Cry of the Wolf (Avalon: Web of Magic #3) (4 page)

“But she’s in Aldenmor,” Emily said. “How could you—you’re not thinking of opening the portal?”

“I have to know that she’s all right.”

“We’ve never been able to open it on command,” Emily reminded her.

“Somehow Storm and I made it work.”

“Sounds like it was opened from the other side,” Balthazar pointed out.

“There’s got to be a way,” Adriane insisted.

“I don’t know…”

“Hey, kids! What’s all the drama?” Kara walked into the library, pulling her golden hair back in a ponytail.

Ozzie regarded Kara. “There might be a way to open the portal,” he said slowly.

The others all followed his gaze.

Kara stopped, a suspicious look crossing her face. “What!”

“M
AGIC ATTRACTS MAGIC
.” Ozzie was pacing in the grass, reviewing the plan. “And we know the dragonflies have different magic. They pop in and out without a portal, and they wove Kara’s hair into the dreamcatcher. Ergo, the dragonflies may be able to open it!” Ozzie opened his forepaws triumphantly, as if waiting for applause.

Adriane, Emily, and Kara stood in the empty field, listening.

“It seems like the safest way to open the portal. Let the dragonflies do it,” Emily agreed.

Kara was not thrilled with this plan. She looked around furtively and shuddered, remembering her
hair-owing
experience not so long ago with the tiny dragons. They adored Kara, but she’d finally managed to convince the pesky things to stop driving her crazy by popping in and out all over the place. Well, if she had to do this, at least Heather, Molly, Tiffany, Joey, and Marcus weren’t here to witness it. Her school friends had gone home. They didn’t know about the magic, yet.

“If the portal opens,” Emily said to Adriane, “try to use your stone to make contact with Storm.”

Adriane looked determined. “Ready.”

Emily and Adriane stood on either side of Kara and held up their wrists. Kara always made the other girls’ magic stronger when she helped them. Now she extended her arms, touching Emily and Adriane’s gemstones.

Emily’s rainbow jewel and Adriane’s wolf stone began to glow. Halos of blue-green and amber light danced around Kara’s fingers then jumped up her arms, swirling around her body.

“Okay, Kara, call the dragonflies,” Emily prompted.

“Do I have to?” Kara complained.

The others looked at her.

“All right, all right.” Kara took a deep breath, sighed, and called out in a singsong voice, “Yoo-hoo! Dragonflies! Barney, Goldie, Fred, Fiona, Blaze, where are you? Ollie ollie oxen free!”

“Ollie ollie oxen free?” Ozzie was stumped. “I haven’t heard that magical spell before.”

“Picture them in your minds,” Emily instructed.

Kara closed her eyes and pictured the bird-sized dragons. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” she called.

Suddenly the air began to sparkle.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

Multicolored bubbles burst like small fireworks as a swarm of dragonflies popped in. The girls dropped their arms and stepped back.

“Kaaraa!” a golden dragonfly called out, swooping down to land on Kara’s shoulder.

“Watch the hair!” she yelled.

Barney, the purple one, landed belly-down on Ozzie’s head, hanging over to stare into the startled ferret’s face. “Oozzook!”

“Gah! Get away, you!”

“Shh, Ozzie, don’t scare them,” Emily warned.

The mini dragons flitted around Kara, jabbering excitedly, all angling to get closest to her.

“Yes, yes, you found me,” Kara said. “Hooray for you.” Purple Barney, red Fiona, yellow Goldie, blue Fred, and orange Blaze all began to dive and spin around the girls, pinwheeling and squeaking.

“Kara, get them under control!” Adriane said impatiently.

“I’m trying!” Kara batted the pesky creatures away.

“Try a gentler approach,” Emily suggested.

“Hey!” Kara yelled. “Listen up!”

“Ooo!” The dragonflies stopped in mid-twirl, hovering in front of her.

“Instead of playing our regular ‘Throw the Shoe at the Dragonflies’ game that you all love so much, I have a special
new
game for us to play.” The dragonflies twittered in anticipation. “It’s called the ‘Open the Portal’ game! Yay!” The dragonflies twirled and squealed.

“We want to see the beautiful web you made for us,” Emily told them.

“Ooo, Emee.” Fiona nuzzled Emily’s hair.

“Show us the web, Goldie. You remember.” Kara pointed at her blond tresses. “The web you made from my hair.”

The five dragonflies buzzed into action. Forming a circle, they locked tiny claws together and began to spin. They spun faster, filling the air with colorful bursts of light.

“That’s it!” Adriane exclaimed.

Faster and faster they spun as hundreds of bubbles popped like fireworks. Wind began to whip through the field as the air churned, boiling with color.

“Something’s happening!” Emily called out.

Suddenly the bubbles all merged. The girls and Ozzie shielded their eyes as intense light filled the field. The light faded, revealing a circle of shimmering stars hanging just off the ground—the portal.

In front of the portal hung the sparkling dreamcatcher. It was just the way they had left it: rainbow-colored strands of Kara’s hair woven into a large, glistening web of protection, designed to block evil magic from entering Ravenswood.

“They did it!” Ozzie yelled triumphantly.

“Hurry, before it closes!” Emily urged Adriane.

Adriane gazed at the huge dreamcatcher hanging in the sky. She held up her wolf stone and pictured Storm in her mind. “Storm … can you hear me?” she whispered. She concentrated harder. “Stormbringer?”

“Anything?” Emily asked.

“No, I can’t get through.”

“Try again,” Kara said.

“Storm? It’s me, Adriane!”

The web trembled, but she still couldn’t feel anything. “It’s not working!” she cried, frustrated.

“The dreamcatcher may be interfering with reception,” Ozzie ventured.

Adriane quickly turned to Kara. “Get the dragonflies to open it.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Ozzie said.

“Please!” Adriane pleaded.

Emily nodded at Kara.

“D-flies, listen up!” Kara called. The dragonflies all zoomed over to hover around the blazing star. “We need you to open the web, okay? On your mark … Get set … Go!”

The dragonflies immediately flew to the top of the dreamcatcher, grabbing strands of webbing in their beaks.

“What are they doing?” Emily asked.

“How should I know?” Kara shrugged. “I’m amazed they understand anything I say at all.”

Each holding a strand of hair, the dragonflies pulled the dreamcatcher down, making it spin end over end. It whirled hypnotically before the misty portal.

Adriane held up her stone and focused. This time she sensed a faint glimmer, a connection. Storm? “I felt something!” Adriane said excitedly.

“I think that’s amplifying the signal,” Ozzie observed.

The dragonflies began to slow down and Adriane’s connection faded.

“Keep the dreamcatcher spinning!” she called out.

“How am I supposed to do that?” Kara asked.

“Hurry, the portal is closing!” Ozzie waved his paws in the air.

Adriane saw the tunnel swirling into a tighter spiral, drawing the edges of the portal toward the center.

Kara eyed the dragonflies’ formation carefully. Bobbing her head in time with their motions, she watched the moving strands sweep over the ground and past her. She used to be really good at this game.

With one swift leap Kara jumped into the throng of dragonflies and start skipping over the moving strands.

The dragonflies all squealed with delight at this new game and began spinning faster, around and around.

Adriane felt the magic connection again, stronger.

Flash!

Crystal towers loomed over scorched earth, pulsing green.

Flash!

A dark dungeon filled with sick animals.

Flash!

A lone mistwolf crying for its lost human.

Adriane gasped. “Storm?”

“
You are always in my heart.”
The voice was so faint it might have been the wind.

It was hard to stay focused with all the commotion going on, with the web spinning, dragonflies buzzing around, and Kara singing, “Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack! All dressed in black, black, black! With silver buttons, buttons, buttons! All down her back, back, back!”

Adriane tried to ignore all the distractions and concentrate the way Storm had taught her: to focus on what she was trying to accomplish, to control the magic, get it to do exactly what she wanted. And what Adriane wanted more than anything at this moment was Storm by her side. She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Stormbringer
!
”

The starry lights of the portal dimmed with an eerie glow.

Tendrils of magic touched her mind, tentatively probing.

The dreamcatcher whipped around and around Kara, who jumped and ducked and did everything she could to keep from getting tagged.

The connection pulled at Adriane’s magic, coaxing her. She reached out, grasping for some clarity, fighting to hold it, and felt … an animal? A human? She was confused. The magic suddenly locked tight as a vise.

“Agh!” Adriane recoiled in pain.

“Adriane?” Emily called out.

The dreamcatcher was trembling violently. Kara frantically jump-roped as if her life depended on it.

Adriane was jerked forward with a tremendous force. “Ahh!”

“Adriane! What is it?” Emily’s voice sounded so far away.

“I’m being pulled in!” Something had latched onto the magic of Adriane’s jewel and was dragging her toward the center of the portal.

“Whatever you’re doing, Kara, cut it out!” she screamed, trying to calm her growing fear by focusing on a far more familiar emotion: being annoyed at Kara. “Call off the dragonflies!”

“Pook?”

Kara had jumped free. All the dragonflies clustered around her. They were no longer holding on to the dreamcatcher. The web was spinning on its own, vibrating wildly at odd angles.

Sproing!
One by one, the strands began to snap.

“This can’t be good,” Ozzie said.

Emily grabbed Adriane by the waist, trying to hold her back. “Help!” she screamed as her sneakers slid through the soft grass.

“Emily!” Ozzie yelled, hopping up and down.

Adriane felt the wind whip at her back as two large wings flapped behind her. Lyra had her front paws wrapped around Emily, her golden wings unfurled and beating against the force that pulled them forward.

Ozzie grabbed the cat’s tail and pulled with all his might.

“Kookie!”

The dragonflies darted behind Ozzie. Goldie grabbed one of Ozzie’s rear paws in her beak, pulling the ferret up in the air. Fred grabbed onto Goldie’s tail. Each dragonfly pulled on the tail of the one before it, forming a line, their little wings beating furiously.

“Go, go, go!” Kara jumped up and down, cheering them on.

“Pull!” Emily yelled.

Suddenly long strands of hair sprang out in all directions as the dreamcatcher unraveled. A blinding sunburst filled the field as the strands were sucked into the portal.

Emily, Ozzie, Lyra and the dragonflies all tumbled backward, piling on top of Kara.

Adriane went tumbling forward, headfirst.

“Get off me!” Kara pushed the pile of animals away and scrambled to her feet.

The field was quiet. The portal was gone. Everything was back to normal … except for one thing.

Kara and Emily looked at each other in shock, speaking at the same time.

“Where’s Adriane?”