Chapter 19 Dreamland
Dreamland
I land in a cushion of rose petals.
The necklaces are still warm against my neck; their pink glow softens until it fades away completely. I stumble out of the pile of crushed roses, only to watch it disappear.
Strange.
I look around, blinking, my vision settling.
This land is pink, down to its soil.
Pink dirt. Pink grass growing out of it. I turn, only to see a giant—pink, of course—arch. Like a rainbow made of a single color.
Dreamland, it says. Enter here. The words appear in a puff of cloud, before disappearing, one by one, in a speck of stars.
Could the answers I’ve been looking for really be on the other side of that arch?
Nerves flurry through my chest, but I take deep breaths until they calm. This is what I’ve been working toward the entire time. The destination I’ve been so desperate to reach. I’m here. There’s no need to be nervous anymore.
I follow the sign… and enter.
Right beyond it sits a single pink square, floating several inches above the ground. There’s no soil below it. Only gray nothingness. Strange.
Here goes nothing.
I step onto the square, my arms jutting out for balance, and feel like I’m walking upon a living board game as another step appears in front of me. And another.
As I step from square to square, the ones behind me begin to vanish. I turn around. Everything is gone. The arch. The pink soil. There’s nowhere to go but forward.
Good. That’s where I’m headed, anyway. No turning back now.
The path swirls around, up and down, as if positioned on an invisible mountain range. It really does feel like I’m in the middle of a living game.
With my next step, my outfit transforms into one of my favorites from my mother’s wardrobe, a bright pink top and pants set, and heeled boots that click on every square until the path—
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.
I think back to Lord Evernight, and how he ripped them from my throat. How he wanted to use them to hurt the people I love.
This woman could be as wicked as him.
I stay silent.
But it seems she doesn’t require an answer. She floats down again, ducking her head to get a closer look at me, and says something I would never expect, not in a million years.
“Barbie?”