Awa and the Dreamrealm Read online

  “Felicity doesn’t really have friends,” Evan said. “She has servants – people who obey her.”

  “So your Mum just forced Ms Norton to do all that?” Ella said.

  “Yeah,” I said. “It was so awkward!”

  “It was spectacular!” Ella said. “Felicity’s face! She even cried.”

  “Yeah,” said Evan. “I even felt kind of sorry for her. I never thought that would happen in a million years!”

  “And now…” Ella said. “Everything has changed… you know what it’s like? It’s like in the Wizard of Oz, where the house falls down on the wicked witch, and all the munchkins celebrate.”

  “I don’t understand how Felicity had so much power in the first place,” I said.

  “I guess she just knew how to take power,” Ella said. “You know, take people’s power away…”

  I nodded, thinking of the fragments.

  “What?” Evan said. “What are you thinking about, Awa? You had a strange look on your face.

  “Nothing,” I said, wondering if I would ever be able to tell them the truth. “But you’re right, it does feel different now.”

  I smiled at my friends.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  That night I’d barely closed my eyes when I heard the sound of running water and birdsong, and I knew I was back in the Grove.

  I looked around. Something had changed.

  The stream was even wider than before, flowing faster, sparkling, and churning in dazzling colours and diamond patterns. I moved closer.

  The pool at the centre of the Grove was perfectly still, despite all the water flowing to in and from it.

  The kawakawa shrub glistened in front of me, reminding me that there was still a message here that I didn’t understand…

  Maybe I need to ask Nannie or Aunty Rosetta… maybe they’ll have some clue about what the ancestors are trying to teach me.

  I climbed onto a boulder by the pool and dipped my hands into the cool water. I cupped them together and brought them to my mouth to drink.

  It was like a fresh mountain spring was running down my throat, cool and refreshing, uplifting, and revitalising every part of me – every cell in my body.

  Wow.

  I took a deep breath, enjoying the feeling.

  Something flashed in the corner of my eye. I looked down to see a shimmer of peachy colour glide through the pool and disappear. What was that?

  “Veila?” I called, wondering if she was somehow in there.

  “I’m here,” Veila’s voice sounded behind me.

  I turned to see she was glowing brighter than I’d ever seen before.

  “There was something in there!” I said. “Something peach-coloured. I thought it might be you.”

  Veila laughed.

  “I’m right here,” she said.

  “But what was it, then?”

  “Someone special,” she said. “You’ll find out one day, but I’m here to take you to the Priestess Tree. She has a message for you.”

  I followed Veila out of the Grove, along the forest path. Her peachy-coloured light glowed on the leaves as we passed, making shimmering patterns. Light seemed to flow out from her like little waves and ribbons.

  “I’ve never seen you glow so brightly,” I said.

  Veila turned and looked at me. “You seem brighter too.”

  I looked down, surprised to see I had legs this time. My body was glowing slightly.

  “That’s strange,” I said. “It reminds me of the mirror – I looked so different in it. I wonder what it means.”

  “It is mysterious…” Veila said. “Something has changed. It’s all part of the process.”

  “What process?”

  “You’re becoming a Dreamweaver – learning your own powers and limitations, understanding yourself.”

  As we walked, the forest path opened out into dazzling bright sunlight.

  We had reached the Meadow. It also seemed to glow with more light and colour than before.

  A bloom of pink jellyfish swam through the sky again, colliding with a cluster of giant bubbles, sending sparkles flickering out across the sky. The grass shone in more shades of green than I ever knew were possible.

  Maybe it’s me; maybe I just see more than I could before.

  We continued moving over the rolling hills of the meadow.

  The Priestess Tree, stood tall against the swirling purple sky.

  We passed the glass dome; the fragments were still exactly as I had left them last time, standing in front of the mirror, pushing each-other aside to get a better look at themselves. They didn’t even glance up as we walked past.

  “Funny things,” Veila said.

  “It’s strange to think I was so scared of them, not that long ago,” I said. “And now they seem so… harmless.”

  “Harm is in the doing,” Veila said, and I thought I might know what she meant.

  We reached the Priestess Tree, and I spread out my arms to hug her, pressing my face against her cool bark.

  I’m sorry, I said in my mind. Giant tears sprang up and ran down my cheeks, saturating me and falling into puddles at my feet. I’m sorry I put you in that situation, you and Veila, and all the others. I’m so, so sorry.

  Hush, child, said the Priestess Tree. Come down to see me.

  I closed my eyes and let my mind wander down the tree trunk, underground, to see the Priestess with her eyes closed as usual.

  Somehow she looked even more vibrant and beautiful than before.

  Thank you, said her voice in my mind. You have protected the Dreamrealm, and saved us from the fragments who sought to upset the balance for their own gain.

  Of course, I replied. It didn’t seem like I had any other options…

  You are brave, Dreamweaver.

  Me? I laughed. Brave? I don’t think so.

  And you are stronger than you know, the Priestess continued.

  Veila had said something like that too.

  I’m just me, I said. Don’t get the wrong idea.

  There is much work to be done, the Priestess continued. Let me show you.

  Her eyes opened, revealing their deep hazel colour, as the circle appeared in front of her belly like it had the first time. This time I could tell it was a reflective disc, like a mirror, but it quickly began to swim with patterns.

  I saw the chalice again – the one from my very first unusual dream. It was still a mystery to me.

  Then I saw the gulls – the same ones the Priestess Tree had shown me the first time we had met, only now the cryptic message made sense. Of course, the gulls. They were part of the solution. They saved me…

  The sea cliffs. Is that where the gulls live? I wondered; it’s where Judgement and the Politician led me the first time they tried to trap me.

  Merging into the sea cliffs, I saw what looked like the sedimentary layers of the earth, but it became clearer.

  Wow, I gasped. It’s a maze!

  The Labyrinth under the Dreamrealm, the Priestess’s voice said in my mind.

  I remembered the tunnels that Honu had showed me – the ones that the last Dreamweaver had trained in.

  I felt tingles, spreading into waves of excitement at the challenge.

  How do I get there?

  The sounds of your feelings will show you the way, said the Priestess Tree, and I knew it was time to leave.

  I followed Veila back across the meadow, towards the Grove.

  “It sounds like you have a new challenge,” Veila said.

  I sighed. “Just when I thought things were going to get easy!”

  “Easy is boring,” said Veila, and we both laughed.

  The End

  If you enjoyed this book, you can order Into the Labyrinth: Dreamweavers Book 2.

  (To be published 1 February 2020)

  To hear all about the latest Dreamweavers updates, and get some cool giveaways, sign up to my mailing list! See my website on the next page.

  About the Author

 
Isa Pearl Ritchie is a New Zealand writer, based in Wellington. She has had many interesting dreams, including lucid dreams. She loves learning about people, society, and the way our minds work. She has completed a PhD in anthropology and a Masters in sociology. Her second novel, Fishing for Māui, was selected as one of the top books of 2018 in the New Zealand Listener and was a finalist in the NZ Booklovers Award for Best Adult Fiction Book 2019. Awa and the Dreamrealm is her first book for young people.

  www.isaritchie.com

  Acknowledgments

  Many wonderful people have played an important part in the making of this book. Special thanks to Jason Le Vaillant, Stephanie Joy Christie, Charles Barrie, Tesla Ritchie, Mandy Hager, Tabatha Wood, and the Great and Terrible Billy, for all your advice and support. Also a big thanks to all the test readers who gave such excellent feedback: Mira, Vidthia, Maddie, Lachlan, Joy, Amélie, B, Giorgia, Nina, Cole, Anita, and Basia.