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

there,” he said, pointing with his thumb back toward the broken sky conveyor. “But even when it did work, it wasn’t always dependable, because the top floors kept growing! Do you get it, little girl?” He said this last sentence in a high, shrill voice, his face turning a fascinating shade of tomato red.
    Yu-ning left the sentry and walked in the direction of the broken conveyor platform. The crowd followed dutifully. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Julian had joined them, which made her smile to herself. Just as the not-so-polite sentry said, there the large mill wheel stood silent, with dust and debris covering the floor and the guardrails of a wooden platform adjacent to it. Yu-ning walked onto the center of the platform and looked up. As far as she could see, the shaft for the conveyor went up and up. Next to the platform were four enormous, thick ropes, attached to eachcorner of the platform—some sort of pulley system, she surmised.
    Yu-ning walked to the far side of the platform and placed her hand on the huge water wheel. Large buckets were spaced about a foot apart, encircling the entire wheel, to catch the water. The buckets were full of dust and debris, and they were dry. The millrace was about five feet deep and six feet wide and ran under the wheel. It was expertly built, with fine, smooth river stones lining the bottom and the sides. Not a drop of water could be seen.
    Then Yu-ning had an idea. “Excuse me,” she said in a loud voice, in the direction of the crowd that had followed her inside the tower. “Where is the man who has that blue gem—the one that powers the flying disc?”
    â€œYou mean brillantium, like this?” said the man with the gem, holding up the robin’s-egg-size crystal between his thumb and index finger.
    â€œYes!” said Yu-ning. “Can’t we just use that magic gem to power the platform upward?” she said with expectation in her voice. Several of the adults sniggered, and others looked embarrassed for Yu-ning.
    Julian spoke up and said, “Brillantium can only move small amounts of weight, Yu-ning. It’s strong enough to power a whirlicon with a few riders, but all the brillantium in the world wouldn’t be able to lift that huge platform all the way up there.” Julian raised his head and pointed up toward the top of the tower, thousands of feet above.
    â€œUse your crystal heart, Yu-ning.” She heard the voice, which seemed to be just behind her left ear. Yu-ning turned around to answer the person who had spoken to her. No one was there, and the crowd of people was a good twenty feetbehind her. She realized it was One, and lifted up her crystal heart necklace, thrusting it toward the platform.
    As she raised the pink crystal above her head, brilliant bright lights from within the tower began showering down like gossamer waterfalls from above. The lights of the tower descended and raced directly toward the center of the pink crystal heart, and struck the crystal with a loud thwoop! —causing Yu-ning to stagger backward several steps. The crowd of adults around her gasped, but no one said a word.
    Yu-ning regained her balance and was amazed to see that a new pink beam was flowing outward from her necklace. It was just like the one that had led her through the city in the form of the pink pathway. The pink beam moved toward the corner of the platform, down into the stone-lined millrace, and into a dark tunnel that led under the foundations of the tower—and disappeared into the darkness.
    The pink light continued to flow, accelerating in speed and pouring into the tunnel, for several minutes. Yu-ning’s arms started to tire from the power of the light flowing through her pink crystal heart. Eventually, much to her relief, Julian joined her on the platform, supporting her arms so she could continue to hold the pink heart aloft. Yu-ning smiled gratefully at Julian. As quickly as