Free The Angel of Elydria (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 1) by A. R. Meyering

aloud.
    “Transportation,” Hector said, eyeing the beast with disdain.
    “We get to ride on it?” Penny stroked its neck and the creature groaned with contentment. Penny broke away from this momentary distraction and turned to Hector. Hurriedly she told him about her encounter with Simon in the coffee shop and how he’d appeared again just moments ago.
    “That’s…odd. To say the least.” Hector’s expression was one of clouded wariness. “I daresay someone might be trying to target you in particular.”
    “Oh, you think?” Penny retorted and Hector frowned. “What gets me is it makes no sense, Profe―I mean, Hector. Why would someone go through all this trouble to attack me? Aside from the fact that I started producing all that magic, I’m nobody of any real importance.”
    “I haven’t the foggiest, but if I were you, I’d stay away from that Simon fellow. It seems to me that following him would only lead to a trap. Come along, now.” Hector gestured for her to follow and she did, the creature lolloping at her side.
    The walk through town was a quick one; after only a few minutes they exited Dewthorne through the northern gate into the wilds. The long-necked creature galloped out and began snuffling at everything in the tall grass. Hector withdrew the map from his pocket and set about studying it.
    “From the looks of this…and the signposts…it’s going to be about a five-day journey to the next town,” he said as Penny joined him and looked over the map rattling in the wind. “It’s called Lindenvale. From there we can take a carriage into the capital, I believe.”
    Observing Hector trying to get control of the beast was a sight that reduced Penny to paroxysms of laughter. Hector was intimidated by its low growls every time he tried to get up on its back, and he had to hold fast to the reins to keep it from bolting off. Once Hector’s struggle to get up on the saddle was at last over, he helped Penny up behind him.
    “Move, you blasted thing!” Hector shouted in frustration, tugging at its reins. The creature snorted and reared back. Penny grasped Hector around the waist as they took off at a mad gallop. The landscape jostled by as the creature’s flat paws flew faster and faster through the yellow-green grass. Penny’s breath came back to her after a few minutes and her grip on Hector loosened. They passed by an orchard, smelling sweet fruit that had long since ripened. Lazy clouds wandered through the sky like huge white whales traversing the ocean. Brilliant fire-bursts of autumn leaves sailed through the air.
    The ride through the grasslands continued for several hours. In the late afternoon they reached a seemingly endless field of lavender-colored blooms shaped like delicate bells. The beast was quite enjoying the romp, inhaling with loud snorts and then letting out a long, shuddering breath every so often.
    “I wonder if they’ve realized we’re missing yet,” Penny shouted to Hector over the whistling of the wind. He seemed to think it over for a moment.
    “Assuming that time follows the same flow as on Earth, it seems possible. It should be Sunday by now, so at least by tomorrow someone from the college will have noticed my unannounced absence. Will anyone have come looking for you by now?” Hector wondered.
    “I don’t think my mom has returned yet. She went to her mother’s house for the weekend, so there’s a good chance she’s still there. Grandma, at least, will be pleased that I’ve gone missing. Maddie will probably just think I’m refusing to answer her calls ‘cause we parted on iffy terms,” Penny reasoned, feeling guilty and wondering if those were to be the last words shared between her and her closest friend. She thought hard, but could not remember if she’d even told her mother that she loved her before they parted. She touched the rune pendant that hung around her neck.
    “What about your father?” Hector asked over the wind.
    “I don’t have