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“MISS WINSTON!”
The guard with the gray moustache ran straight for us.
“Miss Winston, your ride is almost here.” He puffed, out of breath. “I will escort you outside the tower. Mr. Hall, sir, a TSTA representative has just contacted me with direct orders that you are not to accompany Miss Winston on her way out.”
“Why not? Of course I will go outside with her and see that she is safely on her way.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but these orders are from much higher up. We must not disobey them.” He gave Valcas a shrewd look. “The representative anticipated that you may have an objection to the agency’s order. He is still on the line if you would like to speak with him.”
“But, I don’t understand.” Valcas looked at me, deeply concerned. “How much trouble did you find while traveling, dearest?”
“I don’t know.” I frowned. The guard’s words scared me. My voice shook. “You should stay here, Valcas. At least speak with the TSTA representative first. I don’t want to drag you into all of this. That’s the last thing I need right now.”
Valcas looked back and forth between me and the guard. His brow was furrowed and his jaw tightly set. He addressed the guard without taking his eyes off of me. “Where do I go to take the call?”
“The 343rd door on the right side of the hallway.”
“Why so far?”
“The representative did not say.”
Valcas shook his head. “I will take the call.” He looked at the guard. “Please escort Calla outside of the tower as instructed. I’ll talk to the representative to see if there is some way around his absurd request. Then I’ll return here as quickly as possible.” Valcas looked back down at me and placed a hand on my cheek. “And if I’m too late—if you’re already gone by the time I get back, then I hope you’ll at least remember this...”
He lowered his head and stepped in toward me. My breath caught and my shoulders stiffened. He drew closer, resting his forehead on mine for a brief moment. His lips pressed against my forehead and then my cheek where his hand had been. His arms circled my waist and pulled me closer. I wrapped my arms around his neck and looked up at him. Bright green eyes looked down at me. He smiled, soundlessly telling me that everything would be all right. I believed him. Then he lowered his head toward me. My heart fluttered and my stomach flip-flopped. His lips met mine. He kissed me, telling me wordlessly that he loved me. Of course I would remember. There was no way I could forget.
We broke free from one another when it became impossible to ignore the guard’s foot tapping. “I’m sorry to interrupt, sir, but you should get moving if you still want to speak to the representative. You don’t want to keep him waiting, do you?”
Valcas sighed and gave me another long look.
“Sir?”
“Tell the TSTA representative that I mean him no disrespect, but I won’t be speaking with him today. I’m going with Calla to TSTA headquarters. She will need my help there more than here.”
I had no way of knowing whose look of shock was greater, mine or the guard’s. Valcas was coming with me? No, no, no. I couldn’t be responsible for dragging another silhouette into another place and time.
The guard looked at Valcas in disbelief. “But, sir, you will be disobeying a direct order from a government agency. There will be serious consequences.”
“What if it makes everything worse?” I added.
Valcas’ jaw was set. He wasn’t going to back down.
The guard stared at him. “The TSTA representative also anticipated this alternative reaction from you, sir. I’m sorry, but I cannot allow this security breach to occur.” He clapped his hands. The guard’s clapping echoed through the hallways like he’d set off a round of firecrackers. His hands sparked as if each clap generated a surge of electricity.
White doors burst open on both sides of the front entrance into the tower. Guard after guard poured into the hallway. I gasped. Valcas’ arms were around me, holding me so tightly that I could barely breathe. The guards pried him off of me in less than a minute. Four guards held him back from me and then another group surrounded him as they led him away.
He called for me over and over. Agonizing distortions of my name echoed in my ears until he was securely retained behind one of the white doors. I couldn’t hear myself sobbing until all grew quiet again.
Only the guard with the gray moustache and I remained in the hallway. A glint of metal flashed as he removed something from his hands and placed it in his pocket.
“I’m sorry that you had to see that, Miss Winston. This is not the first time that young Mr. Hall nearly caused a security breach. We restrain him for his own safety. He will be all right soon enough. Now, let’s get you outside of the tower before you miss your ride.”
I balked when the guard offered me his arm. “Valcas is restrained for his own safety? By shutting him away in a room filled with guards? How is that supposed to make him feel safe?”
“He may not appreciate it now, but he will someday.”
As I followed the guard through the two arched doorways that led outside of the tower, I remembered how Valcas had locked me up in a room with one of his maids back at his palace. What a horrible way to protect someone—to keep them safe. But at least now I understood why he’d done that, why his methods had been so extreme. He wasn’t malicious or crazy, at least not completely. He’d responded to my fear and attempts to escape him the only way he’d learned how.
We walked out into the dark and windless night. I tightly held on to the photo of me and green-eyed Valcas while we waited for the existing Valcas to arrive. A wave of red and purple sand sprayed up at the tower from the ground below, signaling his arrival. I slipped the photo into my backpack, next to the travel glasses and my letter to Edgar that I’d crumpled into a ball.
Valcas was silent as he dismounted his black and gold Estrel-Flyer and walked toward me and the guard. The sand was so soft that it covered his dark shoes with each step. I looked at the guard, wondering whether he would find it strange that Valcas was here to pick me up even though just moments ago he’d been torn from me and taken away. He looked every bit the same, only his clothing was different and his eyes were covered by dark glasses.
He called out my name as he approached. His voice was smooth and familiar, so much like the voice of the version of him that had just kissed me good-bye.
“Thank you,” he said to the guard. “Thank you for taking care of Calla when I couldn’t do so myself.”
The guard bowed as if nothing was out of the ordinary. “My pleasure, Mr. Hall,” he said. And then he turned and walked away, back into the white tower where the arched doors closed behind him.
Valcas offered me his hand.
“Wait—”
He frowned, but he waited.
“Please remove your glasses. There’s something I need to see.”
Valcas tilted his head to the side and then shook his head as if I’d requested something impossible. “I’m not falling for that trick again.” He grinned. Then he started to laugh. His laughter wasn’t threatening or mocking. A deep, pleasant chuckle resonated from his chest.
I raised my eyebrows and tried to look into his eyes through the dark glasses. “Please?”
In a swift motion, he glided the dark glasses off of his face and hid them behind his back. He gave me a questioning look. Cringing slightly, I looked straight into his eyes, searching for something. He seemed different, yet he was the same person that I’d spent so much time getting to know. His eyes were paler than they’d been when I last saw him, now more of an ice gray with no hint of blue. I cringed again, absorbing the sickening contrast between these eyes and the stunning green gems that had me transfixed just a moment ago.
“Thanks.” I reached into my backpack and pulled out the travel glasses. “Here. Take them back,” I insisted. “They’re yours, not mine.”
Valcas looked down at my extended hand that held the travel glasses. Then he looked back at me, studying my face. He frowned when he met my eyes. “Keep them. They’ve already made their impression on you.”
I did not respond at first. We just stood there looking at each other. He seemed just as disturbed by how much I’d changed since we’d last seen each other. His gaze was so intense that I suddenly felt very self-conscious. I covered my eyes—hid them—with the travel glasses. “Are you sure?”
He nodded and offered his hand again. This time I accepted. His fingers were as chilled as mine were, but they were real. Together, we walked to where he’d parked his Estrel-Flyer. Once seated, I shook red and purple sand from my running shoes.
Valcas started the engine and lifted the flyer up into a hover. “Are you ready to go?” he asked, just loud enough for me to hear him over the engine.
“Yes.”
He pressed the accelerator. We ascended up into the black starless sky and into the blank, white empty.
INSIGHT KINDLING
The Call to Search Everywhen, Book 2