Circles in the Stream (Avalon: Web of Magic #1) (4 page)

She ran up a little rise, then stopped to look over her shoulder. The wavering white mist was still there, getting thicker and closer. She scooped up Pumpkin and started to walk faster—then she broke into a run.

Low-hanging branches caught at her clothes, scratching at her arms and legs. This was all too weird and crazy, Emily kept thinking. She was just letting herself be spooked by what Kevin had said. But the cat—the cat was real. She was starting to panic. She had trouble catching her breath, but she couldn’t stop running.

“Help! Help!” she cried out, but her screams were swallowed by the dark and hungry forest. She was in deep woods now. She stumbled over tree roots, pushed through the undergrowth—turning her head, she saw the white mist right behind her. For a split second, Emily froze. She willed her legs to move, to run. But she’d only taken a few steps when she tripped over something and did a face plant into the ground.

There was a yelp and then she realized what she had fallen over—Jellybean! Her heart leaped. He was totally fine. Nothing had mauled him. A second later Biscuit came trotting up and licked her face. Relief flooded through her.

“Bad dogs!” She scolded them half-heartedly—and stopped.

There, under a natural archway formed by trees, was a wolf. Its fur was silver, fading to white. Its eyes, rimmed in charcoal, were warm gold. It sat perfectly still, staring back at Emily. Then it stood and turned to walk through the archway. Jellybean and Biscuit followed.

“Hey, wait!” Emily called. She probably should be scared, but she wasn’t.

With Pumpkin close at her side, Emily walked through the archway. The wolf was nowhere in sight. But something else definitely was. Beyond the archway stood the largest boulder she had ever seen. She craned her neck to look at the stone tower, following it up to a jagged peak that pointed into the sky. It was so tall, she wondered why she hadn’t noticed it looming up above the trees.

“Wow,” Emily breathed. “It’s the Rocking Stone.” So Kevin was right about one thing, anyway. The rock was
amazing.
Lines of quartz glistened all around the sides, catching the sunlight. When she looked more closely, she could see markings that looked like graffiti.

“Look what you guys found!” she exclaimed to the dogs.

She stepped around the rock—and saw what it was hiding. A magnificent forest glade surrounded by a perfect circle of tall firs. In the glade’s center, a pond shimmered like a sky-blue mirror, except where willows brushed the water with the tips of their flowing branches. At the far side, a rippling stream flowed into the forest and a small bridge arched across the water. Songbirds trilled in the treetops. Golden sunlight poured through the trees. This was the most beautiful place she’d ever seen!

“Ruff-chooo!” Pumpkin sneezed. She had stopped to sniff something.

Looking down, Emily saw a clump of incredible flowers: small, fuzzy puffs of every imaginable color!

She bent down and picked one of the flowers. It looked like a sparkly dandelion. She blew on it and tiny glittering tufts danced away on the breeze.

“I might have just discovered a whole new species. Genus: Emily,” she laughed.

“Yipp!”

“Okay, okay. Genus: Pumpkin.”

Emily felt like an explorer discovering a new world. Suddenly three animals stepped out of the trees. Emily stopped and held her breath. They looked like deer, but not like any deer Emily had ever seen. They had green striped fur and purple eyes. They bent their heads gracefully to drink from the pond, then looked up and scampered away. Emily shook her head. Deer aren’t green! Must have been the sunlight reflected off the water. A bright red bird—could that really be a scarlet macaw?—flapped from a treetop to a lower branch, where it joined another bird, this one purple and orange. These creatures seemed so peaceful, so comfortable in their surroundings, not even bothered by the dogs. Surely there could be no dangerous predator around.

Slowly, so as not to startle the animals, Emily walked to a flat rock at the edge of the pond and sat down. She pulled off her sneakers and socks, stuck her feet in the water, and splashed her toes lazily. Her reflection swirled in the water. It felt so refreshing, clean, and cold, like a mountain pool. She dashed some on her face, then flicked water at Biscuit. With a bark, Jellybean took a flying leap and landed in the pond, sending water cascading all around. Emily threw water at Pumpkin, who ran around barking happily.

And the water turned pink.

Emily stared. Bright colors—orange, purple, red—began to bubble up, sending soft circles out across the pool. The colors deepened, becoming darker and richer. Emily jerked her feet out of the water. Then she saw something under the surface, glowing.

Leaning over, she stuck her hand in the water, reaching… The tips of her fingers bumped against something small, cold, and hard in the wet clay. Her hand closed around the object and her stomach lurched. She felt as if she had just taken the first drop in Gigantor, the huge wooden roller coaster that used to terrify her.

There was a loud rustling in the forest. Terrified, Emily scrambled to her feet, looking around. The dogs pressed tightly against her legs, whimpering. What was happening?

Wind whipped across the glade, sending up small eddies of dried leaves and dirt. Three, four, then six tiny whirlpools spiraled and twirled across the grass. One spun right by Emily’s legs and, out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a figure. A figure made of twigs, dirt, and leaves? A sound buzzed from the swirling debris.

“Beeeeeeeeeeeeee…”

“What?”

“Bbeeeeeeewrrrrrrrrrrr…” Another mini-tornado twirled by, sending pebbles and bits of dirt flying. Squinting against the dust, Emily stood stock-still as a third little whirlwind spun crookedly by her leg.

“Beeeewaaarre…” it hummed.

The shrieking wind grew louder, scattering the figures across the glade. Tree limbs snapped and came crashing to the ground. Emily sank to her knees, wrapping her arms tightly around the dogs. Frantically she looked about for a place—any place—to hide. Then she saw it—and her heart stopped. A dark purple shape loomed up through the trees, making its way straight for her and the dogs. She whirled around—and saw the ghostly mist flow from between two trees and seep into the glade. It was about to envelop her, and there was nothing she could do. She was trapped. Her heart was in her throat; she couldn’t breathe. The mist fell silently over Emily and the dogs, covering them in a soft blanket. The dogs shivered. She hugged them close, soundlessly willing them to keep quiet. Through the misty veil she saw a shadow move past. It looked like a giant dark purple bear. Emily didn’t know why, but for a moment she wasn’t frightened. She allowed herself to breathe.

Boom!

The ground rocked. Something had fallen out of the sky! Something big. The earth around her trembled from the impact. The wind kicked up again, as if blasted by the beating of great wings. The air itself seemed to twist, a wobbling spiral that made Emily sick to her stomach. She sensed animal cries of terror, creatures frantically fleeing through the brush.

Emily didn’t move. The thing that fell from the sky was some kind of animal. No,
creature
. She could feel it probing, searching for prey. Whatever it was, it was no bear; she was sure of that. It was bigger, more dangerous. It moved slowly around the glade, snorting and growling.

Emily huddled in the thick mist with the dogs tight against her. She was so frightened she could hardly think. The dogs were wriggling and starting to whine. Trembling, she pulled out the group leash and, one by one, hooked up each dog. “Shhhhh,” she whispered. But she fumbled the last hook, and it closed with an audible
snap!

The creature whirled and came straight toward them. Emily’s heart pounded like a sledgehammer. Even through the misty veil, she could see the faint outlines of long, sharp claws, monstrous wings, and red-hot glowing eyes.

She could smell it, too, something rotten. She was going to gag. She closed her eyes as a blood-curdling roar made the dogs whimper. There was a beating of great wings, a rush of hot air—and the creature took off, disappearing into the sky.

Then all was quiet. Emily opened her eyes—and stared straight into the eyes of the silver wolf. They blazed with gold fire. She wanted to scream, but nothing came out.

“Do not be afraid.”
She heard no sound, and yet she understood the voice perfectly. “
You are safe for now.”

Emily blinked and shook her head. The dogs were staring at the wolf, amazingly calm, as if they, too, had heard the reassuring words.

A tightness in her arm made her realize she’d been clenching her fist all this time. She opened her hand and saw that the object she’d picked up from the water was in her palm. It was a small, rough, dark stone.

She looked back to the wolf, but it had disappeared again. What had just happened? What was that flying…
thing?

Without another thought, she pulled on her shoes, grabbed the leash, and ran as fast as she could, back past the Rocking Stone, back the way she’d come. The dogs galloped ahead and she let them pull her along. Soon she was back at the dirt trail and followed it to the main road out of the preserve.

The farther she got from the woods, the more the whole thing felt like a dream. Ghosts weren’t real. Wolves didn’t talk. There were no rainbow flowers. And huge flying monsters? Was
that
what had attacked the cat? She shuddered.

Biting her lip, she sped up again, tugging on the leash. She was
not
going to think about any of this weirdness anymore. She was going to go straight home, where she belonged.

“U
NABLE TO LOCATE
server. Please check the server name and try again.”

Shoot! Emily sat at her desk, staring at the computer screen.

As soon as she’d gotten home and cleaned herself up, she’d gone online, trying various search engines to track down information on the Ravenswood Wildlife Preserve. But either the links had the address wrong or the website no longer existed.

She couldn’t ask her mom for help—she didn’t want to explain about almost losing the dogs and going into the woods.

She thought of e-mailing her dad. He was a scientist. He’d know what to do. But what would she say? “Dear Dad, having a terrific time here. Today I met a monster and a ghost and I discovered some new flower with rainbow seeds that light up like tiny fireworks…” Ha! Her dad would think she had moved to Transylvania, not Pennsylvania.

Okay, think… “If one thing doesn’t work,” he’d say, “then try another way.” She typed in “Rocking Stone.” A page of sites came back. “Indian Totems.” She hit the hot link button.

The site was part of a Web ring dedicated to Native American legends and stories. She skimmed down the listing. There it was: “The Rocking Stone.” A sacred monument called “Aluns,” a Lenni Lenape name which means “arrow.” Such stones were believed to be landmarks used to locate doorways to the spirit world…

She sat back. Those woods were haunted, all right. Kevin had not been wrong about that. So
mething
was going on out there! But what had happened to her today was simply not possible. She had to have imagined it. Except she hadn’t imagined the cat. Something evil had attacked it. And whatever it was, it was still out there.

“H
EALER…”

“What—who are you?” She walked through silver-white fog. Faint outlines of trees shifted in the corners of her vision. She had an impression that animals were hiding in the swirling mist, watching her.

A chorus of voices called to her. “Healer…help us…”

“I’m not a healer!” she cried in frustration. “I don’t know how to help you!”

Waves of color swirled violently. The voices vanished as razor claws ripped away the misty curtain. The monster snarled, revealing a mouth full of dripping fangs. Red-hot demon eyes fixed on her. It knew she was helpless! With a roar it attacked—

Emily bolted up in bed as her eyes flew open, her mouth agape in a silent, choked-off scream. Her Pooh night-light glowed softly near the door. She fought to calm her breathing. It was only a dream, it wasn’t real… Something else was glowing in the room, and it wasn’t coming from the night-light. Emily quietly slipped from her bed and padded over to the pile of clothes she had thrown off earlier. She stared. The glow came from the pocket of her shorts. She reached inside. A pulsing blue-green washed over her face as she pulled out the stone she had found at the glade. It felt warm and reassuring in her hand—smooth and slick to the touch. Smooth? The stone she’d plucked from the pond had been rough!