Dark Mage (Avalon: Web of Magic, Book 11)

by Rachel Roberts

  Everything the mages had accomplished would be for nothing if the Spider Witch and the Dark Sorceress found Avalon first. Emily would have a key part to play in saving the magic web, something that excited and scared her in equal measure. It was up to her to heal the fading web, using her new talent for weaving magic. She had a chance to protect thousands of animals, to make sure the natural order was balanced and strong. It was a huge responsibility. What if she failed?

  At least she’d know where to go after they found the power crystals. The Heart of Avalon remained on a lost island, the Gates of Avalon, and would guide the mages there. And what was Avalon? No one they’d met so far, human or magical, good or evil, could tell them anything factual about the mysterious home of all magic, or what they were supposed to do when they got there.

  It seemed like she was treading water, going nowhere. She felt like she might explode if something didn’t happen soon.

  “Whoa, that’s cool!” Rae said excitedly, pointing to Emily’s wrist.

  The healer gasped. Her heart-shaped jewel was blazing with color!

  Smiling nervously, she moved her hand under the table. “It reacts to light.”

  A quick glance showed that her jewel was back to its normal, subtle shine. She frowned. Another false alarm. Ever since she’d become a Level Two mage, the gem on her wrist had been acting strangely. She could be sitting in class, helping her mom at the veterinary office, or just eating breakfast, and this creepy feeling would wash over her, like someone was trying to connect with her. That’s when her jewel would start to glow. Quick as lightning, the feeling would pass as suddenly as it had come.

  She could have asked Kara and Adriane if their jewels had acted up after they’d reached Level Two, but lately things had been pretty tense between them. Kara and Adriane had kept their distance since their fight on Aldenmor. And Emily had refused to be put in the middle of their arguing yet again.

  She sighed, her mind going in circles around this all too familiar problem. Kara and Adriane were opposite sides of the same coin. Their magic wouldn’t even work together without Emily there to buffer them. She only hoped they would put aside their differences and come through for each other and for Ravenswood in the end.

  “I’m going to get a book.” Emily got up and headed toward the back of the library. As she turned down a long aisle, the fluorescent ceiling light abruptly flared and dimmed, buzzing as it cast flickering shadows over the lacquered floor. She stepped back, peering nervously up and down the aisle.

  “Is someone there?” she whispered.

  But the aisle looked deserted.

  She checked her jewel. It wasn’t pulsing in warning. Calm down, she ordered herself. If anything dangerous was nearby, her gem would warn her. Wouldn’t it?

  Focusing on the books, she searched for the last title on her list. And there it was, just out of reach on the top shelf. She stood on tiptoe and grasped the heavy volume.

  “Gotcha!” She snagged the book from the shelf—and froze. Two red eyes glowed at her from the other side of the shelf.

  Emily jumped back, the book tumbling from her arms. The eyes disappeared; the creature they belonged to was rushing down the aisle, coming straight at her!

  In a panic, Emily stumbled, tripped over the book and fell.

  “Dark witch!” the monster cried.

  Horrified, Emily stared at the beast towering above her. Its bear-like body was covered in coarse black hair. Red eyes glowed from a face with a long snout and sharp fangs. Around its thick neck hung a leather strap with yellow and blue feathers. But there was something worse than the way it looked: dark magic radiated from the creature. Emily could see it. She winced at the power swirling around it in a blood-red halo.

  “Stay away!” Emily raised her jewel.

  The creature halted a few steps from her, lowering its huge arms. “I have come to you.”

  Emily gulped, unsteadily rising to her feet. “What are you? How did you get here?”

  “I heard your call, dark witch.”

  Emily backed against the bookshelf. This creature wasn’t the first one to call her that. Ancient mermaids on Aldenmor had said the same thing.

  “I don’t understand. How did you get here?” she repeated.

  “The portal leads to you.”

  “What portal?”

  The creature turned its snout to the far wall. Behind the door marked “Faculty Only,” a purple glow pulsed in dark waves. How could a portal have opened here? Only certain fairy creatures and unicorns could open portals at will.

  “Emily, want to get some ice cream?” Rae rounded the corner and stopped in her tracks.

  The monster snarled and spun around, claws extending as it charged the defenseless girl.

  “No!” Emily shouted. Blue and red lightning streaked from her jewel, locking onto both Rae and the creature. Girl and beast froze, unable to move or scream.

  “Leave her alone,” Emily ordered, slowly stepping between the creature and Rae. The beast’s magic flashed through her rainbow jewel, clouding the bright colors.

  But it obeyed her, stepping back and retracting its claws.

  Emily loosened her hold.

  “It’s a monster from Ravenswood!” Rae blubbered, tears springing from her eyes. “I don’t want to be eaten.”

  “I am a descendant of the most fearsome race of warriors,” the creature hissed. “I do not eat children.”

  Rae seemed to ease a bit.

  “But in your case I would make an exception.”

  Rae sobbed.

  “Quiet!” Emily flicked her wrist, sending blue magic glittering around Rae’s head. Rae froze, mouth wide open in a silent cry.

  This was exactly what Emily had feared! Two worlds had collided all right—in the middle of the Stonehill school library!

  A gust of wind blew the faculty door open, revealing the magical gateway.

  The creature shifted his red eyes to Emily. “You must come with me.”

  Emily’s heart raced. She had to get this thing out of here! Her gem sparked as the portal suddenly began to shrink.

  Moving her fingers, she released soft tendrils of magic. “What is the farthest place away from here that you can think of?”

  The beast’s gruesome face scrunched up in thought. “World’s End…”

  “Go there, now!” Emily ordered.

  Blood-red eyes locked onto Emily, the creature’s fierce will testing the strength of her spell. But Emily’s magic was too strong.

  “As you wish.” The monster lunged through the glowing portal just as it swirled shut, vanishing with a blast of icy wind.

  Rae stared at the empty space, dumbfounded.

  What was she going to do? Emily fretted. There was no way she could explain herself out of this one. She ran a hand through her curly red hair, wishing desperately that Rae had never seen the creature. Her rainbow jewel flared in response.

  Emily glanced at her jewel, then at her still-frozen friend.

  Concentrating, Emily reached into Rae’s thoughts. Random images flashed by—lunch in the cafeteria, soccer practice, band practice, coming to study in the library. Pushing the unimportant thoughts aside, she locked onto Rae’s memory of the monster.

  She had discovered this mind trick on Aldenmor, and although she felt uncomfortable using it, she had no choice.

  “You didn’t see anything weird,” Emily said evenly, her jewel casting a greenish glow over Rae’s face.

  “Ravens—” Rae stopped in mid sentence, jaw slack, eyes glazed.

  “You had a totally normal afternoon.”

  “—wood… totally normal.” The girl slumped against the bookshelf.

  Emily felt the memory slipping from Rae’s mind like smoke, until it disappeared completely. Hand shaking, she lowered her jewel.

  Rae pushed away from the shelf in confusion. She blinked at Emily as if seeing her for the first time today. “What’s up, Em?”

  “I have to go.” Emily turned and fled, snatc
hing her backpack and racing outside into the warm spring afternoon.

  Heart pounding, she took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. She had needed to use her magic on Rae, hadn’t she? It freaked her out, reaching into the girl’s mind. But right now she had to deal with the fact that a monster had portal-popped right into the library. For all she knew, beasts could be popping up all over Stonehill. She ran to the bike rack, hopped on her ten-speed, and took off, her rainbow jewel glinting darkly in the sun.

  SUN-WARMED GRASS CARESSED her paws as she stood in the open field. She sniffed the early summer breeze, relishing the crisp pine and wildflower scents of the Ravenswood Preserve.

  “The portal field is full of flowers.” Dreamer mischievously crammed his snout into a patch of tiger lilies the mages had planted this past March.

  “I can see that.” Adriane laughed as her vision became a blur of vivid orange.

  Off in the brush, her keen ears picked out the rustle of scurrying animals and the faint whisper of the stream beyond. With a surge of energy, she was loping across the field. Trees and branches zoomed past as her low, sleek body raced through the forest. Sunlight blazed across the treetops, spilling along the branches as if every tree were glowing with vitality.

  Adriane wanted to howl with pure joy. She had never felt so whole, so complete, so right. She felt she could run forever, a wild thing, connected with the forest that surrounded and protected her.

  “Steady, warrior,” Lyra’s soft voice called in her mind.

  In a whirl of light and shadow, Adriane’s vision returned to where she stood, half a mile from Dreamer. She stomped her hiking boots on the forest floor, taking a moment to adjust to her own two-legged body.

  The warrior rubbed her forehead, letting the dizziness wash away. She smoothed the glossy black hair hanging halfway down her back.

  “You were slipping away.” A large leopard spotted cat sat beside her, green eyes filled with concern.

  “I... it was so awesome, Lyra!”

  “You and Dreamer are the only ones who can do this,” Lyra said. “But you have to be careful. I won’t always be there to help you back.”

  “Thanks.” Adriane rubbed the cat’s silky neck. “But it wouldn’t be as much fun without you.”

  Caring for every inch of the preserve took a lot of time and energy, so Adriane had been practicing seeing through Dreamer’s eyes to cover more ground and speed up her daily inspections. She had discovered the ability to actually merge with her pack- mate, something she hadn’t been able to do as a Level One mage. It was beyond incredible, seeing the world through enhanced mistwolf senses, feeling so connected to the forest and the spirit that lived there. Adriane and Dreamer had been fine-tuning the process, the warrior eagerly pushing forward, seeing how far this new connection could take them.

  She didn’t believe it was dangerous, as Lyra seemed to think. Real danger was the landmark commission denying Ravenswood its seal of approval. Adriane had a personal stake in its being granted landmark status. This was her home.

  The commission would soon send a representative to inspect the property. There were boundary marks to maintain, road repairs, debris cleaning, and checking trees for insect, disease, or storm damage. Adriane was determined to show off the healthiest forest this side of Yellowstone National Park!

  Once Ravenswood received landmark status, the forest could never be razed, and nothing could ever be built on it. But it was also her responsibility to protect the preserve from another kind of danger, one more destructive than any outside force—dark magic.

  Adriane had learned that Ravenswood sat on a key point along a complex pattern of magic—the magic web. The preserve was the only place left where magic still flowed from the web to Earth. She lived here now with her grandmother and all the refugee animals that had come to Ravenswood for shelter.

  The Spider Witch had tried to take over the preserve but the mages and their animal friends had stopped her. But the Dark Sorceress and the Spider Witch were gathering their forces. Securing the power crystals and finding Avalon came down to one thing for the warrior: keeping Ravenswood safe.

  “When do we learn to fight, Packleader?”

  Adriane whirled around—she’d been so lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t realized she had company. A duck-like quiffle flapped its wings in excitement. A group of other magical animals gathered by her side. To them, she was the packleader.

  “Being a warrior doesn’t always mean being a fighter,” Adriane told them. “A warrior must also be strong in mind and spirit.”

  “Packleader, how do we know the forest spirit is even here?” another quiffle queried.

  “The spirit of Ravenswood is all around us.” Adriane closed her eyes and opened her arms wide to embrace the magic. A gentle breeze tugged at her long hair. “If you listen you can hear her.”

  All the animals stopped and closed their eyes.

  “I hear wind,” Eddie, a blue bunny-like brimbee, whispered.

  “Be the wind.” The warrior swayed, gently dipping her arms as if she were floating.

  The animals all swayed and dipped with her.

  “I hear birds singing,” Rommel the wommel said.

  “Be the birds.” Moving in a circle, Adriane waved her arms like wings. The animals trailed behind, arms and wings flapping.

  “I hear the river!” Rasha, a quiffle, called out.

  “Be the river.” Adriane crept low, moving her arms in a swimming motion. The animals followed, with Lyra doing a perfect feline crawl.

  “No baths without Kara,” Lyra insisted.

  Adriane laughed as the animals piled around her, hooting and giggling.

  “You see, you can all touch the spirit of Ravenswood. The forest will tell you when and where there is any trouble.”

  “But what about using real magic, Packleader?”

  “Right.” Adriane stood and dusted herself off. “Protecting Ravenswood takes physical skills too.” She surveyed the eager group. “And today, I’m going to show you how.”

  “Yes!”

  “Ooo, magic lassos?”

  “Death ray?”

  “Fire breathing?”

  Adriane smiled, pausing for effect. “We are going to grow flowers.”

  “What?” The animals squawked and honked, confused.

  “Keeping the forest strong means knowing how to enhance its natural beauty,” the warrior continued. She unrolled a map marked with her list of repairs. “Besides, we need to fix the rest area by Mirror Lake. Let’s move out!”

  Heading down Hidden Falls Trail, she looked over her shoulder at the line of animals marching happily behind her. Three dozen quiffles followed by a herd of hopping blue brimbees, long-eared deer-like jeeran with purple and green stripes, five pegasi, several red koala-like wommels, and one confused peacock.

  A smile spread across her face as she noticed delicate flowers in an unmistakably familiar shade of gold. Ever since Adriane’s first bonded animal—a mistwolf with golden eyes named Stormbringer—had become the spirit of Ravenswood, the warrior had noticed subtle changes throughout the forest. The clearing where Adriane and Storm had first met was always lush with the most colorful flowers in the whole preserve. Branches filled with leaves never shaded the flat rock where Storm had loved to soak up the sun. Storm was also Adriane’s paladin, a powerful protector forever connected to the warrior and her wolf stone.

  Lyra padded up beside her, two small quiffles hitching a ride on her back. “Her presence here is stronger than ever,” Lyra purred, her emerald eyes scanning the vibrant forest.

  Adriane’s heart surged with happiness and she impulsively hugged the cat. “I love our home.”

  For the first time Adriane felt totally confident about who she was and what she was doing. And no matter where her adventures took her, Storm would be here to guide her home.

  A snowy white owl glided overhead carrying a little stick figure—literally. It was made up of twigs and leaves.

  “Hi Ari
el.” The warrior waved at the owl.

  “Hooody,” the owl answered.

  “We have fourteen new birch trees and six new swans!” the twiggy figure spoke excitedly, reading a list projected from a turquoise crystal hung around his neck, his Handbook of Rules and Regulations for Fairimentals.

  “That’s wonderful, Tweek.”

  Tweek was an Experimental Fairimental. Fairimentals were powerful beings made of pure magic, guardians of Aldenmor. Tweek had been sent to Earth to help the mages.

  Adriane ducked under the branches and emerged on a well-worn pathway that led to Mirror Lake. Along the shore was a row of benches where tourists could sit to observe the animals.

  “I’m hungry, packleader,” a quiffle complained, waddling past her on its silvery webbed feet. Opposite the benches, metal bins used for winter feedings stood in a neat row.

  “It’s almost summer, we don’t store food here,” she told the little creature.

  “Ozzie does.” Ozzie was Emily’s special friend—an always-hungry ferret that was also a mage, although he hadn’t learned what his true magical powers were yet.

  Three quiffles crammed their beaks in the containers and pulled out a jumble of liver snaps, oatmeal cookies, and gumballs.

  “Packmate.”

  Adriane smiled as a sleek black wolf abruptly materialized in front of her, white star mark gleaming on his chest. Dreamer had long since mastered turning into mist, and often moved about the forest as silent and invisible as a ghost, much to the surprise of many a woodland creature.

  The warrior knelt down and placed her forehead on his, inhaling the familiar smell of her packmate as she looked into his deep green eyes.

  “Packleader, our magic isn’t strong like yours,” a brimbee said.

  Adriane turned to the group. “You see this little blade of grass? Might not look strong, but see how it stands together with every blade in the meadow.”

  “Like a pack,” Dreamer added.

  “Each of you is a warrior inside because—”

  “Packmates always stand by each other,” a quiffle said, puffing out his chest.