The Angel of Elydria (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 1) Page 3

  Seven-and-a-half chapters later Penny was fast asleep, one hand still clinging to the book. Somewhere past midnight, she woke with a start as a tortured wail split the night.

  Penny sat bolt upright in bed, her chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. The room was plunged in thick darkness and objects that she knew were mere inches away had become invisible. Though she guessed the sound might have been from a waking dream, Penny had never felt more paralyzed with fear in her life.

  It had been a wretched chimera of screams; the voice of a dying animal, the wail of a baby, a Styrofoam shriek, metal grinding against itself―and yet none of those things. It was alive―but no human could have produced that cry. The small hairs on Penny’s arms prickled as she strained to listen for something more. Another realization swept over her.

  I fell asleep as I was reading. I left the lights on―I know I did.

  Nauseating horror enveloped her. Reeling, she jumped out of bed and threw herself against her bedroom door that stood ajar. The bang of the door snapping shut echoed throughout the house and she fumbled to lock it with trembling hands. She backed away, half expecting something to begin pounding on it from the other side.

  What should I do, what should I do? Penny thought in a panic, standing in the center of the room and hugging herself. Should I wait to see if it happens again? What if it does? What if it doesn’t? What was it?!

  “I’ve been having weird dreams lately. It was just a dream…just a dream…” her voice sounded meager in the overbearing darkness, like a tiny boat lost at sea. “The power’s out because of the rain. There’s nothing wrong…I’m okay.” She took a deep, shuddering breath and began to recover.

  The scream tore through the night again, this time a guttural bellow that oozed with agony and rage. It was so loud it seemed to resonate within her chest, and Penny cringed downward with a frantic yelp. It had come from right outside the house.

  Whimpering as her body rocked with tremors, Penny crawled over to the window. She crouched just below it, dominated by fear for several long, uneventful moments until her curiosity beseeched her to look outside. With the utmost caution she lifted her eyes above the ledge of her windowsill and peeked out through the gap in her curtains.

  Through the thick sheets of rain and sloshing murkiness of the woods beyond the glass, Penny scanned the scene for anything out of the ordinary. Dreading the worst, she was surprised to find that there was nothing but the pines thrashing in the wind.

  Am I seriously going crazy here?

  Penny gripped her hair, wondering where she had left her cell phone. Calling for help was starting to seem like a better idea by the second. Before Penny could move to find it, out of the trees lurched an abomination so hideous it convinced her that her blood could freeze. The arms were disproportionately long and pale as an exhumed corpse. Ugly splotches of grayish-pink mottled the waxy flesh. With a speed Penny did not anticipate from something that looked so decayed, it burst into the street with a gut-wrenching leap.

  Penny felt her consciousness slipping when she saw its face and grasped the wall for support. It looked as though it had once been human, but the eyes were huge and filmy white, and the lower jaw had been reduced to a few splinters of twisted bone. A serpentine, venom-black tongue lolled and surged from its throat. From its elbows, spine, and rib-cage sprouted thorny bones that pierced through the skin and shredded the remnants of something that might’ve once been clothing. Its mangled face contorted in unfocused wrath. With a sharp glance upward, as if it had spotted her peering at it from the window, it lunged forward, crawling on its belly with a swiftness that made Penny’s stomach pinch.

  Penny whimpered, unhinged by terror, and skittered across the floor in frantic desperation, knocking over the stack of books beside her bed. Between great, gasping breaths, Penny tried to focus, her eyes scanning the dark shapes of her room for a weapon of some sort and finding nothing. A deafening crash downstairs elicited from her a scream and a peal of dread. Penny almost wept from the fresh wave of despair that smothered her. Oh God. Now it knows where I am.

  Unable to think, Penny backed against the wall as blood-curdling howls roared downstairs. Things once treasured could be heard shattering to bits on the ground.

  I can’t believe this…I’m going to die here. Ripped to pieces. This is really it. This is how it happens. Penny’s mind raced as a cold stillness took over her body and she clung to every minute detail in her diminishing time. She hugged her shoulders, cringing from the crashing noises intensifying by the moment. Footsteps pounded on the stairs and down the hall. It was over.

  A crippling shock jolted through her body as the bedroom door was thrown open and a face came out of the darkness.

  A familiar face. A friendly face.

  “P-P-Professor Arlington?!” Penny gasped, not daring to believe her eyes.

  Penny’s breath caught in her lungs as she gaped at her literature professor. Not wasting a moment he grabbed Penny’s hand and dragged her into the hall.

  “Are you hurt?” He looked her over, his voice strong but coursing with panic.

  “No! B-but, Professor! There’s―there’s a m-mon―”

  “Don’t worry. I dealt with it accordingly.” Their eyes locked in an intense gaze, but the room was too dark for Penny to make out his expression. He let go of her hand, pushed his glasses up, then seized Penny by her upper arm and led her down the stairs. The fright that had lessened at his appearance flared up again.

  “Where are we going?” Penny cried.

  “Somewhere safe,” Professor Arlington answered.

  Downstairs Penny choked, inhaling an acrid, oily, burning smell. The furniture lay in pieces all over the floor. Fragments of broken glass caught the feeble light, and at the edge of the room a smoldering heap of greasy ashes piled around scorched bones. It was now apparent what had become of the monster. Penny halted to goggle at the sight, but Professor Arlington jerked her along without missing a step. The front door had been knocked completely off its hinges. Realizing that the professor was planning on leading her outside, she ripped her arm away and retreated a few paces. He blinked at her, seeming taken aback by her reaction.

  “I’m not going out there!” she warbled. Outside, the rain was a veritable cascade and Penny was barefoot and still dressed in her pajamas. Professor Arlington’s brow furrowed and he grabbed her again, this time latching on with a stronger grip.

  “OW! Hey!”

  Professor Arlington forced a resisting Penny over the slippery door and into the rain. Penny dug her heels into the mud in an attempt to free her arm.

  “Let me go or I’ll scream!” she threatened, trying not to think of what cruel trap would await her if she played into the hands of her captor. There was no stopping the dreadful images that came to mind.

  “I would strongly advise against that,” Professor Arlington yelled over the rain. He pulled a key ring out from his pocket and dragged her toward a car that was parked some ways down the street. “It’s dangerous here. If my conjecture is accurate, more of those creatures are on their way this very instant.”

  Penny weighed her options and found herself being tossed into the passenger seat of the professor’s car and shut inside.

  Penny had always imagined that if she was ever to be kidnapped by someone, she would throw a righteous fit against her assailant. She was surprised to find she instead felt numb. Shock had debilitated her.

  Professor Arlington got in the driver’s side and wiped the lenses of his glasses on his sleeve. Everything around Penny seemed to be happening miles away as the car shuddered into life. Her ruined house sped out of view and was swallowed by the night.

  Before long the questions in her mind burned too hot to be contained. “How did you know where I live, Professor?” Penny asked in a quivering voice, staring forward. He didn’t answer right away, and Penny peered at him from the corner of her eye.

  “I followed you from school. First to that shop, then to your house.” Hi
s eyes stayed focused on the road.

  Penny’s chest tightened. “What?”

  “I had to!” he defended. “Please believe me, Miss Fairfax, I mean you no harm. The only reason I followed you was to understand why you’re radiating such an intensely high volume of magic.”

  Penny’s lip trembled. I…I must have heard that wrong. She shook her head, eyeing him. “Okay, you need to tell me exactly what’s going on here!”

  He bit his bottom lip. “When we get there. I need to concentrate―I’m actually, ah, a rather poor driver,” he admitted.

  “Where are we going, anyway?” Penny asked, disregarding his words.

  “My house.” Again he sounded discomfited.

  “Excuse me?” Penny spouted. “What if I don’t want to go to your house?”

  His expression became muddled. “Apologies, but you haven’t got a choice,” he said, sounding firm yet sympathetic. “Now please hush up. These weather conditions are less than optimal, if you hadn’t noticed.”

  Penny felt her stomach twist and crossed her arms over her chest, resolving to spend the rest of the drive in a hostile silence which she hoped would conceal her fright. She considered her chances of trying to leap from the moving car, but decided against it. He’d only catch her again, even if she was lucky enough to survive.

  The car sped like a bullet through the torrents of rainwater spilling from the sky and every so often a pair of headlights flashed by. Professor Arlington hadn’t been exaggerating when he told Penny he was a terrible driver. At every stoplight he punched the brakes so hard Penny was forced to clutch the side of the car door to remain balanced. Twice Penny grabbed the wheel to avoid a collision.

  “How in God’s name did you get your driver’s license?” Penny exclaimed after he came close to smashing into a car waiting at the stoplight in front of them.

  “Might I remind you what I just said about questions, Miss Fairfax?”

  “Um. It’s a green light.” Penny pointed at the illuminated intersection before them and the car shot to life with a violent jerk.

  At last Professor Arlington pulled onto a gravel road devoid of streetlights and into the driveway of a weather-rotted, Victorian style house that seemed to have been concealed on purpose. No lights shone from inside.

  “Is your wife asleep in there?” Penny kept her voice monotone. Professor Arlington opened door and stepped out into the rain.

  “I’m not married,” he said before shutting it again with a bang.

  Penny told herself she wouldn’t budge from her seat, but Professor Arlington extricated her and yanked her up the slippery porch steps and into the house. She wrenched her arm free of his gentle-but-firm grip and was corralled into the center of a cramped foyer.

  “Let me go!” she spat as he clicked the light on and locked the door behind him. The professor ushered Penny into a sitting room off the foyer.

  His house looked just as Penny had imagined it would: crowded with beat-up antique furniture, and shelves upon shelves of books. His home was even smaller than hers, and there seemed to be a fair amount of clutter dashed haphazardly about. He led Penny to a purple armchair and asked her to sit.

  Professor Arlington wiped his glasses dry on a small rag he’d taken from the counter and glanced hesitantly at Penny. She glared back.

  “Erm, do you want anything? Tea, perhaps? A towel?” he inquired. Penny narrowed her eyes. He cleared his throat and looked down at his shoes. “I’ll take that as a no, then.”

  “Care to tell me what’s going on here?” Penny snarled. Her wet pajamas clung to her like an uncomfortable second skin, but she fought back shivers as she mustered up the most fearsome gaze she could.

  Professor Arlington’s expression sharpened. He looked over at her, scrutinizing, and sat down in the chair opposite hers. “Don’t you think you’re the one who should be giving me an explanation?” he asked with grave seriousness in his voice.

  “Me?” she exclaimed. “You actually have the nerve to expect answers from me?”

  “I’ve no time for this.” He leaned forward with eyes blazing, and for the first time Penny heard him raise his voice. “Tell me at once. How are you producing all that magic?”

  Penny shrunk back into her chair.

  “I have never encountered any one person in this world who can radiate that much raw magic―much less in a day’s time! Yesterday you were the picture of normalcy. In fact, regularly you produce almost no magic at all―and now this. So, yes. I believe that justifies an explanation.”

  Drugs. This man is on drugs. I’ve got to get out of here. She drew her knees to her chest and took short little breaths, silently planning her escape route. Professor Arlington’s expression changed from anger to alarm.

  “You―you didn’t know?” he croaked. She shook her head and he scratched at his. “No, that’s not feasible. How could you not know? Don’t you feel it? I can’t have been the only person who was put off by all that energy.”

  Penny shrugged, at a loss for what to tell him but needing to distract the delusional man while she thought. “I…guess…my mom and Maddie―they both had headaches, and Mom’s headache went away after I left, but that was nothing. This is insane, I mean…” she mumbled.

  “Let me try to explain. When you came into class this morning, it was as if…as if a speaker had been turned up to an unbearably loud volume. A speaker that had once been silent. You really have no idea how this change occurred?” he asked her, leaning forward, his hands on his knees. There was an intense passion and excitement in the way he spoke, as if he had been anticipating this moment for years.

  “Do you have any idea how crazy you sound?” Penny shot back, still hugging her knees.

  “Stuff and nonsense! I’m not delusional, I’m merely―confused―” he said with impatience, waving off her question. “Now the question is―”

  “Ok, psycho. Prove it, then. Prove magic is real,” Penny challenged, seeking to end this charade at once.

  Professor Arlington flashed an irate glare as if to say that there was no time for such games, but gave a conceding sigh. With a lazy flick of his wrist, a spiral of the same silvery rune writing Penny had seen him produce earlier that day bloomed out of his index finger. The shimmery runes shot through the air, transforming into a flurry of fire-blue, incandescent butterflies. Ghostly wings fluttered around in the air and Penny leapt to her feet, breathless.

  “How in the―” she cried. Her heart was racing again, but this time out of excitement.

  “Is that proof enough for you?” Professor Arlington questioned, watching her dumbfounded look with mild amusement.

  “What are they? What are you?” Penny breathed, tiptoeing underneath luminous wings in wonderment.

  Professor Arlington snapped his fingers and more silvery runes shot from his hands like tiny arrows, piercing into each of the jewel-bright butterflies. With a collection of pops, their short-lived flight was quelled. They dissipated into a shower of blue stars and faded from existence. Penny’s look of astonishment fell along with them, and she turned to face Professor Arlington, who was trying to repress a smug smile.

  “Was that the same sort of thing you were doing this afternoon?” she asked, regaining her composure and taking her seat again.

  “Of course. I’m pulling the magic from around us and shaping it to my will,” Professor Arlington explained, looking distracted. “The life-forms of Earth naturally produce an energy called magic, and I can manipulate it to work enchantments.”

  Penny stared at him with glassy eyes, dumbstruck. She tried to process what he had said, uncertain of what to think. “What are you? Some kind of space alien?” she speculated.

  Professor Arlington choked and covered his mouth with his hand. Penny’s cheeks grew hot and she scowled in humiliation as he burst out laughing. “D-don’t laugh! The way you worded it―anyone would make that mistake!”

  He caught his breath after a few more chortles, and cleared his throat. “I apologize again,
Miss Fairfax,” he said, his voice trembling with another laugh. “But to answer your question, no. I’m human. But I wasn’t born in this world.”

  Penny snorted. With each question he answered, two more popped up in its place. “Oooh-kay…so, there are other worlds, apparently. And what do you mean by ‘an energy called magic’? How do we…um, produce magic?” She crossed her arms, trying to wade through the tangled mess of information.

  “Yes, there certainly are other worlds―well, there’s at least one other. The world I was born in. Nelvirna.” He scratched the side of his head. “And magic…I mean, well, it’s rather complicated. I’m not entirely sure I thoroughly understand it myself. Let me think.” His face pinched as he tried to collect his thoughts. “It’s difficult to describe a sense that others cannot experience. Imagine trying to explain color to a man who’s been blind his whole life.”

  “Every living thing on Earth processes a specific form of energy that we called ‘magic’ in my home. It comes from the Earth itself―raw and unrefined―and it is transformed unconsciously into usable, potential energy. I can sense where it is, similar to how you would feel heat, and expend it however I please. It sort of just hangs around in the air and is especially concentrated around human beings and animals. Some naturally process a great deal, while others produce only a small amount. It’s what you might think of as an aura, I suppose,” he explained, gesturing to the air around Penny. She nodded to show she followed.

  “Well, anyway, I just pull the magic out of those auras and use it to perform various types of enchantments. This morning the field of magic fixed around you was…staggeringly immense. It was more than―well, thousands of people’s auras combined. In fact, it was so powerful that it was flowing directly toward me, possibly because I was the only thing around that had the ability expend it. I’ve been spending your magic in different enchantments all day long as I’ve tracked you―but even now it’s still difficult to bear.”

  Penny digested this in silence for a moment. “Do you think that’s the reason why that…thing attacked me?” She fought back a shiver at the memory of the wretched being that had crawled out of the forest.