Page 41 of Barbie: Dreamscape

I lift a brow at her. “Really?”

She nods. “I’m not from here originally, though I’ve been here for a while. I ended up in this land by accident. Where I was before… was pure and utter darkness. I was trapped. Lonely. Stuck in the most awful place.”

“You mean, like this?” I say flatly.

Even though my tone is vile, she smiles slightly. “Yes, pretty close to this.”

“How did you leave?”

“I broke free.”

I look around, in case I missed anything else in the shadows. Any door we can ram our way through. But there’s nothing but rock. I turn to her. “Do it again, then. Get us out of here.”

“It isn’t so easy. There used to be roads between lands, you see… but a while ago, all of them were destroyed. Still, there are rips between them sometimes. Tiny pockets. I found one and left. I’ve been looking for another ever since.”

“To go back home?”

She shakes her head steadily. “Never. To free everyone else, too.”

Hope bubbles within me. “Wait—are you… are you from Dreamland?”

It fizzles quickly. “No, I’m not. I’ve never even heard of it.” She tilts her head at me. “You’re trying to get there?”

I nod.

“What’s your name?”

“Barbie.”

“Hi, Barbie,” she says merrily, like we aren’t both trapped miles down. “Welcome to Anyland, where anything can change at any time!” She throws open her arms as though ushering me into the world’s most exciting party. “I’m Posey. When did you arrive?”

Anyland. Posey. “A few hours ago, I think? Time moves… strangely here.”

She nods. “It’s like you said before. Nothing here is what it seems.”

Yeah. I noticed. “So… it’s the opposite?”

She tilts her head. “Sometimes. Who’s to know?”

“Um… you?” I ask, baffled.

She laughs. “Well, that would be boring, wouldn’t it? Knowing how everything works, all the time?” She scoffs. “What an awful way to live. Surprises make life interesting.”

“Surprises ended me up here,” I say, motioning toward the dark pit of nothing I’ve found myself in. “Lately, I don’t think I like surprises.”

She laughs. “Too bad. Life’s full of them! Best to treat them like gifts instead of ghosts, popping up to scare you.”

Gifts. I huff.

As if being declared Fateless in front of everyone in Heartland was a present.

But she keeps going, her voice getting more excited with every sentence. She’s inching closer, until she’s out of the shadows completely. Her face brightens. “Surprises are gifts. Unexpected detours. Unplanned stops. Going backward, instead of forward. Life doesn’t have a map! And that’s the fun part, isn’t it? Not knowing how it will go?”

“No,” I say, my voice blunt.

I want a map. I want a plan. I want a Fate. I want a future handed to me on a platter, just like everyone else on Boxing Day. That is what I want, more than anything.

“Sometimes… the worst moments of your life turn into the best ones.”