Luminescent

By Manisha Kalloo

Alina’s mother has been missing for twenty-five years now. Her mother was a historian who ventured off to locations searching for old relics. While visiting an island, her mother never returned. It took a toll on Alina and her father’s lives. Present day, Clay, ex-fiancé, brought in artifacts that contained a journal. A letter fell out with a worrisome message regarding a boy named Charlie. In the back was written coordinates. Unexpectedly, a baby picture of Alina was found in the journal. Desperate to found out how it got there, she followed the coordinates with Clay and trusty friend Temple.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664188273

Manisha Kalloo

Manisha Kalloo is the author of Flute’s Heart and Prism. She is broadening her imagination and continuing to splay her fantasies within characters that you’ll grow to love.

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Copyright © 2021 by Manisha Kalloo.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 08/04/2021

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CONTENTS

The Letter

Safe Passage

40°13’35.3S 75°55’43.7E

Charlie

Alina

Ira

Lola

Maleen

The Letter

Everybody wants adventure, but no one ever thinks about the consequences. We were always taught to follow the rules and nothing bad will ever happen. That wasn’t the case though with my mother, Lola, she took many risks as a historian. She made a decision that changed our lives forever. I was only six years old at the time of her disappearance. My father, Jaxton, told me that she was working on a special assignment for work. As I got older, I realized that he only protected me from the truth that something bad had happened to her. She disappeared in 1996 and was presumed dead in 2001. The only thing I remembered was my father being sad the day she left. The last memory I have with her was her coming up to my room and tucking me in then telling me that she would be back in a week. I was half asleep that night, but I still remember it vividly.

My father always wanted answers on what happened to her. He researched day and night, looking through her old assignments for any notes she may have left behind. The only thing she told him was that her colleague discovered an island off the Indian Ocean that had artifacts from one hundred years ago and she needed to go, that she needed a break and wanted to travel again before she got any older. At one point, my father thought that she had left us for good, but he also knew that she was deeply in love with him, and she would never leave me.

Police never bothered to check airports to see if she had gotten on to a flight and/or even checked surveillance. Being an adult now, I now feel the frustration my father had many years ago. Not to say that he had given up, he just accepted that he had to move on and focus on me. I decided to pick up the pieces even if the smallest step is becoming a history teacher. I could move on and accept the fact that she is dead and she’s never coming back, but as her daughter, I need to try. I go through her belongings often to see if my dad had missed anything. I always expect to see something new, but I guess I just have a lot of hope.

Your next assignment is after your break. If anyone wants extra credit before the final grades, please come and see me. Again, I doubted anyone heard me as the first bell rung. My class was filled with unenthusiastic kids, but I guess I was just that person in class who paid attention because the world did fascinate me. I mean, my mother did go missing in it.

Alina? Clay knocked on the door as I was packing my things to go home.

I tried to avoid contact with him, but he just knows my schedules.

Yeah, come in. What’s up? I tried to avoid eye contact, but he sure can make an entrance to lighten the awkwardness between us. After all, he is my ex-fiancé. I met him when I first started working here. He has soft black hair and a neat shaped beard that suited him. He’s tall, which makes him look like a lumberjack. He’s probably the best history teacher this school has ever had. He took his job seriously and forgot I existed sometimes. After we broke things off, we decided to become just friends, and its’ been great so far, but sometimes minimal contact works for me better.

I think you may like this news, but let’s go for coffee.

God, I forgot how cocky he was.

I’m kind of tired today. Can you just text it to me? I—

"We got sent some artifacts we want you to look through, and before you say ‘tomorrow’ or ‘another time,’ your