The Angel of Elydria (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 1) (41 page)

Penny hated to admit that his point was valid, and wondered for a moment if she should lie to him, but she could not find it in her heart to be dishonest after he had been so genuine with her. “Maybe I was―I was almost sort of hoping that possibly…” she scratched at her head and looked down at the churning waves below, feeling a little dizzy. “Well, I was hoping that when all this was over and done with that we could still be friends.” Her voice sounded small and pathetic in the wind, not at all how she wanted it to emerge, but even so Hector appeared touched. She grimaced, wishing she had lied.

“Penny,” he said with affection. Penny’s heart leapt; it was the first time he had used her nickname. She turned to face him, noticing that he also looked quite flustered. Hector took a small breath and smiled, warmth showing behind his eyes. “You and I…we’ll always be friends.”

Not knowing quite how to reply to this, but feeling a warm sensation deep in her chest, Penny managed a pleased little laugh and ran a hand through her hair, stalling. The wind whistled by, filling the long hush between them.

Hector clapped his hands together after a moment and turned away, reacquiring his usual formality. “Well, if it is the same to you, I suggest that we go inside and get some sleep while we can. We should be arriving in Hulver within three or four hours―not to mention it is growing unbearably cold out here.”

PENNY STOOD IN her living room. Only a feeble, dim light filled the room, and the carpet below her bare feet felt cold and flat, not at all like carpet should. Penny looked around, an innate sense telling her that something was wrong. This was her house, but something had been altered. She looked around, seeing the brightly flashing television, a plate holding the remains of a meal, the sofa, the bookshelf, and her mother’s case of oddments. Her eyes fell on a tall lamp standing in the corner of the room.

“That wasn’t here before,” Penny said aloud. She took a few steps toward the lamp. It was the only thing in the entire room that was giving off any light; it was the only thing keeping it away. She looked out of the window and saw rain splattering the panes, and a voice behind her whispered something. It was faraway and indistinct, but alarming. She tried to locate it, and saw the weak light from the lamp flicker. Turning back with a small yelp, she flipped the switch on and off, attempting to make it work. The light bulb fizzled and popped, and with a small electrical sound the light began to fade. Fear rising within her, Penny looked at the corner of the room, seeing a cluster of darkness gathering.

A faint but familiar voice hissed from the growing black spot .“I come with the dark.”

Blackness blotted out her vision, and Penny could see small shapes moving about in the gloom; they were unclear, sometimes in the shape of a grasping hand or a tattered cloak. Penny raced away from the gathering dark toward the stairs, her bare feet slapping on the carpet that still felt too hard as the light dimmed. Penny gasped for air as a static electric sound itched and burned at her ears. She pounded up the stairs, hearing the voice again: an echo, calling to her, calling out her name. Her legs grew heavy as she chased the dying light at the end of the hall.

She was at the top of the stairs, battering away the invisible blockades as she reached the door to her room and threw it open with a shout. An arctic blast of air assaulted her as she pounded into the room. Wind licked at her hair and pierced straight to her bones, and something clamped down on her wrist.

It had caught up with her. Penny screamed and tried to yank her wrist away, but it held fast. Keeping her eyes away from the sanity-shattering sight of the masked entity, Penny made for the window. If it was going to kill her, she might as well take it down with her. She hurtled toward the open window, barely noticing as her clean room slowly decayed into grime, dead leaves and dry bones appearing before her eyes. She fought the masked entity, yanking it forward and feeling as though she was dragging an anchor along behind her. Her stomach hit the windowsill and she turned, victorious, to face her assailant.

It was Annette.

“Annette?” Penny choked, her senses overloading as the nightmare melted away. She looked around, fear welling up in her chest as she assessed the situation in an instant. The cold and the wind made sense now. Somehow she had made her way out onto the deck of the airship and now leaned precariously over the side railing.

Annette was grasping onto Penny’s wrist with all her might. Her limbs growing weak in her shock and confusion, Penny felt her foot slip on the smooth wood of the deck and her stomach drop out as she toppled backward over the railing of the airship. Annette lurched forward with her, now grasping Penny’s wrist with both hands as Penny dangled over the side with nothing but hundreds of feet of empty air and freezing ocean below. The instant terror was so intense Penny could not make a sound.

“PENNY!” Annette shrieked, her face red with strain as she tried her hardest to pull Penny back up over the railing.

Penny kicked her legs through the air as she tried to catch something, anything, with her other hand. She felt Annette’s strength failing, but the actress leaned forward with Penny instead of letting go. Penny felt sick, knowing exactly what was about to happen. Just as Annette was about to go over Hector appeared and grabbed her by the waist. He leaned forward and grasped Penny’s loose hand and began pulling her up with Annette’s help.

“Hold on! We’ve got you!” Hector called over the roar of the wind, his face pale. Just as Penny started to regain the ability to breathe and hope she would live to see another minute, Simon exploded onto the deck.

“I’m here! What’s the ma-ma-maaaa―” He skidded to a halt just behind Hector, but did not stop in time. Simon slammed into Hector with a force that sent Hector and Annette toppling over the edge. He made a mad grab for Hector and caught his wrist, but the momentum of the fall pulled Simon down with him.

For one long, horrifying moment Penny could only stare up at the flailing bodies of her friends as she waited to die, and then a rush of air floated past her on all sides, slowing the freefall. A flare of light burst up and Penny felt a hand grab onto hers.

At first all Penny could see was a rushing river of stars in her eyes, but as they dissipated she could see that everyone hung around her in midair, all falling together with their hands haphazardly linked, but so slowly Penny thought she must be dreaming again. She realized then that the shooting stars were glowing runes emitting from Hector’s hands. Penny took a great gasp of icy cold air and saw Simon had lost consciousness from the magic drain, and Annette was crying, her tears fluttering upward in the wind.

“Look!” Hector cried. Out of the gloom and the ocean mist, Penny could see a dark mass of land with clusters of light glimmering in the distance. Below them loomed the black ocean and miles above was the Airship, still beating its huge wings and shooting off beams of light. Penny could not believe they were plunging from such a dizzying height. She braced herself for the inevitable as they neared the surface of the ocean.

The waves that had been mere spots of foam from the height of the airship were now thundering masses of water, crashing and exploding in eruptions of spray as they plunged into the sea, the churning surface feeling like a bed of blades on Penny’s skin.

Penny was ripped away from the others as they were tossed by the merciless currents, the saltwater stinging her eyes and nostrils. She knew her only hope of survival was to get to Simon’s wand. Breaking the surface, she fought her way through the waves and plucked the wand from Simon’s limp body before he could sink. Not knowing what to do and feeling control of her motor functions slipping due to the cold, she willed the puffy cloud that Simon had summoned before in the graveyard to appear before her eyes. As if the silver wand had been listening, the white cloud blossomed out from the tip and pushed Penny and Annette up from the churning waves.

Penny screamed as she saw Hector and Simon slipping away into the sea, knowing they had only seconds before their lives were claimed by the depths. Hector swam forward, spitting water, and heaved Simon’s body toward them. Annette and Penny yanked him onto the cloud and turned back for Hector. Penny’s hand grabbed onto his slick one and Annette caught his wrist. Penny’s chest tightened when Hector’s hopeful expression turned into one of acute horror. Penny heard it before she saw it; an unnatural disturbance beneath the waves, accompanied by a venomous hissing.

From the dark depths of the ocean a creature’s head burst from the water, its gaping orange eye glowing in the darkness. Its teeth were huge and long, like long swords of bone, and filthy green hair grew from the top of its scaled head.

In a lightning fast motion, the creature sank its long, crooked teeth into Hector’s midsection and he let out a scream of utmost terror and pain. Overcoming her horror, Penny lurched forward and jabbed Simon’s wand into the center of the creature’s face. She felt the tip of it drive into the soft eyeball with a sickening puncturing sound, and the creature shrieked as blood flowed from its eye. It stopped gnawing on Hector’s convulsing body long enough for Annette and Penny to pull him onto the cloud. Penny commanded the wand to bring the cloud higher and they shot into the air, the chill cutting into their damp skin. When they were a suitable length away from the surface of the restless waves, Penny allowed herself to breathe again. She commanded the cloud to travel toward the land mass only a few miles in the distance.

“P-Penny! Hector, he―!” Annette choked in hysterics, grasping at her chest as she hyperventilated. Dripping and shaking, Penny looked down at Hector. Even in the darkness she could see he was drenched in his own blood and lay motionless. His chest was still rising, but only just.

“What are we going to do? He’s going to
die!
” Annette sobbed.

“NO! He’s not going to die!” Penny shouted back, trying her best to keep her mind clear as she steered them toward the shore with all the speed the little cloud could manage. The fog became thicker as they got closer, making it difficult to see even a few feet in front of their faces. Penny was quite close to losing her mind from fear when she saw a gathering of lights.

Lights! Lights mean people!
she thought, directing the cloud forward. In less than a minute the lights were just a few feet away and the water below changed to sand. Penny urged the cloud to let them down, but instead of dropping them softly, it disappeared and they crashed into the sand several feet below.

Penny got to her feet, aware she was caked in sand and blood and dripping with seawater. A fierce determination pulsed through her as she turned to find the lights she had seen from shore, but when she caught them in her sights crushing disappointment buried her like an avalanche. She dropped back down to her knees.

The lights were souls. The very same type of glowing entities Penny had seen flitting about between the gravestones in Lindenvale. There were at least ten or fifteen of them drifting above their heads. Penny was seconds from collapsing in hopelessness; they were stranded, and maybe miles away from any city.

Without immediate help Hector is going to die. If we stay in the cold in this condition for too long
we
are all going to die. And it is entirely my fault,
Penny thought, sure that she would not be able to keep her tears back this time. She buried her face in her hands and resigned herself to at least being close to Hector in the last moments of his life.

The sound of footsteps shifting through the sand roused her and Annette from their silent despair. A light was coming toward them.

“Hello?” a voice called out from the haze. Annette gasped, her sobs shuddering to a stop. Penny was stricken with fright; the voice had not addressed them in Gobblish, but Andronian. Through the thick mists, the vague shape of a slouching human form advanced on them.

“
Help us! Please!
We’re over here!”
Annette cried.

From the veils of fog stepped a man, an eidolorbe in his hand.