Cry of the Wolf (Avalon: Web of Magic #3) (10 page)

“Who are you?” Adriane asked, looking at the fantastical creatures.

“I am Gwigg, an Earth Fairimental,” the pile of twigs said, bits of leaves flying off it.

“I am Marina, a Water Fairimental,” the water girl said, gracefully gliding to the shore’s edge.

“You have come a long way.” A light, airy breeze brushed past Adriane. She caught the translucent shape of something moving, flowing and hovering near her. “I am Ambia, an Air Fairimental,” the breezy shape said.

Zach stood up and approached the Fairimentals. “Windy died to get us here!” he yelled angrily. “Why couldn’t you help him?”

“The spirit of the griffin has come back to the magic,” Marina said, her voice like silky chimes.

“Spirits of the past will always guide us into our future,” Ambia whispered like the wind.

“Why did Windy have to die?” Zach cried, wiping tears from his face.

“We will weep with you,” the Fairimentals gently answered together, combining their voices into a melody that drifted into a breeze blowing across the Fairy Glen. The willows swayed, releasing hundreds of tiny flowers upon the crystal waters.

“It was my fault,” Adriane said, looking down at her boots, dark hair falling over her face. “If he and Zach hadn’t rescued me, Windy would still be alive.”

“Why did you send an elf to her planet?” Zach asked the Fairimentals, trying to make sense of what was happening.

“For her,” Marina answered.

“What’s so special about her?”

“We need human magic users,” Gwigg rustled.

“I’m
human. I—” Zach kicked at the dirt. “I could learn magic, too!”

Ambia hovered around the boy. Adriane could just make out her shimmering shape. With a soft breeze, the Air Fairimental dried the tears on Zach’s face.

“There are many levels of magic,” Ambia said, her translucent shape glittering in the light.

Marina’s sparkling eyes focused on Adriane. “She has the ability to become a powerful mage.”

A mage? Ozzie had used that word. A mage was a human who used magic.

“Only through the bond with a magical animal can magic be mastered completely,” Marina said.

“And now my friend is gone.” Zach’s shoulders slumped.

“You have brought us the drake,” Gwigg said, his strange shape of twigs and leaves reforming as he spoke.

Adriane looked at the egg sitting silently by her feet. “The drake?”

“If the sorceress had gotten the drake, the balance of power would have shifted.”

“The sorceress must be stopped,” Marina’s watery voice chimed.

“Aldenmor must be healed,” Ambia whispered.

“What is… the drake?” Adriane asked.

“A dragon,” Ambia breathed.

“A red crystal dragon,” Marina added, magic sparkling through her watery shape. “They hatch once every thousand years.”

“A
dragon
?” The boy looked horrified. “Windy died to bring a
dragon
here? They are vicious and horrible creatures!”

“The drake is a very powerful creature. When dragons hatch, they imprint, bond deeply, with the first person they see. The sorceress intended the hatchling to imprint on her, giving her magic of unimaginable power.” Gwigg shuddered, bits of sticks and dirt falling to the ground.

“That’s why the sorceress wants magical animals?” Adriane asked.

“Yes.”

“The unicorn would have fallen if not for the blazing star.” Ambia swirled around Adriane.

Adriane thought of Kara. She’d give anything to see that bright smile right now, even though, only a day ago, she would have been happier to wipe it off that smug face. She felt a sharp sting of homesickness. She missed her friends. “Can you send me home?” she asked the Fairimentals.

“Yes.”

Adriane’s heart leaped.

“Your destiny is clear, Adriane,” Marina said.

“How do you know me?”

“You wear the wolf stone. You have made it yours.”

“Wolf stone? That’s a wolf stone?” the boy asked.

“My friend… that I’m looking for, is not exactly human,” Adriane said to him.

“What is she?” he asked, his hands balled into fists.

“A mistwolf.”

Zach’s ruddy complexion reddened and his eyes blazed with anger. “A mistwolf!” he spat and stalked away.

Adriane, confused and hurt, looked to the Fairimentals.

“Zachariah was raised by mistwolves.” Ambia’s voice blew like cool wind.

This time it was Adriane’s turn to feel shock. Moonshadow had said a human had been responsible for killing the pack mother.

Adriane ran after the boy. The time had come for secrets to be revealed.

W
ILDFLOWERS SWIRLED AROUND
Adriane as she walked down the lush path in pursuit of Zach. Wide, lustrous leaves of purple, pink, and blue sprouted everywhere, lending the glade a gleam of rainbow brilliance. She wished she could explore this extraordinary place, and she had about a million questions for the Fairimentals. But she had to find Storm and get home. Her Gran was used to her going off on her own, but she would certainly worry before too long. Hopefully, Emily and Kara were covering for her.

The path led to a grassy meadow. In the center stood an enormous tree, giant branches stretching out in all directions from a trunk as thick as a house. In fact, it
was
a house—a tree house. Wooden platforms were cleverly hidden amidst the green boughs. They were connected by natural stairways made of branches and covered by foliage thick enough to keep out any rain or cold, although she wondered if there was really ever any bad weather here.

Zach was sitting on a platform two levels up, gazing out over the Fairy Glen.

“Hi,” Adriane said shyly as she approached.

The boy remained silent.

“Can I come up and sit with you a while?”

“Suit yourself.”

Adriane climbed up to join him. The platform formed the floor of a large room. Branches had grown around and through the floor, forming tree chairs and even a tree bed, with a mattress piled thick with soft leaves. Thinner branches hung down the sides, like green curtains.

“This is an amazing tree!” she exclaimed.

“This is Okawa,” he told her.

She looked around. She didn’t see anyone.

She pointed at the tree questioningly. Zach nodded.

She studied the enormous tree. Gran had always spoken about nature spirits but Adriane refused to believe her, shrugging it off as just plain weird. Yet this tree was very much alive. She could feel it.

Adriane politely bowed. “Hello, Okawa. I am honored to meet you.”

The great tree rustled, and a few of the smaller branches seemed to bend in toward Adriane, enfolding her in the fresh green scent of leaves.

“He likes you,” the boy observed.

“I like him, too.” Adriane sat next to Zach and looked out at the lake. “I feel so protected here, so safe.”

He cracked open a hard-shelled fruit that looked like a small red coconut and handed her half. “Okawa has taken care of me for a long time.”

Adriane took the shell and drank the milky liquid inside. It was sweet and delicious.

“Thank you,” she said.

“You can also eat the stuff inside, it’s good.”

As they ate, Adriane noticed an old steamer trunk next to them. It was open and she could see clothes, some old books, a spyglass, and a few assorted tools.

“What’s all this?” she asked, indicating the trunk.

“It belonged to my parents.”

She reached in and picked up a photograph set in a brass frame. Two smiling, proud parents holding a laughing baby in their arms looked out at her.

“That’s me,” Zach said.

“The baby, I take it.” She smiled.

The corner of Zach’s mouth twitched slightly upward.

Adriane noticed an old pocket watch. “May I?”

He nodded.

She examined the watch. It was engraved in script lettering: “To Alexander, always yours, Graziela.”

“A gift to my father from my mother,” he explained.

“It’s beautiful.” She put it down and studied the boy. “How old are you, Zach?”

“I don’t know.”

“When was your last birthday?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, birthdays… with birthday parties?”

Zach looked puzzled.

“You’ve never had a birthday party?”

“No.”

“Well, it’s fun. You wear silly hats and your friends give you gifts.”

“My friend is dead.”

“I’m really sorry… ” Adriane felt her eyes brim with tears and quickly wiped them away.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Zach said.

They sat watching the sunlight play across the lake.

“Zach… tell me about the mistwolves.”

“No!” Anger raged, threatening to boil over within the boy. He jumped up and walked away.

“Please, Zach. My friend is still alive. Won’t you help me find her?”

Zach walked to Okawa’s massive trunk, reaching for its strength.

“My parents were magic users,” he said into the tree.

Adriane’s eyes opened wide.

“They were killed when I was a baby. I was found by the mistwolves.” He turned around, leaning his back against Okawa. “The pack mother, Silver Eyes, took me in and raised me. She taught me to run with the pack and to sing the wolfsong… ” His eyes were dark with sadness. “She loved me, and I loved her like my mother.”

Adriane sat quietly, hardly breathing.

“I was the runt and my pack brother did not trust me. Now he is the pack leader.”

Adriane flashed on the black wolf that had taken Storm… Moonshadow.

“A witch had begun using magic in terrible ways. We knew she was once human. Moonshadow believed humans did nothing but bring sadness and destruction. He thought I would bring ruin and death to the pack… and one day I did.”

He slid to the floor, knees raised to cover his face.

“More than anything, I wanted to find the monster that had killed my human parents. I became obsessed with hunting it down. I thought that if I could prove my courage, Moonshadow would accept me in the pack… ” He paused to steady his breathing.

“I was hunting in the Shadowlands with several of the pack when I found the creature. I was so full of hate, I thought nothing for my packmates. Instead of avenging my parents, I… I led the wolves into a trap… ” He faltered.

“What happened to them?” Adriane asked after a few seconds.

“I was the only one who escaped.” The boy buried his head in his knees.

“One of the fallen wolves was Silver Eyes… my wolf mother.”

Adriane sat quietly.

Zach took a deep breath, calming himself. “Moonshadow sent me away. He said I would never be a wolf brother. I wandered for a long time until I met the elves. They took me in and fed me and brought me here, to the Fairimentals. I began my work for them, scouting, acting as their eyes and ears. When I found Windy, he was just a pup, caught in a trap. His parents had been killed, also. We’ve been together ever since… until today.”

Adriane slowly rocked back and forth, hugging herself. “I never see my parents,” she told Zach. “They might as well be dead. If it wasn’t for Storm, I don’t know what I’d do. And now, she’s gone. She left me to run with the pack.”

The boy sat watching her. “So we’re both alone,” he finally said.

“What’s happened here, Zach? To Aldenmor.”

“There was some kind of explosion in the Shadowlands. Since then the Black Fire has been spreading.” He rose suddenly and walked to the edge of the platform, gazing out over the Fairy Glen. “Everything’s changing so fast. Aldenmor is in terrible danger.”

“Those poor animals I saw in the valley,” Adriane whispered.

“Wilderbeasts. They once roamed all over that area, herds of them. Not anymore. And more animals are going to die if she is not stopped.” His eyes blazed. “That is what I fight for.”

Adriane stood up and joined him. “The Fairimentals must be proud of you.”

“No. That’s why they need you.” He looked down. “I’m not good with magic.”

“People have different ways of using magic,” Adriane said. “My friend Kara, back on Earth, she doesn’t have a gemstone, and she makes all kinds of magic just by being who she is.”

Zach listened intently.

“The way the Fairimentals treat you, the way Okawa cares for you… the way the Elven sword comes to life in your hands. Zach, everything about you is magic.”