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

At the crossroads where dreams become nightmares lies the world of Elydria…

It’s not every day that a college student dies and is revived in a distant world far away from her small hometown in Oregon. But that’s exactly what happens to Penny Fairfax. Penny soon discovers her near death experience awakened an ability to manipulate the dreams of others, permitting her to unlock hidden secrets from the past and create vivid illusions.

Trapped in Elydria with her English professor, Penny must navigate a world of gas lamps and glittering façades on the verge of collapse in search of the way home. Haunted by a malicious specter wearing an iron funeral mask, she learns that her gift of life comes with a high cost. Now, Penny must escape its wicked intentions, solve the mystery that is unleashing havoc on Elydria, and return home without meeting death a second time.

The Angel Of Elydria

Copyright © 2013, 2014 A.R. Meyering

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published by

Innisfree Press

Print edition ISBN numbers: 

ISBN-13: 978-0692283745

ISBN-10: 0692283749

To my cousin,

for her words on the dock and

for all her words since.

T
hrough the haze of sleep, Penny knew that this particular dream was dangerous, though it began as any other dream might.

Penny wandered through a forest, searching for the eerie voice calling her name. She found herself at a lone apple tree that didn’t seem to belong in the sea of pines.

Dig…I’ve got to dig
,
her dream-logic ordered
. The entrance is buried here. Someone once showed me how to get there.

Penny dropped to her knees in front of the fruit tree and the atmosphere changed. Her awareness became too clear, the vividness stinging her eyes. She was awake inside of her dream, but lacked any form of control.

A violent gust of wind knocked her flat as a great white heron swooped before her. Its talons gripped her body, the immovable pressure crushing her. The bird’s beak appeared crooked and malformed.

The heron drove its beak deep into her body, its knife-like bill drilling into her abdomen. A burst of revulsion assaulted Penny when she realized that the massive bird was searching for something within her body. She thrashed against its grip, feeling no pain yet desperate to escape.

With a swift yank the bird withdrew from the wound, revealing an enormous black spider clamped in its beak. Spindly legs twitched and twisted in the air, probing for something to grasp.

A deep, resonating voice split through Penny’s panic. “I have removed it. Now you will be hidden no more.”

This time Penny screamed and the clear, sharp sound drew her back into reality. She tumbled onto the hardwood floor amidst a shower of various fluffy pillows. Her eyes snapped open and Penny found herself face-to-face with the grin of a teddy-bear.

Penny sighed as she untangled herself from her homemade quilt and sat up. Grumbling, she ran her fingers through her tousled black hair and started to rearrange her bed, listening to the footsteps pounding up the hallway.

Penny’s door flung open as her inquisitive mother popped in. “What’s all the noise about?” Paulina asked, failing to sound nonchalant. Her long black hair was pulled back, hidden under the usual bandana. Her gray eyes flitted over Penny with concern.

“It was nothing―just had a weird dream, that’s all,” Penny told her with a yawn and her mother gasped with intrigue. Penny ignored her and moved to the closet to arrange the day’s ensemble.

“A dream? Was it unusual?”

Penny scoffed a little under her breath and suppressed the urge to roll her eyes as she inspected a skirt from her bedroom floor, then tossed it aside. “It
was
pretty vivid actually, but―”

Penny was interrupted by an excited giggle from her mother. “Hold that thought―I’ll go get the dream dictionary. It could be a sign! We’ve got to interpret it while the imagery is still fresh in your mind. Sit tight!” Her mother tramped back downstairs, muttering to herself.

Penny shook her head, pulled a jacket and striped shirt from her closet and slunk to the bathroom. As she got dressed and brushed her teeth, her mother returned to lob question after question about her dream through the bathroom door. Penny slapped water onto her pale, heart-shaped face and smoothed her hair as she answered. Her wide blue eyes and youthful features suggested she was younger than her actual age of twenty.

“A spider, huh? It says you have a good chance of finding money or getting a letter from an old friend,” Paulina muttered, her excitement palpable even through the closed door.

Penny tried to focus on her mother’s words as she did her best to tame her short, wiry black hair. This was a familiar ritual with her mother.
At least she isn’t trying to cast a spell to keep me safe from inauspicious omens today,
Penny thought before she opened the bathroom door.

“Lookin’ good, kid,” Paulina said, looking over Penny’s skinny, boyish frame swimming within her jacket. “Need me to drive you over to the college today?”

“No thanks, Maddie’s picking me up,” Penny said as she descended the stairs. It was a cozy house with just enough room to move around in. Penny much preferred it to the dingy apartment on the other side of town that they had occupied before. There was something charming about the sleepy little neighborhood where they’d settled.

“Oh well, I need to get to the shop anyway,” Paulina sighed. “Remember, you’ve got to be there too right after class because my plane leaves around five and heaven knows I’m going to need extra time. I
know
I’ve forgotten something. I always forget something.”

Penny stopped on her way to the kitchen.
Of course―Mom’s going to see Grandma this weekend.
Penny shook her head, feeling as though it were full of cotton, and scanned the counter to see if there were any muffins left. The kitchen smelled of exotic spices and sunlight poured in through the windowpanes, dappling the many aromatic herbs and flowers that her mother grew to sell in their store.

Penny grinned when she found a wealth of fresh muffins on the counter and plucked up her favorite—banana nut. She turned to leave, stopping when she noticed her mother collapsing into the chair beside the kitchen table, rubbing her temple.

“Is something wrong?” Penny asked, drawing closer. It wasn’t at all like Paulina to react this way about seeing Penny’s grandmother; she more often than not spoke of the woman with a kind of forced optimism.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I’ve just had a little bit of a headache since I woke up…I think it might be a migraine coming on…” her mother mumbled.

Penny stood by her for a moment, bewildered. “A migraine?” she inquired, surprised. “You never get migraines.”