Love in Another Dimension
By Emily Walters
Free preview next page
Chapter 1
Larken looked out the window as the city gave way to farmland. She bounced around in her seat, anticipation building inside her. After about an hour of this, the train slowed to a stop. She pulled her brown messenger bag onto her shoulder and walked out onto the train station platform. Her father’s laboratory was just two blocks away so she walked there, taking her time. This small farm town was where she grew up, and it held many memories. The little school where she had learned to read and write, the grocery store where she got her first job, and the library where she spent much of her time reading books. She was now in her second year of graduate engineering school at the nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Though she enjoyed being at MIT, she was truly a farm girl at heart. The city was just too big and chaotic for her to love it.
She slowed to a stop as she approached the main entrance to her father’s lab. After knocking on the door using their secret code, she pushed open the doors. It was a large building, at least in comparison to the rest of the buildings in town. She used to think it was really big, until she first arrived at the university and found that it was actually pretty small. Stainless steel tables were lined up along the walls. Laptops, test tubes, and random papers were scattered throughout. Normally there would be lots of people in here, rushing about making calculations and experimenting with glass vials of colorful liquids, but her dad was the only one who came in this early. In the back was her father’s office and she could see his silhouette on the other side of the door. It swung open and he smiled when he noticed her.
“Larken, my little girl. How are you, honey?” he asked coming up and embracing her in a warm hug. She smiled as she smelled coffee and latex gloves. He always smelled like this since he would have a cup of coffee in the morning while doing his experiments.
“I’m doing fine, Dad, happy to be home for the summer break.” He let go of her then and gestured for her to follow him as he went back into his office.
“Check out this little gizmo,” he said, his voice going an octave higher, as it usually did when he was excited about an invention. He was an inventor, probably the only one who chose to live in a farm town instead of in the city. Despite the fact that he could certainly afford to move to the big city.
He was holding up what appeared to be a watch. Except the hands of the clock were not moving and there was only one button on the side.
“What does it do?” Larken asked, tucking a lock of her wavy brown hair off her face.
He leaned in with a grin. “I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but if it works, it just might be able to transport the wearer to a different dimension and change their appearance.”
“Really, Dad? This is real life, not a science fiction story. Is another dimension even possible?”
“Oh, don’t be so negative, of course it’s possible! What do I always say?”
“Science is about making things possible.” Larken sighed. Her father was usually like this. His head in the clouds. When she was younger she loved to hear him talk about his inventions and his ideas of other worlds. Back then, she believed it was possible. She was grown up now and the idea of another dimension was a bit out there. But she loved her father nonetheless so she smiled and pretended to be excited.
“That’s pretty cool. What are you going to do with it if it does work? And how are you going to know if it works? Do you have a volunteer who’s willing to possibly be sent to another dimension?” Sometimes if his inventions needed a person to work the controls he would find a volunteer in the town to do it. Lately though there had been less people willing to volunteer. It probably had something to do with the last invention, which was supposed to be a jet-pack but ended up setting the man’s hair on fire and combusting after he had thrown it off his back.
“No, not yet. It’s still in the works and I don’t want to have anyone explode or anything,” he said with a grimace. “Anyway how is school going? Are you getting good grades?
“School is great and I’m doing well in all my classes.”
“Good girl, that’s what I like to hear. Now you probably want to run off and see your mom, and brothers and sister, don’t you? Go ahead; I’ll see you at home for dinner.” He gave her another hug then shooed her out of the building.
She loved her childhood home. It was a beautiful two-story house with a nice front porch, a white picket fence, and a tire swing in the yard. The minute she reached the driveway she could see faces looking at her from the windows. Then the front door whooshed open and they all came running out. Larken ran to meet them. They all converged on the lawn in a giant group hug.
“Larken, you came to visit!” her youngest brother Sef exclaimed.
“Of course I did, remember I told you last time I was here that I would stay for summer break, silly.” She laughed and ruffled his mop of unruly brown hair as they all walked into the house.
Once she had closed the door and stepped inside her mom called from the kitchen, “Larken, honey, is that you? The kids have been making a lot of noise, so I’m not sure who else it could be.”
Larken moved into the kitchen and her mom opened her arms for a hug. She was in the middle of washing dishes and was rather soapy, with bubbles everywhere, but she didn’t really care. “Oh, I’ve missed you,” she said squeezing Larken tightly.
“I’ve missed you too, Mom, but you’re kind of suffocating me.”
“Oh, sorry!” she giggled. “How is school going?”
“Good, I’m getting good grades and all the teachers like me.”
“Oh, I’m so glad.” She hugged Larken one more time. “Alright go ahead and put away your stuff. You must be tired from the trip.”
Thirty minutes later she had finished unpacking and was downstairs playing a game with her siblings. Her father was due back from work any minute now, and her mom was finishing up the casserole she was putting in the oven for dinner. She was waiting her turn while James, the eldest of her three brothers, rolled the dice, when she got an unusual text message from her dad.
“We have a problem. Get the kids out of there.”
“There are some weird people here,” Chelsea, her teenage sister, called from her seat by the window. Charles, Chelsea’s twin brother, and Sef got up to look out the window and Larken followed. Tons of black cars littered the driveway; they were even on the lawn.
“Who is it, kids?” their mom yelled. They were all silent as they watched large men in suits emerge from the cars. Larken felt a sense of dread as she watched them. The man who came out of the nearest car held a megaphone in one hand and she guessed that he was the one in charge.
“For confiscating property of the government of the United States you are all hereby under arrest. Come out with your hands up, and no one gets hurt. We don’t have all day and we’re not going to go easy on you.”
What on earth were they talking about! This must be a mistake, they hadn’t stolen anything, and even if they had why would they send so many people to arrest them? It was as if they thought a crime ring lived in the house or something.
“You have three seconds to comply. Three.”
Wait, what!? They had to be joking, although they didn’t look like the joking type.
“Two!” her heart lurched as she saw them start pulling out guns.
“One, time’s up!” Brandishing the guns, the men started running towards the house.
“What on earth is going on?” her mom asked, coming out of the kitchen. When she saw the commotion outside she shrieked.
“Kids, get upstairs now before they break down the door!”
It was too late though; the door was smashed from the other side and fell to the floor in shards of wood. Instantly all the kids began barreling up the stairs in a panic. Larken did her best to keep a firm grip on Sef, but then the lights went out and she slipped on the smooth laminated floor of the upstairs hallway. She
tried to follow the sound of her siblings’ hurried footsteps but accidentally tripped on a toy that had been left on the floor and landed inside one of the closets.
“No one ever remembers to close the doors in this house,” she grumbled to herself. Her hands searched around her for a handhold so she could get up, or for something to defend herself with. She could hear rumbling footsteps, the men were coming up the stairs now. Her hands grasped a cold hard object, and she held it closer to see what it was. A watch! Very helpful indeed. She was about to toss it aside when a large man peered into the closet. She screamed and backed up, unintentionally pressing a button on the watch still in her clenched hand. The man’s face went from anger to confusion as the world around her started to blur and everything started moving around as though she were spinning.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE ENTIRE STORY ON AMAZON
Emily Walters’ Readers Club
Want to be FIRST to learn about new releases, 99-cents promotions and FREE BOOK GIVEAWAYS? Sign up for my newsletter!
CLICK HERE
About Emily Walters
Emily Walters lives in California with her beloved husband, three daughters, and two dogs. She began writing after high school, but it took her ten long years of writing for newspapers and magazines until she realized that fiction is her real passion. Emily likes to create a mental movie in her reader's mind about charismatic characters, their passionate relationships and interesting adventures. When she isn't writing romantic stories, she can be found reading a fiction book, jogging, or traveling with her family. She loves Starbucks, Matt Damon and Argentinian tango.
A COMPLETE LIST OF EMILY WALTERS’ BOOKS
Priceless Love Page 10