In the time Aurora had been in the dream realm, she had never been able to speak with anyone who appeared in the mirrored chamber; she was always just an observer. And now that she was speaking with someone in this lonely, dreary place, it had to be with these women, these witches, these bizarre raving lunatics she could hardly understand.

“Oh, that isn’t nice, Princess. Not nice at all.”

“Yes, watch your manners, dear!”

“Didn’t your stupid fairy godmothers teach you manners?”

Aurora didn’t know what to say. She still wasn’t entirely convinced that the witches were actually speaking to her. She remembered one night when she was watching her cousin Tulip. She could have sworn that Tulip was talking directly to her, but it turned out she was talking to her cat, Pflanze. Aurora had felt silly for answering Tulip, and she’d promised herself she wouldn’t make that mistake again.

“Oh, we’re talking to you, Princess! Oh, yes, we are!”

Aurora narrowed her eyes at the witches in the mirror.

“Oh, yes, Aurora! We see you!” The two witches in the left and right mirrors were waving manically, eyes bulging as they smiled at her like madwomen.

Even though they all looked exactly alike, the witch in the middle somehow seemed older than the other two. She wasn’t joining in their antics. She just stood there, staring right at Aurora, taking her measure. “So you’re the princess Aurora. Maleficent will be so pleased that we found you.”

“Who…who are you? And how do you know Maleficent?” Aurora said hesitantly.

“My name is Lucinda, and these two rather animated witches are my sisters, Ruby and Martha. As for Maleficent, well…she is a very old friend of ours,” the witch in the middle replied.

Aurora studied the odd sisters. The women were clearly magical, but Aurora sensed that their powers were limited by the twilight magic of the dreamscape.

“Are you Circe’s sisters?” the princess asked, putting it together. She had seen a beautiful young witch named Circe at Morningstar Castle with her cousin Princess Tulip. Circe had been fretting over her sisters, who were trapped in the land of dreams.

“How does the sleeping Rose know our little sister?” Ruby screamed, her face contorting itself horribly.

Lucinda shot her sister an evil glare, silencing her. “Don’t squawk, Ruby. And let’s please try to talk plainly and in a straight line for the princess here. This place is confusing enough without us adding to the bedlam.”

“Oh, no! Are we doing that again, Lucinda? Please! Please tell us we don’t have to!” Ruby and Martha yelled.

“Tell us how you know our sister!” Ruby snarled, making Aurora jump back in fright.

“Stop this, Ruby, and let the girl answer the question!” Lucinda scolded her.

Clearly Lucinda is in charge of the other two, the princess thought.

“She’s not in charge!” squeaked Martha, reading Aurora’s mind.

“Oh, you know she’s in charge! She always has been!” said Ruby.

“Sisters, please! Let the girl speak. She was going to tell us about our sister,” Lucinda said.

“Well, I wasn’t, actually. It seems to me since I have information you want, it might be better to keep it to myself,” Aurora said bravely.

Lucinda smirked slyly. “I see.”

What happened next was entirely unexpected. Lucinda stepped through the mirror like a specter from the fathoms of death, her long bony hands grasping at the princess. Terrified, Aurora fell backward onto the ground, suddenly seized by a terrible burning sensation within her.

The three sisters cackled. “Careful, dear! You haven’t discovered all the magic in this place, or the magic within your own soul. Now tell us what you know about our little sister!”