Page 63 of Barbie: Dreamscape

His crown… it’s right there. Close enough to snatch it off his head. But I can’t. Not in the middle of all these people.

I have to figure out another plan.

Want to help me? Even more than you already have? I ask Bartholomew.

I don’t know why he would… but he did tell me about the crown in the first place.

Depends, Bartholomew replies. What do you need?

Can you take out the lights? For just a moment?

I wonder if he can. By the way people and creatures alike are stealing glances at him with a sort of reverential awe, I get the sense he’s even more powerful than the others. Or, at least, highly respected.

Bartholomew seems to consider my request. I turn again. Smile at the lord. He smiles back. I can almost feel Bartholomew’s curiosity, wanting to know what I’ll do in a few moments of darkness.

He doesn’t answer.

But a moment later, all the lights go out at once.

Gasps echo around us. A hush settles over the crowd. Pure darkness cloaks us all.

A moment later, the lights are back. Everyone looks around.

Nothing is out of place. The lord’s brow is furrowed… but he doesn’t suspect a thing. Why would he? Nothing is missing.

We finish our dance. He bows, the crown on his head glimmering. I bow back. The music changes, and he finds a different partner.

Thank you, I tell Bartholomew, and he releases me from the magic of the dance. I make my way through the crowd, sauntering toward the doors, trying to look as indifferent as possible. The lions don’t spare me a glance.

I turn into a hall. Quiet.

Finally.

That’s when I pull out the lord’s crown from a pocket I drew onto my dress. The crown that looks almost exactly like the one I crafted with the spider gloves in those few moments of darkness and placed on the lord’s head.

I feel its magic hum beneath my fingers. Bright light spills through them.

The world begins to fade away, the music drifting off as I rush forward, toward my final destination.

But something pulls me back before I can fully leave: a stream of magic like a vise. The music goes almost quiet. A voice cuts through the near silence.

“SEIZE HER!”

Lord Evernight.

Before I can do a thing, the crown is ripped from my hands by an invisible force. I turn—only to see that the hall’s exit is blocked by two lions, one of which has his magic tied around me, keeping me still.

The biggest lion is holding the crown in one magnificent, golden paw. The lord shoves his way through the guards, roughly grabbing the crown back.

He’s not smiling at all, not anymore.

The bat-winged mask falls from his face, and I let out an involuntary gasp as I register his transformation.

His features are contorted into an ugly visage of fury, his eyes tiny crimson pinpoints. He sprouts claws instead of fingers, and sinewy wings grow out of his back. But the moment he shoves the crown back upon his head, he slowly begins to revert back into his false form.

I believed his smiles; I thought he was a kind, good-natured lord.

He’s not.