All That Glitters (Avalon: Web of Magic #2) (12 page)

“T
HAT’S
IT!”
KARA
stormed into the Ravenswood Manor library. Emily and Adriane were sitting before the computer screen, scrolling through information. Balthazar, Ozzie, and Ronif peered over the girls’ shoulders.

“Something is in my computer,” Kara announced angrily.

They all turned to stare at Kara.

“Your computer?” Emily echoed.

Kara dumped her backpack on a table, pulled out her pink laptop, and handed it to Emily. “Look!” she said. “Please.”

Emily flipped open the laptop and turned it on. Adriane came around to watch. Kara backed away, nervously twirling a strand of purple hair in her fingers.

“Oh, no!” Adriane exclaimed in horror.

Kara jumped back. “Be careful! I told you!”

Adriane turned the computer toward Kara. The screen displayed her desktop with the new Linny Lewis wallpaper she had made.

“Linny Lewis is after you?” Adriane laughed.

“
No!
Lemme see that!” Kara marched over to look.

To her relief, the screen was perfectly normal. “Something weird is going on around here,” she said.

“You mean weirder than normal?” Adriane asked.

“Yeeaaah . . .” Kara said, looking into the faces of a talking ferret, two quiffles, and a pegasus.

“Maybe your computer has a virus,” Emily ventured.

Kara shook her head. “Someone left a message.”

“What message?”

“It said,
‘
I know who you are.’” Kara shivered. “How creepy is that?”

“Maybe it read the Stonehill Journal,” Adriane cracked.

“Oh, very funny! And if she did, she’d know who
you
are, too! But it’s all happening to me!”

“She?” Balthazar asked.

“I think so. She had these weird eyes.” Kara twisted her gem in her hand.

“That jewel,” Adriane said. “It’s been nothing but trouble!”

Kara glared at her.

“Kara,” Emily said, “ever since you found it, these creatures have been after you, right?”

Kara swallowed. “Um . . . sorta . . . maybe.”

“Maybe what?” Adriane asked.

“The night
before
I found this jewel, one of those banshees was in my room. It took my pink sweater. Why did it do that?”

Emily turned back to the computer screen. “We’ve found some files that Mr. Gardener left.” She clicked on a book-shaped icon. A heading in an old-fashioned scroll spread across the top of the page. “Creatures of Magic.” Below was a list of names, each accompanied by a picture.

Emily scrolled down. Some of the creatures they recognized: jeerans, pegasi . . .

“There’s quiffles!” Ronif exclaimed.

The creatures became darker, more bizarre, some hideously ugly and monstrous.

“Eww, creep me out!” Kara made a face.

“Any of these look familiar?” Emily asked.

“No.”

“There’s a manticore,” Ozzie pointed out. The terrifying winged demon looked out from the screen. Even though it was only a picture, its razor teeth and bloodred eyes sent chills up and down Kara’s spine as she recalled facing the real thing only weeks before.

“Wait, open that one,” she instructed.

Emily clicked on the thumbnail and the screen filled with an image of the ragged creature Kara recognized from the glade and the sunroom.

“That’s
it
,” Kara said, backing away. “Only it doesn’t have that green stuff.”

“You mean Black Fire.” Balthazar nodded.

“The ones we saw looked badly poisoned,” Ronif confirmed.

“Banshees,” Emily read. “Creatures of fairy that have been cursed. They have long, streaming hair and ragged clothes. Eyes are fiery red from constant weeping. Banshees cry because they foretell darkness and pain.”

“Like messengers of bad news?” Adriane asked.

“They were monsters, not messengers,” Kara said.

“There are a lot of poor creatures on Aldenmor that wander the Shadowlands,” Balthazar said. “Hideous and twisted by dark magic.”

“What’s the Shadowlands?” Emily asked.

“A place on Aldenmor. It used to be beautiful forests and meadows until the witch destroyed it.”

“It’s where Black Fire comes from,” Kara informed them.

They all looked at Kara.

“Lyra told me. She was there. She was captured by hunters and brought to this castle where this . . . person was torturing animals.”

“That’s terrible!” Emily cried, outraged.

“Lyra escaped, but her sisters didn’t.” Kara felt the cat’s sadness, connected to it somehow.

“We know of this Dark Sorceress,” Balthazar shuddered.

“A terrible witch who hunts animals,” Ronif added.

“Lyra said she’s stealing magic from the animals,” Kara continued.

Ozzie grimaced. “It’s a complete perversion of the magic. Horrible!”

“But we know
our
magic is stronger with our animal friends,” Emily reasoned.

“And the legends that say humans and animals once worked together to make strong magic,” Balthazar agreed.

“Well, now the animals have defenders to protect them!” Adriane punched her fist into her palm for emphasis.

“That’s right!” Ozzie sprang to his feet. “Let’s go!”

“Ozzie.” Emily caught his tail and pulled the agitated ferret back. “We don’t know what we’re up against yet.”

“But I’m not an animal,” Kara argued. “Why is this sorceress after me? And she can’t have my jewel!”

“Why would she want your jewel and not ours?” Adriane asked.

“’Cause mine’s better,” Kara quipped, then added, “I don’t know but she’s not getting it and neither are those banshees.”

Adriane pointed back to the computer monitor. “According to this, ‘Banshees foretell dark magic and the fate of those who are touched by evil.’”

“How do they do that?” Emily asked.

Adriane read on. “They wash an article of clothing of the one who is tainted.”

Kara felt the blood rush from her face. “It was washing my sweater. What am I going to do? I’m tainted!” she wailed. “Do I smell bad?”

“Kara, don’t you think there’s something odd about your jewel?” Emily asked.

“What do you mean?”

“What did it look like when you first found it?” Adriane asked Kara.

“Just like this.” Kara held out the dazzling gem.

“Ours changed as we used them, as if they became tuned to us.”

“That would make sense,” Ozzie mused. “Magic jewels are tuned to a specific person. Only they can use it.”

“Well, mine got here all powerful and ready to go. So what?” Kara clutched the stone close. “Just takes some time to learn to work it right.” But she knew she had none of the control Emily and Adriane had over their magic.

“Kara, maybe that jewel is not for you,” Emily said slowly.

“How do you know when a jewel is really for you?” Kara held up the magic stone. Bright facets cast sparkles across her face.

“You just know, Kara,” Adriane replied. “It’s like they reflect a part of who we are.”

“Well, those banshees aren’t after
your
jewel, they’re after . . . mine.” Kara realized what she was saying. Her jewel was different. But how? What part of her did it reflect? Did the banshees know
she
would be the one to find this jewel? Was she tainted with dark magic?

“If this sorceress is hunting animals, she may want the jewel to trap an animal,” Balthazar suggested.

“Oh, no!” Kara’s mouth opened in horror. “Do you think she’s after Lyra?”

“Kara, this isn’t just your problem,” Emily said.

“We’re in this together,” Adriane agreed.

“That’s right, we all are,” Ozzie said, waving a paw to include the other animals.

“So what do we do?” Kara asked.

“Whoever is after that jewel will come back for it.” Adriane looked at the others. “We’ll just have to be ready to deal with it.”

“So I’m supposed to wait around like a sitting quiffle?” Kara complained. “No offense,” she said to Ronif.

“Those water creatures told you the jewel is a trap, right?” Emily said.

“Yeah . . . but they were confusing me and I sat on one.”

“We think they were Fairimentals, like the ones that came to us made of earth and twigs,” Emily explained.

“Kara,” Ozzie said. “The Fairimentals sent me to find three human mages, a healer, a warrior, and a blazing star.”

“So?”

“So . . . we don’t know what a blazing star is . . .”

“What’s your point?”

“Maybe you’re not the one . . .” Ozzie said cautiously. “The blazing star.”

Kara was speechless. How could she
not
be the blazing star? She found the most fabulous jewel! Had she only found it by accident?

“But Ozzie,” Emily said. “Kara makes magic stronger when she’s around us.”

“So do we,” Ronif pointed out.

“What, so now I’m like a magical animal?” Kara scoffed.

Ozzie tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Kara obviously conducts magic, like the animals do, so maybe the jewel is a test.”

“A test? Why are they testing me and not Emily and Adriane?”

“Maybe they’re being tested in different ways. But this time the Fairimentals came to you. We don’t know what a blazing star is. But three mages are needed to help Aldenmor and the animals.”

“I want this to be mine so bad!” Kara admitted, holding the crystal tightly. But even if it only attracts bad magic?

“I’ll ask Storm to watch out for you,” Adriane offered.

“All the animals are on the lookout for anything unusual,” Ozzie put in.

“So, are we all agreed?” Emily asked.

Adriane and the animals nodded.

“All right,” Emily said. “In the meantime we continue to sort out this website information and separate what we want to hide.”

“Mr. Gardener left us a lot of stuff here,” Adriane said.

“Yeah, and look what happened to him,” Kara moaned.

“We don’t know what’s happened to him,” Adriane pointed out.

“Exactly!” Kara grabbed her backpack and laptop. “Okay, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m going home to do homework. Maybe it will take my mind off this crazy stuff.”

“Okay, but no more magic,” Emily cautioned.

“Yes, Mother.”

“Anything happens, you call us, right?” Adriane prompted.

“Yes, Father.”

Adriane narrowed her eyes, then smiled. Kara smiled back, and suddenly everyone broke out laughing. Kara tried to hold the good feelings close, a shield to push back her fears. But inside she could not help but think about what the banshees foretold: dark things were coming. How were they supposed to fight a sorceress destroying an entire world when they barely understood their magic?

Ozzie had been sent from Aldenmor to find three mages. The healer, which Emily had proven herself to be, the warrior, who could only be Adriane, and a blazing star. She was undoubtedly a star: smart, cute, the center of attention, impeccably groomed—but was that enough? She couldn’t ignore the awful feeling that something wasn’t right. That she might not be good enough. But one thing had become crystal clear. Kara wanted this more than anything in her whole life. And she always got what she wanted.

T
HE REST OF
the week went by in double Kara time as she dove into a whirlwind of school and social activities. It was almost as if things were . . . normal. Well, as normal as they can be when your hair is a hundred different colors and then some.

On Saturday morning, Mrs. Davies dropped Kara at the Stonehill Galleria Mall. The enormous glass-and-chrome complex might have been daunting to some, but not to Kara. Huge skylights capped the ceilings and mirrored hallways ran past stores, all leading to the coin-scattered fountains and immense food court in the central atrium. She cruised the main floor past Forever 21, H&M, Hot Topic, and The Gap. Chic fall fashions decked the window displays and SALE signs beckoned. Maybe later, she thought, when her hair wouldn’t clash with everything she tried on.

The food court was packed; some cooking show was giving product demonstrations and handing out free samples. Heading up the escalator, she spotted Heather and Molly going into Banana Republic. “Hey, homegirls! See anything good?” she called out cheerfully.

Molly waved back. “Just starting here. Then looping the place.”

“Where’s Tiff?”

Heather pointed at Tiffany, who held up a black three quarter sleeve wrap top. Kara gave her a thumbs-up. Thrilled, Tiffany dove back into the racks.

“Meet us at the food court, K!” Heather called.

“Okay!” Kara rounded the second-floor escalator and headed up to the third floor.

The Clip Joint was in the corner, full of mirrors, funky chemical smells, and cool gray light from skylights that reflected an overcast sky. Lightning flashed, buried in the clouds. A few raindrops spattered on the glass, but inside it was warm and dry. Customers draped in gray chatted and leafed through magazines as hairdressers in black T-shirts and pants combed and cut and colored and coiffed.

Kara walked up to the receptionist, a girl with spiky black hair. “Hi, I’m Kara Davies. I have an appointment.”

“Great hair! How did you get those highlights so bright?”

“It was a mixture of things,” Kara replied. “But I want my original color back.”