All That Glitters (Avalon: Web of Magic #2) (17 page)

Dragonflies are miniature dragons originally bred in the Fairy Realms. Their magic derives from fairy magic giving them unique abilities. They can pop anywhere without the need of a portal and can communicate between worlds. Being fairy in nature, dragonflies are fun-loving and playful. Wild dragonflies basically spread magic seeds and rarely ever bond with humans.

Fairimentals are elemental beings, protectors of the good magic of Aldenmor. They take form and shape from one of four elements: air, water, earth, and fire. Fairimental magic is tied to Aldenmor, and they can only appear for very short amounts of time on Earth.

T
HE FIVE DRAGONFLIES
buzzed into action. Forming a circle, they locked tiny claws together and began to spin. They spun faster, filling the air with colorful bursts of light.

“That’s it!” Adriane exclaimed.

Faster and faster they spun as hundreds of bubbles popped like fireworks. Wind began to whip through the field as the air churned, boiling with color.

“Something’s happening!” Emily called out.

Suddenly the bubbles all merged. The girls and Ozzie shielded their eyes as intense light filled the field. The light faded, revealing a circle of shimmering stars hanging just off the ground—the portal.

In front of the portal hung the sparkling dreamcatcher. It was just the way they had left it: rainbow-colored strands of Kara’s hair woven into a large, glistening web of protection, designed to block evil magic from entering Ravenswood.

“They did it!” Ozzie yelled triumphantly.

“Hurry, before it closes!” Emily urged Adriane.

Adriane gazed at the huge dreamcatcher hanging in the sky. She held up her wolf stone and pictured Storm in her mind. “Storm … can you hear me?” she whispered. She concentrated harder. “Stormbringer?”

“Anything?” Emily asked.

“No, I can’t get through.”

“Try again,” Kara said.

“Storm? It’s me, Adriane!”

The web trembled, but she still couldn’t feel anything. “It’s not working!” she cried, frustrated.

“The dreamcatcher may be interfering with reception,” Ozzie ventured.

Adriane quickly turned to Kara. “Get the dragonflies to open it.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Ozzie said.

“Please!” Adriane pleaded.

Emily nodded at Kara.

“D-flies, listen up!” Kara called. The dragonflies all zoomed over to hover around the blazing star. “We need you to open the web, okay? On your mark … Get set … Go!”

The dragonflies immediately flew to the top of the dreamcatcher, grabbing strands of webbing in their beaks.

“What are they doing?” Emily asked.

“How should I know?” Kara shrugged. “I’m amazed they understand anything I say at all.”

Each holding a strand of hair, the dragonflies pulled the dreamcatcher down, making it spin end over end. It whirled hypnotically before the misty portal.

Adriane held up her stone and focused. This time she sensed a faint glimmer, a connection. Storm? “I felt something!” Adriane said excitedly.

“I think that’s amplifying the signal,” Ozzie observed.

The dragonflies began to slow down and Adriane’s connection faded.

“Keep the dreamcatcher spinning!” she called out.

“How am I supposed to do that?” Kara asked.

“Hurry, the portal is closing!” Ozzie waved his paws in the air.

Adriane saw the tunnel swirling into a tighter spiral, drawing the edges of the portal toward the center.

Kara eyed the dragonflies’ formation carefully. Bobbing her head in time with their motions, she watched the moving strands sweep over the ground and past her. She used to be really good at this game.

With one swift leap Kara jumped into the throng of dragonflies and start skipping over the moving strands.

The dragonflies all squealed with delight at this new game and began spinning faster, around and around.

Adriane felt the magic connection again, stronger.

Flash!

Crystal towers loomed over scorched earth, pulsing green.

Flash!

A dark dungeon filled with sick animals.

Flash!

A lone mistwolf crying for its lost human.

Adriane gasped. “Storm?”

“
You are always in my heart.”
The voice was so faint it might have been the wind.

It was hard to stay focused with all the commotion going on, with the web spinning, dragonflies buzzing around, and Kara singing, “Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack! All dressed in black, black, black! With silver buttons, buttons, buttons! All down her back, back, back!”

Adriane tried to ignore all the distractions and concentrate the way Storm had taught her: to focus on what she was trying to accomplish, to control the magic, get it to do exactly what she wanted. And what Adriane wanted more than anything at this moment was Storm by her side. She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Stormbringer
!
”

The starry lights of the portal dimmed with an eerie glow.

Tendrils of magic touched her mind, tentatively probing.

The dreamcatcher whipped around and around Kara, who jumped and ducked and did everything she could to keep from getting tagged.

The connection pulled at Adriane’s magic, coaxing her. She reached out, grasping for some clarity, fighting to hold it, and felt … an animal? A human? She was confused. The magic suddenly locked tight as a vise.

“Agh!” Adriane recoiled in pain.

“Adriane?” Emily called out.

The dreamcatcher was trembling violently. Kara frantically jump-roped as if her life depended on it.

Adriane was jerked forward with a tremendous force. “Ahh!”

“Adriane! What is it?” Emily’s voice sounded so far away.

“I’m being pulled in!” Something had latched onto the magic of Adriane’s jewel and was dragging her toward the center of the portal.

“Whatever you’re doing, Kara, cut it out!” she screamed, trying to calm her growing fear by focusing on a far more familiar emotion: being annoyed at Kara. “Call off the dragonflies!”

“Pook?”

Kara had jumped free. All the dragonflies clustered around her. They were no longer holding on to the dreamcatcher. The web was spinning on its own, vibrating wildly at odd angles.

Sproing!
One by one, the strands began to snap.

“This can’t be good,” Ozzie said.

Emily grabbed Adriane by the waist, trying to hold her back. “Help!” she screamed as her sneakers slid through the soft grass.

“Emily!” Ozzie yelled, hopping up and down.

Adriane felt the wind whip at her back as two large wings flapped behind her. Lyra had her front paws wrapped around Emily, her golden wings unfurled and beating against the force that pulled them forward.

Ozzie grabbed the cat’s tail and pulled with all his might.

“Kookie!”

The dragonflies darted behind Ozzie. Goldie grabbed one of Ozzie’s rear paws in her beak, pulling the ferret up in the air. Fred grabbed onto Goldie’s tail. Each dragonfly pulled on the tail of the one before it, forming a line, their little wings beating furiously.

“Go, go, go!” Kara jumped up and down, cheering them on.

“Pull!” Emily yelled.

Suddenly long strands of hair sprang out in all directions as the dreamcatcher unraveled. A blinding sunburst filled the field as the strands were sucked into the portal.

Emily, Ozzie, Lyra and the dragonflies all tumbled backward, piling on top of Kara.

Adriane went tumbling forward, headfirst.

“Get off me!” Kara pushed the pile of animals away and scrambled to her feet.

The field was quiet. The portal was gone. Everything was back to normal … except for one thing.

Kara and Emily looked at each other in shock, speaking at the same time.

“Where’s Adriane?”