Eden Undone (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 2)

by A. R. Meyering

  He looked back with such nauseated horror on his face that Penny felt her world shatter. She couldn’t escape that piercing look, it was―

  “Penny! Penny! Wake up!” Annette shrieked in her ear. “She’s hurt. Oh Heaven, please help us. Penny, wake up!”

  Penny’s body snapped free from the paralysis of sleep and she sat up, sucking in a torrent of air. She gaped around, taking sharp, shallow breaths as her eyes streamed.

  “It didn’t happen. It was just a dream. You’re alive, you’re okay. Oh God, it seemed so real,” Penny gasped, reaching over and taking Annette’s hand in a vice-like grip. They were all there, everyone whom she thought was lost forever, all around her, their eyes begging for an explanation.

  “It was Lydia. She’s been working for Nestor,” Penny managed to spit out, her chest still heaving as her lungs refused to cooperate. Simon’s face blanched. She swallowed, her throat still throbbing.

  “She followed me up here. She stole some memory from me, one I didn’t even know I had. She’s going to call Nestor, Nettie, they’re going after my mom. They think she knows the way to Eden, hidden in her memories. They’ve got her, they’ve got my mom!” Penny gripped Annette, hysteria overtaking her. Hector grasped Penny’s shoulder, but she could not bear to look at him for the terrible, phantasmal nightmare that still floated in her mind’s eye.

  “Get up, we’ve got to move.”

  When Hector and Penny burst through the empty space and onto the front walk of Penny’s house, it was obvious that something had already gone wrong. The door stood wide open, creaking off its hinges. Sparks fizzed from a broken light in the hall. Hector held Penny by the shoulder as she took a hypnotized step forward.

  “Penny, don’t go in there,” he said, holding her fast. “Wait until I get the others…no, wait! Did you not hear me?! Penny!”

  “Mom! I’m coming, Mom!” Penny screamed into the hollow, dark hall, all fear forgotten as she rushed down it. Hector shouted and stumbled behind her, but Penny propelled herself forward without heed.

  Inside, Penny discovered the lamps and fixtures lay in pieces, the glass crunching under her feet. An eerie silence hung oppressive in the air. As Penny’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw great, gaping holes had been blown in some of the walls. Penny wanted to call out for her mother, but her voice was lost.

  Penny slowed to a halt as she entered what had once been the family room, feeling Hector brush against her back. His pleas for her to leave the house grew fainter in her ears as Penny’s eyes fell on a sight that made her wish that her heart would stop beating, that her body would crumble away like ash and erase any memory that she had ever existed.

  Penny strode forward, falling into despair so deep it felt as if Novocain was spreading rapidly through her veins, making her limbs sluggish and unmanageable. She only made it halfway to the pile of rubble that lay in the corner before her knees gave out and she was reduced to gaping at the odious sight before her.

  A large portion of the wall had been blown away, leaving a heap of rubble and a gaping hole that led to the whispering pines. Atop this, as if she had fallen back in a final graceful moment that left her arms sticking out at odd angles, was Madeline.

  Moonlight shone on her face, beautiful even in death. A deep gash had ripped open her throat, and trails of her blood stained the white skin on her neck, face, and arms.

  Penny could hardly feel the tears falling as the gravity of this irreversible deed came caving in over her, burying her under an invisible avalanche of what felt like needles and glass cutting away her soul. She was vaguely aware of crawling across the ground to touch Madeline’s hands, and feeling sick when she found they were still warm. She recoiled at once, disturbed by the thought that some revolting façade of life still clung to Madeline’s body. A scream ripped from her, as if ridding her body of all the toxic miasma of grief that was expanding too quickly for Penny to withstand.

  Things became blurry. Hector grabbed her; he was pulling her somewhere―she didn’t care. Sounds seemed miles away, her vision blurred. And then Hector was gone and Penny felt the scratching of grass on her arms.

  Oh God, this is real―this isn’t a dream. An invisible weight descended upon her, crushing the life from her. No sweet relief would erase this moment, unlike when she woke from the nightmare Lydia spun. Nothing could ever wipe away this moment that would surely haunt her until she died.

  Annette was beside her now, holding her around the shoulders and speaking words that sounded like muffled thumps in Penny’s ears.

  It can’t be undone…it can’t be undone…

  Penny collapsed into Annette. She could hear voices she knew—Simon, Argent, Armonie―but Penny could not see them. She did not resurface until the sound of Annette crying her name over and over broke through the fog.

  “Penny! Penny, look.” She shook her and Penny looked with tear-clouded eyes to see a frail woman, shivering from head to toe with her white hair spilling over her shoulders in messy tendrils, her eyes screaming in place of a mouth that couldn’t open.

  Patricia Fairfax approached, petrified and bruised, coming closer as if wading through water. After a faint sparkle of runes flashed in Penny’s peripheral vision, Patricia’s lips came unstuck and she gave a sighing gasp as she stumbled toward them.

  “He took her. An Angel came in and took her―he came and took my daughter and destroyed that girl. Why, Penelope, why? How could an Angel do such a thing? Do you know? Can you tell me? Where is she now?” Patricia fell to her knees beside Penny on the grass, her hands clawing at her jacket.

  “He took her to the woods. He’s going to use her to find the path to Eden,” Penny breathed, her head aching and pounding so hard she could barely keep her eyes open.

  “We have to stop him, Penny. We can’t stay here and let this happen.” Hector extended his hand to her and she stared at it, feeling so strained and thin that she was sure the grip of it would break her bones.

  “I can’t leave M-Maddie here. I can’t leave her like that, Hector,” Penny wept, her lip quavering as she spoke. Hector knelt down beside her, looking at her with eyes that understood exactly how she felt.

  “You can’t do anything for her now. She’s gone. You’ve got be strong. Stop him before he can do it again, before it’s too late. Stand up.” Hector guided her gently to her feet and held her up as she shook. “Do you know the way?”

  “Y-yes, I think so. A tree that doesn’t belong in the woods…near my old apartment,” Penny muttered, wiping at her eyes and clenching her fists. Hector and Simon went away then to get the keys for the car, and Penny turned to stare back at the hallway that had become her friend’s tomb.

  Hector pulled her away, sat her in the passenger seat of her mother’s car, and then began to drive. Penny kept her eyes fixed on the house until it vanished from view. She directed Hector to the area near her old apartment, hearing her own voice through a fog. Her thoughts slowly shifted from the anguish of a life too soon crushed, to the idea that Madeline would never dance under the white lights again, and then to the torturing notion that she would never again be able to speak with her. Her despair heated into a slow-boiling rage.

  Nestor did this. He’s tried to destroy my life again and again, and now he’s taken Maddie’s. He did all this, killed thousands of people that were as important to others as she was to me, and burned all of Nelvirna just so he can get some pathetic wish. Now he’s got my mother.

  Penny breathed through her nose in intense bursts, tears still hot on her cheeks.

  I’m not going to let him win. I may be weak and I may not know what I’m doing, but this ends tonight. I’ll make him pay for what he’s done. Him and every last one of the bastards who helped him.

  Not seconds after Hector parked at her old building, Penny sprung out of the car, taking deep guttural breaths as she stared at the lonely pines swaying in the summer wind. When the whole group had arrived and assembled behind her, Penny took off running into the forest.
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br />   It was as if dreams and reality had become spliced together in a nightmarish, patchwork film-reel that flickered before Penny’s eyes. She plunged through the forest, led by the pull of some instinctual call. Every sensation was heightened—the pain on her feet, the pine needles scratching on her hands, the crawling of insects, and the feel of webs on her face. The forest swallowed her up, sucking her in further. All at once in the back of Penny’s mind, she felt as if she had run straight into a brick wall and her legs seized to a halt. In a clearing bathed in starlight and the deep lavender hue of midnight was an apple tree, its branches heavy with crimson fruit.

  “It’s here,” Penny shouted, stepping over the brush and into the clearing. She dropped to her knees before the apple tree’s gnarled roots, her fingers ripping into the soft, fragrant earth.

  “I’ll help you, big sis. I’ll help,” Noct said in a trembling voice, falling to his knees and tearing into the dirt. Penny’s tears fell harder than ever. At once, Mia knelt down too and poured all her effort into digging the hole between the apple tree’s roots. Then Annette, Simon, Hector, Argent, and finally Gavin and Armonie all were on the ground, shoveling away soil, hands scratching other hands, and no one stopping to speak a word. Within minutes, a deep, gaping black pit had been carved into the ground.

  A noise from deep in the ground rumbled, like the growl of an earthquake. Everyone but Penny drew away in fright. She continued to peer into the dark depths as the ground shook. A flash of bright light exploded out of the pit and before her eyes the black soil crumbled away and formed a long, snaking tunnel, trailing so deep into the ground that Penny could not see its end.

  Without hesitation Penny tumbled head-first into the tunnel, half falling and half pushing herself. She began to wriggle through the tight, soil-scented tube. Roots barred her path and skittering creatures that made their homes deep in the earth scrambled over her arms and through her hair, but Penny didn’t stop.

  As she went on, it became increasingly difficult to breathe and the tunnel grew tighter and narrower with every inch. Panic radiated through her every time she got stuck and fought to free herself. It was not long before Penny could not tell which way was up and which was down. Something in the far recesses of her mind kept whispering paralyzing threats. The whisper told her the tunnel would end deep in the ground, promised her the back would cave in and she would be buried alive, or taunted that she was crawling straight into the underworld itself.

  Penny fumbled about in the narrow space, fighting to breathe. Her quaking hands reached out for something to grab onto and her fingers grazed over something that felt like a dry bone. When her hand closed around it, she was struck by a sensation akin to the snapping of a rubber band. With an abrupt bang of noise and force, the ground below her erupted and Penny launched upward, breaking through soil and into the air along with a shower of dirt and roots.

  Locating her bag that had fallen several feet away, Penny wiped the dirt off herself and took a moment to observe the hole in the ground. An ash and elm tree stood side by side nearby.

  She turned again and gasped. Before her stretched a garden of unequivocal beauty. Bell-shaped flowers of pale purple glowed like wisps under a moon that looked too big to be real. Incandescent mushrooms in every color imaginable lined the mossy path at her feet. Dragonflies that shone like living jewels zoomed around between the unearthly blooms. Through the foliage wove a bubbling stream, its water so bright it appeared to be laced with silver and pearls. Aromas of heady nectar and something like flowery wine danced seductively on the air, and every time Penny tried to take a full breath of it, it floated away on a breeze.

  Penny heard a scuffling behind her and turned back to see Hector crawling out of the hole, coughing and sputtering with his glasses hanging off one ear. She rushed to help him out of the ground.

  His grip lingered on her hands as his eyes drank in the exquisite garden, and for a strange moment that seemed to last eons, the enraged sea of pain inside of Penny quieted as they stood side by side, clinging to one another like lost children. The stillness was broken as Annette came up out of the ground. Next came Argent, who had helped Noct and Mia through, followed by Simon and Armonie, and at last a traumatized-looking Gavin. They all huddled around each other, overwhelmed by the enthralling beauty surrounding them.

  “Do you think they already came by?” Mia whispered, and before anyone could answer they were all thrown off their feet by a massive explosion that split the two trees apart.

  The shower of dirt subsided and Penny became paralyzed by the terrible sight of the Angel Nestor unfolding his massive wings. The feathers fluttered back, revealing Lydia, Deimos, Phobos, Cyrus, and Paulina. He had carried them through the tunnel.

  Paulina screamed at the sight of her daughter.

  “Thank you for showing us the way, as your mother proved useless. Adrielle’s seal on her was just too strong to break. She’ll have to remove it herself, unfortunately,” Nestor said, cool and collected despite the fact that Penny was charging toward him with all her might. With a simple wave of his hand, she was knocked back with a force that swept all the air from her lungs and left her gasping and clutching her throat.

  Lydia, Deimos, and Phobos with Cyrus bobbing on his chain spread out from him like moths around a light. A piercing scream cut through the air as Armonie looked upon the face of Cyrus.

  “NO!” she cried, her mouth agape. “No, Cyrus! I know this man! What have you done to him? Lord Nestor, why?! How could you have done this?” She ran forward, sobbing as she touched Cyrus’s clay-like face. Phobos and Deimos were both too stunned to react and looked to Nestor for guidance, but he was staring at Armonie. She ceased weeping over Cyrus to grovel at the Angel’s feet.

  “Armonie, get away from there! Please!” Gavin shouted, beside himself with terror, and Annette had to hold him back from rushing to her aid.

  “I loved you above all others. I gave you my life, my devotion, my trust.” Armonie clung to his robes, her eyes streaming and her face split with pain. “Why do you do these things to us, your children, Lord Nestor? Why have you turned dear Cyrus into this miserable abomination? I thought you loved us. You said you loved us,” she choked out.

  “Should I kill her?” Deimos asked quietly and Nestor hesitated before shaking his head.

  “I remember you. You sang in my hall once. You were a High Priestess to be―Elise’s protégé, yes?” Nestor asked, seeming to grow a touch impatient.

  “I was, and I represent every one of the girls who fell to your malice, every one of them who believed in your promised devotion and were instead thrown to into flames and upon steel. I stand for each one of those women, and I demand an answer of you.” Armonie rose up, holding her head high and staring unflinching into the gray moons that were Nestor’s eyes.

  The garden became quiet, and Nestor roughly passed Paulina into Phobos’s arms as he drew forward and grabbed Armonie around the throat. Everyone around Penny reacted with a cry of horror as he lifted Armonie off her feet. She did not kick or squirm, but stared accusingly into his eyes as he choked the life from her.

  “Because you miserable creatures feed greedily upon what I most desire―of what I am naturally forbidden…and I hate you for it.” Nestor threw Armonie to the ground in front of Penny. Gavin finally broke away from Annette, kneeling before Armonie on the ground and frantically trying to assess whether her neck was broken.

  “I’ve had enough of this. Lydia, I want to find these worms sleeping and docile when I get back from the Tree of Mana. Your reward is at stake,” Nestor commanded, turning from the group and starting down the path into the garden. Paulina and Penny screamed for each other as Phobos stood between them. Lydia nodded at the Angel and turned to face the group.

  Noct’s hands blazed, Argent reached for his puppets’ controls, Hector’s whole body emitted a golden light, and Annette took a breath and began a command, but none of it was quick enough.

  Lydia hands whipped through the air, every
motion produced waves upon waves of a glimmering purple cloud out of thin air. It grew and spun, billowing out all around her and advancing on them like a bank of fog.

  Noct, who was hurtling forward and lobbing flames in her direction, dropped to the ground almost instantly as the cloud wrapped around him. Gavin and Armonie turned to run, but it swallowed them up and they fell with heavy thuds.

  It crawled in, but just as it reached Penny she found herself being tackled to the ground by Simon. He wrapped his cape around them both and hissed at her to hold her breath.

  They lay shivering, clamping shut their eyes and mouths. More thuds came as their friends dropped to the ground, one by one. When the noises stopped, they heard Lydia give a haughty little laugh, and listened as her footsteps moved closer.

  It took all of Penny’s strength not to jump or make a noise when she felt a kick on her back. Lydia’s foot pried them apart and Penny rolled onto her back, hoping that her movements were limp enough to convince Lydia she was asleep. After a moment of terrible stillness, Lydia made a noise of satisfaction and walked off. When her footsteps had faded into the distance, Penny and Simon peeked out to see the fog had dispersed.

  All around them lay the sleeping forms of their friends, and judging by the tormented expressions on their faces they were each experiencing dark visions in their slumber. Simon knelt beside Annette and shook her. Penny hurried to Noct’s side and attempted to rouse him. She and Simon exchanged worried looks.

  “Penny, why won’t she wake up?” Simon cried.

  “I-I don’t know! Maybe Lydia made the dreams extra strong this time to make sure we wouldn’t be able to escape them,” Penny guessed, watching Noct struggle with the nightmare.

  “Penny, you can fix this! Help them!” Simon urged, and Penny shook her head.