Circles in the Stream (Avalon: Web of Magic #1) (13 page)

“I need something to carry her in!” Emily called up.

“Leave it, it’s dead,” Kara said. “Aahh—hey!”

Adriane was pulling Kara’s silk jacket off her shoulders.

“What are you doing? That’s a DK!” Kara protested.

Throwing it down to Emily, Adriane said, “If either of us had a jacket, believe me, we wouldn’t want yours.”

Emily gently wrapped the owl in Kara’s jacket, then carefully carried her up out of the ravine.

“Is she all right?” Adriane asked.

“No. We have to get her to Phel—quickly.”

“What about
her
?” Adriane nodded in Kara’s direction.

Kara stood, silently fuming.

Emily’s only concern was the owl. “Ariel’s going to die if we don’t get her to Phel right now!”

“Let’s go. This way.” Ignoring Kara, Adriane started down the small path. Emily followed, cradling Ariel in her arms. When Kara realized she was being left behind, she ran to catch up.

“Where are you going?” she demanded.

Adriane whirled around. “We need to get this animal to where she can be healed!”

“She’s hurt bad,” Emily said softly.

“Well, lucky I found her, huh?” Kara said. Then she paused. “What’s a Phel?”

“Look, just remember your promise,” Adriane said sharply. “You tell no one about what we show you.”

“I knew it! A secret place you weren’t telling me about!” Kara’s eyes sparkled.

“I’m serious! Promise!” Adriane insisted.

“Okay, okay, I promise,” Kara said.

Emily hurried along the trail, Adriane at her side. Kara was falling behind, her sandals no match for the logs and rocks that littered the forest floor.

They entered the archway of trees and rounded the Rocking Stone as a voice called out, “There you are! Did you bring any food? Oh no, what’s happened?”

Kara caught up a moment later, looking up at the immense boulder. She stepped past it into the glade and her eyes opened wide. “Wow!” She looked from the lovely willow trees to the clear crystal waters of the pond. Flowers bloomed everywhere and rainbow sparkles drifted lightly in the air.

“Ozzie, where’s Phel?” Emily was frantic.

“Probably out spreading magic seeds,” Ozzie replied.

Out of the corner of her eye, Emily could see Kara approaching. Clearly, the blond girl intended to meet whomever Emily was talking to. “Hello, I’m—” Kara began. Then she stopped, puzzled, and looked around.

“Who’s that?” Ozzie asked.

Kara peered at the brown-and-gold ferret, then back at Emily. “Who said that?” she asked. When no one answered, she shook her head, confused. “What is this place?”

“Just another garden,” Adriane said.

“Oh really! Well, I’ve never seen flowers like these!”

“Phel, where are you? Phel?” Emily was beginning to panic as she paced around the glade, cradling the owl.

“Phel, phel, phel…” Kara looked about. “What is a Phel, and where can I find a jewel—hey!” Ozzie was standing in front of her. “Get away, you…rat!”

Ozzie rose on his rear legs and crossed his arms. “Who you calling a rat?”

“Aaahhh, it’s talking!” she shrieked.

Kara started to back away. She turned to her left and saw a winged horse! A green-striped deer watched her. Everywhere she looked, another bizarre animal appeared. Kara whirled around—and came face to face with a huge purple creature. Two gigantic eyes stared at her

“A purple bear!” she shrieked, backing away.

“He is not a bear,” Adriane said calmly.

In spite of her fear for Ariel, Emily couldn’t help noticing the interest the animals were showing in Kara.

“Who are…what are all these…. these….
things
?” Kara stammered.

Phel reached forward with huge paws.

Kara grabbed Adriane. “Stay away from me, you bear!”

“Let go of me! He won’t hurt you!” Adriane said.

Panicked, Kara looked up at the giant creature. Phel spread his arms wide. The air seemed to swirl—and something formed between his huge paws. It looked like a circle in the air. Phel spread his paws apart, and the circle widened, revealing…
stars
. Pinpoints of light were strung out along what looked like a web—almost like a giant, three-dimensional dreamcatcher.

“It’s a fairy map!”

Kara’s head jerked around. The ferret jumped up and down next to Phel. More animals were gathering around, watching.

Phel suddenly released the web of stars and it floated over Kara, gently cascading down like a starry rain. She was covered with sparkling dots of light as the web encircled her.

Kara screamed at the top of her lungs, swinging her backpack to bat away the strands of stars. She jumped as if covered in ants, waving her arms and kicking her legs. The magical image tore apart in swirls and vanished.

“Kara, are you all right?” Emily called out.

“The map! It’s all gone!” Ozzie sat on the grass, moaning, his head in his paws.

Kara slung her backpack over her shoulder. “I’m getting out of here right now! Keep your dumb stones. I can buy better ones at the mall!” She turned and stormed out past the Rocking Stone.

Adriane turned to Emily. “So much for her helping us.”

“Get me out of here!” Kara screamed from behind the rock. “I'm freaking out!”

“Adriane, you’d better take her back,” Emily said nervously. “I’ll help Phel with Ariel.”

Adriane grimaced. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She headed out. “Keep your shorts on,” she yelled to Kara.

“You didn’t tell me you had bears here—and whatever else you’re hiding!” Kara shouted.

As their voices faded into the distance, Emily walked over to Phel. He was sitting by one of the trees. As she lay the owl before him, she realized he was different now: weaker. His color wasn’t as vibrant, he seemed duller, with a tinge of gray... and no rainbow flowers bloomed about his feet.

“Please, you can help, can't you?” she asked, gazing up at his eyes.

Phelonius looked from the owl to Emily. A tear ran down his cheek. She could feel Phel’s pain, a deep sadness, and it hit her—he did not have the magic left to heal the owl.

Emily felt the familiar sting of helplessness well up inside. Suddenly her hands were covered by Phel’s large paws. Her stone began to glow softly with pale blue light. Phel moved Emily’s hands over the owl.

She recoiled, instantly knowing what Phel wanted from her.

“I can't,” said Emily, tears spilling from her eyes. “I’m not a
real
healer. I couldn’t even help that poor cat!”

As Phel pulled his paws away, Emily blinked back the tears. Her gem had been transformed! It was now a polished, crystalline blossom glistening with rainbow sparkles. It looked exactly like one of Phel’s magic puff flowers.

Emily held her breath. She hardly noticed when Phel guided her hands back to the owl, holding them steady as she touched the snowy feathers.

She gasped.

Her stone pulsed faster, beating along with her heart. Suddenly she felt the owl’s heartbeat, out of sync with her own, weaker. Phel closed his eyes and Emily concentrated. She
willed
the owl’s heart to beat with hers.

Slowly the wounded owl stirred. Emily felt something pushing against her, a sense of weakness, of pain. But she couldn’t break its grip. She felt the owl slipping away. “No! Stay with me!”

The feeling of loss engulfed her, threatening to pull her into a dark abyss of despair. It was overwhelming. She’d lost so much already—her dad, her friends, her home. Then she thought of the cat, how she had failed when she needed her most.

“No!” Emily cried out. She reached deep inside. All her emotions seemed to rise up at once and the jewel erupted with jagged blue light. It swirled around her wrist, spreading up and down to cover her arm and her hand. Concentrating hard, she willed the light to flow over the owl. Focus…focus on the heartbeat. Pulse… pulse… pulse… steady, strong… And then she
felt
the owl’s heartbeat lock with her own. The jewel and both hearts began to beat as one. Steady, strong… The light faded… The owl stirred and opened her eyes.

Emily threw herself into Phel's arms, crying and laughing at the same time.

“I can't believe it. We did it!” she said through her tears.

“I think that counts as magic,” Ozzie commented.

“Y
OU SHOULD HAVE
seen Ozzie, he was so impressed. He was bragging to all the animals how
he
discovered you, a real healer!” Adriane laughed.

Emily was on the phone in her room, listening to her friend. She had run right home with Ariel. Even if the owl seemed healed, she wasn’t taking any chances. Only after her mom gave the owl a clean bill of health did Emily relax.

“I only helped Phel, and it was pretty scary,” Emily said, not wanting to talk about
how
scared it made her feel. “How did you do with Kara?”

Adriane snorted. “She blabbered the whole way back about how Ravenswood should be fenced off and locked up tight.”

“Well, we had no choice, we had to take her to the glade,” Emily said.

“Yeah…” Adriane’s voice trailed off..

“What’s the matter?” Emily prompted.

“That thing Phel did to Kara—” Adriane started.

“What was it?”

“Ozzie said it was a gift from the Fairimentals, a fairy map.”

“A map? Of what?” Emily asked.

“Maybe where the animals came from?”

“Or where they’re supposed to go.” Emily remembered the word left in the dirt:

Avalon.

“Something is going on here, Emily, and you and I are the only ones who know,” Adriane said.

“And Kara,” Emily reminded her.

“Yeah.” Adriane paused. “We have to do something before Barbie opens her big mouth.”

“Like what?”

“I think we should go and try to talk to the mayor ourselves.”

“I don’t know.”

“We can say we’re returning her jacket,” Adriane suggested.

“I guess we can try,” Emily said.

“Good. Meet me tomorrow. Ten sharp at town hall.”

T
HAT NIGHT, EMILY
couldn’t sleep. She pictured Phel, alone in the woods. Well, not really alone. She had to laugh when she thought about Ozzie, insisting on staying with the big creature to protect him. Poor Ozzie, so far from his home, and the other animals, scared and lost in a strange world. Emily realized she was talking about creatures out of some dream, as if the old legends about the woods were turning real. Had magical animals been here before? Had humans and animals really worked together in the past? What was a fairy map, and why had Phel given it to Kara…and not her? She felt a pang of jealousy. Not the first time someone was jealous of Kara, that was for sure.

Whatever was going on, one thing was certain. Her life had changed forever, and not just because she wasn’t in Colorado anymore. Emily stared at the wondrous jewel in her hand. A stone of healing and she had found it…or had it found her? She clutched it tightly, as if it really could give her some measure of protection from her doubts and fears. What had happened today with Ariel terrified her. A door had been opened that she didn’t want to—
couldn’t
—enter.

“There is no going back.”
Wasn’t that what one of the Fairimentals had said? Was she ready to go forward? And where would that path lead? Emily sighed. Ozzie had told Adriane that Phel’s fairy map was a gift to Kara. She looked at her jewel. Was this
her
gift?

Quietly, she left her room and ran down to the Pet Palace.

The cat was wide-awake, pacing back and forth. She had been moved to the Pet Palace, since she no longer needed constant care and attention. Emily sensed the cat’s restlessness.

Emily walked over and sat down next to her. Moonlight drifted through the window, bathing them both in pale silver light. They stared into each other’s eyes.

Emily held up her gemstone and ran it over the cat’s mottled and sparse patches of fur. She moved it gently over the odd bumps on the animal's shoulders, trying to think healing thoughts. The stone sparkled softly in the moonlight. She visualized the scars vanishing, the mottled tufts turning to lustrous fur; she closed her eyes tight and concentrated. She opened them and—nothing. The cat looked exactly the same. She lifted her head and licked Emily on the nose.