Outstretched ragged fingers reached for the stone.
Now or never!
Kara dove headfirst toward the jewel—and jerked to a stop.
The banshee had Kara’s hair caught in its grip. Kara was wrenched upward. She reached desperately for the jewel but was yanked back again. Her hair was beginning to sizzle, burning under the banshee’s acid touch. Kara screamed, inhaling the sickening smell of singed hair. She pulled away sharply. But she lost her footing and slipped again, crashing against the washstand.
Through her tears, Kara watched the creature’s clawed, twisted hand reach out . . .
Suddenly the jewel rose into the air.
“KeeKee!”
“Goldie!” Kara exclaimed. Eyes red with fury, the banshee howled as it grabbed for the stone. But the jewel floated just out of its grasp.
Four more dragonflies popped into the room in bursts of light.
“Skeepooot!”
The banshee swatted at them, trying to get at the jewel.
“Here, over here! Good dragonflies!” Kara called out.
Goldie swooped toward Kara, the jewel wobbling in her tiny claws. She dropped it into Kara’s outstretched hand.
Kara spun to face the banshee, holding the jewel out in front of her. “Stay back!” she screamed. She didn’t know what to do. Should she use it or not?
The banshee lumbered forward with sloppy wet steps and reached out.
Kara held the stone and concentrated on driving the creature back.
Astonishment and terror chased across the hideous face. The banshee’s red eyes filled with despair, and the creature fell back, covering its face with clawed hands.
Kara threw her arms theatrically into the air and called on the power of the stone. Make lightning smite the banshee into a million, million pieces!
“Go away, scary thing!” she shouted wildly.
Power rushed through her like a freight train, sending circles of light swirling around her body.
The banshee cowered before the blazing magic.
Kara laughed triumphantly. Nobody was going to take her jewel. The creature began shrinking, falling in on itself, its rags spreading out across the tiled floor into a puddle of slime. Clawed fingers reached out in a desperate plea.
“You doom us all . . .”
Kara watched, amazed, as matted hair swirled around in clumps. With a final gurgle, the thing turned to green slime and vanished down the drain.
“AND DON’T COME back!” Kara wiped her hands together.
A strange light gleamed behind her.
She slowly turned.
The mirror’s surface swirled, as if filled with mist. Cold animal eyes glinted, distant and cruel—then faded. Kara’s own wide, blue eyes stared back from the cool glass.
A trick of the light?
Kara looked closer at the disheveled blond hair sticking out over her ears.
What?
Carefully, she touched the back of her head and felt the short, stiff ends.
She whirled around and looked over her shoulder. An entire section of her hair was gone, singed off by the banshee. It was as if a mad barber had run a lawn mower up her neck and onto the back of her head.
“My hair!” Kara burst into tears.
Lyra was carefully picking her way through the wreckage. “Hair isn’t important.”
“Maybe not to you!” Kara wailed.
The cat regarded her with deep, calm eyes.
“What am I going to do?” Tears spilled down Kara’s cheeks.
“It will grow back,” said Lyra.
“I can’t wait that long,” Kara cried, her voice trembling. “What do I tell my parents and everybody in school? I can’t tell them about that thing, I can’t tell them about the jewel, and I can’t tell them about you!”
She sniffled, trying to control herself. “I’ve got to fix this on my own.”
“How?” Lyra asked suspiciously.
“Magic,” Kara answered. “And you’re going to help me!”
The cat cocked her head.
Kara clutched the gemstone in one hand and put her other on the back of her head. “Stand still and help me make magic.”
“All right,” the cat answered, moving next to her. “Breathe calmly, and we’ll focus together.”
Kara took a deep breath.
Hair! It must, must grow, she thought. She closed her eyes tight and concentrated with all her might on how much she needed this to happen, right now.
Grow!
Kara pressed closer to Lyra. The gem grew warm and she thought she could feel a faint tingling on her scalp. And then her hand, clutching the cropped hair, dropped toward her shoulder. Her eyes flew open.
Yes! Her hair was definitely growing!
“Is it working?” Lyra asked.
“You tell me.”
Puzzled, the cat looked into the mirror. Not only was Kara’s hair growing, but the fur all over the cat’s body was growing as well. Lustrous spotted fur now covered the bald and scarred patches.
“Look at you!” Kara said in delight.
Lyra’s body was bushy with new fur. “This is not funny.”
“Skeehee!”
“Leeloo!”
The dragonflies somersaulted happily.
Kara pulled her hand away and twirled around, hair flying out in a golden cascade. She hugged Lyra, laughing with sheer relief.
“Oh, thank goodness!” she cried. “I’ll have to get a trim, but at least I won’t be going back to school looking diseased.” She pulled a pink scrunchie around her hair.
Lyra examined herself in the mirror. “I think we might have grown enough hair.”
Kara felt her scrunchie drop lower . . . down her neck . . . past her shoulders . . . Her hair was growing faster and faster. “Stop! Stop, please!” she yelled at her stone.
Nothing stopped. The scrunchie dropped toward her waist. Lyra was beginning to look like a woolly mammoth. “I take it back,” Kara cried. “Reverse the magic!”
But the scrunchie didn’t stop dropping as her hair reached her feet. “What do we do?” Kara sobbed.
“This was your idea. Make it stop,” Lyra said.
Kara closed her eyes and concentrated, waving the jewel all around, but the hair kept growing. “I can’t.”
The dragonflies darted this way and that, lifting up long golden strands.
Kara began to cry again as waves of hair piled onto the floor.
“Stop crying, we have enough water already!” Lyra looked like a walking shaggy carpet.
“I have to call Emily,” Kara finally decided. “We need help and fast!”
She stepped over mountains of hair, grabbed the phone from the wall, and punched in Emily’s number.
“Hello?”
“Uh, hello,” Kara squeaked.
“Kara, are you all right?” Emily instantly sensed that something was wrong.
“No!”
“What happened?”
“Can you come over here, like, right now?”
“You used the jewel!” Emily accused.
“Just get over here, and hurry! I’m in the sunroom out back.”
“Okay, hang on, I’ll call Adriane. We’ll be right there.” Emily hung up.
With a grunt, Kara twisted the new hair, using four scrunchies to keep it together. It was a thick cable now, bumping along on the floor behind her. The big furry cat lumbered over.
Kara couldn’t help laughing. “You look like Cousin It!”
“Who?” Lyra asked.
“Pheeheee!”
“Hoohaa . . .”
“Oooohoo!”
Four dragonflies landed on Kara’s arms and lap. A purple one sat on Lyra, scratching the cat’s back. Lyra closed her eyes and flopped down next to Kara.
“How did you get in here, anyway?” Kara asked Lyra as she petted the mini dragon’s head.
“Up there,” Lyra said, opening one eye and cocking her head skyward.
The sunroom skylight was
open. This cat was very agile!
She brushed Lyra’s long, silky fur coat. “Nice coloring, it’s beautiful.”
“I didn’t think it would ever grow back.”
“So what happened to you, I mean, your fur?”
“I was burned trying to escape,” Lyra told her.
“Escape from where?”
“A place called the Shadowlands.” Her fur bristled.
“What were you doing there?” Kara stroked her fur back down.
“There was a raid in my forest. Hunters took us to a powerful sorceress.”
Kara’s eyes widened. She suddenly flashed on what the magic water things had told her about the Dark Sorceress. Shivering, Kara snuggled closer.
“We were brought to a dungeon and locked in with other animals. The sorceress was stealing our magic. I am one of the few who escaped. I tried to save my sisters, but I couldn’t.”
“That’s the saddest thing I ever heard!” Kara burst into tears again, sobbing into the cat’s silken side.
“Boohoop . . .”
“Aaahhhooooh . . .”
The dragonflies were crying all over Kara and Lyra.
“Do not cry for me.” Lyra gazed into Kara’s eyes. “There is enough sadness in my world.”
Kara sniffled. “Do you think they’re all right, your sisters?”
“I don’t know. I was chased by the manticore and hardly remember falling through the portal into this world. Adriane found me, and Emily helped me to heal. When I discovered the other animals had been burned by the Black Fire, too, I realized I could not fight the sorceress and her dark creatures myself.”
“Like the manticore and these banshees?”
“Oooo!”
“Skweek!”
Kara stroked the agitated dragonflies.
“The banshees have also suffered at the hands of this sorceress. She would destroy our whole world to get what she wants.”
“What does she want?”
“Magic.”
“I thought I wanted magic.” Kara buried her head in the cat’s still-growing fur. “I’m just stupid! Look what I did!”
“Things are not always what they seem.”
“They’re not?”
“You must look beyond what your eyes see, and what your fingers touch. Magic always starts from the heart, Kara.”
“Do you think I’ll ever learn how to make good magic?” Kara asked shyly.
“Yes, I do. A true heart makes true magic.”
Kara looked into Lyra’s warm green eyes and smiled.
There was a knock on the glass door. “Kara, are you in there? It’s Emily.”
“Yes! We’re in here!” Kara jumped up, sending the dragonflies flapping away. Deep piles of hair tangled around her ankles as she ran to open the door.
Emily and Adriane walked into the sunroom, mouths agape.
“FoooF!” Ozzie foofed, disappearing into the golden froth.
“What happened in here?” Adriane asked, surveying the hair-filled disaster zone.
“We told you not to use that jewel!” Emily sounded really mad.
Kara burst into tears. “I had to,” she sobbed, and she told them all about Lyra, the dragonflies, the barbecue, the water thingies, the banshee attack, and—worst of all—her hair.
“Talk about a bad hair day,” Adriane said, looking with interest at the blue dragonfly that had landed on her shoulder.
“You have to help me!” Kara wailed. “My parents will be home soon!”
Waves of blond hair lapped halfway up the glass walls.
Three dragonflies hovered and chattered at one another, examining a moving lump of hair.
“Go away, you pests!” Ozzie called, his voice muffled.
“They helped me,” Kara explained. “That’s Barney, Goldie, Blaze, and Fred.”
“You named them?” Adriane said, half smiling as she scratched blue Fred’s head.
“Well, yeah . . . So?”
“Keekee!” A red one hovered in front of Kara and spit out a burst of color.
“Oh, and that’s Fiona.”
“OooO!” Fiona dashed off.
“Look at you!” Emily picked her way over to the shaggy cat. Lyra rubbed against Emily’s side. “Incredible! I tried to make her fur grow back and couldn’t do it . . .” For a moment she faltered, but then she smiled. “This is wonderful, Kara!” Emily gave Lyra a hug.
“Kara, what did you do?” Adriane asked. “You just ordered it to grow?”
“Yes,” she replied, shame-faced.
“Well, let’s just cut it,” Adriane proposed.
Emily shook her head. “First we need to reverse this grow-spell, like right now.” She fished around in the hair for Ozzie and hoisted him up. “Suggestions?”
“Ptui! I think Adriane’s jewel would be the most effective, since she and Storm have been practicing together.” He turned to Adriane. “Can you call Storm?”
Adriane closed her eyes. Instantly, a ribbon of mist snaked through the door and Stormbringer materialized at her side.
“Looks like a hairy situation.” The wolf’s golden eyes sparkled.
Sproing! Two scrunchies snapped at once and blond hair spilled out, billowing around the room. Kara looked down in horror.
“Okay, Rapunzel, let’s do it,” Adriane said. “Picture your hair the way you want it.
The three girls stood together with Lyra, Storm, and Ozzie. The dragonflies swooped and danced all around them. Kara clutched her jewel and imagined her hair beautiful again, the most beautiful hair ever!
“Hair today, gone tomorrow,” Adriane chuckled. Her golden stone brightened as she held up her wrist.
Kara’s jewel blazed to life with bright light. “It’s working!”
Suddenly more dragonflies popped into the room, filling it with color and motion. They swooped, picking up strands of hair, weaving it around the girls and their magic.
Kara concentrated super hard, feeling the power rush from her toes to her fingertips. The dragonflies themselves glimmered, their bright colors blending with the glow from the gems until the light was so intense that all three girls had to shut their eyes.
There was a burst of brilliance. Then the glow faded.
They all opened their eyes.
Kara just gaped. Festoons of hair were strung from the window and from the light fixtures, hooked over the skylight, and tangled on the trees.
And the hair wasn’t blond—wasn’t just blond—anymore. It was streaked with every color of the rainbow. Green, red, blue, purple, aqua, and pink glistened along the strands.
“Well, it seems to have stopped growing,” Adriane announced.
“What do we do now?” Kara sputtered. “You can’t leave me like this!”
“You’re right,” Adriane agreed. She opened a drawer and held up a pair of scissors. “Ready?”
Kara was speechless. She turned away and closed her eyes. “Not too short, okay?”
As Emily grabbed a big handful of brightly colored hair, Adriane started cutting. The dragonflies snatched up wads of loose hair, weaving and braiding in graceful motions, then flying out through the skylight, trailing glittering rainbow strands behind them.
“What do you think?” Emily finally asked, trimming the last bits of hair out of Kara’s eyes.
Kara cautiously faced the mirror. Her hair fell just past her shoulders, like before, but it was still streaked with every color imaginable—blue, red, green, yellow, purple . . . “Oh, man . . .” she breathed.
“It’s unique,” Adriane said, appraising Kara’s new do. “Definitely you.”
“I have rainbow hair!” Kara exclaimed, horrified.
“You’re welcome,” Adriane said.
“What am I going to tell everyone?” Kara wailed. “You have to fix it!”
“Kara, we can’t keep messing around with magic until we know what we’re doing,” Emily said. “I think we’re lucky we did what we did.”
The dragonflies were dragging the la
st unattached scraps of multicolored hair up through the skylight.
“Just tell everyone you got some new highlights,” Adriane suggested.
“From where!” Kara screamed. “The circus?”
“You’ll think of something,” Emily said. “But no more magic! Okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” Kara said glumly. Keeping a magic jewel secret was one thing; rainbow hair was something else.
She watched as Adriane, Ozzie, Emily, and Storm left the sunroom. She turned to see Lyra gazing at her. Her fur was perfectly restored, thick and gorgeous and just the right length.
“Well, at least one of us got it right,” Kara said.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For helping me.”
“I didn’t do anything except make a total mess.”
The cat licked her shoulder and walked out the door, lustrous fur shining in the moonlight.
Kara sighed. She had wanted magic and she sure had gotten it. At least it wasn’t a complete disaster. She had helped Lyra. Kara had to smile. Somehow that seemed to make everything better.
KARA CAREFULLY CHECKED herself in her locker mirror. Her hair was tucked neatly under a pink beret. Cute, she thought. Too bad I’ll have to wear it till like . . . forever!
“Kara, come on, we’re late!”
Kara turned to see Molly charging toward her. “Assembly, remember? Everyone’s there already.”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot. Let’s go, Mol.” Kara adjusted her blue blazer, linked arms with Molly, and headed down the hall. She could get lost in the crowd for a while. Perfect.
The auditorium was filled to capacity. Kids were yelling, tossing balls of paper, hip-hopping in their seats, and creating general assembly mayhem.
“Kara, Molly, over here!” Tiffany waved from where she and Heather had saved two seats. “Hey, cute hat,” she said, reaching out to touch the beret as Kara slid in next to her.
All That Glitters (Avalon: Web of Magic #2) Page 6
