The Angel of Elydria (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 1) (10 page)

THE NEXT DAY they covered many miles and Penny observed the landscape getting greener and denser with trees. They camped in a small, moss-blanketed glade. As evening fell, Hector produced large flares of energy from his hands, and when Penny asked him what he was doing, he acted shy.

“I’m practicing this spell. I realize that knowing no magic that could help in a life-threatening situation was a sore oversight on my part. We got very lucky last time―it might not happen again.”

Penny watched with interest as he moved from energy fields to glowing discs of concentrated energy, noting that with each spell he conjured, her head grew dizzier. Humphrey watched the bursts of runes and light with his ears flat against his head, low growls rumbling in his chest. Seeing Hector’s magic put Penny into a thoughtful mood.

“How come your world and Elydria have magic, but Earth doesn’t?” she asked, staring into the campfire and furrowing her brow.

“Earth’s got magic, too―something the inhabitants probably take for granted, I think,” Hector said as he took a seat beside her.

“What do you mean?” she questioned, nonplussed, and Hector smiled.

“Dreams,” he said and let her think about it for a moment. “Magic is expressed through dreams and the control over them in your world.”

“What?” Penny wondered.

“It’s true,” Hector continued. “I was surprised at the concept of dreaming in the animals and people of Earth when I first came to Earth four years ago. I cannot dream, no one from my world is able to dream, and I doubt anyone in this world would be able to either.”

“No way, that’s impossible,” Penny argued. “Isn’t dreaming like…just a stress release mechanism or something? And how is it that people can’t use dreams to perform all sorts of miracles or make things burst into flame or something?”

“They may
have
the ability, and the potential to develop it, but that sort of thing isn’t considered credible in your world, therefore no one takes it seriously. Once something like that disappears from society, it becomes hard to replicate, much less master. Like a lost language. I’ve read books about the ancients of Earth manipulating the power of dreams, but it’s classified as mere myth. You know, soothsayers, telekinesis, empaths, those who can communicate with the dead…I’m sure there are people to whom this power comes naturally, but they are dismissed as insane or fraudulent. Or perhaps they simply choose to walk among the world of dreams and don’t care to return to the waking world. That’s just my theory, anyway―take it with a grain of salt,” Hector concluded with a shrug.

“Interesting…and you can feel the energy coming from us?”

“Precisely. When you dream, your aura gets replenished. But just as I expend the energy when I perform enchantments, people from Earth should theoretically should be able to harness the ability of raw dream material and use it however they’d like,” Hector explained.

“So maybe even I could have the ability to weave dreams?” Penny smiled at him. He grinned at her little quip and nodded. Penny marveled at this concept for the remainder of the night. Lying beneath the canopy of whispering leaves, her eyes grew heavy and she fell asleep with a faint smile on her lips, hoping a dream would come to her.

P
enny awoke to a sky of opaline white. The effects of sleeping outdoors, with only a few thin blankets for comfort and warmth, were catching up with her. A penetrating chill blew as Penny and Hector ate their meager breakfast and gathered up their things in a daze.

As the day wore on the wind picked up and the trees around them grew thicker and taller. Humphrey romped through the huge piles of leaves that littered the forest floor, and Penny and Hector spoke in quiet voices. Something about the quiet of the forest inspired a hushed tone.

“This place gives me the creeps. Can’t you just teleport us out of here or something? Wouldn’t that save a lot of time and energy?” Penny murmured to Hector, staring up at the high boughs. The canopy sent a shower of leaves down at a steady rate.

“Teleporting is possible, but it’s extremely dangerous to jump to a place you’ve never been before―and the amount of magic it requires is staggering. It would surely render you unconscious, or perhaps strand us somewhere awful, like the middle of the ocean. The magical shockwave can sometimes be enough to cause serious medical issues or even death,” he said.

“Hold on, why didn’t you just teleport us away that night at your house?”

“I was trying to do just that, but in my panic, I ended up taking us to a different world rather than a different location,” Hector explained in his signature lecturing tone, grating on Penny’s nerves.

They continued through the solitude of the woods until nightfall and made camp again. Penny started casting nervous glances at the dark thickets; something about the oppressive hush of the whispering shower of leaves discomfited her. It wasn’t at all alleviated by the fact that the nearby white-barked trees grew in such a way that they created the illusion of having eyes. She circled their camp and kicked at the dead leaves, trying to understand what was making her chest feel so tight.

Seeing the tangles and tendrils made her neck prickle and Penny tried to remember the words to a poem she’d read a long time ago. Standing for a while with the withered leaves around her ankles, the words sprang to her lips like a chant, “
Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild…with Faery hand in hand…for the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.
”

Hector stopped what he was doing and looked over at Penny, smiling with a liveliness and earnest emotion that was rare. “That’s―
The Stolen Child
. Yeats, if I’m not mistaken?” His eyes were bright.

Penny smiled a little and nodded. “I guess. I forgot the title,” she shrugged.

“It’s a lovely poem. The people of Earth truly have a way with words,” Hector said, then paused as if deciding whether or not to say something. He cleared his throat. “I—I’ve always wanted to say…you impress me. You were always quiet in class, but the papers you wrote―they were quite insightful,” he complimented.

Penny blushed and turned her face toward the ground so he wouldn’t see. “Thanks for saying so.” She couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “I’m nothing special, though. People are always telling me I’m smart, but really my only real talent is following directions well. That and having no distractions―and by that I mean no friends.” She shrugged and sat down across from him. “I shouldn’t say that. I’ve got Maddie.”

“Madeline Price? You mean that
loquacious
young lady who’s constantly typing on her phone throughout my lectures?” Hector raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, that’s her.” Penny smirked a little. “She’s…not exactly the studious type,” she offered as a half-excuse.

“So I’ve gleaned. It seems she’s deliberately failed to complete several important assignments,” Hector said with disdain.

“Maybe it’s because you expect way too much from us,” Penny combated. “Every other day it’s another paper or six million pages to read.
I
can barely complete the work!”

Hector looked ruffled and smoothed his vest. “Oh, come now. That is the customary amount of work in Nelvirnee academies, I don’t’ see why the citizens of Twin Rivers should be given special treatment,” he rebutted with self-conscious affront.

“Well, maybe on planet Arlington you can get away with that sort of slave-driving, but on Earth it’s a different story,” Penny admonished, still feeling defensive of her friend. “People can’t deal with all that busy work. It’s why half the class hates you―” she stopped and slapped her hand over her mouth, mortified. “Ah, I didn’t mean that! I meant to say―”

It was too late. Hector’s face grew stony and he stared into the flames with his fingers laced together. She could tell she had touched a nerve.

“Hector, I’m sorry,” she tried, “I―”

“You don’t have to apologize, Miss Fairfax.” His face remained expressionless. “I’m well aware of the opinions my pupils have of me. It’s always been the same, regardless of whether I was home, or on Earth. I never seemed to acclimate well to the world of education―or to any other world, for that matter,” he added.

Penny sat very still, trying to think of something to say. In the moments that followed, a strange emotion began to invade her mood. “If it means anything,” she murmured in earnest, “I think you’re a great teacher, despite all that.”

She saw his eyelids flutter in her direction for a quick moment, then flit back down again. The majority of dinner passed in heavy silence and bedtime came quick. The emotion that Penny noticed earlier stayed with her deep into the night. Hours later, after Hector had fallen into a shallow slumber, she gazed over at him with worry swimming in her chest.

He always had seemed out of place to her, like a traveler without a road to follow, or an empty bottle lost at sea. Penny found herself wondering what sort of life he must have led up until now, but felt as if she were intruding on his privacy by her mere speculation alone. Rolling over onto her back and trying to get comfortable enough to relax, she realized the powerful emotion that had overtaken her. She felt sorry for him.

HECTOR REGAINED HIS brisk disposition by morning. Humphrey kept stopping to sniff the dried leaves and Penny and Hector had to strain together to get him to keep moving. Soon the path through the woods became obscured and they were faced with traipsing through heavy underbrush. Penny was sure they were lost, but Hector dismissed the idea every time she brought it up. Sometime in the middle of the afternoon a deafening crash of thunder split the air. Penny jumped and shrieked.

Hector looked back in shock. “What’s the matter?” he asked, concerned.

“N-nothing! Come on, daylight’s wasting,” Penny grumbled as she pushed past Hector. Minutes later it began to drizzle and soon the air around the forest was sparkling with rain. Creatures could be seen scampering around trying to find shelter. Small furry rodents with bat-like ears and huge almond-shaped eyes hopped about in the lofty treetops, and Humphrey snapped at their bushy tails as they flitted about.

With every booming peal of thunder, Penny’s body reacted with an uncontrollable tremor of surprise. After several hours of enduring the sudden flashes of light and sound that sent spikes of fear into her heart, she was trembling all over. She did not want Hector to know she was frightened of the thunder, though she was certain he had already noticed.

By evening, Penny was soaked and miserable. She shivered from the biting air and waves of acute nervousness. Her throat itched and burned as she sat down on a wet tree stump.

“Brace yourself, please,” Hector said.

Penny felt an alarming amount of strength leave her body in a rush, and stars burst in her eyes as she almost fainted. Hector’s hand appeared on her back, prompting her to sit up.

“Sorry! It took a little more magic than I expected,” Hector apologized.

Blinking herself back into consciousness, Penny realized that the rain had stopped falling on them. Hector had created a huge invisible umbrella several feet above them. Rippling walls of water flowed down like curtains of silk.

Penny was delighted. “Now we won’t have to sleep in the rain!”

Hector grinned and set about lighting a fire. In no time their tiny camp was drier, and they enjoyed a humble meal of grilled mushrooms and bread. After dinner, Hector resumed studying the map. Penny lay on her back and marveled at the glassy dome above, thinking once again of how much it would please her mother to see real magic.