I will never let you have my daughters! Everything I’ve ever done, I’ve done for them! Everything! What do you plan to do, let them go? And what will become of me?” she asked, advancing on the fairies wielding a long pair of bloodstained scissors, slicing at the air and screaming.

“That is enough out of you!” said the Fairy Godmother, blasting Lady Tremaine with her magic wand.

Lady Tremaine vanished into thin air.

“What happened to her? What did you do with her?” asked Nanny, looking around for Lady Tremaine.

“I’ll tell you later. Now we have to get those girls out of the cellar,” the Fairy Godmother said, using her wand to burst open the door.

“Girls! You can come out now, it’s safe,” said the Fairy Godmother. Then slowly and tentatively, two frail, dingy-looking young women came creeping out of the cellar. They looked like frightened wraiths. Their hair had been cut off in random hanks, and their faces were heavily swollen with long hours of crying.

“Are you here to help us?” said Anastasia as she came out, her sister, Drizella, hiding behind her. “Like you helped Cinderella?”

“Yes, dears, we’re here to help you. We’re just sorry it took us so long,” said the Fairy Godmother. She waved her wand, restoring each girl’s lovely ringlets.

“Can you ever forgive me?” the Fairy Godmother asked, taking both girls in her arms.

“Are you our fairy godmother?” asked Drizella.

“We wished for you to come every day,” Anastasia said.