the challenge we will still honor our promise to return you home, but you will not remember your journey here.
Joseph looked over his shoulder at Madam Zolver and nodded his understanding. I don’t want to forget. I owe you my life. I hope I can find the Dream Weaver but even if I never succeed at least I will have experienced something amazing. I have to try.
Madam Zolver removed her finger as Joseph turned to face her.
‘I accept,’ he said, holding his bandaged arms up. I accept. ‘Will you accept me?’
Madam Zolver smiled. On behalf of all Nilimbians, I do.
Madam Zolver called for Dr Drefus, General Falcon and members of council to gather in her chambers where, in a small formal ceremony, Joseph accepted Madam Zolver’s commission. He was presented with a device, the Optiscope, that allowed him look back in time and study the past in order to find the next Dream Weaver, and given instructions on how to unlock its time-seeing capabilities. Madam Zolver warned him there had been many false hopefuls pledging their loyalty while really seeking to serve themselves.
It is for this reason you must study the people who have walked the land before you – through the choices they have made can you learn their truths and recognise one who is truly selfless. It may take you the rest of your life to find the next Dream Weaver and you may not find one at all.
I must warn you, being the Keeper of the Optiscope is an honour and burden you must bear alone.
‘I am but your humble servant, Madam,’ Joseph pledged.
Chapter 1.
Sungreen Cottage
Mia Glasson sat on the edge of her bed, swinging her feet and staring at the boxes her mother had left for her to unpack. She had no will to take out all her toys and books and put them in the house she’d been made to move to. She’d rather watch television. But even that wasn’t working yet.
The Glasson family had moved to Sydney’s eastern suburbs to be closer to Mia’s new school and the nearby university where her mother studied. In the weeks that followed, Mia was quiet and retreated to her new room where she would look at her unpacked boxes, hoping they wouldn’t have to be unpacked in this strange house. She missed her old school and her friends from the large apartment building where they used to live. She’d often met them at the ground floor pool where they would have water fights and swimming contests. Other times they’d go outside on the lawn for cricket, cartwheels and netball. On rainy days, or after sunset, they played in the hallways, racing each other up and down the emergency exit stairs, playing at scaring one another in the mazelike halls or rolling balls at bowling pins along the carpet. Now everything had changed.
Mr and Mrs Glasson settled their daughter into the 1930s single level house, that so far was the only thing Mia liked about the move. Mia fell in love with its mint green walls, charcoal tiles, and rusted guttering. She enjoyed having her very own back garden with trees to climb. But her favorite part was a sunrise motif decorating the short ridge on the front of the house. When she saw it, Mia named her new home Sungreen Cottage.
The first week was a drag, with Mum unpacking during the day and Dad hanging pictures and fitting shelves at night.
‘You start school next week,’ her mother said, ‘and year four at that. Try to enjoy your time before it all begins, hey?’
But Sungreen Cottage was quiet. No children played in the street. Her neighbours, it appeared, were all adults. People passed by, barely looking up from their smartphones. Sure, the area was busy, as Mia’s mum liked to remind her, but it wasn’t the kind of busy Mia liked. People bustled about on the sidewalks going to work or university. The cafés and restaurants were nearly always full of people, strangers, without smiles. In such a busy place Mia felt lonely. She wished she had a friend nearby or, better still, a brother or sister to share her world.
Little did she realise that within months she would find herself searching for another world, one in an altogether different dimension.
Chapter 2.
Meeks Mountain
The first day of school soon arrived. Mia let her mother fuss over her hair and help her dress, even though she’d known how to dress herself since year one. Mrs Glasson pulled the front door shut and shooed Mia down the path.
‘It’s such a fine day for a walk, don’t you agree, Mia?’
Mia stood behind their car. ‘I’d rather drive Mum – it’s better to take the car.’
‘Nonsense, a walk on your first day of school will be perfect.’
‘We might get lost,’ Mia tried
‘Lost? What are you going on about? It’s straight up this street and just over the hill.’
Mia looked across the Parade at the seemingly endless hill in front of them. ‘I can’t see the school from here.’
‘Of course you can’t, but it’s just over the other side.’
Mia, like her father, didn’t like to walk much, preferring to arrive by car at the door. ‘I could be there already getting on with it,’ her dad said on many occasions. Her mum, on the other hand, felt a journey was almost as important as the destination. A walk clears the mind, was her mantra. Worse still the walk to Rainbow Street Primary was up a steep hill called Meeks Avenue. It was not, as its name suggested, in the least bit meek. Meek was a small word, a shy word. Meek was how Mia felt today, starting in a brand new school where she knew no one. No, to Mia the hill they were about to climb was more like a steep endless path, starting from her front door. Even before they got half way up Mia decided to call it Meeks Mountain.
Mum suggested a game of I spy. To start she had to play both roles of spy and seeker. At first Mia pretended not to know the rules and annoyed her mother by scraping the toes of her shoes behind her with each step, but eventually Mia caved in and joined the game. Once she started, Mia got into it – she was quite clever at keeping her mother guessing and would find random things to focus on. Poor Mum soon had difficulty keeping up.
‘Two words,’ Mia said, ‘beginning with C and E.’
After Mum’s three guesses were up, Mia revealed the answer: ‘Cat’s Eyes.’
‘Cat’s Eyes?’
‘Yep, those things,’ Mia said pointing to the reflective bumps on the road.
On the steepest part of Meeks Mountain they both went quiet. Out of breath and thighs burning, they paused under the shade of a scribbly gum near a corner house with a large flowering tree growing in its front yard. Mrs Glasson stooped to pick up a frangipani blossom that had fallen from the tree.
‘They are my favorite flowers,’ she breathed.
‘My legs hurt, Mummy,’ said Mia in response.
‘I
