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

Emily had healed sick animals and Adriane had done all kinds of tricks and made friends with a magical wolf named Stormbringer. Kara didn’t have her own jewel, but every time she got near their stones, the magic got stronger, as if she were supercharged. Just think what will happen when I get my own magic jewel! Kara smiled. She deserved to have the best jewel and the best magic. Maybe she’d even find the best magical animal, too. After all, that was what they were really doing at Ravenswood—helping magical animals.

Kara sighed and focused on the task at hand: clean up. She’d have to settle for option two for her first-day-of-school outfit. The lost sweater would turn up somewhere.

T
HE UNICORN STOOD
in the woodland meadow. His deep golden eyes were wary but unafraid. Wildflowers blanketed the field in bright colors as Kara walked toward the magnificent creature. The unicorn raised his glimmering crystal horn, filling the meadow with flashes of brilliant light.

Kara circled the great creature. He was breathtakingly beautiful. She ran a hand over his lustrous white hide; it felt soft as silk and shimmered gently. Breathing slowly, the unicorn lowered his head as Kara came around to look into his eyes.

His voice suddenly filled her head.

“I am for the blazing star.”

She was special. If anyone were to ride a unicorn, of course it would be her.

With a leap, she was on his back.

The unicorn took off, racing across the open field. Confident, Kara leaned forward into the creature’s steady gallop, feeling herself one with the animal, just as she had been taught at riding school. But this was no ordinary animal. This was the most magical of all creatures. The unicorn raced through the meadow and leaped. Instantly a portal opened—a circle of swirling stars hanging in the air before them—and the unicorn swept through.

Kara was bathed in diamond light as endless loops woven together in intricate patterns revealed itself before her: the magic web that connected worlds. Together Kara and the unicorn ran, faster . . . faster . . . streaking across the infinite web of magic.

“
Come to me . . . ”
Another voice, distant yet commanding, cut through her mind like steel.

The unicorn raced along the web like white fire.

She was a golden girl, adored by all. She was a goddess, born to be with such a magnificent creature.

“You will be mine . . . ”

She was a princess of magic . . . No! She was a . . . queen!

“. . . or everything you love will die!”

The unicorn stumbled. Kara flew headlong, golden hair tangling as she tossed and turned. A dark-robed figure watched, indifferent, as Kara fell, a shooting star fading into darkness.

Kara’s eyes sprang open. It was pitch-black. Her heart pounded. For a second she couldn’t move, then realized she was completely tangled in her bed sheets. She wriggled and kicked them off, ripping her pink satin sleep mask from her eyes.

At first she thought that the cold had awakened her, since the hairs along her arms and the back of her neck were standing up. But the room was humid, too warm for comfort. Blearily, she pushed her hair out of her face and looked around.

Pale moonlight glazed the room, glowing softly through the curtains as they wavered in the breeze. The air-conditioning must have gone out, she thought, burrowing back into her pillow. But then there wouldn’t be a breeze, would there? As her brain fought its way to sense, she sat up.

The far window was wide open.

Puzzled, Kara stumbled over to shut the window. Had she forgotten before? She’d been pretty tired . . . She stopped short. The window screen was gone. She peered into the darkness, but nothing moved, no sound broke the stillness. The screen must have fallen off somehow, she thought. Then she saw something on the ledge below her window: splotches of glowing, green muck, dripping into the gutter.

That’s disgusting! How dare some big bird drop a surprise on their roof!

She closed the window with a bang and locked it. Shaken, she climbed back into bed, adjusted her sleep mask, and went back to sleep.

In the dark beyond the window, two piercing green eyes stared back at her, then winked out.

F
ACT OF LIFE
: Some people complain about school. Go figure.

Not Kara. School was the best place to wear the newest clothes, catch the latest buzz, and see all her buds. Schoolwork was like a game—and she wasn’t bad at it. Not that she was a brainiac—not her style at all. She was a people person and knew how to use that skill to her best advantage. Nobody expected her to be an A student, and with everybody ready to help her if she needed it, what could be easier?

“Who’d you get for homeroom?” Molly shouted over the chaos in the hallway, brushing her dark hair as kids swirled around them, looking for lockers and classrooms.

“Heather and I got Mrs. Fitch, can you believe it?” Kara beamed.

“Oooh, you’re so lucky! I got Ms. Scalise.”

“See you at lunch—and, nice dress,” Kara told Molly.

“You like it? Thanks.” Molly looked grateful. “You look excellent, as usual. Hey, you find that sweater?”

“Not yet, it’s a mystery.” Kara flashed on the glowing green slime. But that was too spooky. She was in the real world now, her world. She tucked her white linen shirt more securely into her aqua-blue capris.

Smiling, Kara sauntered over to her new locker. Opening her backpack, she set up her command post. She positioned a mirror at eye level and a stick-up light above, hung a brush from the side hook, and pasted an air freshener up in the top compartment. Books got stashed where they wouldn’t get in the way.

“Perfect!” she said, slinging the backpack with her laptop and supplies over her shoulder.

Heather came flouncing down the hall. “Kara, come on! Everything okay?”

Kara nodded approvingly at the way Heather’s white cashmere sweater complemented her long red hair. “Let’s go.”

Homeroom was in a sunny classroom on the second floor. Kara picked a desk by the window. Heather sat right behind her, easy for Kara to swing around and chat.

Mrs. Fitch welcomed everyone and droned on about class assignments and homework. Kara’s gaze kept wandering out the window. She had been so busy getting ready this morning, she’d forgotten to mention the missing screen to her father.

Glowing, green, dripping
. . .

Thoughts of what had happened to her just a few weeks ago tumbled through her mind. At the Ravenswood Preserve, creatures not of this world had arrived through a magical doorway—a portal. Some were cute, like the talking ferret named Ozzie. Some were mysterious, like the giant wolf, Stormbringer, who could evaporate into mist. Some were dangerous, horrible and scary, like the manticore that had terrorized the town for weeks. She tried to block those images and concentrate on where she was, in the real world, but she knew
they
were real, also. As real as the “purple bear,” Phel. Everyone thought the bear had escaped, but she knew better. She, Emily, and Adriane had helped the creature return home—wherever that was. She also knew it wasn’t really a bear—it was magic, just like the jewels Adriane and Emily found, jewels she didn’t have . . . yet! They had used magic to open the portal, and Phel had gone home. She imagined herself leaping through the portal atop the most beautiful magical animal of all: a snow-white unicorn with a diamond-bright, sparkly horn. Riding together along strands of gold, friends forever. But that was a dream. Something had torn away her screen, and that was real. What if another monster had come to Ravenswood? She felt goose bumps shiver over her shoulders.

Something moved outside the window. Just twenty feet away, a huge animal was half hidden in the branches of a maple tree. Kara froze. Suddenly she felt a connection, almost like an electrical shock, as if this creature knew her, knew she would be right here, right now. It turned its head. Cold green eyes zeroed in on her.

Someone screamed.

Kara looked around and realized it was her. The classroom was silent. Surprised faces were staring at her.

This can’t be happening!

Heather’s mouth hung open in a shocked grin; others were snickering.

“Miss Davies? Is everything all right?” Mrs. Fitch looked concerned.

Kara pointed to the tree outside the window. “That big cat,” she said meekly. “It’s staring at me.”

Half the class got up and ran to the window to look. Mrs. Fitch looked out also, but there was nothing there.

“I don’t see a cat,” the teacher said.

“Maybe it’s the
purple bear
,” someone mocked.

The room exploded in laughter.

Kara felt her ears burning.

“All right! That’s enough. There’s nothing more to see. Take your seats. You, too, Miss Davies.”

Kara hunkered down in her seat, fuming at the snickers and stares.

“That was, like,
so
weird!” Heather whispered behind her as Mrs. Fitch handed out a sheaf of papers to pass to the back.

Kara felt shaken and frightened. That had been a cat, but how could any cat be that big? What was it doing in the tree? Was it following her? What could it want? She tried to get a grip, but only thought of one thing: Ravenswood.

T
HE REST OF
the morning went by in a blur. By the time she and Heather were cafeteria-bound, Kara felt somewhat better.

Molly and Tiffany were already waiting outside at their usual table, right under a shady tree. Carrying her tray over to them, Kara took a deep breath. Okay, chill. Maybe word hadn’t spread about her bizarre disruption in homeroom.

“Been a rough morning. Kara had like a major
freakout
in homeroom,” Heather announced as soon as she sat down.

“We heard,” Molly said between mouthfuls of salad.

“Everyone’s heard!” Tiffany added.

Guess the buzz stream’s working just fine, Kara thought.

“So, what happened?” Molly asked.

“Yeah, Kara, what’s up with that?” Tiffany prodded loudly.

“Quiet! Nothing. Just keep it down, you want the whole school to hear?”

“Hey, Kara, heard you saw another purple bear!” Joey Micetti stopped by the table with a tray of food, on his way to join his friends. Kara saw her brother and his buddies elbowing one another at the next table. The usual crew, Adam, and . . . oh, great, that cute Marcus.

The boys were all snickering.

“This is so humiliating,” Molly said, biting into her burger.

Kara sat silently.

“Go back to Pluto, Joey, with the other alien slugs!” Heather yelled.

“Maybe that’s where the bear came from, outer space!” Joey taunted.

“Shows what you know. It was a big cat,” Heather corrected him.

Kara wanted to disappear.

“Ooooh, a cat, that’s a good one,” one of the boys, Adam, howled. “Kyle, your sister will do anything to get attention.”

This day was quickly turning into a disaster. Kara was almost in tears, her face hot, mind racing. Breathe! It can’t possibly get any worse.

“If she saw something, it was real!” Tiffany exclaimed.