Page 48 of Barbie: Dreamscape

I’m laughing. And I can’t remember the last time I did that, really, truly, with my whole face.

I follow Posey down, and we race right over a lake as smooth as a sheet of glass, as perfectly round as a compact mirror, and I see my reflection, and—

Yes. That’s what a real smile looks like.

I reach a hand down, parting the water, making it ripple, and it’s like a summoning. All around me, fish begin to leap out of the lake, their scales glistening—and then they change right before my eyes, becoming sparkling gemstones before shifting back again.

And when one of them jumps over me, my outfit transforms without my having to use the necklaces’ magic at all—

Then I’m glittering just as much as they are, in a shift dress draped with rubies.

“The world opens up when you do,” Posey calls back to me from ahead. She motions all around her. “Isn’t Anyland amazing?”

It is. It really is.

When anything can change to anything at all… unexpected magic can happen. I feel it. My necklaces feel it, too.

I thought I had lost my creativity… my imagination. But it’s still here. Even after years of not using it.

Maybe this is what I needed to unlock. Maybe Posey is right, and being Fateless was a good thing… because it forced me to find this part of myself again and uncover my strength.

The Fates will see that, won’t they? It’ll change their minds?

There’s only one way to find out.

Full of conviction and confidence, I finally grab the winged bell. I wave goodbye to Posey and her massive purple wings as my own disappear and pink light pours through my fingers.

Then I’m catapulted forward, hurtling through what looks like a tunnel of glittering pink, until it finally ends, and—

I’m surrounded.

Spider-Woven Surprises

There’s a ring of townspeople around me, wearing clothing crafted completely from elements of nature. Aprons stitched from giant lily pads, mushrooms for buttons, leaves and flower petals spun into entire swaths of fabric.

I remember the symbol from the Archivist’s map. The leaf now makes sense.

A little girl in a dress made of daisy chains peers down at me in wonder.

“Um—” I say, wondering if I should be… afraid? Friendly?

“Keep it moving!” a voice says, and the crowd disperses, going back to their shopping. When they do, I see I’m in the middle of a cluster of stores. I must have landed in a market.

A short, older woman makes her way over to me, wearing an outfit crafted from what looks like—but certainly can’t be—spiderwebs strung over shimmering black silk.

“Are you all right?” she says, helping me up. She frowns. “You look like you’ve been through quite the ordeal.”

I peer down at myself, only to see that my sparkling dress from Anyland has settled back into my pink power suit, now covered in stains from every cloud I flew through.

“Are you hungry?”

I blink. You know what? Now that she mentions it…

I don’t have to say a word before she’s leading me away by the hand. “Come, come,” she says, cutting a path through the throngs of people, some still gazing at me in curiosity.

“Where am I?” I ask, stumbling along to keep up with her brisk pace. I look around, and the shops are whimsically beautiful, each like its own fairy tale.

Some look made of gingerbread. Others look like freshly frosted cakes, with thick shutters of various bright shades and trellises flush with flowers shaped like giant sprinkles.