Chapter Thirty

I couldn't believe it even though I was standing right in front of it. Though I'd dreamed of traveling and seeing all these wondrous sites, I still couldn't believe I'd done it. And it was completely unreal how I felt at that moment.

Big Ben was tall and statuesque against the skyline. Pointy peaks accentuated the gothic architecture that must have been popular at the time of its construction. Misted by the morning rain, it appeared slightly darker than normal as the aged stone absorbed the moisture offered by the typical London weather.

After fifteen minutes of standing across the river, the rain finally tapered off. I watched silently as the clouds drifted across the sky, passing over the horizon before I even had time to close my umbrella. It was a majestic sight for me, leaving the scent of fresh rain filling my nose even as the world was bathed in the beauty of the fresh water. Everything was so surreal, I almost couldn't believe that I was there.

"You are absolutely mesmerized, aren't you?" Rebecca laughed as she came to stand at my side.

"For much of my life, the only glimpse I had of another world was a ravine away. My dreams have never carried me so far; much less my own two feet."

"I know the feeling," she giggled. "I used to stare out over the Bay every day after school and just wonder what it would take for me to travel across the wide open sea. Could I really go that far? What would it feel like to be an ocean away from home? Would I even want to come back?" Her hazel eyes were trained in big bed and a longing shone brightly in their depths.

"And now?" I asked. "What answers do you have?"

It took her a minute, but finally Rebecca turned her gaze to meet mine. Her eyes crinkled as she smiled widely at me. "Pure, absolute freedom. And homesick as a dog."

My eyes drifted away from hers as they scanned the foreign city once more. "Well, I'm happy our stop doesn't end here. I am far from ready to go home just yet."

And it was true.

Something came alive in me on the plane ride. Staring out the window for hours, watching the enormous Atlantic just drift on below me. Clouds falling in all around us made reality shift and I'd become lost in another world. One of magic and mystery untold. In all my life, I had never thought to be doing something so bold and crazy as travel Europe with an up-and-coming rock band. And never before had I ever been so energized, as if electricity ran through my veins in pulsating currents.

Before that moment, I couldn't describe true, blissful adrenaline to myself. Now, I did not know how I could ever live without it.

"No," Rebecca replied with a sly smile, "you're not going home anytime soon."