Travel Glasses (The Call to Search Everywhen, #1)

Chapter 1 The First Fall

THE DAY I met Valcas began within the confines of the grounds surrounding my family's lakeside cottage. Wild grasses crunched beneath my feet as I stomped through overgrown cattails and dodged piles of musty fallen leaves. The air was clean and brisk, thanks to the cloudless sky and the freshwater Lake Winston. It smelled of autumn, and that nearly made me gag.

I swallowed back the sick feeling by pumping my legs harder. Mom had been away for so long that Uncle Al was on my case again about making friends. An online friend would have been enough to make him happy, but I'd abandoned the last of those when I became anti-tech. My offline friends knew me as Calla. The biggest losers I knew called me Cow-la. And so I ran.

Running gave me plenty of time to brood, something I'd mastered during my seventeen years of life. Just like the seasons, my reasons for brooding seemed to grow and change with me. The one topic that never grew old was my father, Basileios Plaka. His name was serious and unusual, much like my real name, Calidora. I had so many questions about him.

Mom avoided the Dad topic by working herself to death. Uncle Al told me that I looked like my father except that I'd inherited my oversized dark eyes and pale skin from Mom. My father and I shared the same brown-black curls, round cheekbones, sharp chin and small build. It was no wonder that I often felt as if Mom couldn't bear to look at me, and that was unfair because I knew that I had nothing to do with her meeting my father, getting pregnant and having me.

A run around the lake usually softened the bladed edges of the painful longings that I carried with me and made them more bearable. But, today, there was something about the crisp air and decaying leaves that choked me each time I inhaled.

"Back to school time," I huffed, reminding myself. Tourist season had ended weeks ago, leaving the lake empty and quiet.

With the backs of my sleeves I wiped away sweat beads slipping down my forehead and across my brow. I stopped in front of the dock, a weathered brown-gray structure in need of repair and several coats of paint. Rows of sun-scorched irises lay trampled nearby. I wrinkled my nose. Interning at the lake made it my job to dig these out before landscaping the rocky area that would become the new picnic grounds.

As my breathing slowed, I pictured wooden picnic tables encircling a brightly colored jungle gym swarming with children. Teens would ditch their younger brothers and sisters to hang out with their new best friends, all while I watched from afar. At least that wouldn't happen until the spring, after I started my first semester of college. By then I hoped to have piles of homework so I could stay inside.

I turned away from the dock and bent down to stretch my legs. Tension melted out of both hamstrings and then dashed back in again, in knifelike spasms, as something slammed into me from my right. The blow chilled me more than the time I'd fallen into the lake through a weak patch of ice. My legs flew up from underneath me as that something lifted me up and then dragged me across the ground. I landed on my left shoulder, five feet from where I'd been stretching.

More stunned than injured, I sat up. My clothes were streaked with dirt and grass stains, but I was not bleeding. I hadn't seen the ground, the trees or the sky during the impact. All I remembered was a bright white flash of light as sharp as the blow that I felt. I sat there dumbfounded until I heard approaching footsteps behind me, from the direction of the dock.

"Here, let me help you," a smooth voice whispered as a young man offered his hand. "Quickly, now."

My brain groggily put the voice together with the hand I held. I looked back at the dock. A yellow and black Jet Ski sat in the lake that was empty just moments ago. I pulled my hand away.

"Who are you?"

He caught me in his arms before I fell again. "I am terribly sorry about that."

I looked up and then immediately looked back down. The stranger was smiling at me and not looking the least bit concerned, despite his apology. Dark hair framed an angular face of olive complexion. Unfortunately, dark sunglasses prevented me from seeing his eyes. I suddenly felt uncomfortable in my sweat-streaked skin and sticky gym clothes.

"I'm Valcas and new to the area," he said. "Meet me back here again this evening. Please. We'll have dinner across the lake. Agreed?"

I wriggled out of Valcas' arms. The top of my head reached just above his chest. His dark clothes were splashed with water, but they were clean and fitted to his tall and slender body.

"Yeah, sure," I said. But I was anything but sure and could not imagine why this beautiful stranger would ask me out so suddenly.

Still dizzy, I awkwardly walked away, keeping my eyes to the ground until I got far enough away to glance back at Valcas. He stood there, smiling. My shoulders reflexively hunched forward, trying to make me appear smaller, as I stiffly walked back home.

By the time I reached the cottage, I convinced myself that he just felt bad for what happened to me at the dock.

My bearded Uncle Al stood outside watching me, amused and scruffy in his overly mended overalls. He was propped up against his pitchfork and wore a smirk on his face.

"Good morning," I called out.

"So, where've you been this morning?" He chuckled, looking over my grass-stained clothes with small black eyes that peered through bushy brows.

"I met a guy at the dock," I replied, "and tonight we're going on a date."