Penny had been taken back to the mansion of Quinn after a day while Sister Jera was taken to the church than stay in the Rune’s mansion. The council members were dealt with by Damien and Lord Nicholas that died down after four days as people had stopped visiting Quinn’s mansion to know what happened in the forest.
Though there were some bodies they had found to be disturbing, there were some bodies that didn’t exist which was evident that they had disappeared during the time of the exam or they had been killed turning to dust of witches. And even though during this time where the head council was involved along with some of the other councilmen, there were many who were left wondering how and why the black witches wanted to take part in the exam.
Penny sat in the bed, her fever had still not come out and she had been in bed mostly being tended by Damien.
“You know I feel alright now,” Penny assured Damien to see him not listen to what she just said, “Damien?” she called him who was sitting next to her with a book in his hand and glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose.
“And I have wings now,” Damien replied back to her, his eyes still on the book which he was reading.
She was bored sitting here and doing nothing. Tired of being stuck in the room where she was sent to bed early and treated like a child. It wasn’t as if she had never caught a fever before and it had been far worse than what she was feeling right now. Penny smiled looking at Damien. He had been caring for her so much that she was touched and at the same time she wished he would loosen up. It wasn’t like she would break if someone blew air in her direction.
She turned her head back from where she was lying down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling where the mirror was attached. Looking at hers and Damien’s reflection, she could tell they had come along to be next to each other like this.
Something moved in front of her vision and she blinked at first to make sure she wasn’t feeling dizzy all over again.
Her brows furrowed looking at the mirror that moved like water. Making it look as if someone had thrown a pebble at it and it was causing a ripple on the ceiling. The more time passed the more the mirror changed and Penny was caught in the past events, taken back to the time when she was still a child of age ten.
The girl with blonde hair barged into the house, her legs muddy and her clothes wet that dripped down with water.
Across the small house, her mother turned to look at the intruder to see it was Penny. She had a look of disapproval on her face when she noticed the girl’s wet clothes.
“I told you not to go out and look at you,” her mother said, working on something in the fire that was put in front of her that had no utensil that was heating up at the moment. The girl didn’t take notice of it.
She instead said, “I got the leaves you asked me to get,” little Penelope brought her hands forward to show the small green leaves to her mother with a smile.
Her mother didn’t have the same smile to offer to her and she turned her head with a quiet expression before saying, “Go get yourself changed. I don’t want you catching another fever,” and at the same time Penny’s nose tingled making her sneeze and the girl could feel her eyes turning itchy, “Go.”
Penny nodded her head diligently listening to her mother’s words before placing the leaves on the chair. Once she was gone, the woman turned to look at the girl and then the leaves. Leaving what she was doing earlier, the woman went to pick up the leaves which she hadn’t been able to find.
“How strange that you see what I can’t see,” she looked at one of the leaves, turning it by its stem, “I have been thinking about poisoning you but if you are going to be this useful then I should keep you for a longer time. It would be a waste to not use your talent.”
Later that evening, the little girl had started to feel dizzy but she didn’t let her mother know about it and though she didn’t her mother had noticed her daughter swaying back and forth during the time of dinner.
It was late night when Penny who was resting herself started to cough, the cold of the rain had seeped into her body freezing and raising heat at the same time. Her mother who was awake was at the fire doing something who didn’t bother to look at her even once.
The scene started to haze out and haze in until Penny could finally see her own reflection in the mirror. She felt Damien place his hand over her forehead, “Stop thinking about other things and rest,” his words were warm to her.
For a person like Penny who had never been loved during the time of her childhood to the point she had been moved to the slave establishment and here, his words were nothing less than precious and tears rolled down from the corner of her eyes.
Damien, who noticed this, closed his book, worried he asked, “Does something hurt?” this brought more tears from her eyes where she couldn’t stop.
She shook her head not wanting for him to worry, “Just some memory,” she whispered, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands.
Damien could only guess that it was something related to her family. Those were the only things that made Penny cry.
“I don’t know what you dreamt if it is your mother she is not your fit to be one. You and I both know that and have confirmed it,” he said, sliding down into the covers to be with her.
“I know,” she smiled, a small smile on her lips, “It makes me wonder if her parents never gave love to her.”
Damien looked at Penelope, whose eyes had turned more vibrant after the tears. She really had the most beautiful eyes.
