Cry of the Wolf (Avalon: Web of Magic #3)

CRY OF THE WOLF

Copyright © 2012 Red Sky Entertainment, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher, except where permitted by law.

Electronic Edition

Published by Premiere Digital Publishing, Inc.

Made in the U.S.A.

ISBN-10:   1938582578

ISBN-13:   978-1-938582-57-8

Cover and interior illustrations by Allison Strom

S
UNLIGHT FLASHED THROUGH
the trees as the dark-haired girl ran, plunging wildly into the woods. Yellow, orange, and red leaves crunched under her boots as she dashed past towering maples, cherries, and ash. It had recently rained, and the woods smelled clean and crisp.

“Follow my voice.”

Adriane Charday heard the words in her mind as clearly as if they had been spoken aloud. Listening closely, she turned toward an outcropping of rocks and leaped over a downed log, running hard, breathing steadily.

“You’re getting cold.”

Adriane turned sharply left, her long, jet-black hair blowing in the wind. “We’ll see about that.”

With a quick sweep of her wrist, she cut her gemstone through the air. It sparkled gold from its setting in her black-and-turquoise bracelet, and Adriane smiled, confident she was on the right trail.

It had been a month since she and Emily and Kara had learned about the magic web: the network of magical energy that connected Earth to other worlds. They had discovered a portal to a world called Aldenmor, and learned of the Dark Sorceress, her attempts to capture magical animals, and of the horrible Black Fire poison. At first, both monsters and animals from Aldenmor had come through the portal, right into the Ravenswood Wildlife Preserve, where Adriane lived with her grandmother. The animals all spoke of Ravenswood as a legendary sanctuary of magic and it had to be protected. With the help of some pesky little creatures called dragonflies, the three girls had woven a magical dreamcatcher over the portal, hoping it would let good things through, while keeping evil creatures out.

But with magic you just never knew. The dragonflies didn’t seem to need a portal at all, they just popped in and out of nowhere. Banshees that had stalked Kara had been able to move through water, and had even attacked her in the Jacuzzi. One thing was sure: magic was unpredictable. They had to expect the unexpected.

The discovery that magic was real was the most monumental thing that had ever happened to the girls. What was even more astounding was that each of them seemed to have a part to play in a larger puzzle, a mysterious destiny that required each girl’s own unique talents as mages, users of magic. Elemental beings were trying to protect the good magic of Aldenmor. They were called Fairimentals and according to some ancient prophecy they needed a healer, a warrior, and a blazing star to do… something. What that something was exactly, the girls didn’t know. Neither did their magical animal friends. But whatever it was, it involved finding a mysterious hidden place, the home of all magic: Avalon.

Emily, the healer, spent a lot of time with the magical animals that had made Ravenswood their new home. When she wasn’t with them or helping out at the Pet Palace, she was in Ravenswood Manor’s incredible library, cataloging information about wildlife, both earthly and magical. More and more, too, she had emails to answer, as curious people began to surf their way to the Ravenswood website the girls had set up.

Kara, the blazing star, was President of the Ravenswood Wildlife Preservation Society. She spent half her time setting up tour schedules, planning fund-raising parties, and reporting on their progress to her father, the mayor. The other half she spent making sure the town council never found out about the magical animals hidden at Ravenswood. Not all the members of the town council wanted a wildlife tourist attraction outside of their town, and Kara had to keep them reassured about their decision to keep the preserve open with the girls working there as guides.

Adriane felt it was essential to learn all she could about the magic she shared with her wolf friend. Her name was Stormbringer and she was a mistwolf, a creature of great magic. Storm had called Adriane “warrior” from the first moment they had met and the girl spent every spare moment practicing, experimenting, pushing herself further and faster, obsessed with embracing her new abilities, scared she could lose them.

She took a deep breath of crisp autumn air and lengthened her strides, stretching into the run. She and Storm had been playing this new game of hide-and-seek for about two weeks now, experimenting with the magic of her golden, paw-shaped gem called the wolf stone. Each time Storm moved farther away, testing the limits of their connection. How far could they go from each other before the connection was lost? So far, they hadn’t reached the limit—if there was one.

Through the trees, Adriane caught a trail of mist vanishing over a rise. She made a sharp right, and then sprinted up the hill, trying not to slip on the moss.

Brow furrowed, she concentrated on her stone and was rewarded with a quick image in her mind of Storm. The big silver-and-white wolf was just on the other side. With a grin, she crested the top, and leaped.

“Adriane!”
Storm’s voice cut through her mind. “
Watch out for that—”

The image of the wolf vanished as Adriane flew through trails of fog with a startled cry.

“Oof!”

Her shoulder knocked into something hard and she landed in a pile of sticky leaves and twigs. Facedown.

Storm was loping toward her, tongue lolling.

“—tree,”
she finished.

The tree’s oversized leaves had been holding rainwater until Adriane had bumped into it. She glared up through her now sopping-wet bangs. “Thanks for the heads up.”

“Are you all right?”

“I was concentrating so hard on seeing you, I didn’t see what was right in front of me.”

The wolf seemed to be laughing.
“You must learn to see the tree through the forest.”

Adriane spit out a piece of leaf. “That’s forest for the trees.” She sat up, picking matted leaves from her face and hair. “Oh, look at me!”