The Find
Book One of: Max and the Dream Time

Max has always imagined one future: Jamie beside him, somewhere far from their fading mill town. Then he finds the Orb buried in the millpond and discovers The Everywhen, a strange and terrifying place where possible futures wait in silence.At first, it feels like a gift. Max can see what is coming. He can protect the people he loves. He can keep Jamie safe from heartbreak, danger, and loss.Then the cost begins to show.Every change leaves a mark. Every rescue takes something from him. The more Max tries to shape the future, the more the future shapes him in return. Protection begins to look like control, and love becomes harder to separate from fear.Terrified of what the Orb is doing to him, Max’s friends demand an oath: no one touches it alone, no one speaks of it, and no one enters The Everywhen.Some promises cannot stay buried.Years later, with the town collapsing and hope almost gone, the Orb rises again. It offers one last chance to rewrite everything. Max must decide what matters more: the future he wants, the people he loves, or the boy Jamie is losing.Max and the Dream Time: The Complete Five-Part Collection is a heartfelt YA speculative story about first love, friendship, loyalty, impossible choices, and the quiet, devastating cost of trying to save people from futures they have not chosen.Author’s NoteStories, like people, change as they age.When I returned to Max and Jamie’s world, I found the heart of the story still waiting: a secret too heavy for childhood, a friendship tested by time, and the painful question of how much we should sacrifice to protect the people we love.This revised edition brings that world into sharper focus. The mill town feels more intimate, The Everywhen more immediate, and Max’s choices heavier. The language has been shaped for clarity, rhythm, readability, and audiobook narration.My goal was not to change what Max and the Dream Time is. It was to let the story speak with more warmth, clarity, and emotional force.