Police rushed up the escalators. “Don’t make any sudden moves!” they ordered.
Kara turned back. Lyra growled ferociously at the banshees, trying to keep them away. The officers thought the cat was attacking her!
“We have to get out of here!” she told Lyra urgently.
Lyra hissed. “Go while I hold them off.”
The cat swiped at the banshees with a massive paw and they stumbled back.
Kara dashed around the circle all the way to the other side of the atrium. Security guards were trying to contain the crowds of curious shoppers below. The police moved cautiously toward the big cat, guns drawn.
“No!” Kara screamed. “Don’t hurt her!’
Slowly fanning out, officers closed around the cat, trapping her against the balcony railing. Lyra snarled. She was surrounded.
“Kara!”
“Lyra!”
The cat crouched low and snarled. With a roar, she leaped.
The police scattered. One was too slow. Lyra’s huge paws clipped his shoulder, sending him flying backward. A shot rang out, echoing like thunder across the cavernous atrium.
Kara watched in horror as Lyra soared into open air—she was trying to jump from one side of the atrium to another, a space of several hundred feet! The cat wasn’t even halfway across when she lost momentum. She was going to plummet three stories with nothing to break her fall but the hard floor below!
Suddenly two iridescent golden wings fanned open from the cat’s back! Lyra flew across the wide-open space and crashed to the floor by Kara’s feet. The magical wings shimmered, folded closed, and vanished.
Sobbing uncontrollably, Kara buried her face in Lyra’s thick coat.
“We have to move,” Lyra urged.
Kara looked up to see the astonished police running around the circle toward them. She jerked back sharply. “Oh no!” Her hands were full of blood. Lyra’s blood.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move. The unicorn! It was leaping from mirror to mirror, running toward an emergency exit at the end of the hall.
“I have to get you to Emily!”
Lyra stumbled to her feet and lurched forward. Kara helped the cat stay upright as they staggered down the hall. Reaching the door, Kara slammed into the security bar. The door flew open and a piercing alarm began to wail.
Kara and Lyra tumbled down two flights of steps and burst into another hallway.
“There! That side door!” Kara pointed. She urged Lyra forward, moving down the mirrored hall. Kara looked over her shoulder. No sign of any police. They were going to make it!
Thunder boomed and the lights dimmed. Kara saw herself reflected in the darkened mirror. Suddenly the reflection twisted, her face becoming strange and sneering. It was not her own image at all, but that of an older woman with silver-blond hair and the hypnotic, slitted eyes of an animal.
“I know who you are,” the Dark Sorceress said, her voice smooth as velvet.
Kara was mesmerized. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to run, but she couldn’t move. I know who you are. The message on her computer screen!
“You are right to be afraid.” The animal-woman’s words seemed to float through the air. “The banshees have foretold darkness will befall you.”
“Call them off!” Kara cried. Her own voice sounded desperate to her ears, childish and high.
“Only magic can keep you safe,” the sorceress continued. “But you need to make it truly yours.”
“You mean with this?” Kara held up the jewel.
The sorceress smiled knowingly. “Use it . . . and bring me what I seek.”
“I won’t let you take Lyra!”
“That pathetic beast is useless to me. You know what I want.”
The sorceress jerked her finger upward, and the jewel around Kara’s neck flew into the air. The chain tightened, biting into the back of her neck.
Smiling in triumph, the sorceress pointed.
Kara slowly turned. The unicorn stood in the mirror behind her. His eyes blazed with fury and desperation. The sorceress was hunting the unicorn all along. Yet there he was. Kara’s heart felt like it would break as she realized using the jewel must have summoned him.
“You can take what you want. Or are you too afraid to use the jewel?” The sorceress twisted her hand, pulling the jewel closer, making Kara cry out in pain.
Her feet slid across the floor as she tried to pull away. “Lyra . . .”
The cat lay sprawled on the floor, blood pooling under her belly.
“You do not need anyone.”
“Who are you?” Kara gasped.
“Don’t you recognize me, dear?” the sorceress spoke. So cool, so casual, the words held no threat, no pain, just truth. “I am you.”
Kara’s eyes widened.
“You want magic. I can give it to you.” The sorceress’s eyes blazed, and for the first time Kara tasted the full power of the jewel—it was overwhelming.
The hallway tilted at a dizzying angle. Diamond fire burst up her legs, twisting like snakes around her arms, rocketing into her brain and into the very depths of her heart. Power rushed through her like a tornado threatening to take her off the face of the earth. Stars exploded behind her eyes as magic crackled like lightning across the mirrors.
She couldn’t stop it, she didn’t want to stop it. With this jewel, she could do anything her heart desired and it was all hers!
The Dark Sorceress laughed, her animal eyes blazing.
With a sudden blast of light, Kara was back in the hallway. Breathless, she turned to face the unicorn. The creature was giving his magic to her, fighting to pull her back from the sorceress’s grasp. Kara clung to the unicorn’s magic like a shield. She felt caught between forces she could barely comprehend. But she knew that if she succumbed to the Dark Sorceress, the unicorn would fall with her.
The jewel flared around her neck. “I am not you!” Kara threw her hands in front of her and the power blasted outward, every ounce of it directed at the wicked face in the mirror.
Magic exploded in the hallway, shattering the glass. Shock waves ricocheted like gunfire as silver shards flew everywhere. Kara scarcely noticed as she pulled Lyra to the door.
“Hang on, please!” Kara kicked open the exit door and dragged Lyra into a driveway behind the mall. Black clouds swirled above while a cold, damp wind whipped through the parking lot. Thunder ripped across the sky and rain began to fall.
Kara hunched over Lyra’s fallen body. Rain splattered her face, mixing with her tears. “Help me! Someone help me!”
“I am here,” a voice said, clean and pure as the rain.
The unicorn stood on the pavement not four feet away. The creature was magnificent: tall, lean, and muscular, with a lustrous white satin hide and long silky mane and tail curling in the wind. A scalloped crystalline horn protruded from its forehead, glistening with faint rainbow colors.
“Please,” Kara sobbed, trying to lift the heavy cat. “I have to help my friend.”
“We must ride . . .” the musical voice echoed strong and certain inside Kara’s mind.
The unicorn knelt before her. Kara stared, openmouthed, as she realized the creature had come to help her.
Gasping, she pulled and pushed and managed to hoist Lyra’s limp body across the unicorn’s neck. The great magical beast rose, standing tall and strong, his horn glowing like a crystal beacon pointing defiantly at the darkened sky.
Gripping a handful of silky mane, Kara leaped on the unicorn’s back. With a snort and a nod of his head, the unicorn bolted. Across the pavement of the parking lot and into fields beyond they ran. Kara could no longer make out features of the landscape that flew by in a blur. Faster and faster, they galloped across the open meadow—then, with a great leap they vanished, burning across the sky like a blazing star.
KARA STOOD ON a beach, watching waves rolling lazily upon the warm sands. Thick mist obscured something hidden on the horizon. Roiling clouds sparkled with distan
t lightning. Under a dawning sky, the wind became whispers as dozens of willowy wraithlike figures surrounded her. Draped in delicate, flowing robes, they had enormous eyes, exotic in the half-light. Sparkling emerald hair cascaded over faces with beautiful pale skin, smooth and flawless, untouched by age and time.
Surely she was dreaming.
“Is she the one?”
“The unicorn came to her!”
Kara heard them talking, studying her. She sensed warmth, but something else, too. Expectation? Excitement?
“She wields the jewel!”
The wraiths swirled around her. One of them glided close to Kara, impossibly beautiful and flowing with light. Kara’s fear seemed to melt away.
“Where am I?” she asked.
“You are safe here, child.”
Another wraith floated around her. “The jewel you hold is the most powerful of magic. It has been lost to us for hundreds of years.”
“Many have suffered trying to retrieve this jewel.”
“You can’t take this.” Kara clutched the jewel. “I need it.”
“Do you think you are ready to wield its magic?”
Kara flashed on Lyra’s bleeding body somewhere at the edge of her mind. “My friend is hurt, dying because of me.” She felt her cheeks wet with tears.
“Sometimes magic brings loss.” The wraith sighed, a sound like the wind crying.
“Only those who truly understand can use the magic of Avalon.”
The first wraith faced Kara. “Close your eyes, child.”
Kara closed her eyes. A soft breeze dried her tears.
“Now open them.”
Kara blinked and stared out across the waters. The cloud of mist shimmered in the distance, hiding whatever lay underneath.
“Do you see any difference?”
“No,” Kara said, confused.
She struggled to see through the mist. Diamond light danced though the fog revealing the outline of an island. But the vision faded, no more than a mirage. She gazed across the empty waters in despair.
“Where is Avalon? How do we get there?”
“There are fairy maps to guide the blazing star.”
Kara’s heart sank. Phel had tried to give her a fairy map, and she had destroyed it. “I ruined everything, didn’t I?”
“Everything changes,” the first wraith said. “It is the way of magic. There is always another chance to make a difference.”
“I have to help my friend,” Kara pleaded. “Please, let me keep the jewel.”
“That is your choice. Go now. When you are ready, you will find your way back to us.”
“Kara!” As they sang out her name, chills coursed through her body.
“Kara . . .”
The figures swirled around her, blazing into bright ribbons of light.
“Kara, are you all right?”
Grass tickled her nose as she opened her eyes. She was lying in an open field at Ravenswood. The dark sky was filled with menacing clouds. Slowly, shapes came into focus. Ozzie was looking down at her, concerned and frightened. Adriane was touching her shoulder, her face grim.
“What happened?” Kara asked, struggling to sit up. She must have passed out. She grasped the jewel still hanging around her neck and let out a sigh of relief.
“Storm brought us here,” Adriane told her.
Kara’s breath caught in her throat. “Lyra!”
“Emily’s trying to heal her,” Ozzie said worriedly. “But we need your help.”
Across the field, Emily leaned over the still body of the cat. Ronif, Rasha, Balthazar, and some of the other animals stood nearby. Kara got to her feet and rushed to Emily’s side. “Can you heal her?”
Lyra lay in the grass, her beautiful fur caked with blood. “She’s not responding to my magic.” Emily wiped at her eyes, red from tears. “I couldn’t help her when she was burned, either.”
“Yes you did, Emily!” Kara gripped Emily’s shoulders, making the girl look at her. “You healed Ozzie, you healed Ariel, you even healed Phel! You kept Lyra from dying. You can do it again.”
“But I had Phel’s magic to help me,” Emily cried.
“And now you’ve got ours!” Kara held up her jewel, radiant in her hand. She called to the animals, “We need your help.”
“Hurry everyone, gather round!” Ozzie ran about, herding the animals closer.
“Tell us what to do, Emily,” Adriane pleaded.
“Concentrate as hard as you can on giving her strength.”
The cat’s sides barely rose and fell with her shallow breaths.
Kara tried to visualize pushing her own energy into Lyra, reviving her, healing her. Light from her jewel began to pulse between her fingers.
Ronif suddenly looked past the huddled group. “We have company.”
A dozen banshees surrounded them. Rain pasted their filthy rags to their sickly glowing bodies.
“Keep focused on Lyra!” Kara ordered.
With piercing wails, the banshees began to close in on them, arms outstretched, grasping. The weeping cries broke the animals’ concentration and Lyra’s breathing grew ragged and weaker.
“What do we do?” Rasha asked.
“There’s too many of them!” Ozzie looked around frantically.
“You have to keep them away!” Emily exclaimed. “We need time!”
Adriane sprang to her feet. “We’ll hold them back. Storm!”
“I am here.” The mistwolf materialized from the shadows, golden eyes shining.
The banshees shambled forward, weeping madly. Facing the creatures, Adriane and Storm stood side by side. Arms crossed in front of her, the warrior assumed a fighting stance. Storm’s eyes blazed, matching the gold light that flashed from Adriane’s gem.
“Stay with me, Storm.” Adriane swung her arm, streaming arcs of bright magic. She whirled around, spinning the light into a ring. Storm crouched low, teeth bared, as Adriane turned faster, building ring upon ring of magic. Faster and faster she spun, surrounded by expanding loops of golden fire.
Kara bent over Lyra and grasped Emily’s hand. White diamond sparkles burst from Kara’s jewel, running up and down her arms like electricity. With a wave, the magic leaped into Emily’s jewel.
“Focus on her heartbeat. Keep it strong,” Emily instructed. Green-blue light from her rainbow gem began to pulse in a steady rhythm.
Kara’s jewel fell into sync with Emily’s, flashing with the beat of their hearts.
“That’s it,” Emily said.
Magic streamed out of Emily’s jewel, enveloping the cat in a cocoon of light.
Suddenly the light shifted as if it were being pulled away. “I can’t hold it!” Emily cried. The magic flew apart, spreading wildly out across the field.
Kara felt Lyra’s pulse drop. “Don’t let her go, Emily!”
“Hurry,” Ozzie urged, watching the banshees approach.
Kara saw Adriane spinning like a top. Black hair whirling around her, Adriane began to rise into the air. She flipped into a somersault and sent the glowing rings of magic flying outward. Waves of light crashed into the banshees, knocking them back with the force of the blow. The warrior whipped golden fire into a huge ring about her head. Then with a snap of her wrist, the ring soared over the banshees and floated down around them. The warrior pulled tight, trying to keep the banshees away from Kara. Suddenly the golden magic burst apart, splintering across the field.
The banshees scrambled forward again, reaching madly for Kara.
Power exploded from Kara’s jewel, blasting diamond fire around the field. Magic zigzagged like wild lightning. Suddenly, the ground trembled; the air twisted and ripped open. Amazed, the girls and animals looked into the looming maw of the portal.
“THE PORTAL’S OPENED!” Ozzie screamed.
Glistening strands sparkled behind the thick, swirling mist that covered the portal. Wind whipped at the girls as they backed away.
The banshees staggered backward, covering their faces.
In a shimmering green flash, a black-cloaked figure took form and stepped out of the portal. Long, slender fingers drew back the hood, revealing green animal eyes and cool, porcelain skin framed by silvery hair slashed by a bolt of lighting.
It was her—the woman in the mirror. The Dark Sorceress.
“So, it has come to pass,” the sorceress sneered. “Three new mages. Clumsy and inept, yet you wield magic.”
Kara’s blood turned to ice. She saw the animals shrinking away from the evil apparition.
The figure looked past Kara and regarded the banshees, who cowered on the ground in fear. “Persistent, I’ll give you that much,” she told them. She turned cold animal eyes to Kara. Her voice was soft as silk and sharp as a razor. “They’ve been after the jewel for some time. How interesting that you should find it, don’t you think?”
“Plesszze,” a hideous voice crackled. It was a banshee. It looked at Kara. “Help uszz.”
“Why don’t you just take it if that’s what you want?” Kara asked the sorceress.
“I can’t use it,” the sorceress said softly, hypnotic eyes locked on Kara’s. “It was meant for you.”
Kara hesitated. Was the jewel meant for her? It had to be! After everything that had happened, she still held it in her hand. And the power, the magic—it felt glorious!
“You know your magic is the strongest, your jewel the most powerful. Don’t deny what is yours. Use the magic and fulfill your destiny.”
“Kara, don’t listen to her,” Ozzie implored. “You heard the Fairimentals. The jewel is a trap!”
The sorceress eyed the ferret and laughed. “What a cruel joke the Fairimentals have played on you. An elf in the shape of a . . . puny rat. Do you even remember who you are anymore?”
Ozzie backed away uncertainly.
“Don’t use the jewel!” Adriane called out.
“I know what you want,” the sorceress urged softly. “With this magic, no one can stop you. No one can tell you what to do. Use the jewel and make it yours forever.”
Kara felt the words echo in her mind, taking hold.
“Kara, no!” Emily cried.
Adriane whipped her wrist and sent a bolt of magic arcing through the air. The Dark Sorceress raised her hand and the magic splintered into sparks, raining back over the girls and animals.
All That Glitters (Avalon: Web of Magic #2) Page 9
