Page 71 of Barbie: Dreamscape

Ends.

I come to a stop and squint. There’s nothing beyond this square but a long stretch of mist. I look down, but I don’t see anything except what seems like a sheer drop into nothingness. It could be miles down, or just a few feet.

I don’t want to find out.

“Okay, don’t panic,” I tell myself, very much panicking. “This road led you here for a reason. Just wait.”

I do.

I wait for so long that I start to wonder if maybe this board game road fell asleep? Or gave up on me? Or just leads to nowhere?

“Hello?” I say, gently stomping my boot on it, as if to wake it up. “I need to reach Dreamland, and—”

Just then, a flash of pink twinkles in the misty sky. I watch as the spark grows closer, until it takes the shape of someone gently soaring toward me, with the same speed as a leaf twirling down to the ground from a sprawling tree.

It’s an older woman, holding on to a pink umbrella. She slowly drifts down, until she lands right between me and the mist, floating there like she has all the time in the world to wait.

Her hair is silver and pulled back into a ponytail. Her eyes are bright blue. She’s wearing a pale pink matching set: pants, a blazer, and heels.

It’s an outfit that could have been pulled right out of Wardrobe.

“May I help you?” she says, smiling, her voice perfectly pleasant.

I blink, and for some reason, all the words in my mouth just fall to dust.

This is it.

This is the moment I’ve waited for. No—this is the moment I’ve fought for. I’ve found all the keys, I’ve explored several worlds, I’ve braved obstacles and dangers and dungeons.

All for this one purpose.

I lift my chin. I can do this. My voice comes out smooth this time—not with fake confidence, but with real, hard-earned pride. “I’m here to see the Fates.”

I wait a moment. Two. Three. A dozen.

The woman’s smile doesn’t falter. “The Fates?” she finally asks, confirming.

“Yes. The Fates.”

She just blinks. Then she frowns. “There’s no one here by that name. I believe you’re mistaken. Goodbye.” Her feet lift, a gleaming white smile returning to her face, and she begins to soar away, her umbrella taking her back up, but—what? No. I haven’t come all this way to be told the Fates don’t exist.

I can’t reach her. She’s in the middle of the mist now.

All I can do is shout, “Wait!”

But she doesn’t.

And this ember in my chest, this will to find answers and finally reach the end of this just… ignites.

The necklaces glow pink, and a glittering rope wraps itself around my wrist. The other end shoots up, to the bottom of the umbrella handle. Tethering us together. It happens in a flash.

The silver-haired woman lurches to a halt. She glances down at the handle… and I watch her lips part.

Slowly, her gaze lowers back to me.

No. To the glowing charms around my neck.

“Where did you get those necklaces?” she breathes.