Secret of the Unicorn (Avalon: Web of Magic #4) (15 page)

The harpy swung to face them. The horn in its hand blazed a sickly green. “You are too late. The unicorn is under my spell. I will soon have the right pathway open.”

The harpy began crooning soft music, beautiful and beguiling.

“You know what the sorceress wants, don’t you, Ghyll?” it said to the flobbin.

“What are you talking about?” Adriane asked, feeling the enchantment of the harpy closing in.

“That fairy creature is not what it seems,” the harpy hissed. “Who do you think turned him into a flobbin?”

“No!” Ghyll hopped forward. “You don’t have to tell them!”

“Why not?” the harpy crooned. “It is time for secrets to be revealed. Ghyll is after the unicorn for himself, aren’t you?”

Ghyll remained silent, looking at the others.

“I knew it!” yelled Ozzie, stomping over and kicking the flobbin. “Cousin Brommy doesn’t have the Sirens of Waterknell. It’s in the Hall of Elders! Everyone knows that!”

“So you tricked us,” Emily said to the flobbin.

“I can explain—” Ghyll started.

“You wanted to send the unicorn to the Dark Sorceress!” Adriane yelled.

“It’s not like—” Ghyll tried again.

“Of course it is,” the harpy sang.

Emily felt the hypnotic magic reaching for them, trying to trap them under its spell. “Start yelling, singing—anything to break the spell!” she cried out.

Taking a deep breath, Emily opened her mouth and began to sing. At first, her voice was shaky and uncertain. As her confidence grew, the rainbow jewel flared with brilliant blue light. Colorful starbursts appeared all around her as Emily felt her own magic strengthening Lorelei’s.

The horn in the harpy’s hand sparked wildly as the connection with the unicorn faltered. The harpy narrowed its eyes and raised its voice.

Hopelessness gripped Emily in an icy grasp. Was she strong enough to save Lorelei?

Then Ozzie’s reedy voice piped up, thin but clear. A moment later, Ghyll started croaking along in a deep bass.

Adriane stepped forward and raised her wolf stone. She tilted her head back and howled, the wolf song ringing out strong and sure. The harpy’s magic wavered, the green horn dimmed. Kara looked at her friends, then stepped forward and opened her mouth, letting out a screech that made everyone cover their ears.

The harpy faltered, almost dropping the horn in fright. It cringed as Kara’s voice hit it with a sudden, strong, magic force.

“Keep singing, Kara!” Emily yelled over her shoulder as she ran to Lorelei.

“La,
laaaa
!” Kara sang out.

“Go, girl!” Adriane called.

“La, La,
LAAAoooWAAA
!”

The harpy turned away, trying to shield itself from the awful music bombarding it.

“Emily.”
Doleful, forlorn music filled Emily’s head. She could feel that

Lorelei was deeply traumatized by having her own horn turned on her. How could Emily hope to help the unicorn through this?

If the spirit does not desire healing,
Gran’s voice said in her head
, no true healing can take place. If you want to help, you have to be willing to give the kind of help that’s needed.

Emily hugged the unicorn close. “I know how you feel,” she said. “I lost my family—the life I was so sure of. My parents split up, and I thought that was the end of everything good and safe.”

“Laa,
LAAAAAooOOiEE!!
” Kara was advancing on the harpy, forcing the monster to cower in pain.

Emily focused on the unicorn. She had to make her understand, make her realize she wasn’t alone.

“But just when I was ready to give up, I found Ravenswood, met Adriane and Kara and Ozzie,” she went on. “And I realized I had magic inside of me. Strong magic that couldn’t be taken away no matter what happened.”

“My horn is everything.”

“No, that’s just it!” Emily remembered the confusion she had felt in Lorelei before her horn had come back—and also the power, the beautiful, strong, harmonious power laying just beneath the chaos.

“Your horn may focus your magic, like our jewels.” She held up her rainbow stone, which was glowing softly with pastel colors. “But the real magic is inside of you. Right here.” Emily touched her hand to Lorelei’s chest, covering the unicorn’s beating heart.

The music in Emily’s head was uncertain.

Emily held the rainbow jewel out toward the unicorn’s chest. Lorelei hesitated, then stepped forward to meet her touch. As soon as the jewel on Emily’s wrist made contact, there was an explosion of chords, strong, magical bursts of sound that filled her and surrounded her, echoing across the nexus.

“
Aaaaaarrrrrhhhhhh!”

The harpy’s cry rolled toward them in a powerful, deadly wave of sound and energy as it flung its song like a weapon. Emily braced herself just in time as the wave barreled over her, but out of the corner of her eye she saw a section of platform flare with green fire and dissolve. Kara wobbled and slipped, her left leg disappearing into the nothingness!

“Kara!” Emily screamed, watching in horror as Kara lost her grip and slipped farther.

Emily and Adriane lunged toward their friend. With a snort, the unicorn’s eyes flew open, and she spun around and raced to help. But Ghyll got there first. Locking his blue flippers around a strand of web, he flicked out his long purple tongue, wrapped it around Kara’s arm, and hauled her up.

“I’m okay,” she said shakily once she was back atop the web. She glanced down quickly and gulped. “No problem.”

Lorelei’s hooves flashed with golden fire as she danced across the hole in the web. Everywhere she touched, the broken strands healed, weaving back together and vibrating with life.

The harpy howled in fury and fired another sickly bolt of magic from the green horn.

“Look out!” Adriane shouted to Ozzie. Warrior and ferret leaped away, barely clearing the smoking hole ripped open beneath their feet.

“Stop!”
Lorelei’s voice rang in all their heads.

The harpy turned to her, eyes burning with greed and hate.

“Do not hurt them.”

“Then give me what I want, unicorn.”

“
I will do as you ask.”

“No, Lorelei, you can’t,” Emily cried.

“Do not interfere,” the harpy commanded. “The unicorn will finish what we have started. Her horn was removed once. Do you want it to happen again?”

Emily felt waves of fear radiating from the unicorn.

She watched as Lorelei walked across the tightly woven strands. The unicorn shook her head, waving her crystal horn. A lovely melody drifted through the nexus. Pathways shifted, coming apart, unraveling. Strands rewound themselves into a new design.

A bluish-white whirlpool appeared—and opened.

“Yes, that’s it!” the harpy cried gleefully.

“It looks like another portal,” Ozzie said.

This portal was about half the size of the one at Ravenswood. Blue haze covered the opening as streams of smoke fell eerily upon the nexus floor.

The harpy turned in triumph, raising its green horn high. “It is done. The path has been revealed.”

“
Go. You have what you want,”
Lorelei said.

An evil grin spread across the harpy’s face. “You first.”

Lorelei stepped backwards. “
I cannot.”

“You didn’t think I would trust you, did you? Just in case you didn’t follow the fairy map exactly, you will come with me. Besides, I’m sure you want to see the home of all magic, don’t you?”

The girls looked at each other.

“Where does this portal lead?” Emily called out.

The harpy’s look of malice made the girls cringe. “Where? To where all dreams come true. Avalon.”

Whirling around, it flew towards the unicorn, knocking them both into the portal in a flash of foul, greenish energy. In an instant they were gone.

Avalon?

“If the sorceress finds a way to get the magic of Avalon, all is lost,” Ozzie cried, jumping up and down. “Everything the Fairimentals have worked for will have been for nothing!”

Kara, Emily, and Adriane stood side by side, looking at the misty opening that would lead them to the most mysterious and magical of all places.

“We must save the unicorn,” Ghyll said firmly.

“We’ve come this far,” Adriane said.

“Just one more,” Emily added.

“One jumps, we all jump!” Kara said.

“Piece of pie,” Ozzie concluded.

Emily reached out and clasped hands with Adriane and Kara. “Let’s do it!” she exclaimed.

The five of them surged toward the portal. As they reached it, Emily took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut, and jumped.

T
HUMP
.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Splooof!

Emily opened her eyes. Her friends scattered around her—in a glistening, gleaming dreamworld. Enormous snowflakes, soft and pillowy white, drifted lazily up, down, and all around them. When one landed on her arm, instead of cold, she felt a soft, soothing warmth that spread through her with a glorious sense of well-being.

“I… know this place,” she whispered.

Adriane shook her head, staring out at the silvery-blue landscape. They were in a valley surrounded by rolling blue hills. Thick, billowy purple clouds floated above them, releasing the giant snowflakes. The valley floor was covered in soft, fine sand that sparkled like quartz. “It must be another world,” she replied, her voice hushed with awe. “Like Earth, or Aldenmor.”

“This can’t be Avalon!” Kara said.

“I don’t know,” Emily whispered, looking for Lorelei. “I saw this place in a dream. I think I’m supposed to be here.”

“Are you all right?” Ghyll asked Ozzie, who was scraping himself up from the sand.

“What’s it to you?” Ozzie kicked the flobbin.

Ghyll looked flustered. “I’m sorry I lied to you.”

“Yeah, sure. Save it for the sorceress!” Ozzie brushed himself off.

Just then the sounds of music blared in the distance. Harsh, deep, piercing blasts, clashing like sounds of battle.

“Lorelei!” Emily exclaimed. “Come on!”

The five ran across the fine sand and rounded a bend in the silver hills. Suddenly a hideous scream ripped through the landscape. An overwhelming eruption of energy sent the snowflakes skidding away.

In front of them, Lorelei stood, facing the harpy. The monster was pointing the sickly green horn at the unicorn.

“You tricked me!” it screamed, enraged. “This is not Avalon!”

“
No, it is not.”

“Open the right portal. Now!” The harpy waved the green horn frantically. Sparks of fire jumped from the horn, but before they could reach Lorelei, they seemed to lose focus, splintering away in the misty breeze.

“Lorelei!” Emily called out.

The harpy watched the girls approach. It hissed, its ghoulish, white face twisted with fury.

It aimed the green horn at them, trying to build a wave of magic. Emily felt the tingling sensations rush through her as the power intensified. She had felt this before, at the football field and in the woods. “Stand back,” she warned the others.

Adriane swung her arm up, releasing a trail of golden fire from her jewel. She spun around, whipping the fire into a ring of blazing magic. Feet planted firmly, she threw the ring at the harpy. The magic arced through the air and slammed into the harpy with an explosion of golden light.

It staggered back, as if trying to deflect the warrior’s magic with the green horn. Instead, the horn absorbed the golden fire. The harpy pulled the horn down, sending the magic back at the group.

“Look out!” Ozzie yelled.

Everyone dove to the ground as the wave crashed over them with an eerie, wailing sound.

The harpy strained to lock onto more magic from the girls’ stones.

Adriane leaped to her feet, arms raised for another attack.

Ghyll bounced back up. “Wait! The horn will draw magic from your jewels. You mustn’t use them.”

“You seem to know an awful lot about unicorns, frog face!” Ozzie yelled.

“I have studied them for years,” Ghyll told the ferret.