I wasn’t quite finished with the story I was telling by the time 2025 ended and so decided to continue it until it reached an ending point. Then I will start a new one. Besides, I kind of want to see where Penelope ends up. And so we have…
Day 235: Given the recent difficulties, Lenore sent her a pass phrase so she would know there were no interlopers.
Given the recent difficulties, Lenore sent her a pass phrase so she would know there were no interlopers. The driver passed and gave her the correct phrasing. He offered no sign of finding the pass phrase silly or the need for the pass phrase strange. As Penelope got into the car she wondered at that. Did Lenore have such things happen routinely? Was this a section of the magical community she had ot been aware of prior?
It was something to think about.
‘Especially as people with magic sometimes have imperial agents attached to them.’
She gripped the strap of her purse. Inside her bag was the small jar containing the tracking device. She would keep it on her and ask Lenore about it. Perhaps it too was standard, although she somehow doubted it.
The driver, whether used to clandestine pass phrases or not, was not a chatty fellow. He slid behind the wheel and left Penelope to her own devices as he drove. There was nothing about him that encouraged questioning or chatter and Penelope found herself wondering if he too was an agent.
She decided not to ask.
The drive took about twenty five minutes all told and Penelope watched the world slide away on the other side of the window. While she grew up in a fairly wealthy area, the car was entering an entirely new stratosphere. She knew that Jeanette and Trinity courted Mrs. Merriweather for her connections but somehow it hadn’t actually occurred to her the level of wealth that would be on display. The houses not only became grander but the property around them became larger as well. These were not large houses crammed into city sized lots. These were nearly country houses lined up to push the city away.
As they approached, Penelope wondered if the country estate she inherited was like this as well.
‘Its in the opposite direction,’ she thought. She saw from the map that it was truly out in the country where as these houses brought a chunk of the country with them. In the distance beyond the large houses she could see the city resumed on the other side of the oversized neighborhood. It was an odd sight.
‘I guess they wanted the best of both worlds,’ Penelope thought as the car turned into a drive. The drive was long and winding, curving behind a stand of trees as thought the owners didn’t want those driving past to be able to catch more than a glimpse of the house. It was pretty and picturesque and oddly reminded her of the landscape where the guardian lived.
‘Or at least my version of it.’
Surprisingly here the flowers were color blocked as they had been at the start of her dreams. The similarities were somewhat startling and Penelope felt somewhat unsettled by them.
‘But if everyone visits the lake then maybe the similarities are on purpose.’
She could think of no other reason.
The car pulled up in front of the house and a staff member emerged to open her door so the driver could remain behind the wheel. She climbed out and the door was shut behind her. The driver took the vehicle away before she could take more than two steps from it.
“You will have to excuse Tiber,” The man, butler, said as the car left. “People are not his strong suit. I am Evans. Mrs. Merriweather is expecting you. If you will follow me.”
“Sure,” Penelope said. Evans had already turned away and was walking back into the house. Penelope gripped her purse strap and followed.
Ten til Midnight 