"On
the day that I first saw the unicorn, my parents had a fight…"
From – "In the Blink of an Eye", Barrie Publishing, 2001.
Otherworld is the strange reality where Merion was born and to which she
retreats after the breakup of her marriage.
As Merion's daughter, Tam, puts it…
"Otherworld is the place Mum comes from. It’s
difficult to explain, and the only way you can visit is by finding one of the
portals that link the two worlds. There aren’t many portals, and they’re hidden
in places like caves, or the bottoms of lakes. There’s a portal in the
Himalayan Mountains, and there’s the one you reach through our back door. "
"Mum’s
garden is full of vines and creepers and flowers the size of dinner plates. In
one corner there’s a fountain, and that’s where Mum was sitting. As I watched,
she stroked a rock with her fingers. Streaks of purple and silver ran through
the rock, veining it with jewels."
"In
some ways, Otherworld is like the ordinary world, but the sky is a deeper,
wilder blue and the trees are different colours. The animals are different,
too. I have to be careful in Otherworld, and I’m not allowed to talk about it
at home. Dad says people wouldn’t understand.
Mum’s Otherworld office is inside a grey stone castle with eight round
windows. Each window looks out on a different portal, and it’s Mum’s job to
keep watch on roaming monsters. Mum doesn’t watch the portals all the time. She
shares the job with two other wardens."
Otherworld is beautiful, but the Otherworlders are not very tolerant of
what they regard as human failings… and then one day Tam, half human and half
Otherworlder, makes a discovery that will change the way in which Otherworld
regards its 'poorer' cousin, Earth!
Background – "Under the
Gumtree" by Sallyo's
Backgrounds
