'Dreams Lie Beneath' Book Club Readalong Day 2!

Welcome back to the second day of our book club read-along for OwlCrate's November book, Dreams Lie Beneath!

Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for Chapters 7-13 of Dreams Lie Beneath, so make sure you read are finished this section before continuing.

Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate box! Don't forget, you can also post about the readalong on Instagram with the hashtag #OCDreamsLieBeneath for another chance to win!

The story continues...

Chapter 7:
Back at the cottage Clementine sits submerged in the bath until her gills disappear, leaving three scars on each side of her neck. Her father and Lennox are taking care of the paperwork to relinquish her father as warden and he insists they will leave Hereswith the next day. While packing Clementine decides to give some of her books to the Fielding girls so that they don’t need to carry them. Her father tells her this is okay as long as she erases and figments of herself from them - they must leave nothing behind that would be used to trace them.

After dropping off the books, Clementine noticed a scuff on the cobblestone, almost as if something sharp had been dragged along them, reminding her of Elle’s nightmare. Phelan stumbles across her and they walk back to her father’s cottage together and he reveals to her that he will not be staying in Hereswith with Lennox.

Chapter 8:
The next day they leave, all their goods packed in a wagon, her father handing over the keys to the cottage and his book of nightmares to Lennox. They camp for the night on the road and Imonie tells Clem the story of how the curse came to the fortress in the clouds. She told the story of a mother and her two twin sons, one a scholar, one a warrior, and how one of them was trapped with the fortress after the assassination of the duke which created the curse. It is said the curse will remain until all those who planned the assassination come together to break it.

After a long time on the road the country starts turning into the city, and Clem realized that her father is taking her to the capital, Endellion, and to her mother.

Chapter 9:
They arrive at Clem’s mother’s house, who greets them and after hearing their story agrees to let them stay with her. Her father has given up on being warden and is now looking for a job without magic, to Clem’s dismay. Imonie persuades Clem to go on a walk with her one day after they have settled in and Clem finds an art supply store where she finds a new sketchbook, but when she goes to pay for it she is interrupted by a lady of the court, who has come to collect an order. After she leaves, the shop girl, Blythe, tells Clem that it was Lady Raven Vesper, The Countess of Amarys.

Chapter 10:
At breakfast one morning Clementine notices there is a wanted ad in the newspaper - an ad searching for a partner for warden Phelan Vesper. This gets Clementine to hatch a plan. Someday she will return to reclaim her position of warden of Hereswith, but first she must take down the Vesper family. She convinces Imonie to help her, and under the guise they are visiting Imonie’s parents, Imonie and Clem leave Endellion and return to the edges of Hereswith.

Asking Imonie to wait for her at the edges of town, Clem goes to visit Mazarine, and asks her to give her a disguise like the one Mazarine wears. Mazarine agrees, in exchange for a drawing of her true self. But the magic is performed at a cost - half of Clem’s heart will turn to stone and she must give up a part of herself. She must choose her art or her magic, and she chooses magic. Mazarine prepares the brew that will turn Clem into the likeness of one of her drawings, a plain looking girl who is likely to be overlooked. After the extreme pain of taking three sips of the brew, Clem succumbs to darkness.

Chapter 11:
Clem wakes up in the woods, saving the sketch she made of her new appearance and burying the rest of her art supplies. She goes back to Imogen, who doesn’t recognize her.

Part Two

Chapter 12:
Clementine waits for Phelan at the Luminous Society Museum for her interview, admiring the gallery and feeling the pain of the loss of her artistic talent. Once Phelan arrives and the interview commences, Celentime decides to prove herself by using her magic to bring the scene from three different paintings to life. The second painting she summons forth is that of a knight with a great sword, and for some reason that one particularly seems to frighten Phelan. After fighting off the three paintings, Clementine reverses her magic and puts them back to right. Phelan offers her the job and implores her to join him for dinner at six, and she says she’ll think about it. She tells him her name is Anna Neven.

Chapter 13:
Clementine spends the day wandering until it is time for dinner at Phelan’s house. To her surprise she is greeted by a cheerful woman called Mrs. Stirling. Phelan joins them and as Mrs. Stirling finishes preparing dinner Phelan shows Clementine around the house. In the library Clementine is surprised by a young boy, Mrs. Stirling's grandson Deacon. After a nice dinner Clementine declines to play a game of Seven Wraiths with them but before she departs she asks Phelan why he chose her. He tells her it was because she challenged him as if she was a nightmare on a new moon. Clementine accepts the position.

Questions:

1. What do you think the importance of the knight is? Why do you think Phelan appeared to be so frightened of it?
2. How do you think Clementine's parents are going to react to her transformation?
3. What sort of injury do you think Phelan had that prevented him from attending to his warden duties? Why do you think he wouldn't tell Clementine what it was?
4. How do you think giving up her artistic talent is going to affect Clementine?

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