Ghost Wolf (Avalon: Web of Magic #9)

by Rachel Roberts

  The large room was full of instruments and tables. A row of large steel cages lined the far wall, filled with parrots, a puma, and a baby monkey. Adriane’s heart leaped to her throat as she saw the sheen of black fur in the corner cage.

  “Dreamer!” the warrior cried, running to her packmate.

  The wolf lunged, slamming into the bars.

  “Adriane!” Zach grabbed the warrior’s arm.

  She shook off Zach’s hand and reached to open the cage.

  “Adriane, wait!” Emily shouted, healing gem blazing with blue light.

  “We have to get him out!” Adriane screamed as Dreamer crashed into the bars again.

  Blazing heat seared into Adriane’s mind. Pinpoints of red spread before her eyes. She spun away from her friends. With a blast of fire, the cage burst open.

  The mistwolf slammed into her chest, snapping viciously at her throat.

  “Dreamer!” Adriane fell backward into an examination table, sending instruments flying. Golden fire exploded from her wrist, wrapping her in a coil of protective magic as she tried to fend off the attack. The room lit up in jewel fire as the mages sent their magic streaming into the wolf.

  The world wavered and drifted away as Adriane hit the cold cement floor. From the corner of her eye she saw the wolf’s eyes flash red, a ghostly silver outline shimmering against his jet-black fur.

  Zach was on Dreamer’s back, trying to tear the thrashing wolf away from the mages.

  “That’s not Dreamer…” Adriane whispered, not knowing whether anyone had heard her—

  A familiar mocking voice echoed in her mind. “How does it feel to betray your packmate?”

  —and found herself standing in a vast field. A purple sky arced over feathery grass and flowers of red, blue, and green dancing in the wind.

  Chain stood in the field, eyes focused on her with a malicious glare.

  Wolf stone sparking, Adriane tried desperately to connect with her packmate. She sensed Dreamer somewhere, submerged under Chain’s control. But as her magic touched the ghostly outline, raw savagery overwhelmed her. Her lips drew back in a snarl.

  “Let him go!” she yelled.

  “Humans are all the same.” The ghost wolf circled, moving closer. “Sooner or later, they will betray everything they love.”

  “I won’t let you take him!”

  “He’s already gone.” The wolf surged forward, then skidded to a stop.

  Adriane raised her fist, ready to strike. But it was not the wolf stone that sparked sudden fear in Chain’s eyes. It was the silver wolf that stood at Adriane’s side, ready to fight for her packmate.

  Breathing in deeply, Adriane wanted to laugh out loud as she filled with strength and confidence. She was whole again, as she hadn’t been since—

  Before Adriane could react, the two wolves hurled themselves head on, jaws open wide. With a vicious snarl, they crashed together. Teeth bared, Stormbringer spun around and lunged for Chain’s throat. Blue sparks ripped through the air as the two wolves collided in a blur of teeth and claws. Adriane watched in horror as Storm’s ghostly outline shredded, mist trailing from her body.

  “Storm!” Adriane staggered, suddenly caught in a burst of ruby red magic.

  “Drake, no!” the warrior screamed, unable to resist the dragon’s powerful pull.

  The world came into focus.

  Adriane was back in the lab. Everyone was yelling at once.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Can you walk?”

  “Good gah!”

  “Easy.” Zach helped her to her feet, dragon stone flashing.

  Emily’s face was full of concern as her healing gem bathed the warrior in cooling greens and blues.

  “What happened?” Adriane held Zach’s arm to steady herself until the room stopped spinning.

  “You fell… and then you saved Dreamer.”

  Dreamer stood with his head lowered, tail between his legs, emerald eyes filled with shame.

  Adriane grabbed the mistwolf in a fierce hug.

  Emily scanned their friend with her healing jewel. “You did it. He’s okay, Adriane.”

  Sirens whined in the distance, fast approaching.

  Kara ran to the window. “We’ve got company.”

  Harsh white lights cut through the windows as beams flew everywhere.

  “We have to get out of here, now!” Ozzie shouted.

  The building suddenly shook with a loud thud as something huge landed above them.

  “Drake’s on the roof,” Zach said.

  “Stairs!” Kara ordered.

  The group barreled out the door and down the hall, scrambling up a flight of stairs. Bursting through the emergency exit, they piled onto the slate roof. In front of them the huge red dragon crouched low, wings spread, glinting eyes scanning the park. Beams of light swept over the creature as the sound of vehicles surrounded them.

  Zach was in the saddle slipping on his flying gloves. He turned to help hoist Dreamer behind him as Adriane, Emily, and Kara climbed aboard.

  Ozzie took a flying leap onto Lyra as she dove across the roof, gliding right off the opposite corner.

  “Take us up!” Zach yelled.

  Drake flapped his wings, sending a downdraft that rustled the trees and propelled them high into the sky.

  Adriane watched the building below shrink as guards ran inside armed with rifles and flashlights.

  She tried to steady her breathing, holding tightly onto Dreamer. Then she realized Emily had been talking to her.

  “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.” Emily bent down, healing stone flashing as she scanned the wolf.

  Kara raised her arms in the air. “Team Magic’s back together again!”

  Dreamer wagged his tail, licking all three mage faces at once.

  “Wow, that was something!” Zach said.

  “Bet life was pretty boring without us,” Kara called out.

  “No, but it was a lot less fun.” Zach turned around smiling. “You were great, Adriane—” He frowned when he saw Adriane’s face. “What’s wrong?”

  “I didn’t save Dreamer,” she said. “Stormbringer did.”

  “How?” Emily asked.

  “Chain was controlling Dreamer and Storm fought him off. But she’s fading fast.”

  “Which means time is running out for all the mistwolves,” Zach said grimly. “We’ve got to find the spirit pack.”

  “How do we do that?” Emily asked.

  “The pack must survive.” Strengthened by Storm’s magic, Dreamer’s voice was loud and clear. “We must run the Spirit Trail.”

  Adriane bit her lip. Dreamer was right, but where would that path lead her? A deep emptiness dimmed the joy of rescuing her packmate. For a few seconds, she and Storm had been connected, just like it used to be. The only thing Adriane could feel now was a terrible black hollowness clawing at her insides.

  She hugged Dreamer, but her mind echoed with the words of Chain. “You will betray your packmate. Humans always do.”

  IN THE HUNT, the wolf pack worked as a unit, many animals with one purpose. But this was no ordinary hunt. On this afternoon, the pack came together to hunt something not of this world.

  Moonshadow threw his head back and howled. The pack joined in, their voices blending into one haunting cry.

  Standing in the glade with her friends, Adriane lifted her face skyward and joined in with a high note that rose above the others.

  “HOOWURRG!” Drake bellowed, rattling the glade.

  Adriane ran her fingers through Dreamer’s silky sun-warmed fur. “Are you ready?”

  The mistwolf’s emerald eyes flashed. “I am always ready to run with you.”

  “Moonshadow…”

  The wolf looked at Adriane with piercing golden eyes.

  “What happened to Chain?”

  “He said he was left by his human to die.” Moonshadow’s rich voice echoed in her mind.

  “But why? I don’t understand how that could have happened.�
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  “We thought Gardener was one of the good guys,” Emily added.

  “Not all humans are meant to run with us.” The pack leader turned to Zach.“I spent many years hating my brother, blaming him for the death of our wolf mother.”

  Adriane caught the flare of pain in Zach’s eyes.

  “I was wrong. And I believe Chain is wrong as well.” Moonshadow looked at Zach with a wolfish grin. “And now I have my wolf brother back.”

  “And his bonded,” Dawnrunner added, lips drawn back in a smile.

  Drake hopped from foot to foot, sending tremors across the glade.

  Adriane studied the mistwolves who had risked everything for this hunt. The forest had strengthened their fading magic and they had strengthened Dreamer’s, but it wouldn’t last.

  The towering Rocking Stone highlighted Moonshadow’s powerful black body as he faced the pack.

  “We will send our wolf sister and packmate to run the Spirit Trail, as mistwolves have done for thousands of years,” the pack leader began.

  Adriane nodded gratefully.

  “From our Circle of Protection, you will be rooted in this world,” Dawnrunner explained.

  “But we cannot protect you if you wander from the path,” Moonshadow warned, growling low.

  Dawnrunner brushed against Adriane. The warrior knelt, nose to nose with the wolf. She felt hot breath on her neck as the wolf sniffed her, remembering her scent. “If you lose your way, follow what is in your heart. That is the true path of a warrior.”

  “Thank you,” Adriane said, and bowed her head. “We are ready.”

  The wolves fanned out, encircling Adriane. Emily, Kara, Lyra, Ozzie, Drake, and Zach joined them, leaving Adriane and Dreamer alone in the center.

  Dreamer looked at his packmate, love and determination shining in his emerald eyes.

  Satisfied, Moonshadow addressed Adriane. “You will have only a few minutes before we pull you back. Any longer is too dangerous.”

  Adriane’s pulse pounded. What if she couldn’t find Storm? How was she going to hold on long enough to find the spirit pack and search for the power crystal?

  “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” Adriane admitted.

  “You are one of us,” Dawnrunner told her. “Listen.”

  Adriane nodded. She had to succeed.

  Dawnrunner began singing softly, a wandering tune that ebbed and flowed like the voice of the river. Adriane closed her eyes and drifted away, haunted by the melody.

  Magic crackled along the circle, vibrating in rhythm with the bittersweet wolf song. Adriane sensed her friends’ powers forged into one, a ring of protection around her.

  She opened her eyes—and she was no longer in the glade, no longer in Ravenswood. Adriane and Dreamer stood on a twinkling pathway of stars, curving beyond the horizon. The Spirit Trail.

  Its glittering surface flashed bright white, welcoming the warrior and mistwolf. She could sense the generations of wolves who had run this path before her. But there was a loneliness permeating the magical pathway. She felt she might run forever and never find what she was looking for.

  “We have your scent, warrior,” Dawnrunner spoke in her mind. The wolf stone blazed with power as she felt the Circle of Protection surge through her, Moonshadow and Dawnrunner guiding her steps.

  “Warrior.”

  Something was calling to her, powerful magic ahead, drawing her forward like a magnet. She moved faster.

  On either side of the path, dark shadows flew through the mist, just out of reach.

  “Warrior, this way.”

  A familiar voice echoed across the eerie, shifting magic.

  Adriane stopped in her tracks, Dreamer growling at her side. She looked uncertainly into the deep gray fog. What was that? The spirit pack?

  “Hurry!” the voice cried out again.

  “Tweek?” Adriane asked, astonished.

  “You must hurry!” the E.F.’s voice rose in panic.

  “Where are you?” The warrior started to step off into the mist.

  “Stay on the path,” Moonshadow warned.

  “Follow me.” The Fairimental’s voice was closer now. “It’s your only chance to save the pack.”

  Dreamer growled low in his throat, but Adriane pushed past him. She had to risk it; she could feel the magic beckoning her.

  She leaped into the gloom. “Tweek?”

  The skies exploded with red lightning as the astral planes twisted to murky black.

  “Dreamer!” she screamed.

  Adriane tumbled with dizzying speed, losing all sense of time and space.

  She landed hard.

  “Dreamer?” she called out, panic washing over her.

  She was sitting on a wide black rock, mist creeping over her like cold rain. Other rocks poked above the surface of a shimmering ocean—not of water, but of magic. In the distance, something rumbled, rising and falling. Huge waves were breaking over a faraway shore. She reached out, but her connection to her friends in the glade was gone.

  “Packmate.” Dreamer was behind her, his gleaming white star and paws shining against the dull rock. She hugged him fiercely. If he hadn’t been able to follow her, they could have lost each other.

  “Warrior.”

  A small figure stood in front of her, distorted by a shimmering curtain of mist.

  “Tweek?” she asked. “Is that you?”

  “Come closer,” the E.F. said, his voice sharp and mocking.

  Tweek stood before her, red eyes glowing. His mass of ragged sticks and moss stuck out at weird angles. Behind him, shadowy creatures closed in, yellow eyes glittering hungrily.

  “Take the mistwolf!” Tweek cackled wildly.

  “It’s a trap!” Adriane cried.

  Hideous demons with dark, tattered wings and gaunt, skull-like faces, fell on them like locusts.

  Wolf fire sprung around Adriane and Dreamer in a glowing shield. The beasts shrieked, tearing at her magic with ragged claws. She caught glimpses of bony arms, slitted yellow eyes, and wicked sharp teeth as the creatures swarmed, their circle tightening.

  Using her magic like a battering ram, she broke through the attackers, sending them scattering.

  “Run!” she cried.

  Warrior and mistwolf leaped from one rock island to the next. Adriane desperately tried to reach Ravenswood, but she’d severed her connection to the pack when she and Dreamer had left the trail. Now they were lost in the spirit world.

  “Dreamer, find the way back!”

  “Catch them!” Tweek screamed.

  The shrieking creatures charged in a frenzied flapping of wings. Adriane ducked as glittering talons swiped at her from all directions. Golden wolf fire shot from her fists, taking out three monsters at once.

  Thunder rumbled over the skies. She looked to the horizon and gasped. A coiling mass of color was coming at her, moving across the ocean like a magical tsunami.

  Suddenly the creatures swooped in and snatched Dreamer, hoisting him into the air.

  The mistwolf twisted and yelped, trying to break free.

  Adriane spun and fired, wolf light exploding from her gem. The demons careened sideways on impact, losing their grip. Dreamer leaped free.

  “You’ll never get out of here!” Tweek yelled.

  Adriane grabbed Tweek, tossing the possessed E.F. to Dreamer. Behind them, she heard wings cutting through the air as the creatures pursued them.

  Suddenly an enormous force knocked her feet out from under her. She was pulled down, caught in a riptide as the magic crashed overhead. Strands of blue, green, red, and silver coursed all around her, whipping her through the spirit world. Twisting currents buffeted her back and forth, overwhelming her senses. She was being swept away by wild magic.

  She clawed to the surface, relieved to find Dreamer’s black head bobbing next to her. The E.F. was still clutched in his teeth.

  “Last chance, mage. Give up the mistwolf!”

  “Dreamer!” Adriane cried as another wave
built behind them, surging two stories high. They would be crushed in the roaring magic.

  The wolf whined in fear and confusion; the rising wave reflected in his wide green eyes. His tracking senses were completely overloaded.

  Adriane fired her wolf stone, locking an image in her mind. A surfboard of glowing golden wolf fire formed beneath her. Lying on her stomach, she paddled toward Dreamer. “Hop on!”

  Dreamer lunged, Tweek firmly in his jaws, and landed on the front of the board.

  The wave crested above their heads and curled, forming a tunnel of swirling ruby, purple, and silver magic.

  Placing her right foot forward, Adriane stretched her arms wide, positioning herself for balance. Her wolf stone blazed as she surfed through the collapsing wave. She shot out of the imploding tunnel with lighting speed and flew onto another wave of glittering green.

  Weaving back and forth, wolf and warrior worked together, trying to sense the pattern of the currents.

  Ribbons of wild magic smashed together, forming chaotic riptides that tore through the air in all directions.

  “Hang on Dreamer!”

  Adriane pitched right, flying straight up the wave.

  Dreamer braced himself as the board shot into the air. At the crest of the wave, Adriane twisted and spun, the board trailing corkscrews of golden fire.

  “Are you out of your mind?” Tweek sputtered.

  “Put a twig in it!” the warrior shouted.

  Struggling to focus, she tried to turn back, but she couldn’t fight the immensely powerful current. Her wolf stone flashed in panic. The wild magic could take her anywhere. She’d never find her way home!

  The board flew through the air, narrowly squeezing through two twisting ribbons. Knees bent, Adriane threw her weight to the right, slicing down the face of another wave.

  “Drake. Help me!” She focused with all her will on Drake, hoping the dragon could find them.

  Dreamer crouched low, sniffing the flow and eddies of the magic tides.

  “That way!” He turned his nose toward a sparkle of light in the distance. A brilliant tower of light shot bright homing beacons in all directions.

  “Stone sweet stone!”

  Adriane aimed the board straight toward the Rocking Stone. Catching an orange wave, she rocketed through the astral planes like a golden comet.