“From what I understand time works differently where he lives, but I would think that he was about our age.”
“Our age,” I repeated to myself. He also looked to be about our age when I last saw him and earlier when I’d kissed him.
“Calla, you’re blushing!” Shirlyn giggled. “You seem awfully interested in Valcas. You’re not in love with him, are you?”
I felt my blush deepen. There was no way I was in love with Valcas. That didn’t mean I couldn’t still be attracted to him, though—a flawless past version of Valcas that wasn’t all creepy eyed.
“You cannot hide love from those who know love,” Romaso added, taunting me with a mischievous grin that dimpled his cheeks. I wanted to punch him.
Unfortunately, the eye roll and firm “no” that I intended to give as my answer came out as a pathetic squeak.
SHIRLYN AND Romaso’s teasing was not mean-spirited, but it embarrassed me. At least Shirlyn helped me figure out the original color of Valcas’ eyes. All I needed to travel again was a method of transportation. Romaso and I had left the cruise liner back at the harbor, but I had no experience with maneuvering such a massive seacraft. I needed to find a smaller vessel, something like one of the Halls’ motorboats. Not knowing the family well enough to ask for one, and in an attempt to free myself from all of the teasing, I redirected the attention onto the easiest target, Romaso.
“Have you ever seen a boat that has no sails and that you never have to row?” I asked him.
As I hoped, Shirlyn’s face lit up when she heard my question.
Romaso responded sheepishly, “A boat without a sail and with no oar—I, no, I have not seen this.”
Good, I thought. He didn’t remember the cruise liner or motorboats from the harbor. At breakfast Shirlyn said that she’d found him wandering around in the hallway after she woke up. All of Romaso’s memories, except for Shirlyn, seemed to have been deleted from the day before.
“That’s too bad.” I pretended not to notice Romaso staring at the brook while he concentrated on the riddle.
He looked up after a moment. “Where do you find this kind of boat? I would like to see it.”
“Probably at the harbor that Edgar mentioned this morning.” I shrugged.
Romaso turned to Shirlyn. “Papa Hall has this kind of boat?”
Shirlyn winked at me. “Of course he does! It’s nearly time for tea. Let’s go back to the house and ask my father if we can take one of the smaller motorboats for the afternoon.”
“Sounds great.” I grinned.
THE HALLS held tea in a second-floor sitting room with an unobstructed view of the gardens. Edgar and I sat across from each other in matching cushioned leather chairs. Shirlyn and Romaso shared a sofa. Edgar apologized on behalf of Elizabeth, who was at a dress fitting.
“I don’t see why each new season requires an updated wardrobe,” he said. “I suppose that’s something I will never understand. So, go on, tell me about your adventures.”
“I took Romaso and Calla through several areas of the house and then out to the brook,” Shirlyn replied.
“That sounds lovely. Are there additional plans for this afternoon?”
“Actually there are,” Shirlyn said in between sips of tea. “Could we borrow one of the smaller motorboats? I’d like to take an auto to the harbor and then take Romaso and Calla out on the water. We’ve done so much walking already today. You know, Father, Romaso has never seen a motorized boat.”
“You have a point there,” Edgar replied. “That would be something completely new to you, wouldn’t it, Romaso?”
Romaso nodded.
“I’ll send a driver with you. Shirlyn, do you think you’ll be able to manage the boat by yourself?” Edgar asked.
I glanced at Shirlyn and gave her an encouraging smile. An additional passenger would make the trip more complicated. It was going to be difficult enough to try to find a way to ditch Shirlyn and Romaso before I traveled to Valcas.
“I think so,” replied Shirlyn.
“I can help too,” I offered. “I’ve spent a lot of time around boats, Jet Skis and other mechanically propelled equipment at my family’s lake in America.”
“You’ll have to tell me more about your family, Calla. I’d like to hear about the Jet Skis,” said Edgar, fascinated.
Mona entered the room and approached Edgar with a small envelope. “Mr. Hall, please excuse me for interrupting. We received a letter.”
“Why thank you, Mona.” Edgar perused the outside of the envelope, but did not open it. “Calla, this appears to be for you.”
My teacup quivered in my hand as I set it down on the tea table. “Thank you,” I stuttered as I reached for the letter.
Someone had typed my name onto the envelope. There was no postage or return address. I tore open the envelope and unfolded the notecard inside to find the following typed message:
Calla, please call. This is very important.
“Is everything all right?” Edgar asked.
“It’s just a reminder,” I said, brushing off the question so that the letter wouldn’t draw further attention. The letter made no sense to me.
“Father, the boat?”
“Yes, yes, I know. You wanted to take our guests to the harbor. Mona, please arrange a driver for Shirlyn and her friends.”
While we waited, I asked Edgar about his inventions. I was still curious whether there was more to his life’s work than time travel.
“You’re an inventor, right? What kinds of projects have you been working on lately?”
Edgar’s eyes lit up; I noticed that they were far less droopy than those of his older self. “Something that’s proving rather difficult, I’m afraid. It’s in its very early stages, but with so much potential. You see, I’m experimenting with an elixir.”
I should have guessed that it would involve tinctures and tonics. “An elixir? What does it do?”
“Calla, you’ve heard of the fountain of youth, correct?”
“Yes. That was a myth, right? No one ever found it.”
“That is true. However, during my travels I was able to gather various reagents that, if mixed with certain futuristic properties, should be able to serve the same purpose.”
“A youth elixir,” I repeated flatly.
“Don’t mention this to Elizabeth, though.” Edgar laughed. “I’m sure she wouldn’t give me a moment’s peace until I provided her with a lifetime supply.”
I stared at Edgar, realizing the significance of his invention and how it could be used, especially by travelers.
DURING THE drive down to the harbor, I thought more about Edgar’s work on the youth elixir. If he was middle-aged in the 1930s then he had to be at least 120 years old now. Old Edgar certainly didn’t look very youthful, but maybe the elixir he’d been able to develop was able to extend his life. Knowing Edgar, he was probably still trying to perfect the elixir. No wonder he was all alone. Maybe his wife and daughter were “gone now” because he’d outlived them. What I still didn’t get was why his workshop was now in the middle of the woods rather than at the Halls’ estate.
Shirlyn’s laughter shattered my thoughts. I looked over to find Romaso leaning halfway out of one of the windows, trying to get a good look at the wheels.
“The driver just explained how the brakes worked and so now Romaso is trying to find them,” Shirlyn said as I helped her pull Romaso back into the vehicle.
We were nearing the harbor. I scanned the water, trying to find the black cruise liner. It wasn’t there. The driver parked the car at a private area of the harbor where the Halls kept their vessels. Shirlyn pointed out a small motorboat. It was white and tan, with “Pipette” painted in script across the side. I smiled. There was no doubt in my mind that Edgar had named the motorboat. The Halls’ driver helped each of us out of the vehicle and onto the Pipette. Shirlyn positioned herself in front of the steering wheel, with Romaso at her side. I sat in a second row of seats behind them.
Shirlyn surprised me by
being skillful at driving the motorboat. As she masterfully guided the boat through the water, I mentally rehearsed how I was going to bring up the subject of the travel glasses. My plan was to tell Shirlyn that I knew of another way to travel. Romaso, who probably wouldn’t remember the travel glasses being used for the gondola ride to England, would likely have no idea what I was talking about. When we returned to the harbor, I intended to ask Shirlyn if I could borrow the motorboat so that I could visit Valcas. She could think that I liked him or whatever. I didn’t care. I just wanted to make sure that both Shirlyn and Romaso were off of the motorboat when I left.
I relaxed and looked around me. The sun shone brightly, high up in the sky, its beams reflecting off of the rippling water. I reached into my backpack for something to shade my eyes from the sharp glare coming off of the water. I felt instant relief after putting on the travel glasses. A sharp pang of regret struck me a split second later when I heard a familiar voice call out to me.
“Is the water so bright, Calla?” Valcas sounded pleased, victorious.
“What the? How the? How can you see where I am?” I shouted at Valcas’ image.
He was facing me, in a seated position, against an all-white background. His fists were tightly clenched in front of him, his hair blowing back wildly.
“Look out, dearest.” Valcas’ laughter rang out in stereo, resonating from the outside as well as from within the glasses.
I ripped the glasses off of my face in time to see a larger motorboat heading straight toward us. The motorboat was painted in Valcas’ signature yellow and black. I was really starting to hate those colors. I gritted my teeth, angry with myself for mindlessly putting on the glasses. I hadn’t even tried to block out Valcas. Not that it would have mattered. He must have been at the harbor already. How long had he been there waiting for me? I didn’t know, and I wasn’t going to wait around to find out.
“Hurry, Shirlyn! Watch out! He’s coming straight toward us. We need to turn around. Now!”
Shirlyn and Romaso gasped in unity. Shirlyn jerked the steering wheel to the right. The Pipette, now traveling perpendicular to the dock, jetted forward. I watched to the left where I could see the yellow and black motorboat advancing toward us. Water sprayed in every direction.
“Faster, Shirlyn! He’s going to catch—uh, crash—into us!”
Shirlyn increased the small boat’s speed. “This is as fast as it can go. What now?”
The motorboat violently shook under the pressure of reaching and maintaining its maximum capacity for speed. I held my breath as I put the travel glasses back on my face. I had to somehow block out Valcas, the one chasing close behind me, while searching for a past version of Valcas who’d existed in his parents’ world of make-believe. I hesitated. This was getting too complicated.
“Calla? We’re getting too far away from the harbor. We’ll, we’ll be swept out to sea—”
“Please keep going, Shirlyn,” I begged. I focused on my search.
The world became still and quiet. All I could hear was the sound of my own breath. I removed the travel glasses and looked around me. The sky was cloudy and gray. Shirlyn, Romaso and I sat above a still pool of silver water. The motorboat had stopped moving and was floating there, unchanged. This couldn’t be right. Where were the moons from the photos? The white tower? The purple-red terrain?
Romaso and Shirlyn eyed me suspiciously.
“I, uh, found a way to travel without the yacht,” I stuttered lamely, ashamed that I’d pulled Romaso and Shirlyn into the chase. “I think there were too many distractions. Too much was happening at the same time. We ended up somewhere else. I need to try again.”
“Where are you taking us?” asked Shirlyn, her nose twitching.
“I wanted to go to the place in the colored photographs that you showed us this morning, the world where Valcas grew up.”
“The paintings?” asked Romaso. “How do we go inside the paintings? This makes no sense.”
“Well, first, we need to get the boat moving again.”
“That won’t be difficult,” said Shirlyn, guarded. “What next?”
“Then I put on these glasses and tell them where I want to go.” I looked thoughtfully at the travel glasses. “Usually they listen.”
“Who was it, the driver of the other motorboat?”
“Shirlyn, I’m so sorry to drag you and Romaso into all of this. Remember this morning when I told you Valcas was chasing me?”
“Yes, go on.”
“That was Valcas in the other boat.”
Shirlyn’s eyes widened. “I see. What have you done to my cousin to make him so upset with you?”
“It’s a really long story, but I think if I can just find out more, learn more from where he grew up, that it will help me. Maybe it will help Valcas too.”
“All right,” said Shirlyn. “I’ll start the engine.”
“Actually, on second thought, Shirlyn, let’s switch places. I should be in the driver’s seat for this. Just tell me what to do.”
With the Pipette once again in motion, I focused more carefully on a version of Valcas with blazing green eyes until everything around us went white.
SHIRLYN OPENED her eyes first. “Calla, look! The glasses—they must have worked.”
I propped the travel glasses on my head like a headband. “I guess Sable’s camera wasn’t broken after all.” I beamed.
“We’re not sailing anymore. We’re flying up in the air! Why, this is simply amazing, isn’t it, Romaso?”
Romaso glowered as he took in so many changes at once, trying to make sense of them all. “The boat is no longer a boat. What are we riding?”
I located a gas pedal and a brake. Then, very carefully, I tried steering to the left. “I’m not sure, exactly. It seems to be a kind of a cross between a motorcycle and hovercraft, only we’re pretty high up.”
“A what?” asked Shirlyn.
“Never mind. Look at how dark the sky is here.”
“Yes and with everything else being so clearly lit up. Calla, can we get closer to the ground? I want to see whether that red and purple material is grass or soil.”
“How about we wait until we get to the tower over there? That’s where I remember seeing Valcas standing in his portrait.” I looked down below us. “We’re eventually going to need to find a place to park.”
“How can anything be so bright without the sun?” Shirlyn asked. “The tower looks like a big white rook from a chess game. Maybe it’s being lit from the inside.”
Fiery slivers of moon disappeared and reappeared in the sky. The tower became brighter with no apparent outward source of light. It reminded me of white landscaping stones glittering in the sunlight. I was relieved that Shirlyn was enjoying herself. However, I wasn’t quite sure how to descend once we reached the tower. The flying vehicle rose higher when I applied the slightest bit of pressure on the accelerator.
Shirlyn pointed out that the tower did not stand alone. A long, narrow wall of the same color and material stretched out from behind it. “The wall keeps going. I can’t see where it ends. The family and all of their attendants couldn’t all live in the tower.”
“All of their attendants? Do others live here aside from Valcas, Jim and Sable?”
“Aunt Sable and Uncle Jim didn’t have any other children, and I doubt anybody else from either side of the family lives here, but there would be so many people under their employ. You know, cooks, maids, gardeners, caretakers, security—”
“Security?” I winced.
“This is a castle, Calla. Nobility requires protection.”
I eased up on the gas pedal and tested the brake. In response, the vehicle descended slightly and hovered. “How do we get inside?”
“We could try the tower to see if there’s an entrance where visitors are accepted. Pull up closer and let’s see if there’s anything on the other side of that wall.”
We jerked forward as I applied the gas in combination with the brake. “I can�
�t get it to go straight without going higher. It’s getting kind of annoying.”
“Just drive upward until we’re about a third of the way there and then maybe we can coast the rest of the way.”
“Sure, yeah.” I had to give Shirlyn credit. The idea made sense and I didn’t have a better one.
Each ascending foot made it more difficult to see the ground below. The wall extended from one side of the tower like a flat sheet. Ribbons of scarlet and mauve-colored earth stretched across the other side. I strained to see behind the wall as the top of the tower came into view. Drawing nearer, I saw additional glints of color emerging from the mass of burgundy. Oblong shapes of charcoal and lemon swirl began to grow toward us as we rose higher.
I braked into a hover and pointed out the shapes to Shirlyn and Romaso. “What do you think those could be?”
“It’s like a swarm of bumblebees,” gasped Shirlyn.
The yellow and black shapes continued to approach. Even against the dark sky, I could see the blackness of the swarm as it neared. A loud warning in a baritone voice came from the mass before it fully came into focus. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Alarm increased to panic, flooding my entire being. Had Valcas known that we would come here? Had he sent someone to capture us? A sick feeling washed over me. Maybe I failed to travel far back enough into his past. I only knew of one way to escape. I steered quickly while reaching for the glasses that were propped on top of my head. My hand shook as I brought it back in front of me. It was empty. The sick feeling spread to my stomach. The glasses were falling down into the abyss below. Meanwhile, the swarm decreased its distance, revealing a fleet of yellow and black vehicles that looked like the one we were flying.
“Identify yourselves. Immediately.”
“Calla, your glasses! We will never be able to retrieve them. Let me speak.” Then, to the fleet, Shirlyn called out: “My name is Shirlyn Hall. I’m here to visit my cousin, Valcas. I’ve brought two additional guests, Romaso Bredani and Calla Winston.”
“Amplify yourself. We have surrounded your Estrel-Flyer.”
Travel Glasses Page 11