Page 42 of Barbie: Dreamscape

I give her a flat stare. “Are you saying one day I’m going to be grateful I was humiliated in front of everyone I know, had my dreams dashed, and then got stuck at Rock Bottom?”

She lifts a brow. “Anything’s possible. Haven’t you learned that by now, in a place like this?”

I just stare at her. “I’d like my circumstances to change. Right now.”

She just laughs like I’ve told a good joke. “Tell me more about that public humiliation.”

Fine. I do.

And when I’m done recounting what happened, and why I’m here, she only frowns. “And after all that, you really want to go back to Heartland?”

My brow furrows. “Of course I do.”

She genuinely looks confused. “Why would you want to go back to a place where you can only be one thing? And where that one thing is decided for you?”

I blink. “It’s—it’s my home.”

She lifts a shoulder. “Well, here… you can be anything.”

“Yes, and that’s terrifying,” I say, feeling the need to defend the place where I was raised. Actually, this world is a justification for all the rules and order.

This is where choice gets you.

“Choice is dangerous,” I say. “If it’s taken away, life can be controlled. Bad things can be avoided.” It’s why Robin kept us in the pink mists. And why I probably should have stayed there. “I like not having to decide anything for myself. I don’t want the chaos, or discomfort, or fear of choosing wrong.”

Posey just looks at me. She looks and looks. I realize that I sounded just like Robin.

“I understand,” she finally says. “I’ve made plenty of bad choices. My biggest regret is leaving without taking everyone with me.” She looks pensive. “But I’d rather make a thousand bad decisions than not be able to decide at all. This is my life. I don’t want to spend it living by anyone’s choices but my own.”

I’m not entirely sure what Posey means, but one phrase hits me right in the center: This is my life.

Those were the words I thought when I made the decision to leave Heartland and go off to find the Fates.

It was… a choice. One that went against the rules. And Robin. And the Fates themselves.

I suppose I agree with Posey. It felt good to make at least one choice for myself, even if I have to now deal with the consquences.

With that, Posey stands. Dusts herself off. “Life is an unruly, winding road, lined with surprises, full of constant reveals, and things ending up not being what they first seem. But you’re in the driver’s seat. You choose which direction your life goes. Obstacles are out of our control, sure. But only you choose what bumps in the road stop you.”

I give her a flat look. “I don’t drive.”

Her face scrunches. “Well, you must drive something.”

I shake my head. The boat doesn’t really count. It drives itself.

“Plane?”

“No.”

“Hot-air balloon?”

“No.”

“Flying horse?”

I raise a brow. “Those exist?”

Posey puts a hand on her hip. “They’re called pegasus, darling, and I assure you, they do.” She throws her arms up, exasperated. “How do you get around, then?”