"Exactly," she agreed, happy he seemed willing to try though she supposed he didn't really have much choice in the matter and kind of needed to have at least a little faith in her. After a little more searching she paused, tracing her fingertips beneath the text she'd found and mumbling its explanation under her breath with a furrowed brow, "Think of the destination."
She glanced at Mal, studying him for a moment as she tried to think of the right picture to place in her mind. Where did she want him to go? Away, but not too far away. Penny wanted him to be able to fly free without forcing herself upon his back as a passenger to make it possible.
Turning slightly she looked down the hill towards the soft sloping of grass at the bottom that she was certain would be well out of their tether range. She brought her free hand up and splayed her fingers against the back of his head, nestling between his locks to gently press against his scalp.
Inhaling a shaky breath the young mage closed her eyes and tried to picture again what had just been before her and place Mal within it. She was struggling, though, her focus shifting rapidly between picturing him in his human form in the grass and his phoenix form in the sky above.
As she murmured the words of the incantation she could not see the flash of white light that pulsed out through her fingers but she knew it had worked to some degree when she no longer felt Mal beneath her hand or his weight beside her on the ground. For a moment a sense of serenity enveloped her, a faint, shimmering light still surrounding her body as she slowly opened her eyes again. Just as she did a sudden, overwhelming sense of dread overcame her as her heart began to pound in her chest and breathing became tight and high in her throat.
Inexplicable tears fell across her cheeks and Penny clenched her eyes shut again just as soon as they'd opened while shaking her head furiously. "Come back," she called softly, her book and papers forgotten and falling away from her as she clutched blindly at the tension coiling tightly in her chest.