Blog Tour: The Worlds Traveler

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!

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Hi everyone! So we've got something exciting for you today. A blog tour stop, featuring M.L. Roble and her book The Worlds Traveler. I'll be reviewing this one either late this month or early next month, but I recently had the chance to read book one as well, so decided to push back my review in order to get the full sense of the story. For now, check out this excerpt from The Worlds Traveler!

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.”