Awa and the Dreamrealm Read online

  “Like the trees,” the Politician added.

  “Filthy, dirty trees!” said Judgement. “Unsightly!”

  “We need the trees,” I said. “Especially the Priestess Tree.”

  “That messy creature! She will have to be the first to go,” said Judgement.

  “No!”

  “You just hold tight, my dear,” said the Politician. “This won’t hurt a bit.”

  They disappeared for a moment. I struggled to get out of the chair, but my wrists were tied too tightly by the inky coloured rope. The smell of burnt plastic hung in the air, making me cough.

  I heard a creaky noise, like the sound of an old door opening and closing. I turned to see Judgement and the Politician pushing a large rectangular object on wheels, towards me. It was covered in what looked like hundreds of buttons and dials, all in dull, murky colours.

  “What is that?” I asked.

  “Oh, this is a very clever contraption,” said Judgement.

  “Like nothing you’ve ever seen before,” the Politician added.

  “What does it do?” I asked.

  “Just you wait!” Judgement said.

  The Politician unwound a tube from the machine and fitted what looked like a purple gas mask onto it.

  “No,” I said, wriggling as much as I could. “No, no. Really, let’s try something else. I can help you. I can work with you.”

  I did not want that thing on my face!

  “We have a vision for this land,” said the Politician, “…and this is your great chance to be part of it!”

  “What’s your vision?” I asked, trying to stall them.

  “This is going to be the best place ever – in history!” the Politician crowed. “We’ll have the biggest stadium around with an enormous podium – perfect for making speeches – and massive high-rise buildings – like you’ve never seen before, and the tallest building will be my office!”

  “What rubbish he spouts!” said Judgment. “The most important thing to have is ballrooms, of course – ballrooms and palaces – where there is not even one speck of dirt – not at all!”

  “We’ll work out the details later,” the Politician said.

  It was so awful I could barely imagine it. The Dreamrealm was perfect just the way it was – randomness and all. The last thing it needed was to be covered in buildings and ballrooms!

  The Politician beamed at me. “Rest assured, little girl, you’re going to be an important part of this key moment in history.

  “No, I can help you…” I lied. “Really, I love ballrooms and podiums and…”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Judgement said.

  The Politician fitted the mask over my face, blocking out my peripheral vision. Everything blurred so that the world seemed both too close and too far away.

  Then my vision adjusted somehow, and I could see, at least partially. I watched as Judgement lowered a lever. The machine shuddered and began to hum. I could smell gasoline and burning eggs. Something was making me very drowsy…

  “No!” I called out, struggling against my own exhaustion. “Veila! Help!”

  “Your little friends won’t be able to help you, my dear,” Judgement whispered in my ear. “Look.”

  She gestured towards the side of the machine; there was a screen. On it, I could just make out the Dreamrealm; only the colours seemed to be getting dimmer.

  “They will be the first to go.” Judgement spun a dial. The machine clinked and clanked, and the screen panned to Veila. She was next to the Priestess Tree, but her light was fading, she could barely hover, her eyes were closing.

  “No!” I tried to yell, but my voice was weak.

  I couldn’t help Veila and Veila couldn’t help me. She was next to the Priestess Tree. Maybe she was there trying to ask a question, because she knew something was wrong.

  I remembered back to the time I had visited the tree and asked questions only to receive strange cryptic answers: the sea cliffs, the gulls, magic stones… what good are they now?

  What happens to me if I can’t get back to my life? If I’m stuck here, in this chair forever being sapped of all my energy by these power-hungry creeps!?

  I can’t give up. I need to think of something.

  This is my dream; I have the power. I repeated this over and over again in my head. I remembered what Veila had taught me about centring; I tried the charm to get back to the Grove:

  I am earth, sea, sun and sky…

  I didn’t wake up this time… I stayed exactly where I was, only…

  “It’s slowing down,” the Politician said.

  “What?” said Judgement. “Get away from it, you fool!”

  She pushed the Politician so hard he fell over onto the ground. It’s working. Something I’m doing is slowing the machine down. I kept repeating the charm in my head and focusing on centring myself.

  “No!” Judgement shrieked, and frantically pushed the different buttons and dials. “It was perfectly calibrated! Perfect! What have you done?”

  “Nothing!” said the Politician. “I swear I didn’t touch a thing.”

  “Then, it’s her!” Judgement said; she turned towards me. I closed my eyes and tried to look weak while continuing to repeat the charm in my head.

  I am… I am…

  “This little creature is stronger than we anticipated,” Judgement said. “Who would have thought it from watching her – she seemed such a pathetic weakling at school.”

  They were watching me! The thought gave me the creeps, but I had to keep focusing on the charm.

  “We must turn up the machine, to full power,” Judgement announced.

  “Full power! Are you sure?” the Politician asked.

  No, my heart raced in panic.

  “Imbecile – of course, I’m sure!” Judgement lowered another lever and another.

  “It’s working!” the Politician rubbed his hands together in glee. “We are draining her brain, brain drain, drain brain… it rhymes!”

  No, I was sinking deeper into the quicksand of exhaustion, but I couldn’t let them win; I need to escape!

  I remembered how I had disappeared the last time Judgement, and the Politician chased me, how I was suddenly back in the Grove. I tried to do the same thing again, but I was so tired. I could barely hold myself up in the chair. I slumped over.

  This is it; there’s nothing else I can do… this is the end.

  I couldn’t think of anything else – any other way out. I was drowning in a lake of my own hopelessness and despair. I rested my chin on my chest. Tears streamed down my face thinking of all the people I would miss: Mum and Dad, Ella and Evan, Veila… even Melody.

  Summon the gulls.

  The thought came from the back of my mind, like a whisper. It reminded me of talking to the Priestess Tree. The gulls. Was that what she meant? Maybe the images she showed me weren’t just metaphors.

  Gulls! I called out in my mind. I need you! Come here now!

  I repeated this over and over. I didn’t know what else to do. I had run out of ideas. I barely had the energy to lift my head, but I could hardly see, anyway.

  Everything went black.

  This is it… I can’t fight anymore. I give up.

  Overhead came the squawking sounds.

  I heard Judgement shriek “What?!”

  “Shoo!” said the Politician’s voice.

  There was banging and crashing and a lot of yelling and squawking all around me. I couldn’t see anything, but I could feel something tugging at my wrist, pulling at the mask.

  I slumped out of the chair and onto the ground. I’m free. I opened my eyes and looked up into the face of the most enormous seagull I had ever seen.

  “Uh… hello?” I wasn’t sure what else to say. “Thank you for saving me.”

  The seagull squawked. “We can’t save you,” it said. “You have to save yourself.”

  “But…”

  “We have chased away the fragments, for now, but they will return stro
nger than ever.”

  “How can I stop them?” I asked. It felt strange talking to a giant bird.

  “We don’t know the answers you seek, but we can take you to the one who does.”

  “Take me?”

  “Climb onto my back,” said the gull.

  “Oh… okay?” I said. I pushed myself up from the ground, feeling better and stronger every second.

  I climbed up onto the back of the gull and held onto his neck. We took off flying higher and higher into the air. Up above the sky was dark and looked like a normal sky, not the swirling purple of the Dreamrealm at all. Where am I? I wondered.

  I could see a rectangle of light above us, getting bigger. We were moving towards it. As we got closer, I realised what it looked like: a trapdoor…or a skylight? We are going to go through it!

  We flew up through the rectangle of light and out of what must be the Rooms of Mind. That was where they trapped me, I realised; they scared me into taking the pills yesterday so they could trap me there.

  Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as we soared over the Dreamrealm, higher than I had ever been before. Snowy mountains stood in the distance, and a desert stretched out to the side. There was so much of the Dreamrealm I hadn’t explored. We seemed to be flying towards the great lake that I had visited once before, with Veila. And I knew exactly who we were going to see.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Honu!” I called out across the lake. I was exhausted, but I needed to make sure Veila and the Priestess Tree were safe. I waded out into the water, looking across its shimmering purple surface towards where I saw the ‘island’ last time. Nothing.

  I swam out, through the shifting patterns of the lake’s surface, recalling how fun it was to be here the first time, how light and playful that day was compared to now.

  The surface of the water looked like liquid glass. There was no sign of the giant turtle.

  Where are you, Honu? I was starting to panic. What if the only person who could help me wasn’t here anymore?

  Down below, child. I heard in the back of my mind. “He’s here!” I said to myself. What a relief.

  Come up! I said to Honu, in my mind; I need you; we all need you.

  Bubbles appeared a few meters from where I was swimming, disrupting the lake’s glimmering patterns, making them more and more complex, and the water began to stir. I held back, remembering how enormous Honu was.

  Ripples rose and spread out across the glassy surface as the ‘island’ re-emerged, complete with plants and everything.

  “Honu!” I called out, as I saw his head pop up from the water, just a few meters away. I moved closer and flung my arms over his head. “I’m so happy to see you!”

  I started to tell him everything that had happened with the Politician and Judgement.

  “I know, child.” He said. “I have seen…”

  “The gulls think you can help me,” I said. “What should I do? I know they will come after me again, and I’m worried they might go after Veila and the Priestess Tree to try to get at me.”

  “They may as well, young Dreamweaver,” said Honu. “But I cannot tell you what to do, only you can determine that.”

  No! The only one who can help me either can’t or won’t.

  My mind raced with terrible thoughts.

  “Please,” I said to Honu. “Please help me; you’re my only hope.”

  “I said I could not tell you what to do,” said Honu. “But certainly, I can help you.”

  “How?” I asked.

  “What is it you need to know more about?” Honu asked. “What understanding will help you in your quest?”

  I thought about it for a moment.

  “All this stuff with Judgement and the Politician… it’s something to do with what you told me before, isn’t it?” I said. “It’s something to do with the Shadow.”

  “Certainly,” said Honu.

  “I know the Shadow is bad, but Veila doesn’t seem to think that evil exists…”

  “Evil is a strange human concept,” said Honu, “…and by far, the very concept of ‘evil’ is part of the problem we face.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The Shadow formed through disconnection, and ‘evil’ is a disconnecting concept. It only feeds into the darkness.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said, “and I have no idea how this is going to help me rescue Veila and the Priestess Tree from the fragments.”

  “Let me show you something,” Honu said. “Press your forehead to mine.” He lowered himself further into the water so that I could more easily reach his forehead. I felt the cool leather of his skin on mine. It was quite relaxing, despite everything I had gone through that day. I closed my eyes… and woke up in my bed.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Obviously, I was even more exhausted after the attack. I didn’t want to get out of bed. I was sick with worry about Veila and the Priestess Tree and the whole Dreamrealm, and I knew it was all my fault!

  I should never have followed the voices – should never have let them trick me into taking those stupid pills. I’ve messed everything up!

  I was so busy worrying that I had forgotten what had happened with Felicity. When it finally came flooding back, I groaned.

  I didn’t want to deal with that on top of everything I’d just gone through. I tried to stay home from school again. I just wanted to get back into my dreams, but Mum wouldn’t let me. I tried to tell myself not to worry, that things would have calmed down, and everyone would have forgotten the stuff Felicity had written all over the mirror.

  I was wrong.

  As soon as I walked through the school gate, people were staring: some made “oooh” noises. I sighed and looked at my feet as I walked, trying to avoid them, trying not to pay attention to the tightness in my chest that felt like it might explode through my spine.

  I caught a glimpse of something different. A piece of pink paper was blowing in the wind. I glanced up at it.

  No flipping way.

  It was me – and Evan; our faces in a heart, printed out on pink paper. Felicity, I gritted my teeth, that must have been the picture she snapped of me the other day.

  I did not see that coming.

  I looked up to see identical pink paper all over school. I wanted to turn around and go back home – to hide under the blankets in bed until Mum got home. I would tell her that this was it.

  I’m not going back. I’m done with this school.

  I started to turn around.

  “Awa,” a low voice called me. I looked back to see Mr Jasper. He was standing next to the Principal, Ms Norton. I had only ever talked to Ms Norton once when Mum had brought me to the school to enrol.

  Ms Norton raised her hand and beaconed me over with her finger. She looked like she was about a hundred years old, especially with the expression on her face.

  “Explain to me the meaning of these… flyers!” she said.

  I couldn’t speak. My breathing caught in my chest. Everything went grey. It felt like a million years had passed, but it was probably less than a minute.

  “Awa,” Mr Jasper said, gently. “Let’s go into Ms Norton’s office. Come on.”

  I followed them.

  I could hear the kids laughing and jeering, but the sounds around me were almost drowned out by my extremely loud heartbeat, thudding in my chest like a basketball, ready to bounce out of my ribcage.

  I’d never been into the Principal’s office before. It seemed to have a lot of books on the walls, and I would have paid more attention if it wasn’t for the pain in my chest. I sat down. I tried to relax; I tried to breathe slowly like Dr Spancer had taught me – like Veila had taught me. I hoped she was going to be alright. I wished I could be back there in the Dreamrealm right then. Where are those gulls now when I need them?!

  As we entered the Principal’s office, I imagined the gulls swooping down into the school to rescue me. I pictured the looks on the faces of the kids and teachers. That made me laugh. Mr J
asper and Ms Norton looked at me, and I turned my laugh into a cough.

  “Awa,” Mr Jasper said as he sat down in the chair across from me. “We need you to tell us about the pink posters. How did this happen? Do you know?”

  I sighed. “Felicity.”

  “Felicity Cromwell?” Ms Norton said, her voice rising. “Our student council president? Our top student?

  My heart sank. They weren’t even going to believe me.

  Mr Jasper nodded. “I thought so.”

  “You did?” Ms Norton and I asked at the same time.

  Mr Jasper turned towards the principal. “I’ve spoken to you about Felicity before, Margaret. She has shown some concerning behaviours.”

  I relaxed a bit in my chair – at least someone believes me.

  “This is concerning, indeed,” Ms Norton said. “Why would a top student do something so vulgar?”

  “She’s a bully,” I said. “Ever since I started here, she’s been horrible to me – and it’s not just me. She’s been bullying my friend Ella for years.”

  “We will need to call her in, and call the parents in too,” Ms Norton said.

  “My parents?” I asked, my chest was tightening again. My parents have enough going on without having to deal with this!

  “Both sets of parents. Please sit in the waiting room outside my office, Awa,” said Ms Norton. She turned to Mr Jasper. “Colin,” she said, “bring Felicity in here; I’d like to have a word.”

  I spent most of that morning waiting. I sat in the waiting room outside Ms Norton’s office for what seemed like a week but was actually just a few hours. Felicity had gone into the Principal’s office and given me a murderous look as she passed. About half an hour later, a blonde woman had come in, who I assumed was Felicity’s mother. A little while later, a blonde man arrived too; he seemed to be in a rush.

  The three of them were taking a long time with Ms Norton, and I could only guess that it was worse in there than it was out in the waiting room where I just had the ticking clock to worry about. I tried to read the mystery novel I had in my school bag, but it was hard to focus. I wondered what was going on outside, with Ella, Evan and the rest of the school. I wondered if the pink paper was still up there, giving everyone more reason to tease us.