Back When We Got Lost in Dreamland Save as PDF
Chapters (105)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Epigraph
  4. Before it All Started
  5. Chapter 1
  6. Chapter 2
  7. Chapter 3
  8. Chapter 4
  9. Chapter 5
  10. Four Weeks Ago
  11. Chapter 6
  12. Chapter 7
  13. Chapter 8
  14. Chapter 9
  15. Chapter 10
  16. Chapter 11
  17. Chapter 12
  18. Chapter 13
  19. Chapter 14
  20. Now
  21. Chapter 15
  22. Chapter 16
  23. Four Weeks Ago
  24. Chapter 17
  25. Chapter 18
  26. Chapter 19
  27. Chapter 20
  28. Chapter 21
  29. Chapter 22
  30. Chapter 23
  31. Chapter 24
  32. Chapter 25
  33. Chapter 26
  34. Now
  35. Chapter 27
  36. Chapter 28
  37. Three Days Ago
  38. Chapter 29
  39. Chapter 30
  40. Chapter 31
  41. Chapter 32
  42. Chapter 33
  43. Chapter 34
  44. Chapter 35
  45. Chapter 36
  46. Chapter 37
  47. Chapter 38
  48. Chapter 39
  49. Chapter 40
  50. Chapter 41
  51. Chapter 42
  52. Chapter 43
  53. Chapter 44
  54. Chapter 45
  55. Chapter 46
  56. Chapter 47
  57. Chapter 48
  58. Chapter 49
  59. Chapter 50
  60. Chapter 51
  61. Chapter 52
  62. Chapter 53
  63. Now
  64. Chapter 54
  65. Chapter 55
  66. Chapter 56
  67. Chapter 57
  68. Chapter 58
  69. Chapter 59
  70. Chapter 60
  71. Chapter 61
  72. Chapter 62
  73. Chapter 63
  74. Chapter 64
  75. Chapter 65
  76. Chapter 66
  77. Chapter 67
  78. Chapter 68
  79. Chapter 69
  80. Two Hours Later
  81. Chapter 70
  82. Chapter 71
  83. Chapter 72
  84. Chapter 73
  85. Chapter 74
  86. Chapter 75
  87. Chapter 76
  88. Chapter 77
  89. Chapter 78
  90. Chapter 79
  91. Chapter 80
  92. Chapter 81
  93. Chapter 82
  94. Chapter 83
  95. Chapter 84
  96. Chapter 85
  97. Chapter 86
  98. Chapter 87
  99. One Week Later
  100. Chapter 88
  101. Chapter 89
  102. Acknowledgements
  103. Keep Reading …
  104. Books by Ross Welford
  105. About the Publisher

Andi drags Dennis down the hall and back into the kitchen. She has left the tray of tea things on a hall table and I remember I was going to take the leftover butter cake back for Sebastian. A few weeks ago, I probably wouldn’t have bothered, but he’s been okay recently.

‘Wait for me,’ I say to Susan. ‘I’ll just be a minute.’

I turn back and the front door bangs shut behind me. I’m on my own. Well, not exactly on my own, only that Kenneth is on the phone to his son in the living room, while Andi has turned on a noisy blender in the kitchen. No one knows I’m here and it’s a slightly odd feeling.

A long, tiled hallway stretches to the back of the house where the tea tray is, and it takes me past a room on the left with the door slightly ajar.

Don’t judge me. I just want to have a look inside. Just a peep, you understand. It’s not as if the door is shut, either, so it can’t exactly be super-private, can it?

No one knows I am here. I push the door and it makes a soft shushing noise as it scrapes over the thick carpet in the room. I can see the bottom corner of a bed. I poke my head round the door and take in the rest. It’s just an old man’s bedroom. There are slippers on the floor, a pair of trousers folded over a chair, a dressing table with a hairbrush and comb. And there, twisting above the bed in the slight breeze from the open window, is a Dreaminator.

It’s bigger than the ones in our bedroom, but there’s no mistaking what it is. I walk closer to get a better look and my eyes widen.

Kenneth McKinley’s Dreaminator is a thing of wonder, and as different from mine as a Rolls Royce is from Mola’s beaten-up old SUV. Where mine has a hollow plastic hoop, and a cheap-looking pyramid ‘roof’, with wires and strings attached, this is made of pale, weathered bamboo, bent into shape with no visible joins. Set into the wood are tiny flakes of glittering pyrite. There are little carved eagles, flowers, mysterious symbols and writing of a kind I don’t recognise.

And there, on one of the pyramid’s sides, three letters: URI.

Wasn’t that the name he said when he answered the phone? His son?

Inside the hoop, fine threads that look like pure gold are woven in a tight, intricate formation of circles repeated again and again, with beads and jewels sewn into the mesh. Hanging down are long strings, wound round with more gold thread, some with fine black feathers attached, and with large bluish crystals at the end. Even the battery housing is carved and inlaid with more stones.