Calla faces charges against her for changing the past. Her use of the Travel Glasses resulted in the creation of two writings that affected the lives of Edgar, the inventor of the Travel Glasses, and Valcas, their prior owner. Now Calla must explain her actions before the Time and Space Travel Agency.
The hearing does not end well. The travel commissioner finds Calla guilty as charged and forces her to choose between two harsh penalties. Despite the risk of becoming lost herself, Calla accepts a dangerous travel mission that may help her find her father. She teams up with a group of talented travelers. While working with them, she soon discovers that she has a special travel talent of her own.
Pursued by the sentient being of white light that’s been tracking her father’s bloodline, Calla fears her new found talents may not be enough to protect her and her teammates before they complete their mission.
Insight Kindling is the second installment in The Call to Search Everywhen serial series.
“I didn’t expect TSTA Headquarters to be a Nowhere,” I said, “especially when everyone there seems so worried about people getting lost.” From what I’d learned about traveling so far, Nowheres were either un-places or made-up places that were no longer real. Places of the lost.
Valcas stepped off the side of the Estrel-Flyer and turned to look at me. At least I assumed he was looking at me. His sunglasses were still on his face, reflecting the moonlight, hiding his creepy eyes.
“What? Say something,” I said.
Dark eyebrows arched beneath the dark strands of hair spilling over his forehead down toward the darkness of his glasses. “You’ve learned a lot more about traveling, but you still don’t have much of a sense of direction.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” The blood drained from my face as I remembered just how little I trusted him. But Mom had said—
I straightened my shoulders. “Where are we?”
“We’re just outside of TSTA Headquarters. Did you think we could walk right in?”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s called the Time and Space Travel Agency, isn’t it?”
“Yes. It’s an agency, a very secure one. Don’t stray far from me.”
I squinted as we walked. There weren’t any buildings, just lots of dirt and the occasional tuft of grass, all shrouded in a hazy midnight blue, illuminated by the silver glow of the moon.
“You know where we’re going, right?” I asked.
Valcas sniffed.
“Are we going to jump off a cliff somewhere like we did at the meadow…to get to your palace?”
Not that I was afraid. I’d traveled several times with the glasses by jumping from high places in order to generate plenty of momentum to get to different places and times. The first time this happened had been a surprise. Not long after Valcas and I had first met, he’d literally grabbed my arm while we were standing near the edge of a cliff. And jumped. I’d woken up in a palace in a kingdom Valcas said he’d usurped.
“This is where I got the idea,” he said. “You’d better put your glasses back on.”
“Why?”
“You don’t want to lose them. We’re not taking the conventional way in. Licensed TSTA vehicles have their own entrance.”
I covered my eyes with the travel glasses and kept walking, wondering how Valcas could see anything in the inky blackness. I couldn’t see beyond an inch or two in front of me.
Minutes passed—empty minutes filled with nothing but the sounds of our footsteps. Valcas stopped abruptly in front of me. I felt his fingertips graze my elbow.
“It’s not my palace anymore,” he said.
Then he grabbed me by the waist and jumped.
Calla Winston’s mobile devices sit in a corner of her room, covered in dust. Weeks ago, she shared photos and laughs with her best online friend. Now, after having felt the sting of betrayal, she prefers being hidden and friendless. She equates privacy with security and technology with pain.
Then she meets Valcas, an otherworldly time traveler who traverses time and space with a pair of altered sunglasses. When an ethereal being knocks Calla to the ground near her family’s lakeside cottage, Valcas uses the Travel Glasses to help her escape. He offers his further protection in exchange for a promise. Intrigued by Valcas and the possibility of time travel, Calla accepts. That is until she learns that his search for her was no mere coincidence.
Calla sets off on her own, taking the Travel Glasses with her. Torn between searching for her estranged father and reuniting with the rest of her family, she tracks down the inventor of the Travel Glasses in hopes of discovering more about Valcas’ past and motivations. The Travel Glasses take Calla’s mistrust of technology to all new levels. But without them, she’ll never make it back home. With Valcas hot on her trail, Calla hopes to find what she’s looking for before he catches up.
The Call to Search Everywhen is a serial series of novel-length installments. Travel Glasses is YA fantasy filled with metafiction and other literary twistiness. It's a thought-provoking narrative about trust, relationships, reality and illusion.
EXCERPT
“I didn’t expect TSTA Headquarters to be a Nowhere,” I said, “especially when everyone there seems so worried about people getting lost.” From what I’d learned about traveling so far, Nowheres were either un-places or made-up places that were no longer real. Places of the lost.
Valcas stepped off the side of the Estrel-Flyer and turned to look at me. At least I assumed he was looking at me. His sunglasses were still on his face, reflecting the moonlight, hiding his creepy eyes.
“What? Say something,” I said.
Dark eyebrows arched beneath the dark strands of hair spilling over his forehead down toward the darkness of his glasses. “You’ve learned a lot more about traveling, but you still don’t have much of a sense of direction.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” The blood drained from my face as I remembered just how little I trusted him. But Mom had said—
I straightened my shoulders. “Where are we?”
“We’re just outside of TSTA Headquarters. Did you think we could walk right in?”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s called the Time and Space Travel Agency, isn’t it?”
“Yes. It’s an agency, a very secure one. Don’t stray far from me.”
I squinted as we walked. There weren’t any buildings, just lots of dirt and the occasional tuft of grass, all shrouded in a hazy midnight blue, illuminated by the silver glow of the moon.
“You know where we’re going, right?” I asked.
Valcas sniffed.
“Are we going to jump off a cliff somewhere like we did at the meadow…to get to your palace?”
Not that I was afraid. I’d traveled several times with the glasses by jumping from high places in order to generate plenty of momentum to get to different places and times. The first time this happened had been a surprise. Not long after Valcas and I had first met, he’d literally grabbed my arm while we were standing near the edge of a cliff. And jumped. I’d woken up in a palace in a kingdom Valcas said he’d usurped.
“This is where I got the idea,” he said. “You’d better put your glasses back on.”
“Why?”
“You don’t want to lose them. We’re not taking the conventional way in. Licensed TSTA vehicles have their own entrance.”
I covered my eyes with the travel glasses and kept walking, wondering how Valcas could see anything in the inky blackness. I couldn’t see beyond an inch or two in front of me.
Minutes passed—empty minutes filled with nothing but the sounds of our footsteps. Valcas stopped abruptly in front of me. I felt his fingertips graze my elbow.
“It’s not my palace anymore,” he said.
Then he grabbed me by the waist and jumped.
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About the author:
Chess Desalls recently authored the first two installments of the YA time travel series, The Call to Search Everywhen. She's a longtime reader of fantasy and sci-fi novels, particularly young adult fiction. When she's not reading or writing, she enjoys traveling and trying to stay in tune on her flute.
Thanks so much for hosting me today. :o) I’m busily working on the third book, Time for the Lost. Exciting! I’d love for you and your friends to join my newsletter (http://eepurl.com/bgGzOT) for updates on future giveaways and new releases! Thanks again!
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Hi Cremona!
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting Chess with us! We appreciate you.
Laurie
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