“Yes. The message just arrived and we haven’t much time. Get everything you’ll need and meet us in the foyer,” Hector instructed, then exited her room.
Penny dragged herself out of bed, found her bottomless bag, and in record time had packed, dressed and joined the others in the foyer. Hector, Noct and Argent were packed and ready, looking wide awake. Simon was sitting on the staircase, leaning against the banister with his bag in his lap. Penny could hear Annette and Millie bustling about upstairs.
Hector waited to speak until Annette came rushing downstairs, holding three large bags stuffed to the brim and trying to put on makeup at the same time.
Argent raised his eyebrow. “You’re going with them?” he asked with vague interest.
“Well, of course I’m going. It’s not like I’m…I’m going to be needed at the theater,” she added on in a small voice. “Why are you surprised, anyway? Aren’t you coming too?”
Argent gave a derisive laugh. “What, and risk my life with you lunatics again? Do you have any idea what faeries are like? And not just regular faeries, those xenophobic court faeries? The only way you’ll be coming back here is in pieces, mark my words.”
“You can’t not come! You’re—you’re part of the family!” Penny cried.
“Think of all the money I’d lose if I skipped selling off my goods at the market for that long. Anyway, I don’t think the King likes me very much. I’d be unwanted.” Argent shrugged, scratching at his bandana-covered head.
“That’s not true. I’d want you there,” Annette snapped. “But apparently your greed wins out again, so it can’t be helped.”
There was a noise at the top of the stairs, and Penny looked up to see Gavin, still in his nightshirt with a pair of silver glasses perched on his nose.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Well, we’re going away for a while,” Annette called up to him, her voice cautious. Gavin’s face grew stony and he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Oh no, you’re not. What about your career?”
“They don’t want me anymore, remember? I wasn’t chosen. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Annette said, turning away.
“It’s just a minor setback! You’ll be back on stage in no time. Now pick up your bags and put them in your room. It’s the crack of dawn, for goodness sake. You need to get your rest, Nettie,” Gavin ordered, but Annette shook her head.
“No, Gavin. I’m going with them,” she repeated. For a moment Gavin looked as if he was going to remain adamant, but then his firm expression faded into one of distress.
“This is preposterous! Take a good long look at yourself, Annette! You can barely dress yourself in the morning and you think you can just go gallivanting around wherever you please? Just because you got lucky last fall doesn’t mean you’re some kind of hero! You think you’re invincible, but you’re not―and you think you can take care of yourself, but you can’t. If you go out there again, this world will chew you up and spit you out, and I for one am not going to stand idly by while you try to get yourself killed. Now go get your bags,” Gavin hissed, his eyes blazing as he came downstairs.
Annette puffed up her chest, but still looked diminutive against Gavin’s six feet and two inches of height. “No,” she shot back. “You may not have realized it yet, but I’m stronger than I was before and they need me. Please move, Gavin, or I’ll have to make you.”
Gavin laughed bitterly. “You’ll ‘make me?’ What, like you did the other night when that ruffian attacked us? You’ll force me to bend to your will again?”
Penny, Hector and Argent shared a surprised look.
“I’m sorry about that Gavin, but you have to understand. I’m making my own decisions now, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t try to stop me. I don’t need you to take care of me anymore,” Annette sniffed, looking regretful at her own words.
Gavin’s face blanched. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”
Annette looked at him with sadness, but said no more. Penny averted her eyes from Gavin’s devastation. After a long silence, Gavin turned and went back up the stairs. Argent bid them farewell and disappeared, and the remaining group made their way outside in silence.
The eastern end of the sky was ablaze with light from the newly risen sun. In a drowsy shuffle, they all managed to get their bags loaded, and the driver helped them each into the carriage. Penny sat between Hector and Simon on one side, and Annette took the seat beside Noct before turning to look out the window.
“We’ll be back home before you know it, Miss Annette. No need to fret,” Simon reassured her. Annette nodded without looking at him, and the carriage began to roll away from the curb. Penny had just allowed herself to relax when the carriage coasted to a halt again.
“Now what?” Hector asked, perturbed. Before he could say another word, Argent stepped up into the body of the carriage and sat beside Noct without a word of explanation. As the carriage lurched back to life, Penny grinned at him.
Argent wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Changed my mind, I guess.”
AFTER HALF A day’s journey, Penny had her first glimpse of their destination. In the distance, just visible through the fog that filled the countryside, a white building began to appear. It was made of polished stone and sat atop a high cliff. The roof was held up by a line of white pillars from which flags of red and blue restlessly flapped.
“No, it can’t be.” Argent’s eyes widened. “I thought they’d shut it down years ago.”
Penny spotted Noah’s favorite gold and ivory carriage and was reassured they were headed to the right place. Their carriage finally came to a halt beside the golden one and they tumbled out, stretching their legs and groaning.
“I thought we’d be in there forever,” Noct griped, rushing over to the sandy edge of a cliff and looking out at the wide view of crashing waves and dark water. As Penny wandered over to the front steps between the white pillars of the building, she recognized Noah standing in the center of a group of people. Two of them were two tall, male faeries wearing formal robes, alongside a short, nervous human man with a quill behind his ear. When one of the faeries pointed at Penny with his crooked finger that was as long as a ruler and tipped with a sharp fingernail, Noah hurried toward her.
“Oh, you made it. Wonderful. Are your companions here as well?” Noah looked beyond Penny’s shoulder and saw Noct and Argent by the cliffs as Annette struggled to get her bags down from the carriage and Simon clumsily helped her. His eyes narrowed a fraction when he saw Hector striding toward them. “Oh, Mr. Arlington’s coming along too, is he? The Empress might be impressed with his abilities, I suppose.”
“Your Majesty,” came a strong voice from behind them as Damari trudged down the steps with his hand poised above his firearm. Flynn followed in his footsteps, his arms crossed as he squinted against the glare of the sun. “Please exercise more caution when approaching unidentified personnel, sir. It could’ve easily been someone from the Cathedral.”
“Come now, Damari, no need to be so uptight, at least for now. When we get to Sonarie City you can start to worry,” Noah said dismissively. Damari frowned, looking as if he had a few words of admonishment for Noah he was keeping to himself. Flynn stood beside Damari’s shoulder and eyed Penny with disdain.
“Well, now that we’ve got everyone we can set off, I think. Come along,” Noah said, leading the way up the marble stairs. Noct seemed to be bristling with a sort of frenetic excitement and was doing his best to appear stoic and moody, though Penny noticed a spring in his step as he hopped up behind Annette.
“What is this place, anyway? And why is it deserted?” Penny asked with interest as an old man opened a set of wooden doors and let them into a wide, dark room. As he followed their group inside and lit the lamps in the hall, Argent answered her.
“If I’m right, and I usually am, this is the platform of the Transcontinental Seaway. This was built about ten years ago, and at the time it was state of the art technology, b
eing a long-awaited solution to the transportation between continents. You see, in the Age of the Ancients, Aulbaine and Ciellios were connected by a land bridge, so this stretch of ocean is pretty shallow comparatively, and the distance isn’t too far that the construction wouldn’t be impossible.
“Basically, this whole thing is an underwater tube built of the strongest materials mechanists could find, making it impervious to attacks by Fomorians or other types of violent sea creatures. It’s a pneumatic transport system that runs directly to Minter Town in Aulbaine. It was a brilliant achievement when it was built, but it took a hell of a lot of magic to run. So, after the magic shortage got serious, the whole thing was shut down and hasn’t been in operation for several years. This is a very rare opportunity,” Argent explained, looking somewhat excited himself as they passed through the cavernous halls, their voices echoing in the empty chambers.
Rows and rows of empty ticket booths waited inside. The group squeezed into an elevator, and the old man guiding them pulled a lever, which closed the doors with a clank. Penny grasped the handrail as the elevator box plummeted deeper and deeper into the earth, crashing and rattling as it did. Just as Penny was sure that they must be closing in on the core of the planet, the elevator came to a violent stop and the doors hissed open once again.
They stepped out into a chamber where the glass walls showed a bizarre undersea world illuminated by magic-powered lamps. Huge, squirming eels and brightly colored fish zoomed by above them.
Across the room were a group of silver and cobalt train cars, standing a bit above a track that took off into the briny ocean.
“All right, my friends, this is it. I’ll give everyone a quick introduction. This is Feirne, our interpreter,” Noah said, pointing to the first male faerie, who had shoulder-length black hair. “Yrax, ambassador to the Nation of Faeries, and Luke, who’s our cultural expert and will be keeping a log of our travels,” Noah nodded to the next faerie, then to the man beside him. He gave a quick introduction to Damari, Flynn, and then to Penny and her group. Luke became speechless when Noah mentioned her name and from that point on Penny could feel his eyes watching her.
“All right, let’s not waste another moment! Start it up, Jacques!” Noah turned to their guide. The old man hurried over to a control terminal beside the train, touched a few buttons in a sequence, and the train hissed with steam. When the doors slid open, Noah led the group forward.
When they were all inside, the silver doors sealed shut with a hiss and burst of steam, and the car dropped down onto the track. Everyone momentarily lost their balance as it lurched forward, clearing the aquarium-like chamber and shooting into the tube. Damari seemed to be the only one unaffected by the sudden velocity of the Seaway car.
“Well, get comfortable. It’ll be about twelve hours before we arrive. There should be a kitchen car up near the front and I believe there’s a sort of lounge, too. Flynn will be cooking a meal later on, so everyone please join us,” Noah told them, and some mumbled back acknowledgment.
The two faeries milled off, speaking quietly in Fae to one another. Penny was sure that they were under the impression that no one else could understand them. The others dispersed, leaving Damari, Luke, and Penny in the car. Penny craned her neck to look upward and see if she could discern the surface of the water.
“Be careful, Miss Penelope. You’re leaning quite close to the door’s release lever,” Damari warned.
Penny jumped and moved away from the lever. Luke looked up from his scribbling and observed the two of them with obvious apprehension. Damari watched as Penny took a seat on one of the cushy blue seats that lined both sides of the car. “Noah said you’d be a bit jumpy. Try to stay close to the group when we get to Aulbaine. There are all sorts of nasty things looking to attack travelers in the wilds.”
Both Luke and Penny’s eyes were fixed on Damari now.
“What kind of things?” Luke breathed, gripping his quill.
“Let’s hope you never have to find out,” Damari said ominously.
With this warning weighing heavy on her mind, Penny left the car to pick Hector’s brain about their destination. In the next car sat Yrax and Feirne, the two faeries. Their shimmering wings were folded neatly behind them, and they stopped talking as Penny walked by, their eyes following her. After going through a number of empty compartments she found the lounge car where Noct, Argent, and Annette were sitting.
Argent was busy teasing Annette with his puppet Hyde, having it dance near her and pull at her sleeves while he snickered at her attempts to swat it away.
“Stop it, you creep! I hate that thing. It’s ugly as sin! Get off!” Annette yawped as she took large swipes at the puppet, but Argent had it evade all her attacks.
“Aww, I think you hurt Hyde’s feelings. Look. Just look how sad you’ve made him. Give him a hug, that’ll stop his tears,” Argent cooed as the puppet tried to climb into Annette’s lap, its malformed face and crooked teeth smiling at her.
“Whoa! I think I just saw a Fomorian!” Noct exclaimed, his mismatched eyes growing wide. “It was huge. Did you see it? Huh?” He looked over at Penny and she shook her head, smiling at his astonishment.
When the door slid open behind them, Penny’s grin faded as Flynn walked into the room. Annette and Argent’s playful teases dwindled away to silence as Flynn stalked in and moved to the other end of the car. It looked as if he might’ve gone straight through, but he stopped as his eyes fell on Noct.
“How old are you, anyway?” he asked. “How in the world did you get to come along?”
Noct sat up straight in his seat, little crackles of flame fizzling around his head.
“I’m old enough to know a jackass when I see one,” he spat. Flynn looked affronted. Penny could feel a storm brewing and caught Annette’s eyes.
“You try that attitude with me, kid, and I’ll see to it the king leaves you lying face down in the first snowdrift we find. This isn’t a game, all right? This is vital to our entire Nation’s survival, so I suggest keeping your mouth shut whenever possible,” Flynn snapped. Penny thought he might leave then, but her heart sank as Flynn turned on her next.
“And as for you, I don’t know how you were able to do it, but you somehow fooled him into bringing your little circus troop along. Don’t you dare try to screw this up for him. Noah’s taking a huge risk to make you happy, so try not to cause one of your famous disasters.”
“Oh, please. We are unimpressed by your angst,” Argent said, leaning back with bored look on his face. “But I wonder, how does picking on people who were minding their own business make you feel? Empowered? Just curious, because you really seem to be enjoying yourself here.”
The chef snorted and exited the car back the way he had come. Argent chuckled, and Noct gazed at the silver-haired man in awe. Penny waited a moment for Flynn to get a head start, then returned to her search for Hector. Simon lay asleep in the next car over with his top hat over his eyes and his cape curled around his body like a blanket.
As the door to the last car slid open, Penny caught sight of Hector sitting by himself, his expression dark. He nodded hello to Penny, his eyes not seeming to see her. Penny sat beside him and noticed he was lacing and unlacing his fingers restlessly.
“Hey, Hector, um, wh―”
“Nothing! I’m fine,” Hector said quickly, then removed his glasses and began to polish the lenses with his vest.
Penny smiled. “Okay, now you have to tell me what’s wrong,” she coaxed as he put his glasses back on.
“Well, I have no doubt you’ll think me a fool, but ever since that Fomorian attempted to gnaw me in half I’ve been a bit anxious around large bodies of water. Needless to say, being at the bottom of the ocean is a tad unsettling,” he admitted.
“Ah. Now that I truly understand.” She looked at him with shy warmth. It seemed to take him a moment to remember exactly what she was talking about, but when he did he lost some of his nervousness.
“Yes, I expect y
ou would.” Penny felt at a loss for words, unsure what would be proper to say next, but after a moment of fussing over different approaches, she decided to go with her initial reaction.
“Well, I guess I could sit with you until we get there, if you want. It’s what my mom used to do for me,” Penny confessed, recalling memories that now seemed so distant and foggy. “You know, whenever there was a thunderstorm she’d stay up late with me, and we’d watch movies together until we both fell asleep. That always made it better for me. I mean, we haven’t got anything to watch, but maybe the company will make you feel better.”
“I appreciate your concern, but I think I’ll be fine,” Hector said, then waved his hands apologetically. “I-I mean, please stay if you like, but please do not feel obligated. I―oh, you know what I mean.” He shook his head and Penny laughed absently, still lost in her memories.
“You still miss your home a great deal, don’t you?” Hector observed. “Are you sure you made the right choice by staying here?”
Penny was disquieted by his question and stiffened. “I’m not sure, to be honest. I know for sure I can’t go back to that life ever again, but I still feel awful about what I did to my mom. I mean, I left her all alone. She’s probably really confused and scared for me. She doesn’t deserve that, not after all she did for me. I wish I could see her again, but I just don’t think I can face her after what I’ve done. I don’t think I have it in me.”
Hector nodded thoughtfully. “I know that it’s always been difficult for you to confront any emotional situation, but there’s no need to be so hard on yourself. No one is perfect.”
Penny knew he intended his words to comfort, but she felt worse than if he had reprimanded her actions.
“What I did was unforgivable and I did it out of weakness. I did the one thing that would hurt her the most. I disappeared from her life, just like my pathetic father did. I’m just like him—a coward. A good-for-nothing deserter,” Penny seethed, cringing under the instinctual waves of hatred that crashed in her heart, the very same ones that rose from the bottom of her mind whenever she allowed herself to think upon the void that her father had left in her life. Hector looked mildly shocked.
Eden Undone (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 2) Page 8