Morning Readers!
This morning I have the pleasure of sharing a new Middle Grade book with you - The Worlds Traveler by M.L. Roble has recently been released as an ebook and the paperback comes out VERY soon.
I hope you enjoy this excerpt and that you have a chance to check out the book!
The Worlds Traveler by M.L. Roble
Ebook released on November 11th, 2015
Paperback is available on December 1st, 2015!
Life on the run from madman Martin Reimer gets in the way of everything.
For fourteen-year-old Phillip, it has meant having to stay hidden, unable to use his gift of moving through maps to search for his missing father. But the arrival of a stranger named Delroy brings unexpected opportunity, for Delroy is a man with the ability to travel worlds hidden within our own and he was sent by Phillip's father. Now Phillip will do everything he can to find his dad, even if it means tricking Delroy into helping him or a quest through those hidden worlds.
Even if leaving home means Martin can now find him...
Follow in the adventures of Phillip Stone and Natalie Bristol in this sequel to the award-winning book The Magician's Doll!
The Worlds Traveler – Excerpt from Chapter 2
“Phillip!”
Once again Phillip pulled his mind from the past to look at Natalie.
“Your mom must have really laid into you,” she said. “You haven’t been this quiet in a long time.”
“Yeah, kind of.”
“Maybe you should give her less to worry about.”
Phillip threw his hands up. “How? Come on, Natalie, it’s not like I’m that terrible. Heck, I’d even say I’ve been pretty good considering I’d rather be somewhere out there looking for my dad. Instead, I’m here. I’m going to school. I’m doing all the things a good son should do. I’m not doing anything I want, not even using my gift, and sometimes I feel like I’m going to explode!”
Heads turned in their direction. Phillip slouched and picked at his spoon.
“You kids okay?” The waitress had arrived at their table with their floats. Her white cap, part of her uniform, hung slightly awry, and her red apron had a glob of ice cream falling down the front. Her expression was harried as she set their drinks in front of them, strawberry for Natalie and root beer for Phillip.
“Yes, ma’am,” Phillip mumbled. “Sorry.”
The waitress smiled. “I have tiffs with my boyfriend all the time, but trust me, things can always be worked out.” She pushed a stray hair behind her ear and scooted to the next table where some customers had just been seated. People’s heads turned back around.
Neither Phillip nor Natalie moved to drink their floats. Natalie looked stricken, her brown eyes sad and downcast. Phillip reached for the straws and rolled one over to her.
“Why do people always think we’re boyfriend and girlfriend?” he asked. He unwrapped his straw and took a big gulp of his float. He had to admit, the soda shop served great ice cream. The root beer was creamy and soothing as it slid past the knot in his throat.
“Probably because we’re always together,” Natalie said. She took the straw but made no move towards her float.
“Come on, Nat,” Phillip said softly. “Drink up. It’s tastes really good today.”
When Natalie looked up, her eyes were one step shy of watering and her lips trembled. “Phillip, are you really that miserable here?”
Phillip sighed and leaned back. He gave a shrug and looked out the window. Like the soda shop, the whole town with its medium shops and landscaped streets had an old-time feel. He didn’t think it was a coincidence that their mothers and Mrs. Blaine chose places that were set back from the rest of the world. “It’s nice enough here, I guess. It’s just that every time we’ve gone somewhere through the map, every time we’ve seen all these different places…I don’t know, I just wanna tell my dad about it.”
“Aren’t you worried how dangerous it is with the Reimers out there?” Natalie asked.
“It’s going to keep getting dangerous, Natalie. We’ve been through this.” Phillip’s hands balled into fists and then flexed as he tried to calm the frustration starting to burn in his chest. “It’s going to get worse. It doesn’t matter what we do to avoid trouble, it’s going to come to us sometime, somehow. If my dad’s alive, I’d rather face it with him.”
“What about your mom?” Natalie asked.
“Why do you think I’m still here?” Phillip shot back. “Why are you giving me such a hard time about this? You said when the time came you’d help me, you know,” he reminded her.
“I meant what I said! If you ask me to go, I’ll go. I’m just hoping that when we do, it’s because you’ve given this some good thought and planning.”
“All I do is think and plan!” Once again Phillip’s voice rose.
Only a few heads turned this time. The rest of the customers seemed content to let them be. Their waitress looked over and winked at Phillip. Work it out, she mouthed.
“Then why haven’t we gone yet?” Natalie asked.
“Because it’s complicated.” A slight bitterness salted Phillip’s answer. “Look, the point is, I’m here, it doesn’t look like I’m going anywhere, and I think you should cut me some slack for wanting a little adventure once in a while.”
He scowled and took another gulp of his float, watching the mini whirlpool form in the cream as he sipped through the straw. He was doing the best he could, he thought. Why wasn’t anyone giving him any credit for that? Times like these he felt like everyone was trying to scrunch him into shapes he couldn’t make.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Natalie’s fingers slacken. Her straw dropped and rolled across the table. He looked up in surprise.
Natalie sat as if invisible hands had pulled her shoulders back, straightening her spine. Her eyes were on his face, but their focus went through and far beyond him.
“Nat,” Phillip said softly. He reached for her wrist and grasped it, feeling the warmth of her skin and the steady beat of her pulse. Natalie’s posture was so rigid, so unmoving, he swept a surreptitious glance around the soda shop to make sure no one had noticed. The other patrons were engrossed with their own business, but their waitress caught his eye, and seeing his hand clasping Natalie’s wrist, she gave him a nod and a smile of approval. Phillip smiled back weakly and turned back to Natalie.
He had forgotten how unnerving Natalie’s gift was. It had been a long time since it had overtaken her. It had crept up on her several times when she had first come into it, but since then she had learned how to keep it at bay. Now it had her in its hold, and it felt like she had slipped away, leaving him holding an empty vessel.
“Nat,” he said again, giving her wrist a little shake. He waited, a helpless ball of uncertainty, until the emptiness in her eyes slowly filled with a reassuring solidity. A few seconds later, she was back, and when he looked into her face and saw a response in hers, relief flooded him. “What happened? Your gift?”
Natalie nodded, her eyebrows forming a confused squiggle. “Different this time, though. I don’t think it went as deep.” A part of her seemed to linger in whatever place her gift had taken her because her focus was scattered, and when her eyes met his, he felt the vastness of a galaxy behind them. “Someone has come, Phillip, come to our town. Whoever he is, he’s looking for you.”
copyright © 2015 M.L. Roble
M.L. Roble is the author of the award-winning book, The Magician’s Doll, The Worlds Traveler, and Encounter Way: A Novella of Supernatural Suspense. She is a lover of great stories, whether they come to her through novels, movies, T.V. or plays, or through someone who just has a knack for telling a good story!
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