The Angel of Elydria (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 1) (24 page)

“It’s no good,” she admitted in defeat, relieved to break contact with Simon. He frowned, the tips of his mustache drooping downwards.

“You’re not trying hard enough. Concentrate.” Simon grabbed at Penny’s hand again. She sighed in vexation and shut her eyes once more.

The attempts went on for an hour with no results. Hector arrived just after dark holding a stack of new books and offered Penny a few suggestions, but there was still nothing that would trigger it. Penny was getting frustrated and hungry as the smells of dinner began wafting up from downstairs, and pleaded with Simon and Hector to let the whole thing go.

Hector rose from his desk and approached Penny from behind. “Come on, now. Just focus and clear your mind. Here, face forward―” he grabbed Penny by the shoulders and positioned her. As his hands cupped her bony shoulders, Penny felt her heart surge in her chest. When Hector let go of her, her hand twitched inside of Simon’s and the blinding flash met her eyes again. She heard herself yelp with surprise just as her consciousness was wiped away, met by another memory of Simon’s.

…
Simon leaned against the wall of a shady restaurant during the last moments of twilight. A woman with a strained expression stood by him, her long, silky hair falling to her waist. Arms crossed in front of her chest, she was trying to avoid Simon’s gaze and hopeful smile…

With a control she had never experienced before, Penny pulled away from the memory and back into reality. Coughing and stumbling backward again, this time she was caught by Hector and she felt her cheeks burn. She looked at Simon and shook her head.

“Typical,” she remarked, referring to the memory she had just seen.

“You did it again!” he exclaimed. “I knew you’d be able to!”

WITHOUT FAIL, EVERY evening for the next two weeks when Penny returned from her adventures in Iverton, Simon persuaded her to practice with him. After a few days with little development, Penny had begged to end it, but Hector agreed that she should continue to work on controlling the ability. During the first week of what Simon dubbed her Dreamweaving Training, Penny dreaded coming back to the inn. The times she was able to succeed and witness one of Simon’s memories made her feel as if she were intruding on something private. There was no control over which memory she would fall into, and that scared her. Thick humiliation and fear of incompetence also badgered her, as Hector insisted on watching most of the time. On top of all this, the training sessions left her feeling exhausted and unable to do anything besides lie in bed, too troubled to sleep and too tired to move. Every evening, Penny would lay enervated on the bed and listen to the sounds of raucous merrymaking in the street below. In a little square a half mile from the inn, a band of street musicians assembled almost every night, creating bizarre and exotic melodies from their assortment of pipes and strings. Simon and Matilda often attended.

In the dead of the night, unquiet dreams would visit her. Visions of the masked entity floated in and out of focus, peeking out of the shadows of otherwise bizarre dreamscapes. To escape from the daily rigors of her training, Penny began staying out later and later with Humphrey.

One evening Penny decided that rather than fall prey to Simon and Hector regime, she would visit the coliseum-like theater in the Business District. Arriving she noticed more posters of
The Cursed Kiss of Anthony Adonis
had been plastered up. Penny had grown accustomed to this poster, as Simon had taken it upon himself to collect as many of them as he could and paste them on the walls around his bed. He claimed he was in love with the blonde woman in the picture and would stop at no lengths to meet and woo her. Penny and Hector didn’t remind him he was supposed to be in love with Matilda.

The front of the theater was lined in blinking lights of every color. Penny inspected these to see that small, jewel-bright insects were trapped inside the glass spheres. Feeling sorry they had to be the living décor, Penny stayed with them a little while to commiserate their sad fate.

The box office was manned by an elf with graying hair and sharp, silvery eyes. Penny loitered around the entrance, studying the posters from past musical and theatrical productions, and noticed the blonde girl from
Anthony Adonis
appeared in many of them. Her male counterpart was also smiling out from a few. Other posters featured a woman with glossy, ebony hair cropped in an elegant style around her chin. The elfin man behind the counter rose from his seat and came to stand beside Penny as she studied the posters.

“Got any questions, little sister? Would you like to buy a ticket?” he inquired.

“N-no, just looking.” She scratched at the back of her head, embarrassed. “These posters caught my eye, that’s all.”

The elf looked up at the wall of advertisements with satisfaction. “These are all the shows that have played here over the last couple of years. We’ve had quite a good run, I’d say.”

“Do you…?”

“I own this place. Commissioned it to be built myself about seventy years ago, after I came here from Kelvou City, in elf country. Name’s Aldridge, pleased to meet you,” the elf said, nodding.

She blinked. The elf didn’t look at day over forty-five. Still not feeling entirely comfortable speaking with strangers, Penny mumbled something about it being nice to meet him, too. Aldridge felt the emptiness in their conversation and grabbed a small pamphlet from behind the booth.

“Here, take one. This is info for our upcoming play,
The Cursed Kiss of Anthony Adonis
. Maybe you’d like to come see it? I wrote it myself, so I can guarantee the quality―
and
it stars Annette Deveaux,” he added with a quick raise of his eyebrows. Penny glanced down at the poster bearing the now familiar image of the couple, wondering if the name should mean something to her. Aldridge laughed and pointed to the blonde women on the front. “You don’t recognize her?”

“Not really,” Penny admitted and the man scoffed.

“Do you live in The Tunnels or what? She’s only the most famous woman on all of Ciellios, not to mention the most talented―and beautiful!” he almost shouted at Penny, clapping a hand on her shoulder. “My dear, this is an absolute crime. I won’t allow it! You haven’t lived if you’ve never seen my Nettie perform. How many people are in your family, little sis?”

“Erm, no family, just my two friends. But, sir, really I―”

“Three tickets, then! Wait right there!” he shouted, rushing back to his post and rummaging around the box office.

“Oh, please, I couldn’t! It’s really not necessary!” Penny protested.

Aldridge either couldn’t hear her or pretended not to as he continued to bumble around the booth until he produced three tickets. He sauntered up to Penny and laid the tickets in her palm, closing her fingers over them. “Please, I insist,” he said. “You’re in for a treat. Got the voice of a siren, she does.” Aldridge stared at the image of the blonde girl with adoration. “Now, run along! I’ll look forward to hearing your opinion of the show! Bye now!” The elf shooed Penny away from the box office and out onto the street.

Penny sighed, watching the metallic heaps of parts that were the steam-powered cars of the city roar by, clanking and sputtering as they went on their way. She would give the tickets to Simon, who’d enjoy the show very much. Seeing it at least three times didn’t seem out of the question for his level of obsession with the actress.

Simon was waiting for her at the inn with a scowl on his face. She avoided his complaints about her absence by shoving the tickets in his face. His annoyance forgotten, Simon squealed and thanked Penny over and over as he floated around the room.

“Oh, I found out what your girlfriend’s name is, by the way. Annette Deveaux,” Penny articulated with mock pretentiousness. Simon repeated the name, treating every syllable as if it were a delicate treasure.

Hector snorted at Simon, then turned a shrewd gaze to Penny. “Don’t think you’re getting out of practice just because of this.”

Penny groaned with disappointment and collapsed on the bed in a heap. “I’m
tired
of this!” she complained. “It barely works, and even if I was able to get the hang of it, it’s completely useless. Besides, Simon’s a pervert! I’m tired of bearing witness to the visual anthology of every girl he’s ever hit on.”

Lost in his daydream, Simon appeared not to have heard.

“Pursuing this could be of vital importance, Penelope. Don’t you want to find out why you produce so much magic? This is also a vital step to finding out how magic works on Earth. I insist that you continue practicing,” Hector implored.

Penny gave an enormous sigh. “Fine. But I’m done practicing with Simon. Let’s you and me try, okay?” Without waiting for him to agree, she hopped off the bed and crossed the room to where Hector sat.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Hector protested, his face turning white.

She frowned at him. “What’s the matter? Don’t be shy, come on!” Penny urged, reaching for Hector’s slim wrist.

“NO!” he shouted and cringed back from her outstretched hand in a spasmodic motion, leaping up and away from Penny and knocking his chair to the ground in the process.

Penny stared at him in shock, and even Simon looked up with alarm. Hector and Penny stood several feet apart, both staring at each other as he panted, the tension palpable.

Hector relaxed and hung his head in shame, pushing his glasses up his nose as his face turned pink. “I am terribly sorry,” he whispered. Penny watched in bewilderment as he crossed the room and exited, leaving Simon and Penny alone in the oppressive silence. Penny glanced back at a wide-eyed Simon, perplexed.

“What was that all about?” Simon broke the silence.

“I don’t know. He’s never freaked out like that before,” Penny stammered, feeling very guilty as she sat down beside Simon. She had grown so comfortable with Hector; his consternation came as a huge shock. It hadn’t occurred to her that there were still high walls between them, and as she sat on the bed beside Simon, Penny came to realize his violent reaction had done more than scare her. The ashen understanding that Hector might never have trusted, or even felt as at ease with her, shook Penny. She trembled at the idea that she had overstepped her boundaries.

“Maybe he…” Simon was about to continue, then shook his head, dismissing whatever he had been about to say. Penny was glad of it. Simon was silent for a moment, and then looked up at Penny with kindness in his chestnut-colored eyes. “We don’t have to practice tonight if you don’t want to,” he told Penny with an uncommon softness. She smiled gratefully, swallowing what was left of the shock.

“What should we do then? I’m not tired enough to go to bed yet,” Penny admitted, intent on getting her mind on anything else.

With a flourish, the magician withdrew his old pack of playing cards from his pocket. “Know how to play poker?”

DREAMWEAVING PRACTICE RESUMED the next night as if nothing had happened, and it became apparent that Penny was gaining more control over her ability. With a solid two weeks of painstaking effort, she was able to more or less call upon Simon’s memories at will. They next moved to controlling which memories she wanted to see, and Penny soon found she could at least target a general timeframe or type of event by concentrating before she made contact. Though her abilities were developing, she never asked to see Hector’s memories again.

Although she kept quiet about it, that moment never left her mind. The question of what he could have possibly wanted to hide from her had been planted in her mind, and like a malicious seed it stayed lodged, waiting just beneath the surface. She mulled it over on nights when sleep wouldn’t come, running over the possibilities, but never satisfied with the scenarios or explanations her mind offered. Penny tried to convince herself that Hector was just overreacting about something, but something inside her told her otherwise.