“Hi, girls,” Luke says, sliding into the seat next to me. He purposefully bumps his shoulder into mine, the right corner of his lip rising into a sideways smile. “Hey, Mac.”
Luke is the only one I let call me Mac.
“Hey, soldier,” I reply, my voice shyer than I expected it to be. Luke rests his strong arms on the table next to mine. Our skin is separated by my thin cardigan, but even the slightest touch from him manages to make my body buzz. Harper eyes the two of us and from the slow rising smile on her face, I know my olive skin is turning crimson.
“Luke, help us,” Harper says, pulling her wavy hair into a messy bun. “Reagan is refusing to go to Mark Ricardi’s party.”
“What?!” Malika practically screams, then pouts. She loves a good and rowdy Mark Ricardi party.
“Oh, come on, Mac,” Luke says, his smile still lopsided but wider, exposing his white, perfectly straight teeth. Orthodontists make a good living in this town. “Mark’s parties are always epic.”
“Yes. Epic disasters,” I rebuff, but can’t help but match his grin. It’s annoyingly contagious.
“How about this?” Luke negotiates. “We go, sit in the corner, and watch the disasters unfold together.”
Luke and I have done that before. Sat shoulder to shoulder at parties, laughing as we make up the dialogue between fighting couples and drunk lacrosse girls. My stomach, even my face hurts from three-hour giggle sessions with him.
“Pleaaassseeeee,” Malika begs, her eyes closed and hands collapsed together in painful prayer.
“Okay, okay,” I say, throwing my hands into the air in defeat. The three of them cheer in unison and exchange a round of high fives.
“I better eat if I want to make it to lab on time,” Luke says, standing up from his seat and resting his hand on my shoulder. “See you in a bit.”
Luke’s fingertips graze against my shoulder blades as he turns on the heel of his freshly polished JROTC boot and walks toward the lunch line.
The rush that takes over my body every time I’m near Luke drains from my blood, and as he disappears from my sight, my sharp senses return. Every muscle in my body tightens as I turn to my left and lock eyes with a man whose stare is so penetrating, I can feel it from hundreds of feet away. He’s tall and strong, his eyes intense and dark, dressed in a janitor’s navy-blue uniform. But I’ve never seen him before. He holds my stare for a moment, then looks away. He fumbles with the garbage bag in his hands, struggling to open it up. I watch as he tears at the black plastic, gets frustrated, and throws it to the ground. As he looks back up at me, a hundred pins prick my spine. My eyes follow him as he spins around and plows his way toward the dining hall door, knocking into a student with so much force, she winces in pain. I wait for him to stop or look back or apologize. But he doesn’t. He puts his head down and keeps going.
About the Auhtor
L. E. DELANO is a blogger and autism advocate under her alternate moniker, Ellie DeLano. She comes equipped with a “useless” theater degree that has opened doors for her in numerous ways. Though mostly raised in New Mexico, she now calls Pennsylvania home. When she’s not writing, which is almost never, she’s binge-watching Netflix and trying her best not to be an unwitting pawn in her cat’s quest for world domination. Traveler is her debut novel.
Visit her online at LEDeLano.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Prologue
1. Remnant
2. Encounter
3. Welcome to My Life
4. Stalker
5. Autumn Memory
6. Mario
7. The Target
8. The Decision
9. Through
10. All That Glitters
11. Fate and the Social Norms
12. The Other Side
13. Possibilities
14. Unexpected
15. The Other Finn
16. On the Bridge
17. Saved
18. Loopy
19. Family
21. Recovery
22. Accusations and Assignments
23. The Man with the Secret Past
24. The Setup
25. Dirty Job
26. The Enchanted Pirate
27. Tug-of-War
28. Near Miss
29. Hiding Out
30. Here I Go Again
31. Side by Side
32. The Prophecy
33. Together
34. Silent
35. The Getaway
36. Walking on the Moon
37. Found
38. Caught
39. Torn
40. Ben
41. Revealed
42. Missing
43. The Other Traveler
44. Like a Knife in My Chest
45. Aftermath
46. Explanations and Allies
47. The Comforts of Home
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Swoonworthy Extras
About the Author
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by L. E. DeLano
A Swoon Reads Book
An Imprint of Feiwel and Friends, a part of Macmillan Publishing, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010
swoonreads.com
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
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First trade paperback edition 2017
eBook edition 2017
eISBN 9781250100412