Read Online Journey to Rainbow Island by Christie Hsiao - Free Book Online Page A

don’t you go back home to your parents? And stop bothering me with this nonsense,” Julian snapped, looking very weary.
    â€œThen you will come when you are ready,” said Yu-ning. “The door is always open. Finish your apple and then you will see.” She walked back toward the main gate, turning back one last time to smile at Julian. He was staring down at the apple. Quietly, most of the crowd followed behind her at a distance. She didn’t notice that Julian had risen slowly and had also followed her, staying at the back of the crowd.
    â€œHello.” Yu-ning smiled at the gate guard, who ignored her. She walked through the massive glass doors and entered an enormous atrium in the center of the tower. The glass rose hundreds of feet, forming a vast hall with the next floor of the tower perched far overhead. The color inside was bright, in stark contrast to the grey outside. The light was shining into the clear windows through intricate designs etched into the glass. It illuminated the entire space with textured shadows, as the colors danced and refracted off every surface.
    â€œOh, my goodness,” her tiny voice squealed with glee. “It’s so very tall, bright, and lovely! It’s so magical.”
    She noticed a sentry with bushy brown hair and a black robe sitting behind an old dark desk on the left. He held a large scroll and was examining it with a furrowed brow.
    â€œDo you work in this beautiful tower?” she asked with reverence.
    â€œYes, I work here; what is it you want?” he said curtly.
    â€œThis tower, it is so bright and beautiful,” Yu-ning continued.
    The guard looked up from his parchment. “I don’t know what you are talking about. What’s your name?” he asked impatiently.
    â€œMy name is Yu-ning,” she said confidentally.
    â€œOh, yes, I see your name here. What part of the tower are you going to?” he asked.
    â€œI’m going to the top floor,” she said matter-of-factly.
    â€œThe top floor? You can’t get up there; no one can get up there,” he said rudely.
    â€œOh, we can all get up there. There’s a very powerful man up there, and I’m going to meet him,” she said.
    â€œThere’s no one on the top floor,” he responded in a curt manner. “I have served in this tower for twenty years; no one can get up there. This tower has hundreds of floors, with many businesses and private dwellings, and it keeps growing higher. But it’s impossible to get to the top, because the top floor is always changing,” he said in a tired tone.
    â€œYes, it is possible. There’s a powerful man at the top of the tower. Anything is possible; we can all get up there. I’m going up there,” Yu-ning said with determination.
    â€œYou can’t go. Even if there was a man up there, the large sky conveyor does not work—hasn’t worked for years, ever since the water stopped flowing through the millrace.”
    â€œMillrace? And what’s a sky conveyor?”
    â€œThe conveyor is powered by a pulley system that operates like a mill,” the sentry said, at the edge of his patience, sighing loudly. “If you must know, the water flows in through a small stream, or millrace, which forces the wheel to turn.” As he spoke he made an exaggerated circular motion in the air with his finger, right in front of Yu-ning’s face. “That, in turn, causes the conveyor platform to rise. But as I said, the water spring that fed the millrace dried up years ago. There are smaller sky conveyors through that arch over there,” said the sentry, pointing in the opposite direction toward the far side of the atrium.
    â€œThey will take you to the first 400 floors,” added the mirthless sentry. “The millraces that power them are smaller and not strong enough to get you to the top floor. The only pulley that was ever made to go to the top is the one over