All's Fairy in Love and War (Avalon: Web of Magic #8)

by Rachel Roberts

  Students started whistling and hollering. “Shakespeare rocks!”

  Ozzie walked toward Emily, proudly looking at his ferret stone. “Things are going well, don’t you think?”

  LORREN AND KARA stepped out of the mirror and into a sticky mass of… something.

  “Goldie?” Kara called as she wiped at the silky strands covering her face.

  “Icky!” The d-fly popped in front of Kara, pulling long, tacky strings off the blazing star’s jacket and pants.

  “Are you okay?” Kara’s heart pounded.

  “Uh honk.” Goldie flew up and fluttered happily onto Kara’s shoulder.

  Kara hugged her friend so tightly the d-fly squeaked.

  Then she looked around. She stood on a platform in a dark chamber. Dull lights emanated from yellowish crystals embedded in the walls. The high ceiling faded from view overhead, rising into darkness. Behind her was the mirror, a dull gray piece of glass ornately framed in carved metal. It stood on silver clawed feet. Everything was draped in shiny webbing.

  “What is this stuff?” Kara asked, unsure if she really wanted to hear the answer.

  “Phhhllaf!” Lorren spit out a mouthful. “Spider webs.” The boy appeared from the adjoining corridor.

  “Eww!” Kara brushed at herself frantically, assisted by Goldie.

  “Come on, let’s get in and out of here as fast as possible.”

  She followed him through rusted metal doors that creaked with age.

  Something skittered overhead in the darkness.

  “Are you sure this place is empty?” Kara asked nervously.

  “No,” Lorren muttered, clearing a path with his sword to reveal a long corridor.

  “Even if we find this rose, how do we find the stallion?”

  “Don’t know.”

  “How do you know where you’re going?” Kara held Goldie close, eyes darting up, down, left, and right. She could hear tiny feet moving against stone. It seemed to be coming from everywhere at once.

  “In here!” Lorren called.

  She ran to catch up. In the gloomy dimness, Kara made out a large octagonal room of dark stone. Weak sunlight filtered in through tiny window slits in the sloping ceiling, illuminating thousands of twisting spider webs throughout the room. Cauldrons, dusty vials, cracking leather books, and mysterious metal structures with empty glass beakers were all draped by milky webs.

  “It’s the Spider Witch’s lab,” Lorren exclaimed, cautiously stepping deeper into the abandoned laboratory. “She’s a powerful elemental magic master. I heard she got really messed up using dark magic.”

  “What do you mean?” Kara asked, her breath quickening.

  “Now she’s like half-fairy, half-spider,” Lorren continued. “Really creepy. Story goes that a great wizard trapped the witch in the Otherworlds. But that was way before I was even born.”

  Kara shuddered, thinking of twisted magic and dark dreams. “Let’s just hurry.”

  “The flower won’t be in plain sight.” He pointed to the unicorn gem clutched in her hand. “Track it with your jewel.”

  Steeling herself, Kara edged forward, swiping webs aside with her hands. She held up her jewel, releasing a bright light.

  A flash of pixilated insect eyes gleamed as a large bug buzzed into the light, dodging between the sticky webs.

  “Gross!” Kara exclaimed, waving her jewel and bouncing light everywhere. “I hate bugs!”

  “Probably just a few leftovers from the old tenants,” Lorren noted.

  Kara peered at a stone shelf strewn with broken glass and dried liquid. Signs hung below, written in strange slashes and markings. She squinted at the wavering writing. “What’s this say?”

  “Extremely dangerous spells. Don’t look.”

  Kara jumped back involuntarily, then caught herself. “Oh, that was so funny!” She edged around a wicked-looking machine with rusted metal spikes. Slimy slugs slithered away from her feet.

  “I don’t like this,” Lorren said uneasily.

  “This place could so use an interior decorator,” Kara agreed, ducking under another web as she approached an iron table in the center of the room. “And a few tons of bleach.”

  “No, I mean, how did Tangoo know the elemental rose is here?” he asked, walking up to the opposite side of the cluttered table.

  “Your secret club has inside information,” Kara pointed out. “A powerful sorcerer like Tangoo must have ways of finding things out, too.”

  Lorren lifted the lid of a tarnished bronze box. Its hinges squealed as foul black powder puffed out.

  “Watch it!” Kara waved the stuff away, covering her nose and mouth.

  “He’s a wily old goblin. I don’t trust him,” the prince stated.

  “You keep saying that, but he’s been trying to help me ever since I got here. He wants to help all of us!” Kara gingerly picked up an old book of spells.

  “Then why can’t he cure Lyra without the power crystal?”

  “My magic is really strong.” Kara’s eyes suddenly burned with tears. “I… I don’t know how to use it.”

  “He works with quicksilver all the time to make the travel mirrors. He should know how to cure her,” the prince insisted. “I think Tangoo wants the crystal to do something else.”

  Exasperated, Kara slammed the rotting spell book shut. “It seems to me if there’s one person who really wants the power crystal, it’s you!” she accused. “You found me first in the Queen’s Forest, you were in the Fairy Ring, and when I let the fire stallion go, you took me to the rave to convince me to find it. It seems like you’re willing to do anything to find that crystal.”

  He looked at her steadily. “I believe Tangoo’s plan could work. And I believe that if anyone could attract the crystal, it’s you. You’re the key to saving the Fairy Realms!” Lorren insisted. “You know me. I would never betray you.”

  “Know you?” Kara echoed, walking away from the table and casting a beam of unicorn light on another section of the room. “You and your Batman act? I have more reason to trust Tangoo than to trust you. He’s not hiding behind—”

  Kara broke off in mid-sentence. Her unicorn jewel had suddenly sparked bright white as she walked by an iron door. She winced, terrified that her jewel would explode with uncontrolled magic, but it held steady.

  The boy rushed to her side. “Help me push this open.”

  They shoved the door inward and cautiously peered inside.

  “Nothing here but plain stone,” Lorren observed, walking into the small, empty room.

  “No, look!” Kara pointed at a dark red mark on a block of stone set in the wall. Looking closer, she shuddered as a spider web brushed the back of her neck. Deeply carved into the stone was a small red spider. But what did it mean? On a hunch, she reached out and pushed the carving. The stone depressed about an inch. Nothing happened.

  “What now, Scooby Doo?” she muttered.

  “Shh, wait!” Lorren leaned closer to the wall.

  A faint noise, like a latch clicking, sounded deep inside the stone. Without warning, an entire section of wall sank soundlessly into the floor and vanished. Behind it was a huge chamber. Unlike the laboratory, there were no spider webs in the pristine space. The high walls were lined with ornately decorative tapestries.

  “Wow.” Lorren gazed at the immense artifacts hanging upon the walls. The weavings were incredibly detailed. Some depicted ferocious creatures in scenes of battle, others showed exotic places with alien landscapes. “These are amazing!”

  “Yeah, a real chamber of horrors.” Kara held up her jewel, scanning the room. Bright diamond light fell over an altar of gleaming black marble against the far wall. And floating above it were two delicate roses entwined at the stems. They were both dark as midnight and gleamed with pale blue light.

  “The roses!” Kara breathed, her face haloed in white by her shining unicorn jewel.

  The fragile flowers seemed made of crystal, but their deep blue petals were alive with swirling ele
mental magic. Like the fire stallion, the flowers were creations of pure natural energy, bound together in an exquisite form.

  Gulping a shuddering breath, she anxiously walked toward the altar.

  “Careful,” Lorren warned in a hushed voice. “There might be traps.”

  But nothing happened as she approached the black marble and stood inches away from the impossibly beautiful flowers. The unicorn jewel illuminated the magical roses like a spotlight.

  “Which one?” Lorren worried. “They both look the same.”

  “The bud with the dud is a rose to the nose, no…” Kara muttered, trying to remember the rhyme Tasha had told her. “The rose with the nose—why didn’t I write it down! Let’s just take both and figure it out later.”

  “No, it’s too dangerous.”

  Kara closed her eyes in concentration and willed herself to remember Tasha’s rhyme. “The flower with power is a nose rose…”

  “The flower power is blue, but only one dud can be true,” the prince said.

  “No, no!” Kara exclaimed.

  “Great, now you made me forget it!” Lorren fretted.

  “Oh, like you even remembered it to begin with.” She stood on tiptoes and leaned in close to the flowers, sniffing. The first smelled awful, like rotting eggs. Coughing, she took a deep breath and smelled the second. A beautiful aroma of roses and lilacs wafted from the sparkling petals.

  Smiling confidently, she reached out for the stinky flower. Her jewel flashed as her hand closed around the smooth stem.

  “The bloom with the fume is the flower with the power!” she cried triumphantly, pulling the flower free. Then she looked around at the room. Something wasn’t right.

  Goldie’s jeweled eyes looked everywhere.

  The sudden noise of claws skittering against stone surrounded them.

  “What is that?” Kara asked, holding her gem tighter.

  “Let’s get out of here before—” Lorren stopped, looking behind her, eyes dark with terror.

  The massive stones around the room were sliding apart.

  Clutching the crystal flower, Kara spun around—and screamed. A hideous mass of spiders surged from behind the wall, a voracious black wave that came straight toward her. She backed up, but more grotesque insects advanced behind her in a seething dark carpet. The ceiling shuddered and cracked, raining a swarm of writhing bugs.

  “Eewwee!” Goldie swiped at the falling insects with her wings, batting them away from Kara.

  “Ahhh!”

  Thousands of black legs, putrid green abdomens, and oily wings glinted in the ghostly light as waves upon waves of gruesome bugs and spiders gushed from the walls.

  Kara’s gem exploded in light, spinning her back against the altar. She swung her arms wildly, magic fire scorching an entire wall of bugs.

  “Kara!” Lorren screamed.

  The floor jolted beneath her, nearly sending her sprawling. The entire floor was sinking, drawing her down into a pit of squirming insects.

  “Help!”

  Lorren gripped her hand, pulling her onto the altar beside him. She scrambled up and stood watching as a sea of bugs rose below them. Centipedes, beetles, and spiders crawled out of the dank pit, clamoring for a foothold.

  “I hate bugs!” Kara wildly swung the unicorn jewel, scattering piles of bugs.

  Lorren slashed the top edge of the nearest tapestry, ripping an end free from the wall. “Hang on!”

  He put his arm around Kara’s waist and grabbed the loose end of the tapestry.

  “Jump!”

  Clinging to Lorren, Kara leaped as high as she could and swung over the teeming chamber. Shielding the rose with her curled body, she landed roughly on the stone floor and tumbled through the door.

  “Run!” Lorren cried.

  With Goldie hanging on, Kara scrambled to her feet and fled, yanking beetles off her legs. High-pitched shrieking scratched from thousands of tiny fanged mouths as the vicious swarm followed.

  Running back out of the lab, Kara and Lorren raced down the murky hallway and stopped short. The entrance to the mirror room was blocked with thousands of insects.

  “How are we going to get to the mirror?” Kara cried, panicked.

  “We can’t go back in there!” Lorren swerved to the right, leading Kara up a short flight of uneven stairs. She stumbled, but kept pace with Lorren, putting distance between them and the slithering black mass of bugs.

  Kara and Lorren dashed through a dilapidated set of doorways and skidded to a stop.

  Cold night air rushed through her as stars twinkled overhead. Before them lay an octagonal courtyard. And at the far end an immense gleaming spider web stretched from the ground all the way to the highest turret.

  Kara quickly made her way across the stone yard. Light reflected crazily off the silken strands, forming shadows as deep as a cave. Three shimmering black mirrors were imbedded in the sickly pearl-like threads. There were other things imbedded as well, large, tightly wrapped cocoons. She didn’t want to even think about whose snacks those were.

  “Which mirror?” Kara cried, glancing nervously over her shoulder.

  “I don’t know!” Lorren exclaimed.

  The bugs surged through the doors, hungry for their escaped prey.

  “The rose!” Lorren exclaimed, reaching out for the shining crystal. “Give it to me!”

  “What are you doing?” Kara whipped the precious elemental magic away from his grasping hand.

  “The spiders are protecting it. You’ll be safe if I take it!”

  Kara’s stomach lurched. This was her only chance to save Lyra, and he was trying to take it from her. Then it hit her. He’d been using her all along, just like everyone else. All they wanted was her magic, her blazing star powers to save their world. Well, what about her world? Her world was Lyra!

  “No one takes advantage of Kara Davies. You’ll just have to find your own power crystal, Prince whoever you are!” Kara jammed the rose in her pocket and ran toward the mirrors.

  “Wait!” Lorren shouted desperately. “Kara!”

  She pulled Mirabelle out and flipped the clamshell open.

  “Princess.” Mirabelle beamed. “How may I assist you in your radiance? Might I suggest some lip gloss—”

  Kara held Mirabelle up, showing her the three gleaming mirrors. “Which one?”

  “Well, the right one is nice, but it reflects several deep layers of astral planes.”

  “Then that one?” She swung the little mirror to the left.

  “Excellent craftsmanship. But the shimmer seems off. Could be fatal to molecular reconstruction.”

  On the web above them, a dark shape shifted. Eight enormous hairy legs moved in horrifying syncopation as a gargantuan black spider rose from the web’s center.

  Goldie, Kara, and Mirabelle shrieked.

  “Mirabelle! Which one?”

  “Ooo, I don’t know, just jump!” the compact squealed.

  Kara took one last glance at Lorren’s horrified face and aimed herself toward the center mirror.

  “See you on the other side, Prince Loser.”

  She barreled into the center mirror.

  “No, not that one!” Mirabelle screamed.

  Kara plummeted through twisting, blinding space, clinging to Goldie. Dazzling lights streamed past her eyes spiraling to infinity. Suddenly she slowed, as if she were falling through water, then stopped. She found herself standing on an impossibly bright glowing plane of light.

  Kara looked up at the tall, shimmering figure that stood before her.

  “I’ve been waiting for you, blazing star,” the Dark Sorceress said, smiling.

  “STAY AWAY FROM me!” Kara yelled, recoiling from the Dark Sorceress. Had the mirror taken her to the Otherworlds?

  “I’m not who you think I am,” the tall woman said.

  Kara shuddered, clutching her jewel protectively. Was this another trick? Suddenly Goldie squealed happily.

  “Goldie!” Kara cried.

  �
��Hello, little one,” the woman laughed. Silver hair fell past her shoulders, flowing over a shimmering dress. Goldie sat, calmly preening herself. “You are a very clever little dragon, aren’t you?”

  Goldie nodded.

  Then Kara noticed something odd. The woman seemed almost transparent. Light shifted and curved around her form as if she were a picture framed in glass—no—a reflection in a mirror.

  The woman’s warm eyes regarded Kara.

  Kara’s unicorn jewel glowed, but it was not the warning pulse of danger. She clutched her gem protectively and studied the luminous figure in the mirror. Like the Dark Sorceress, she had deep green eyes and flowing silver hair. But the eyes were not cold reptilian slits, and her hair had no jagged lightning streaks. The Dark Sorceress’s deeply etched features were set in cruel, mocking lines. This woman’s face was soft and friendly. And fluttering behind, so delicate that Kara had not seen them before, were shimmering iridescent wings.

  “Who are you?” Kara asked.

  “I am Lucinda.” Waves of radiant magic glowed around her.

  “As in Queen Lucinda?” Kara asked, astonished.

  “Yes.” The woman smiled. “I suppose you could call me your fairy godmother.”

  Kara looked for the mirror that had brought her here, but a sparkling mist obscured visibility in every direction. Shards of light reflected like tiny suns across a pool, sending ripples and rainbow shimmers flashing everywhere.

  “What is this place?”

  “You are on the astral planes of magic,” Lucinda explained, her voice pure and sweet. “I am very happy to meet you, blazing star.”

  Kara looked closer at the figure in the mirror. The unicorn jewel was reflected in a ghostly image around Lucinda’s neck, glowing with a warm, rosy light.

  “The jewel that adorns your neck was once mine.” Lucinda’s bright eyes met Kara’s. “It has been waiting for the right match.”

  “You have the wrong girl.” Kara wrapped the jewel in her hand.

  “I know how confused you must be.” Lucinda’s eyes gazed at Kara compassionately. “I can help you but we must hurry—I can only shield you for a few minutes lest you fall under the spell that trapped me here. They will sense you.”