Part III: Transformation

      “Show me Snow White!”

Like the nights before, and now by day, Rouge pined to the magic mirror, watching over her step-daughter. The Prince had left just a few days earlier, and the Queen was anxious, though she didn’t know why.

Her daughter, after all, was safe.  

       Right then, the girl was outside the dwarves’ cottage doing the laundry. By now, both Snow White and Rouge had learned their names; Dofca, Grup, Dopim, Hap, Slee, Bafl, and Sney. They where miners, and often left Snow White in charge of their cottage, which often worried Rouge. She sighed, relieved that the girl was safe, and was about to command the mirror to cancel the image, when she noticed the mountains.

Too late had she realized her mistake- the mountains where in the passageway the Prince was taking back to his home!

         Rouge thought quickly, searching her options. She could take the girl back to the palace by magic, but then news would spread out that Snow White was back, and the maids will gossip, and, of course, the Prince would soon be back. She couldn’t send her out of the kingdom, and she seemed happy with the dwarves, but…..oh! A plan formed in Rouge’s mind; bitter, yet desperate.  She only needed enough time for the Prince to reach Germany without turning back, just enough…..  She rummaged through her Potions book, until she had gotten to a potion that would send it’s drinker into a deep, death-like sleep. The only antidote was a kiss from a loved one, someone the sleeper loved deeply and placed first in their hearts. Surely, thought Rouge, Snow White would choose her, who had so passionately raised her!

But in what form?

         Rouge’s eyes flashed, her checks begin to change to a faint rosy color, and the excitement and anxiously was almost too much for her to bare. She considered jewelry and beautiful artifacts, perhaps a comb or a belt. She settled with a delicious red apple, the princess’ favorite fruit, and packed it in a basket filled with others, fresh from the orchard. She hastily made a temporary spell to change her looks, transforming herself into the form of an old lady.  Her new white hair was long, which she braided, and her brown eyes where dim, and lost most of their sight. She mumbled a spell to improve her vision, and changed her finery into rags. She was ready.