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EDGAR’S DROOPY eyes grew wet with tears as he told me how Valcas had received a gift of sunglasses and asked Edgar to experiment with them.
“Realizing how dangerously powerful the final product was, I refused to give the glasses back to Valcas,” he said. “Instead, I replaced them with an identical pair of ordinary visors.”
“But, then how did he get the glasses?”
“It didn’t take Valcas long to realize what had happened. He broke into my workshop and stole the glasses. Since then, I’ve heard from several sources that Valcas has spent the last fourteen years using them to gain power and amass kingdoms.”
“How is that possible?” I asked. “Valcas looks to be about my age. That would mean that he would have stolen the glasses when he was three years old.”
Edgar drained his teacup and sighed. “There are many ways that could be accomplished. Playing tricks on time, traveling in loops, resetting timelines, changing the past, extending life. Many ways...each with a price to pay.”
I sat there with my mouth hung open, wondering what I’d gotten myself into. Just days ago, my biggest concern was how to avoid the Kevin Staunches and Sandra Argans of the world. Now I had some kind of ethereal being after me, along with a time traveler who didn’t play by the rules.
Edgar gathered our teacups and plates and began rinsing them at an antique lab sink. Both sides of the sink were covered in glass jars and vials of varying sizes, some sparkling clean, others etched or stained from years of use. I sleepily looked around me, realizing that something didn’t feel right. How would all of this glassware and the frail inventor survive the impact of my arrival? I had no idea how long we’d been talking or how strong the impact would be. Panicked, I leaped out of my seat and placed my arms around the inventor in an awkward attempt to protect him.
“What—what is happening here?” Edgar recoiled in surprise, dropping the teacup he’d been rinsing. Shards of fine china littered the concrete floor.
“The impact of my arrival—it hasn’t happened yet. We need to duck for cover before it hits! Edgar?”
Edgar stared at the shards of teacup until he appeared to grasp what I was saying. He frowned, gently pulling himself away from my protective stance. “That will not be necessary here.”
“Excuse me?” I felt foolish as I watched Edgar grab a broom from the corner of the workshop and carefully sweep up the small pieces of broken teacup into a dustpan. “I’m so sorry about that. Why aren’t you worried about the impact?”
Edgar shook his head. His smile was apologetic, but he didn’t answer my question. He, like Valcas, had his secrets and knew how to keep them. I forgave Edgar for his evasiveness, the only clue so far that he and Valcas were actually related. He was at least genuinely sympathetic, a trait that apparently did not get passed on to Valcas.
More importantly, the glasses did not belong to me. They belonged to Edgar, even though he technically stole them from Valcas when he replaced them with the ordinary glasses. They were just a borrowed means of escape to me. I wondered whether Edgar would want me to give them back.
Edgar sat back down at the lab table, motioning for me to do the same. He looked through his round spectacles into my eyes, his brows furrowed, searching for something. I looked back at him expectantly. The inventor momentarily glanced at the glasses propped on my head and then studied my eyes again.
“Young Miss Calla, now that I’ve inspected you more closely, I recognize something familiar in your eyes—their shape and intensity in particular—familiar yet unfamiliar. What did you say was your last name?”
“Winston,” I replied. “Mom’s last name.”
Edgar sat back in his chair, his drooping eyes looking thoughtful for a brief moment. “Winston,” he repeated.
I waited in anxious anticipation. Just when I thought Edgar was about to tell me something shocking, like that he knew Mom or had some sort of relationship with the Winston family, he changed the subject with an odd question.
“What color are your eyes?”
The question dumbfounded me. Was the inventor color-blind? “They’re a very dark brown,” I answered. “Almost black.”
Edgar rose from his chair again and hobbled across the floor into an adjacent room. I heard him rummaging through shelves and boxes as I sat waiting in what I concluded to be his laboratory, kitchen and dining room. I looked out of a wide rectangular window that sat above the sink. I couldn’t see anything outside other than flecks of sunlight twinkling through densely packed trees. Edgar returned with an antique mirror.
“Take a look,” he said as he handed me the mirror.
My dark curls were frizzy and windblown from traveling earlier that day. My face was slightly more pale than usual, but that did not bother me. Unfamiliar. Edgar’s description of my eyes echoed in my ears. Rich green-brown eyes peered back at me, surprised and suspicious. My mouth gaped in response. Still dark but noticeably different, my eyes were forever changed.
Edgar nodded as he assessed my reaction. “I suspected as much,” he said. “The travel glasses very strongly affect the traveler’s eyes. I have not been able to develop an antidote.”
I thought back to Valcas’ pale illusory orbs and his own description of what had sapped their color. Was there a way for him to find me without the travel glasses? Could he be on his way here now to try to get them back?
“I know the travel glasses don’t belong to me, but can I keep them for now?” I blurted out. “At least until I know that I’m safe from Valcas?”
“Yes, of course, although it would be wise not to wear them unless it becomes absolutely necessary.”
I thought of the effects the travel glasses had already had on my eyes and nodded in agreement. I couldn’t imagine any other reason why Edgar would ask me not to wear them. If what Edgar said was true, then the workshop wouldn’t be in danger of any impact by Valcas’ arrival. In fact, I didn’t remember there being any impact at the lake either time Valcas appeared. He’d said that something else was there—the something that knocked me to the ground. Was he lying about that?
“Edgar, do you know what could have knocked me to the ground at the lake? Valcas said that it wasn’t the impact of his arrival, and that something else out there was after me. Later, after I got back to my uncle’s cottage, I felt the impact of my arrival. The windows exploded and everything—I don’t understand.”
The brows above Edgar’s droopy eyes squeezed together as he thought about my question. “I really don’t know. Valcas said that he was at the lake because he wanted to protect you?”
“Yes, and that’s how he got me to leave the lake.”
Edgar shook his head. “I am not sure that I believe him.”