Free Whatever After #4: Dream On by Sarah Mlynowski

We’re going to get married. You said so yourself. The future will make me happy.” She points down the hallway. “Let’s check my room.”
    She opens the door to the most perfect princess room I’ve ever seen. The walls are a pale yellow, and the carpet is white and speckled with gold. To the right is what appears to be a massive walk-in closet. Directly ahead is a bay window. In front of the bay window is a canopy bed. A vase of yellow roses sits on a vanity table.
    On the bed, fast asleep, is Robin.
    Hurray! I run over to my sleeping friend and give her a hug. “I guess she did sleepwalk.”
    Bri’s eyes widen in amazement. “She’s even under the covers! She can do that in her sleep?”
    I nod, feeling an odd sense of pride. “She walked down all the tower stairs, too, and those are seriously slippery. She’s very talented.”
    Bri approaches us. “Shall we just leave her here until we get a fairy to reverse the spell?”
    “I don’t think so. I don’t want her wandering off again. Do you have a wheelbarrow or something? But first …” I motion to my outfit. “Can I borrow a dress and some shoes to wear to the party? All I have with me are these pajamas and socks.”
    Bri leads me to her walk-in closet. “Of course. Take whatever you want.”
    There are at least a hundred dresses hanging there. Satin, lace, velvet, red, blue, black … sashes and frills and ruffles. Any kind of dress you want, it’s here. They’re organized by color. It looks like I’m standing inside a new box of colored pencils. “This is incredible,” I breathe.
    “What is?” Bri asks, searching through the outfits for something that might fit me.
    “Your closet!”
    “It’s okay,” she says with a shrug.
    I can’t take it anymore. “No! It’s not okay! This is a dream closet. Don’t you realize how lucky you are? I’m not saying that dresses are the most important thing in the world, but you have to at least admit that the things you have are pretty great! Wait a sec — is that an entire wall of tiaras?”
    She nods. “Yeah. You can have one if you want. I barely even wear them.”
    “How could you not wear them? They’re all so sparkly!”
    She shrugs again. “I don’t know.”
    “You’re crazy, you know that?” I ask. She has all this amazing stuff, but she doesn’t appreciate any of it.
    “This should fit,” Bri says, and hands me a knee-length blue dress with a corset top. I slip it on and tie it extra tight so it’s not too baggy. The white sandals she lends me are too big but they’ll do. Meanwhile, Bri puts on a beautiful pink ball gown and matching heels.
    Suddenly, we hear voices outside the door.
    “I think I’m just too tired to go out to another yard sale,” the king says.
    “Me too,” says the queen. “Let’s stay home tonight and relax.”
    Oh, no! “How are we supposed to have a party if they’re home? The tower is only a few steps away from Rose Abbey,” I say. “Do we have to cancel?”
    “Too late now,” Bri says. “It’s almost six. We’ll just have to keep the noise down and hope they don’t pop by. Let’s get moving.” Bri picks up Robin, throws her over her shoulder, and hurries down the stairs.
    “Wow. You’re strong,” I say.
    “I know,” she says. “Strength was one of my wifticals .”

B ri, Jonah, Felix, Tom, and I are standing around the ground floor of the tower (now the party room). We’re waiting.
    Well, Felix is doing somersaults, but the rest of us are standing around.
    The decorations are up. The food is out. Robin is back on her cot. We are ready.
    I glance at the clock. “It’s one minute to six! When do you think the fairies will start showing up?”
    “Fairies are pretty punctual,” Tom says. “They don’t have a long commute.”
    At the same second the clock says six, sparkling puffs begin to pop up throughout the room. Puff! Puff! Puff!
    Each one is incredibly loud. All together they sound like fireworks.
    Thirteen women appear in