November 2015, Amazon Media, 286 pages, Paperback & Ebook,
Book Summary
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 from the
award-winning book The Magician’s Doll!
Nayu's thoughts
Nayu here! I wasn't in the
mood to read this book, but was interested in sharing it with you as it
sounds a thrilling read, so it's with pleasure that I can share what the
book is about AND an extract from it! Enjoy!
Find out more on M L Roble's website.
Get the book
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Book Extracts
Excerpt 1
Phillip shifted impatiently. “We don’t
have a lot of time for this, Natalie. We need to leave now.”
“Oh, now you want to leave?”
“Quit giving me a hard time. Come on,
we have to go!”
“So, let’s just leave from up here.
There’s enough light to read the map.”
Phillip shook his head. Sometimes he did
not understand her! After a cursory glance around the battery, he
heaved himself onto the cannon and then the wall. He slung both legs
over to sit next to Natalie.
His breath caught. The view was
breathtaking. Lights from the city sprinkled the horizon throwing the
buildings into shadowed relief, a mysterious contrast against the
dark sky. From where they sat the city was at rest, and Phillip felt
a quiet peace steal over him.
“What do you think?” Natalie asked.
“You were right,” he said. “It’s
great.” But it was more than that. Watching over the silent city
from the battery wall and at the dark sky that stretched forever,
Phillip sensed that the world held far more than he knew, and that
all of it was out there for him to discover. He felt both small and
infinite, and at the same time free.
“My dad is out there somewhere.” His
voice was almost a whisper, the words swept by the breeze.
But Natalie heard. Her head bowed until
her forehead lay against his shoulder.
“We’ll find him,” she said.
Phillip swiped at the damp corners of his
eyes, then reached into his pocket and pulled out his map. “Let’s
go.”
Natalie’s head lifted and turned to
take a final look at the horizon as Phillip gave the map the place
and time of their destination.
The lines rose and formed onto the map’s
surface. Phillip and Natalie placed their fingers on the spot they
were headed and focused.
“What are you kids doing? Are you
crazy?”
The policeman had arrived a ways down the
battery. His body was taut with panic and disbelief. He took off at a
run for them.
“Get down from there!” he yelled.
“You could fall!”
“Quick!” Phillip said.
He felt his power weave around them,
fading them into the map.
“Phillip, he’s getting close,”
Natalie said. “We don’t have time!”
She was right. The cop was calling to
them, his footsteps thundering closer. They weren’t far enough into
the map to evade capture.
“We have to jump,” he said.
“What?”
“We’ll fade through the map before we
hit bottom.” Phillip focused harder on their destination and
wrapped his arm around her. “Hold on!”
“No, Phillip,” Natalie cried, but she
threw her arm around his neck as he yanked her with him off the wall.
The cop gave an anguished roar as they
toppled over the side. Phillip’s stomach somersaulted with the
fall. The wind flapped against them in a mad whirl. He felt Natalie’s
frantic grip, her hair as it whipped against his face and her scream
as it pierced his ear. The scenery meshed into a blur with the speed
of their descent.
“Keep focusing!” he yelled.
The policeman’s cries sounded above
them and then faded. The details of their destination rose to the
fore: the city, then the streets and houses, and they fell towards
them like a crashing wave.
Fast, they were moving too fast.
Excerpt 2
Phillip sighed and leaned back. He gave a
shrug and looked out the window. Like the soda shop, the whole town
with its small 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 some time, 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.”
Excerpt 3:
“Natalie!”
“Phillip!”
Phillip, Natalie, and Delroy spun in the
direction of the summons. Beausoleil and Mrs. Stone were several
blocks away, but they were running and would soon reach them.
“I guess they found my note,” Natalie
said.
“You left a note?” Phillip exclaimed,
exasperated.
“Maybe you can leave your mom without
telling, but I can’t.” Natalie’s reply was calm, but it held a
sadness that made Phillip feel ashamed.
“You’re right, I’m sorry.”
“No need to feel bad,” Delroy
interrupted, “because we’re not leaving together. Period.”
“Phillip!” His mother’s voice was
frantic. “Phillip, don’t go! Please!”
For once she was not ordering him, and of
all the things that could have stopped Phillip, her pleading cry was
one. He hesitated.
His mother and Beausoleil drew near,
halting as Phillip backed away.
“We’ll figure something out,
Phillip,” his mother said. “I promise.”
“You always say that,” Phillip cried.
“We have new information now, Phillip,”
Beausoleil said. “Trust me, we can use it to search for your
father.”
“When?” Phillip asked. “I have a
plan now.”
His mother glanced at Delroy who looked
away. “Please don’t leave with Mr. Mendu.”
“You’re wrong about him,” Phillip
said. “Dad trusted him. And Natalie said he could help us. She
thinks we should leave with him, too!”
“No,” his mother breathed. “Oh,
Natalie.”
Natalie bowed her head. “I’m sorry,
Mrs. Stone. I promise I’ll do everything I can to keep him safe.”
Beausoleil turned to Delroy. “Are you
going to go along with this? Are you going to take them?”
“Absolutely not. If you all don’t
mind, I’ll be on my way.”
Anger surged through Phillip as Delroy,
with scarcely a glance at him, turned heel and continued down the
walk.
”My dad asked you!” he shouted at
Delroy’s retreating back. “He trusted you!” When Delroy failed
to turn around, Phillip charged across the street.
He pulled out his map.
“Aerthreis," he ordered.
As the lines emerged on his map, he heard
Delroy yell, “No! Are you crazy? You’ll get yourself killed!”
“What?” his mother screamed to
Delroy. “What is he doing? Where is he going?”
Natalie ran to Phillip. The hazy,
wiggling shape of Aerthreis had formed when she reached him and flung
her arms around him. Phillip grasped her tight.
Beausoleil bolted towards them. His
mother dropped to her knees. Delroy raised his hands and closed his
eyes, summoning his gift, Phillip thought. Then it all blurred.
“I’m sorry, mom,” Phillip
whispered, as he and Natalie faded into the map and disappeared.
Thank you so much, Nayu, for featuring The Worlds Traveler on your blog! It's such a pleasure to see a post for it here on your pages! :)
ReplyDeleteYou're ever so welcome! Hopefully one day I'll be in the right mood to read it :) Thank you for the extracts.
ReplyDelete