Eden Undone (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 2)

by A. R. Meyering

  “That is also what became of all my sisters who opposed his will. They were killed or tortured into giving up their names, strengthening Nestor’s army and limiting our sisterhood to only those who believed him out of zealous devotion or fear of being destroyed.” She paused, then continued, “There isn’t much time left. Rhea’s got them impassioned with rage, and they’re itching to act. They’re planning to attack the castle and take control of Iverton in the near future.”

  “All of this death and destruction because he’s looking for something?” Argent cried hoarsely. “What in Heaven or Elydria could be that important?”

  “Something he wants more than anything. Something he thinks can make a wish of his come true. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but I know he calls it ‘The Law of Heaven.’ Does that mean anything to you?”

  “YES!” Hector shouted, standing up so quickly his chair toppled over. Everyone turned to look at him. “It belonged to the Angel Seival. The Angel of my world. It was a magnificent lance that’s survived through seven thousand ages, fabled to be the most powerful tool in all of creation, capable of even cutting through the fabric that divides the physical world from the spirit world—or as you might call it, the Dawn Mirror. Seival used it to rule our people.”

  A stunned silence filled the room. Simon was the first to speak.

  “Well. This complicates things a bit.”

  Penny looked up from her breakfast as Gavin sauntered awkwardly into the dining room, wearing a pair of trousers and a modest collared shirt with a jacket. He sat down and drummed his fingers nervously on the table. There was not even a whisper of makeup on his face. His long hair had been cropped above his shoulders and was pulled back into a ponytail.

  “Gavin!” Annette finally squeaked. “What’s gotten into you?”

  “I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re referring to, Nettie. Pass the cream, won’t you?” He tried to sound nonchalant, but his voice shook a little. Penny passed him the cream jug, her jaw slack. Annette’s eyes welled up and she touched the ends of his hair.

  “Oh, no. Your beautiful hair,” she moaned, and he brushed her hand away.

  “I needed a change. Anyway, I was in the mood after I helped your friend tidy up.”

  “Friend? Who are you talking about?” Annette’s confusion increased.

  “Mr. Clemons,” Gavin said delicately, sipping his tea. “I thought he told you he was going to the Crafter’s Guild today. He said he’d be down in a moment. I don’t know what’s taking so long.”

  “Oh, I don’t believe this,” Simon scoffed, but Annette smiled, unable to mask her excitement. She pushed her chair back and scurried into the foyer. Penny and Mia followed, and the girls waited anxiously at the bottom of the stairwell, eyes glued to the second floor landing.

  “What are you silly creatures up to so early?” a lazy voice said from behind them, and they all spun around and gasped at the sight of a scowling Argent.

  The dark circles below his eyes had been obscured with powder, and his usually messy hair was neatly combed and fastened in the back with a length of black silk. Instead of his worn-out pants and voluminous jacket, he wore a smartly fitting frock coat of black and dark gray with a vest and slacks underneath. Penny was stunned at how elegant he looked, and had to admit to herself that he cleaned up to be rather attractive.

  “My goodness, look at you!” Annette swooped around to view Argent from all angles.

  “Stop that. You know how much I hate this,” he growled.

  “No, no! Don’t hate―embrace! You look like a normal human being when you dress like this! Just think, children won’t run screaming when you walk down the street, for once. This could be the dawn of something wonderful!” Annette enthused, but Argent shook his head.

  “I’m going to the Guild now.” He waved her away as he made his way toward the door, but Annette ran in front of him.

  “Hey, don’t you walk away while I’m persuading you! Come on, just look at yourself. You look…you look…” Annette’s voice trailed off as she stared at Argent, trying to summon up the right words. His eyebrows raised and he began to look uncomfortable as Annette continued to stare at him. With a reddening complexion, he pushed her aside and grabbed the knob.

  The door slammed behind him, and Mia giggled as Annette continued to stare after him with an expression that suggested she was questioning everything she had ever known. Penny smiled and hurried the girl back into the kitchen.

  AROUND SUNSET, PENNY went to sit on the wooden swing in the garden, eager for Argent to return. To her surprise she found Simon was already sitting there, quietly staring at the clouds and rocking back and forth.

  “What are you up to?” Penny asked gently, sitting beside him on the swing and also turning her attention to the clouds above and the yellowish tint they took on as evening embraced the world.

  “Wondering, mostly,” Simon said simply.

  “About what?”

  “Home, I guess. Don’t you think about it sometimes?” Simon murmured as he leaned back.

  “Let me guess, you miss clubbing and picking up chicks in bars?”

  Simon’s chuckle was surprisingly sad. “I wasn’t thinking about that at all, believe it or not.” He hesitated, then continued, “Just watching everyone this morning, it seemed to me…we’ve become a family. And that got me thinking about my family back on Earth. How they’re doing, what they’ve been up to in the past decade or so. I always figured I’d just breeze back in one day. I always assumed that, well, they’re my parents. Those kind of bonds are unbreakable. They can get tarnished, but they’ll always be there, no matter what you do to each other.”

  Penny squinted, feeling hollow suddenly as she pushed thoughts of her mother from her mind.

  “But then I started to think…how would it be if I just showed up back home one day? Would they be happy to see me? Would they forgive me so easily?” Simon mused, sounding a shade frightened.

  “Forgive you?”

  “For leaving,” Simon murmured, and that same sad smile appeared on his face. “It was forever ago—in another lifetime now, it seems. I hated my life and the run-down school where they all laughed at me. I would go from there back home to the Podunk farm where we lived. I felt trapped between those two places. Like I could never escape.” He looked at her, saw she was paying attention, and shrugged.

  “Right after I turned sixteen, Oliver and Sam’s show came into the town near my home. I’d never seen such wonderful illusions— I mean, it was almost like real magic. Sam had this one where’d he zip between all these doors on stage, going through one below and popping out near the ceiling. And Olly did one where he pretended to get sawn in half, but then he’d keep going and going, until he was in a hundred pieces, all still moving and talking and waving! They were some of the most amazing illusions I’d ever laid eyes on. I still can’t figure out how they did it, and they’d never tell me.

  “Anyway, I’d been practicing to become a magician ever since my uncle taught me a few simple tricks. I wanted to be like them, I wanted to be adored by people instead of heckled and insulted. I wanted everyone to care about what I had to say, and just needed to escape from that…stagnant place. So I tried out, and they let me come along on their tour. We left that night―I never said goodbye to my parents. I never even called them after that day. They probably think I’m dead.”

  “Why would you do something like that?” Penny breathed, fighting back memories of Oregon and the misty trees that she’d abandoned for the shining world where she now sat.

  “I don’t know, Penny. There were days I wanted to go back, to apologize for what I must’ve put them through. I was too selfish then to realize what losing your only son must feel like, especially since they had practically no one else…and I suppose I was too ashamed to show my face after I did finally realize it.” Simon shut his eyes and sighed.

  Penny felt as if she were slowly falling under paralysis. “Would you go back now if you had the chance
? Hector can take you, you know.”

  “I’m not sure. I think I’m still afraid of that place. Afraid of everything that waits for me there―even the happy things.” Simon almost laughed, but it was a humorless sound of desperation. “But regardless, I can’t go back, now can I? Remember Della’s warning—that I’d die a horrible death if I ever went back to live on Earth? Maybe that’s why I suddenly want to see them so badly, now that I know I can never go back.”

  Penny nodded sedately, and they sat in silence. After a moment longer, she found that she could not stand sitting there anymore and she hopped off the swing and made for the manor. When she was inside the cool stillness of the foyer, Penny paced the floor until her mind was rid of the feeling that she was slowly being entrapped by tangles of thorns. Not long after, the doors opened and Argent stepped inside, looking exhausted and gray-faced.

  “Argent, you’re back,” Penny greeted him, grateful for the distraction. “Was there any luck at the Guild?”

  “Some,” he answered. “It was mostly re-introducing myself to people I knew as I child and explaining where I’d been all these years. I did find a couple of good leads, though. Some of the professors might know where Digg is, but it’ll take some time. This is going to be delicate work, unfortunately.”

  “What does that mean?” Penny’s brow furrowed.

  “It means I have to put on a fake smile and some manners for maybe a week or two, and hopefully at the end of it we’ll know where Digg is,” Argent muttered, crossing his arms.

  THE DAYS THAT followed were carefree and sweet, and sent Penny to sleep each night with a feeling of absolute contentment. As it grew closer to summer the days lasted longer, and the twilight was gentle, warm, and filled with the silky sighing of insects.

  Argent left the manor early each morning in his dashing new coat, and strangely enough, seemed to get sleep every night. He returned each evening with news from the Guild and the people with which he was making progress, full of anecdotes and uncharacteristic cheer.

  While they waited, Wendy outdid herself by making miraculous desserts that disappeared nearly as soon as they’d come. Berry cobblers, fruit pies, and iced tea cakes tumbled out of the kitchen, and Wendy glowed with affection when they showered her with compliments and praise. Simon continued to run off again without word or explanation, and Penny found it hard to keep asking after his whereabouts. Mia continued studying diligently with Hector, the two of them taking up lessons in the Sun Garden and sipping chilled tea while they read aloud from books and toiled away on mathematic equations. Penny often wandered by to observe Mia’s rapt attention, and a twinge in her heart tore at her good mood whenever she witnessed the sight of their heads bent together.

  Gavin, who had yet to abandon his new style of fashion, and when he was not fussing over the inhabitants of the house, could be found in the music room, practicing his instruments for long, tireless hours. Penny enjoyed listening, and observed a new passion awakening in him. One day on their way to the Sun Garden, Annette stopped short and pointed, and Penny observed Gavin sitting with Armonie on the edge of the rose-adorned fountain.

  “Annette! Don’t spy on them,” Penny hissed, tugging at her sleeve and Annette batted her hand away.

  “Quiet, I want to see what happens,” Annette whispered, craning her neck.

  “How lovely it is to sit here among all this splendor and listen to your music. It feels just like a moment from one of Miss Annette’s plays,” Armonie murmured in a sleepy tone, shutting her eyes as she fiddled with one of the blooms she had plucked from the fountain. Gavin looked up, his eyes bright.

  “I’m pleased. I was truly hoping you’d enjoy it. Especially hoping, actually.” His smooth demeanor faltered momentarily as he looked swiftly over with something akin to urgency for approval in his gaze.

  “May I hear another, please?” she asked, and Gavin looked back to his guitar, his lips curved into a wry smile.

  “Very well. I shall try and play something that you are familiar with,” Gavin said briskly, then began to strum something that sounded to Penny’s ears like a hymn. It took a moment of listening before Armonie gasped and covered her mouth.

  “That’s the Psalm of Promise. Oh, how nostalgic…so clearly I remember standing in the white halls of the Angelic Lord’s palace, my sisters all around me. I sang this on the morning of my confirmation as Junior High Priestess. I stood before him in his glory and I-I…oh, dear…” Armonie trailed off midsentence, her eyes glistening with ears.

  Gavin looked horrified. “Oh, Armonie, forgive me. I never meant to―Heaven, how could I have been so insensitive—”

  “No, no. I felt that same joy I had in my heart on that day once again. Thank you.”

  Penny and Annette watched with baited breath as Gavin cautiously touched Armonie’s hand with his own. The young woman’s expression grew rosy, and Gavin sat aside his guitar.

  “How would you like to take a stroll with me, Armonie?” Though his manner was confident, his voice trembled when he asked her, and her face went blank for a moment.

  “Ah…” Armonie murmured, casting her eyes around ground for a moment before laughing softly, “I’d love to.”

  LATER THAT EVENING, Penny found herself both envious and encouraged by Gavin’s forwardness, and when she stumbled on Hector enjoying a late afternoon dessert in the dining room, she surprised herself by inviting him to walk with her. Before her mind could make sense of her own actions and the feelings that surrounded them, Hector agreed and they were off.

  They ambled through Iverton as the sun set and ended up talking and wandering the streets until the moons were high and the air took on a chill. Another surprise came the next evening, when Hector asked to join her for another walk. It became a routine, and many orange afternoons followed where they would stroll together around the city, looking for new places to haunt and enjoying each other’s company. They found their way through the bustling markets and tucked-away boutiques, through pawnshops where long-forgotten treasures could be found amid the dust and gloom. They sampled the cuisine of every new restaurant, bakery, and city food cart they could find.

  As the sun went down each evening, Penny found herself anticipating that evening’s new adventure, and found herself sleeping later every morning so that she wouldn’t have to wait.

  She longed for the hours when she and Hector would be together, though she took it upon herself never to look to closely at why this desire grew in her and crushed any suggesting whispers in the back of her mind as soon as logic proposed them. She decided that it had to be the beauty and wonder of Iverton that beckoned to her daily—this and the combination of a good friend’s company and diverting pastimes was enough to justify the feeling to Penny. And whenever she entertained any ideas that suggested otherwise, her anxiety spiraled out of control.

  Soon into their newfound ritual, Hector began to do something that Penny had never before witnessed. He opened up to her about his life back in Nelvirna, and sometimes even the time he spent alone on Earth as a teacher. She listened with unwavering attention to the bittersweet tales of his youth, of the white towers that loomed among the clouds, and the siblings who would tease him, of his strict but warm-hearted mother who constantly fed him sweets because she was worried about how thin he was. One evening they were walking in the Royal District when they came to sit on the very same bench where they had rested before their first visit to the Archillion. Penny leaned back dreamily and let the radiant color of the sky fill her eyes as they sat in the shadow of the castle.

  “Back at the college, you really reminded me of myself when I was your age. I was superbly awkward when I began to attend the Royal Academy of the State, and it elevated my father to new heights of shame, I tell you,” Hector laughed, adjusting his glasses.

  Penny made a sour face. “Sorry, Hector, but I have never been as awkward as you, not even when I was in college—not even in middle school, actually,” she teased, delighting in the sound of his laughter. The
y fell into a comfortable silence, and then her thoughts seemed to escape her lips without her realizing they were coming. “Seems like you haven’t really told anyone this stuff before.”

  “I…” Hector faltered, seeming struck by this realization. “No, I haven’t. Not anyone, to be perfectly truthful with you. You’re the only one, Penelope.”

  “Hey,” she frowned, “Can I make a request?”

  “What sort of request?”

  “Don’t―don’t call me that anymore.” Penny pursed her lips into a pouty expression, and fiddled with the hem on her skirt instead of looking him in the eye.

  “Call you what? ‘Penelope?’” he guessed after a moment.

  Her frown deepened. “Yes, ‘Penelope.’ Call me ‘Penny,’ okay?”

  “Well, if that’s what you wish, I’ll comply. May I ask why, though?”

  Penny kept her gaze averted, plucking at a thread in her hem and ripping a stitch out by mistake. “I just want you to, there’s no real reason.”

  “If you say so,” he agreed. Penny looked back toward the misty shape of the castle turrets, now dealing with another uncomfortable feeling in her chest.

  “I wonder what Noah’s been up to in there. I sort of expected him to, I don’t know, contact us or something.” She had intended to change the subject, and realized too late it was another hazardous one.

  “Honestly, so did I,” Hector said. “I was sure his, shall I put it, ’obsession’ wouldn’t be quashed, even by what happened.” He paused, then added, “Are you upset that he hasn’t? I was under the impression that you had―well, affectionate inclinations toward him.”

  “That’s what he wanted everyone to think, I guess. I don’t know, maybe at the beginning, I guess,” she admitted, balling up her fists.

  “Then why did you―”

  “I don’t know, okay?” she cut him off, not wanting to hear what accusations or assumptions he might have come up with. She regretted her outburst at once.