Interviews with the Dark Faerie Sisters: Malice

     I’m glad you have opened up to the second part of this special installment of interviews. Last time, Spite’s interview was published for the Neopian world to see, which was met with some controversy and fear. I got some letters asking me what the three Dark Faerie Sisters are up to, but I cannot say, nor do I know. Perhaps it is best just to stay cautious, my dear readers.

     That said, this week is an exclusive interview with none other than Malice, the sister who is prone to violent outbursts. Of course, I took proper precautions by wearing some armor.

     “Malice.” I greeted warmly, offering her my hand. To my surprise, she actually shook it.

     “Hello.” Malice answered, her voice was fairly deep for a faerie, and it was also shockingly pleasant. This put me on edge.

     “Why don’t we take a seat?” I pulled out and sat down, and Malice followed suit, watching me expectantly. “Uh…” I shook my head, clearing it of my most likely obvious fear. “This will be published as the second interview in the series, and clearly Neopia is interested. Thank you for meeting with me.”

     Malice grinned, flashing her teeth at me. “Certainly, and in turn, I’m interested in the public reaction.”

     “Right.” I glanced at my notes. “The first question, which I also asked Spite. What was your ruling over Meridell like?”

     Malice now scowled, looking displeased. “Mostly boring, to be honest.”

     “Boring?” I asked, my voice laced with surprise. “Care to elaborate?”

     “My sisters got job’s that suited them. And I suppose I got jobs that suited me too, but it was just so… uneventful.” Malice’s voice drawled out the last word. “It was my duty to patrol the border, to defend our kingdom.” Malice shrugged and looked off to the side. “Every day was the same thing. Well, almost every day.” Her eyes got darker, recalling the memory.

     “Tormund and Roberta.” I supplied the names.

     At this, Malice growled, and I flinched. There was fire in her eyes. “Yes.” She whispered, her voice strangely calm. “My first failure was letting that Lupe escape the first time. He came into the castle when we were finalizing our plans for Meridell. Clearly, he was not under the Darkest Faeries spell. She ordered us to dispose of him.” She paused, looking at me. “I failed. He escaped.”

     “But all three of you were ordered to attack him, so it’s not all your fault.” I wasn’t sure why I was trying to comfort her, she is a villain!

     “But it was my job!” Malice’s voice grew with anger and frustration. “My sisters are useless about those things! We all knew it was my job, and I messed up!” Malice stood and paced around the room, snarling and breathing heavily. Her hands were clenched, and I could tell she was holding back in summoning her dark magic.

     I started to cower; I wasn’t sure what to say. To say I was terrified was an understatement.

     Finally, after what seemed like forever, Malice started to calm down, and returned to her seat. “I’m... sorry.” Her voice was quiet again. “Clearly, I have emotion issues, and remember those times… they make me…”

     “I understand.” Why was I so sympathetic towards her? I didn’t understand. “We can move on to the next subject, if y-.”

     Malice held up her hand to interrupt me. “No, I think Neopia needs to hear what happened on our side.” She closed her eyes and took a steadying breath. “Tormund escaped. And after a couple days of panic, we all forgot about him.” She opened her eyes. “What was that little pest going to really do anyway? So, our rule was established, and it settled down into a routine. Spite communicated and punished, Vanity negotiated and was in charge of the money and treasures, and I patrolled Meridell. Nothing too bad ever happened, and it was easy to defend.”

     I nodded, not saying anything, mostly out of fear.

     “But he was busy while he was out of our minds. He teamed up with Roberta, they got the Faerie Globe to enter Meridell, despite my magical barriers, and they weren’t detected. The found their way underneath the castle… And I still didn’t sense them. Then, they got ahold of Fyora’s wand.” Malice paused, contemplating. “It was futile for us at that point. Fyora’s magic is very powerful against our dark magic. They used the wand against us, and even I knew it was pointless to try and fight them off. We fled, barely escaping with our lives.”

     “Neopia thought you were dead, all this time.” I murmured. It was interesting, how different the stories were between Malice and Spite. I wondered how Vanity’s would differ from her sisters.

     Malice nodded. “As my sister said, we laid low.” Malice adverted her eyes.

     My brow furrowed as I looked at her. This was the point in the interview that Spite had alluded to them having new plans, and Spite had seemed excited. Malice almost looked… ashamed.

     “Whose idea was it to come out of hiding to talk with me?” I asked her. This wasn’t on my original question list, but I deemed it to be pressing enough.

     Malice was quiet a long time, almost as if she were debating in her head on what to say. Finally, she opened her mouth. “Spite.”

“Spite.” I repeated, thoughtfully. What could that mean. “Why would she want that? What about Vanity?”

     Malice shook her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t say.” She stood up hurriedly. “I better go.”

     She turned away and lifted up her hands to start the teleportation process.

     “Wait!” I called, raising my hand, my notes and question list fluttering to the ground. “Don’t go.”

     Malice looked at me over her shoulder. The raw emotion she mentioned earlier was evident in her eyes: anger, sadness, frustration… pity. “Be careful.”

     “What?” I froze, shocked, as she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

     Be careful, those were Malice’s parting words. I’ve speculated what this means for a long time, and the conclusion I come to is that those three surely have something up their sleeve, and Spite is most likely the one orchestrating it. But what? Spite seems eager, and Malice seems reluctant. This is slowly but surely turning into a mystery... and with each sister, it gets more and more complex and confusing.

     That’s it for this week. Next time, an interview with the last Dark Faerie Sister, Vanity, will come out. Will we learn more about their future plans? Or will we be left in the dark?