“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.

Chapter XV: The Letters

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.

She began to read her story.

Cinderella