“Fascinating…” Veila said, looking at me.
“What’s that?” the hoarder said, staring at my wrist. I looked down to see the glimmer of the bracelet Ella had given me with the star on it. So it had come with me into the dream too, along with my pyjamas apparently!
“It’s just my bracelet.”
“Lies!” the hoarder said, moving towards me. “It’s pretty and shiny, and that means it most definitely belongs to me!”
It tried to lunge at me. I backed away and watched as the big pile of fabric and jewels toppled over. It groaned and heaved, looking quite funny as it was trying to push itself up. Eventually, it managed to roll over.
“I don’t think we are going to learn anything more from this one,” Veila said. We began walking away.
“Stop! Thief!” the fragment called out as we left.
We moved back across the meadow towards the forest.
“Well, that was weird!” I said to Veila.
“Was it?” she asked.
“Yes… well, for me, it was. I’ve never seen anything like it!”
I thought about it for a few minutes.
“What’s the point in having all that stuff if you can’t really enjoy it anyway?” I asked Veila.
“Good question,” she replied.
“It was kind of stuck,” I said, “…like it just had this one idea that it needed shiny stuff, and that was the only thing it cared about.”
“That sounds right,” Veila said.
“Are they all like that?” I asked. “That first one I met; it was obsessed with being special, like it was stuck saying the same things too… It’s kind of scary”
“Not all,” Veila said. “I’ve seen a lot of variety.”
“I still don’t get it, though,” I said. The frustration was starting to build again. “I don’t know what I’m doing here. What’s the point of all this?”
“What’s your obsession with knowing what’s going on all the time?” Veila asked. “That’s a bit like a fragment, isn’t it? Getting stuck on the same thing?”
“No… it’s…” I started, then I realised she was right. Damn! “But I’m…”
“I was just kidding!” Veila flipped around in circles, laughing hysterically for a while. “You’re much more interesting… mostly,” she said, after she had settled down a bit.
“Gee, thanks,” I replied, but I also knew she had a point.
Veila’s expression suddenly became more serious. “That thing the hoarder said… they have been expecting you,” Veila said. “Awa you must be careful. Do not leave the Grove without me – it’s not safe.”
And with that, I woke up.
Chapter Fifteen
It had been a long day. The kids at school were awful – teasing me and Evan after Felicity’s stupid lipstick prank, and the teachers had been mad about the smears all around the bathroom and had told off the whole class about it when no one came forward.
That night, I arrived in the Grove, relieved to get away from everything in my waking life.
Something strange appeared in the air in front of me – a red ball. On closer inspection it was a lantern, like the kind at the Chinese lantern festival that Dad sometimes took me to.
A message from the ancestors… like the kawakawa, that still grew, bright and glossy in the grove a few feet away. I still didn’t know what the kawakawa meant, but as the lantern faded to nothing, I felt a chill of fear – warnings disappear… I remembered, it’s a warning…
“Awa…”
I heard the voice calling me. It wasn’t Veila, and it wasn’t coming from anywhere in the Grove.
“Awa!”
There it was again.
“Who’s there?” I called back; who else here even knows my name?
More chills ran down my spine but I needed to find out. Ignoring Veila’s warnings I left the Grove and walked down through the forest path towards the sound. Whatever it is, it’s trying to lure me out; the Grove is safe and it wants me to be out there somewhere…
I thought about going back, but not knowing where the voice was coming from would drive me crazy.
I followed the sound of my name out into the meadow. The sky was darker than usual. Something seemed disjointed about the view as if it were put together by puzzle pieces that didn’t quite fit. A strong wind blew the grass in all directions, bringing with is a greasy scent. It surprised me… I’ve never seen bad weather in the Dreamrealm before.
“Awa.”
My name rang out again in a sing-song voice. I continued to follow the sound out towards the far side of the meadow. I hadn’t been out this far before and I was surprised to find rocky cliffs, descending down to the sea. I’d never really looked at the sea here before. It was a dark, inky shade of indigo. The wind whipped it into choppy waves; I was sure it must have looked even more beautiful on a bright still day.
Something clicked in my memory, sea cliffs. That was what the Priestess Tree had showed me. Cliffs like these. I looked around expecting to see some other sign.
Two figures in the distance moved towards me. One from the left and one from the right. I froze, should I run? I wondered. I wanted to run, but I needed to know what was going on.
As they got closer, I could tell that one was a woman with high cheek bones and a classically beautiful face, except for her pale, lavender-tinged skin. She was wearing an elaborate dark blue and silvery ball gown that looked old-fashioned – almost as if she had stepped out of a painting. The other was a man, quite tall, with a chiselled jaw, wearing a pinstriped suit.
“What do you want?” I called out. I didn’t want them to get much closer.
“You don’t belong here, little girl,” the woman said.
“Children belong at home,” said the man, as if he was giving a speech, “…with their parents, where they are safe and loved.”
“What is this?” I asked, feeling trapped. I looked at both of them. “What are you?”
“I am in charge around here,” the woman said.
“We are…” the man interrupted. She gave him a stern look.
“This is my kingdom,” she continued, “…and I decide what goes and what stays.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “We heard you are a Dreamweaver. We are not impressed with scum like you!”
I shivered.
“Know that you don’t want to be here,” said the man. His voice sounded friendly, but it didn’t feel that way at all. “We’ve listened. We know you’re unhappy with your life and we’re here to help.”
Awa, I heard Veila’s voice this time, I looked from the man in the suit who was smiling to the woman who was looking down her nose at me. I could tell they hadn’t heard Veila.
You need to leave, Veila’s voice said, in my head. It’s not safe.
“You need to leave,” the woman said. “Leave the Dreamrealm and never return, your kind is not welcome here.”
I looked around, wondering what the best way to escape would be; there was enough room between them that I could probably make a run for it, but I didn’t know how fast they were.
“You’re not in charge!” I said. “No one is in charge here.”
The woman threw back her head and laughed a high, cold laugh, and the man followed her, although his laugh sounded a lot warmer, as if it was an inside joke that we all knew. This is my chance; run while they are distracted by their own laughing. I bolted, as I quickly as I could.
I glanced back to see them following me, close behind, the woman’s face in a scowl, the man’s face looking… plastic. I almost slowed down to take a closer look but I had to get away. I remembered how quickly I had followed Veila that time when we were looking for fragments. I need to move fast, I willed myself to glide like that again. It worked!
I knew I was gaining a good lead. I glanced back to see that the man had removed his mask. Behind it was a snake!
No way.
It was like the snake in my dreams, the one that had chased me, the one I had seen on the tattooed man
who turned out to be nice, but this… this is the opposite, I realised. The man seemed so nice a few minutes ago but it was all an act.
I focused. I need to fly as fast as I possibly can. I could see the forest up ahead, and the beginning of the path that led to the Grove. I willed myself to be there as soon as possible, safe. I willed it with every fibre of my being. I could tell they were catching up to me; I could hear the hissing of the snake. I closed my eyes and…
Pop!
I was back in the Grove.
“What?” I said aloud.
“What?” Veila replied. “Oh! It’s you! You’re back!”
“How did I get here?!”
“What do you mean?” Veila said. “And why didn’t you listen? I told you not to go anywhere without me!”
I explained about hearing the voice – about being called out of the Grove, about the sneering lavender woman in the ball gown and the man in the suit who looked friendly and smiled a lot but had a snake behind his mask. I told Veila about being followed and willing myself to be back in the Grove and then suddenly finding myself here.
“Oh no!”
“What?” I asked. “What just happened?”
“They’ve found out about you,” Veila said. I had never seen her look so serious.
“Who are they? And how… how did I get here?”
“You must have willed yourself here.”
“Is that… is that like teleportation?”
“Telly-pour-what-shin?”
“Never mind,” I said. “Just tell me who they are.”
“Do they… do they know you are a Dreamweaver?”
I nodded.
“No, no, no!” Veila said, her tiny face sinking into a frown. “This is very bad.”
“Veila, please tell me!” I said. “Tell me who they are.”
“The man you talked about… we call him the Politician.”
“What? Why?”
“It’s something to do with how he smiles, and wears a mask, and tells people what he thinks they want to hear… everything he says is a lie,” Veila said. “Why, what does politician mean where you come from?”
“It’s someone who wants to be in charge, like a leader… I guess. But that sounds about right.” I thought about what Mum and Dad sometimes said about the politicians they didn’t like.
“That’s strange,” Veila said. “Why would a leader want to be in charge?”
“Never mind that,” I said. I didn’t have time for her weird questions. I knew it must be getting late. I could wake up any second. Time was slipping away and this felt like the best chance I’d ever had to find out what was going on.
“Veila, he has a snake under that mask – the same snake that was chasing me in my dreams; I’m sure of it.”
Veila nodded.
“What is he, and what is the woman supposed to be? Are they fragments?”
“They are a kind of fragment, I guess… they are bigger Shadow particles.”
“What does that mean?”
“The woman…” Veila said. “You said she wore a ball gown.”
“Yes,” I said. “She looked like some kind of old-fashioned painting.”
“You’ve got to watch her.”
“Who is she?” I asked again.
“She is Judgement.”
“Judgement?”
“Yes, she… she kind of cuts into everything with her mind, judges it to see if it satisfies her.”
“Like she’s judgmental?” I asked. “Isn’t everyone?”
“The thing is…” Veila said. “Trees don’t judge each other because they don’t need to protect themselves from each other.” She gestured at the forest surrounding the Grove.
“What are you getting at?”
“People don’t judge trees because they don’t have the capacity to actively attack them,”
“Okay,” I said. “I get it. People are scared of things that could attack us – like snakes, and spiders, and sharks; people often hate them, but not many people hate trees.”
“Yes, so judging is about protection,” Veila said, “…and everyone has a bit of that kind of thing inside them, but it’s usually invisible.”
“Are you saying she’s a part of… people?”
“Well, she has splintered off, but yes.”
“I’m so confused!” I said.
“Judgement hurts us all…while intending to protect us.”
“Is she evil?”
“What’s evil?” Veila asked.
I sighed. “So she’s a kind of super-fragment, and she’s not evil, but she’s after me, and she wants me out of here.”
“That’s right,” Veila said. “The Dreamrealm is not safe for you now. Stay away!”
“But…”
I tried to protest, but it came out as a groan into my pillow. I was back in bed.
Stay away.
Veila’s words echoed in my head, and they hurt.
Chapter Sixteen
I rolled over in bed, curling into a little ball. Pain and nausea shot through my whole body, and I started to sweat. Mum thought I might have the flu and said I could stay home from school, but I knew this had nothing to do with a virus and everything to do with being kicked out of the Dreamrealm by the dream creature I trusted the most.
Is this shame? I wondered. I used to belong there – I used to be special... and now I feel like a big pile of trash!
I stayed in bed all day.
Everything is so messed up, at school, and in my dreams, I need a break!
Nothing in my life seemed to be working at all. I kept thinking about Ella and Evan how I had hurt them even though I didn’t mean too – even though I was trying to help. I kept thinking about Felicity and how mean she was to write that stuff on the mirror. What’s wrong with that girl? I wondered. I kept thinking about the dreams, about Judgement and the Politician, and how they had tried to attack me.
Felicity is just like them. She wants to control everything. I can’t escape her in my waking life, and now these creeps are taking over my dreams… Even Veila has told me to stay away.
I kept hearing the same words in my head: stay away.
Veila’s words cut into me. I wasn’t welcome anymore in the only place that felt like home.
She’s doing this to protect me, I reminded myself. Veila had looked so scared; maybe by going to the Dreamrealm, I was putting her at risk too.
It was about halfway through the day when I realised what I had to do. Take the pills.
The tablets from Dr Spancer were still sitting in a drawer in my room. I hadn’t taken any of them; I didn’t want to, but that seemed to be the only way to do what Veila wanted – to stay away.
That night, I picked up the small brown bottle with the white lid. The plastic was slightly transparent, so I could see the little pills inside. I opened them, surprised to see they were yellow.
Take one before bed, the bottle said. Do not mix with alcohol, may cause drowsiness, avoid operating heavy machinery.
I laughed, imagining myself drunk and driving a digger.
I spilled one tiny yellow pill onto the palm of my hand, put it on my tongue, and took a big gulp of water. Done.
Goodbye Dreamrealm.
I didn’t bother turning the light off. I just got into bed, trying to hold back the sobs. Eventually, I gave in and had a good cry: The Dreamrealm is my place… my special place… the only place I feel at home, and now… It doesn’t want me anymore.
I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
I was in the house again – the old house – my house. It was empty, with no furniture. The lights were all on. I felt drowsy. I walked from room to room, but I didn’t find anything. I went out into the back garden. The terrain seemed to morph and shift and blur at the edges, and then, everything became clear.
In front of me, sitting on the lawn, was a table, with a bright red checked tablecloth, and a single chair. The table was laid for one, with cutlery and a plate. I could smell a si
ckly-sweet scent like candy and perfume.
I moved closer. On the plate was a bright pink cake. I sat down on the chair, took the tiny cake fork, and took a bite of the cake.
That was when I realised I was dreaming.
The cake tasted like dust. I spat it back out again, but I could feel thick heavy darkness flooding down my throat. I was sinking deeper into the chair, even as I tried to get out.
A cackle of cold laughter echoed all around me. I grabbed the arms of the chair to push myself up, but cords appeared out of nowhere before I could move away. They wrapped firmly around my wrists, tying my hands down to the arms of the chair.
“No!” I struggled against the ropes, still feeling foggy.
“We did it!”
I turned to look in the direction of the voice; it was the Politician, in a pinstriped gold and blue suit with a bright golden tie, walking towards me, smiling that big fake smile through his face that I knew was just a mask.
“I told you she would fall for it,” a familiar cold voice said from behind me. I knew it was Judgement.
“It was a trap,” I said.
“Yes,” she said. “It was a trap, and you walked right into it, you even took the pills!”
“How do you know about that?” I asked, feeling drowsy. “Have you been watching me?”
I wrestled against the cords, holding me down, but I gave up, feeling too weary to fight.
“Oh, we have our ways,” said the Politician.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“I…” Judgement started.
“We,” the Politician corrected.
“We,” Judgement said, “…are going to drain your Dreamweaver powers… which will give me – us – control of the Dreamrealm.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Things could be so much better around here.” The Politician smiled. “And I’m going to make them better, for all of us.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Judgement said. “I know what’s acceptable and what isn’t, and quite frankly, there is too much that isn’t good enough – poor quality.”
Awa and the Dreamrealm Page 10
