Page 75 of Barbie: Dreamscape

It’s Robin.

Robin, who was once alone, scared, and embittered… until my mother offered her a hand through the darkness.

Time keeps moving. Robin and my mother are the best of friends, more like sisters. I watch them in rapt attention. My mother’s house is now right next to Robin’s. It’s bright magenta. They visit each other every day, so often that a path between the two houses forms, merging them together.

“The two most powerful among us. Unlikely friends… joined together.” Lune is speaking, but I don’t look at her; I can’t tear my eyes away from Robin and my mother.

Color blurs again, then stops.

There’s the cry of a baby. My mother walks out of her pink house, swaddling me, taking me through the town square, showing me off. She smiles—but I recognize a touch of sadness in her eyes.

“Your father died before you were born,” Lune tells me. “Vicious creatures began to attack those with magic, coming through from distant worlds. The people of Dreamland fought to keep them at bay. Your father was one of the warriors killed in battle. Everyone feared that more would come… and that you would be in danger.”

Just then, Robin leaves the house. She glares at anyone who gets too close to me and my mother. “But Robin… she vowed to protect you as she always protected your mother.”

Time passes again. A darkness has fallen over Dreamland, the pink leached of its color. My mother and Robin are standing in the town square, with me playing at their feet. Their expressions are serious and sad. They join hands.

Between them, obsidian and pink magic materialize, shining then merging, twirling together—before forming two necklaces: a “B” for my mom, and an “R” for Robin. Three shooting stars surround each letter.

One magic, joined… and then split between them.

“When the darkness closed in on us, they knew they needed to take you somewhere safer. They decided, with their great power… to leave Dreamland and journey far away, to create something new.”

I swallow, but the knot in my throat doesn’t loosen.

“They made a whole land just for you.”

Hundreds of people are gathered to say goodbye. Many leave to return to their homes. Some remain to join Robin and my mother.

In a burst of black and pink light, they all vanish.

At once, the pink glitter falls away, and all the images disappear with it. We’re back in the village square in present time, the fountain spurting behind me. I don’t realize I’m crying until a tear drops onto my chest.

My voice is low and rough, my mind spinning. I’m not sure where to start, but there’s one question that stands out from the others.

“My mother had magic?”

Wardrobe. The necklaces. I had assumed Robin had lent her some of her own power, that my mom’s “B” necklace was an accessory gifted to her by the Fates. I thought Robin was the only one born with magic…

Lune nods. “She did.” The confirmation of it bleeds through my chest, the fact that my mother had power I wasn’t aware of… and that Robin never told me. “And so do you.”

My swirling mind jolts to a stop.

No. I couldn’t have heard her correctly.

“I… don’t,” I finally say.

Even as I say the words out loud, though, I think about everything I’ve been able to do during this journey.

It was the necklaces, of course…

But what if some of it was me?

Lune’s voice is soft. “You are magic, Barbie.”

I take a step back.

The world—it’s stumbling. Or is that me?