“She has reasons to fear their return to the Many Kingdoms. If they were to come back to the land of the living, all would be chaos and destruction. I will write Mrs. Tiddlebottom and assure her she needn’t worry,” said Circe, frowning. “Even though it has been an age since my mothers were locked away in the Place Between, there are those who still remember their reign of terror and fear their return.”

“Let’s not bore James with our history, Circe,” said Primrose with her cheeky smile that made creases at the sides of her small nose.

“Queen Circe is not boring me at all, Lady Primrose, I find it most interesting,” he said, wondering what Circe meant by “breaking of the worlds.”

“I mean just that,” said Circe. “Long ago, there was a fourth Odd Sister, and she was cherished by my mothers. They doted upon her, and loved her more than they loved themselves, but one terrible day the Dark Fairy, in a fit of rage over her mistreatment by the other fairies, set the Fairylands ablaze, killing their sister by mistake. So desperate were my mothers to have their sister back again, they devised a spell to create a new sister by sacrificing the best parts of themselves, but in doing so what they created was a daughter in the image of their dead sister. That spell took away the better part of their natures; everything that was good within them now belongs to their daughter, and in time the Odd Sisters’ sacrifice caused them to go mad, leading them to cause heartbreak and destruction in the many corners of the worlds. And I am that daughter.”

James didn’t know what to say. Again he felt as if he were living in a dream. Nothing that had happened since he dived off Blackbeard’s ship to save him seemed real.

“And Circe was forced to sacrifice herself so her mothers could be whole again,” Hazel said, “but her mothers wouldn’t allow it. With the help of a god they forced Circe from the Place Between, causing the worlds to break, and once again shattering themselves beyond repair. So now Circe is here, after repairing the worlds, and seeing to the damage her mothers have done, while her mothers are trapped in the Place Between.”

“And that is why the Many Kingdoms is covered in those magical flowers? You used their magic to repair the worlds?”

“Yes, that is one of the many forms of magic we used. There is far more to the story, of course, but we are not here to discuss our past,” said Circe, losing herself in another place and time. James wondered what other ordeals these women had gone through. He could see their pain as clearly as he saw their kindness, but he was a gentleman and wouldn’t press them for more than they were willing to share.