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I DIDN’T raise my eyes until after Commissioner Reese returned to his desk. By then, I’d already heard the creaking door open and close, and the arrogant tapping of footsteps that stopped once they reached the space next to me.
I shifted my weight and waited, hoping Valcas wouldn’t get the chance to read the rest of what his past self had written on the back of the photograph, specifically the notes after the poem that Commissioner Reese hadn’t read aloud. Past Valcas’ observations of me.
Commissioner Reese spoke first. “Valcas, what is going on here?”
Despite my embarrassment, I smirked. I knew it wasn’t my entire fault, and I suspected the Commissioner knew that too.
Valcas’ arm brushed mine as he reached for the photograph. He grazed his thumb along the edge of its glossy finish. “I had nothing to do with this photograph,” he said.
“Is that so?” Commissioner Reese pointed toward Valcas’ head. “Take off your sunglasses while speaking in my presence at hearing.”
Valcas flicked off his glasses and placed them on the podium. Those nearest us—the other accused—gasped and murmured.
Commissioner Reese winced. He leaned forward for a better look and shook his head. “Do you expect me to believe that Miss Winston accidentally stumbled upon one of your unofficial travel objects and then mysteriously found herself at the White Tower, fawning all over you?”
I glanced up at Valcas. The tiniest of smiles played across his lips. “If only it were that simple,” he said. “We could have saved a lot of time.”
Commissioner Reese’s face turned a deep shade of purple.
“You’re making this worse,” I whispered. “Either you tell him how you found me at the dock, or I will.”
Still smiling, Valcas cleared his throat. “Think about your best friend, Commissioner. How would your best friend feel if you started making moves on his daughter?”
A fire lit behind the Commissioner’s eyes. “Stop speaking in riddles, Valcas, and get to the facts. If you don’t, you will be penalized as well.”
I cringed, although I wasn’t sure why. I already knew that I was going to be punished for something, but that didn’t make the Commissioner’s reminder sting any less.
“I’ve run into some difficulties with my mission to find and bring back Basileios Plaka, Calla’s father,” Valcas said. “The Uproar that was after him is now after Calla. “
Commissioner Reese’s face fell. His jowls jiggled as he shook his head. “Valcas, that mission ended years ago. Your sentence ended. Why are you still looking for Plaka?”
Valcas turned to look at Mom, and then he glanced down at me. “I made a promise,” he said. “Several promises, actually. I promised Ms. Winston I’d find Plaka. I promised Plaka that I would protect his family. Once I learned that the Uproar was after Calla, I searched for her and helped her to escape from it.” He lifted the photograph off the podium and tore it in half. “I promised Calla that I would protect her too.”
“That’s noble of you, Valcas, but now that you see what has happened—” Commissioner Reese squeezed his oily forehead with his hand. “Couldn’t you have found some way to keep your promises without getting young Miss Winston involved?”
I couldn’t have agreed more with Commissioner Reese. Crossing my arms, I looked up at Valcas. He gave a decent explanation, but I couldn’t help but think that he was holding back something, that his half-truths disguised what he really wanted.
Valcas placed the two photograph halves together, one on top of the other, and tore them in half again. “No, I couldn’t have. Calla is a traveler. Plaka’s blood runs through her veins. I needed her to help me with my mission.” He lowered his head. “I still need her.”
The air in the space around me suddenly felt thick and fuzzy. I had to breathe more deeply to feel like I was getting enough oxygen. From somewhere that sounded far away, I heard Mom gasp from her seat.
“But it’s because of you that Calla ran away and took off with the travel glasses.” Commissioner Reese’s voice sounded far away too. How did he know I ran away? No one at the hearing mentioned it.
“You’re right,” Valcas said. “But I never expected her to go searching into my past. I thought that she would go directly to her father, that he’d be the first person she’d try to find with the travel glasses.”
Valcas tore the photograph again, and again, until there were sixteen small pieces. “I was wrong.”
A man in a bailiff’s uniform approached the podium with a candle and a small copper-colored plate. Valcas sprinkled the pieces of photograph over the plate, letting the papers fall inside. The man in uniform tipped the candle. Wax dripped onto the plate, forming small beads on the torn papers. The candle tipped further, until the papers caught on fire.
I felt a twinge deep in my gut as I watched the photograph—the daily reminder—the writing on a physical object intended to change the past, burn away.
The man in uniform took my letter to Edgar from the podium and then placed both the letter and the copper plate of ashes on the Commissioner’s desk.
Commissioner Reese turned to me and sighed. “I know what happened at the dock where Valcas found you. I also know about your journeys into the past and the Halls’ futuristic world. You may not have been a traveler when all this started, Miss Winston. But now you are a traveler, and that role brings with it a set of rules that I expect to be followed.”
I nodded helplessly and held my breath.
“Miss Winston, I hold you accountable for the daily reminder you left in Edgar Hall’s past. I cannot, however, place blame on you for the photograph introduced into Valcas’ past. That daily reminder has now been destroyed and will be treated as if it had never existed. It will be forgotten.”
I relaxed a little and began breathing again.
“For your sentence, you will have a choice. You must choose between paying a two million dollar fine or helping Valcas continue his mission to find your father.”
I gulped. Jail wasn’t one of the choices—not that it would have been my first choice. Okay then, money I didn’t have or more time spent with Valcas, on a dangerous mission to find my father.
Mom was already looking at me when I glanced her way. She hadn’t gasped or screamed. She was kneeling on the ground, in agony. Her face was ashen, with tears streaming down her cheeks. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. We both knew we didn’t have that kind of money.
I mouthed the words “don’t worry” to Mom. Then I clenched my fists into tight balls, mimicking Ivory, showing everyone I could be brave too. “I accept the mission,” I said.
Commissioner Reese nodded. “I was hoping you’d say that. You will receive your assignment papers by the end of today. The TSTA is honored to have found a traveler like you. Thank you, Valcas, for finding Miss Winston and bringing her here today.”
Valcas slid his sunglasses back on his face.
“Don’t thank me, Commissioner. Thank Calla. Travelers aren’t found. They’re called.”