Page 64 of Barbie: Dreamscape

I know that for certain when he continues to glare at me and says, voice shaking with rage, “Send her to the prisons.”

Not So Happily Ever After

I was wrong.

Posey was wrong, too.

There are lower places than Rock Bottom.

Consider, for example, the dungeons of this manor, carved deep into the mountain below, so far down that all sound is swallowed, and it’s as cold as winter.

Oh and also, my dress is getting ruined by all the dirt and grime down here.

My breath comes out in clouds. I half expect to see frost on the walls, and snow falling from the ceiling.

“Hey!” I exclaim as one of the guard lions rips my gloves off my hands with a flash of golden magic.

Well, there goes any hope of escape. I can’t do anything to fight it. All their magic is surrounding me, keeping me in line as they lead me down the row of cells. Instead of walls or doors, there’s just a sheen of glittering magic surrounding each tiny room, keeping the prisoners in while casting an eerie light through the corridor.

And the prisoners…

They’re mostly enchanted creatures. Horses, chimera, elk… they look just like the animals from the ball. Some are still dressed in their finery, though now the fabrics are worn and covered in soot, as if they—like me—were also taken during one of the lord’s many parties. None of them looks monstrous or dangerous, like the lord did without his crown. And none even looks our way as we pass, as if utterly dejected. Hopeless.

There are even a few lions. “You imprison your own kind?” I ask the guards.

Stop talking! One of them roars right into my head.

But I don’t plan to stop at all. I will not go quietly. Because I was so close to getting to the end of this, and that lord is a jerk, and—

When I open my mouth again… no voice comes out. The lions’ magic has taken it away.

I utter a noiseless scream as I’m thrown into a cell at the very end. I push off the ground and whirl around, about to make a run for it, when a sheen of magic ripples across the threshold. I collide with it, then fall back again, right into a puddle. The dirty water splashes across my dress. My enchanted paint starts to smear, the designs bleeding away.

The lions just look at me with contempt. You won’t see daylight for a long time. The lord will ensure it.

Then they turn and stride back down the hall.

Wait! I think, rushing up, banging against the glittering gold. But they keep going, until I hear the distant sound of a closing door.

No. This can’t be happening.

I slam myself against the shield over and over, trying to wear it down. But it’s no use.

When I finally stumble back, exhausted, all I’ve managed to do is tire myself out. I slump against the ice-cold stone and slide down to the floor. A few rats scuttle nearby, but before I can try to talk to them, they escape through a tiny hole at the bottom of the wall.

The knot in my chest tightens. I swallow, my throat sore from my silent screaming.

Even Robin couldn’t find me here, assuming she could leave the mists without the necklaces.

Robin. Once again, at the lowest depths, she comes unbidden into my brain, just as she did at Rock Bottom. I wonder how she must feel about what I’ve done. I asked her about Dreamland. She must have known I would be heading there.

And, if she’s visited these lands in the past… she would know how dangerous they can be. Now, finally, I understand why the mists were necessary, for dangers just like this evil lord. And I ignored her warning.

She must be so worried.

Is—is she looking for me?

A new thought has me grasping the floor in panic.