Spellsinger (Avalon: Web of Magic #5) (5 page)

Emily dashed off toward the woods following after the animals, while Kara hauled the front door open and bolted into the shadowed foyer of the manor.

“This place is always so dusty and—”

She hit the hall light switch and stopped dead in her tracks.

The manor had been transformed. WELCOME JOHNNY! banners and band posters were everywhere, and the manor itself sparkled. Little signs with arrows and notes like THIS WAY TO THE KITCHEN, THIS WAY TO JOHNNY’S ROOM, THIS WAY TO BAND QUARTERS, THIS WAY TO REHERSAL AREA, and many more were all over the place.

“
Adriane!
” Kara screamed, storming into the foyer.

A loud power chord ripped through the empty halls and echoed throughout the manor. With the volume turned up a notch, a succession of new chords barreled over Kara, bouncing around the entryway in a catchy rhythm.

Adriane was practicing her guitar already? How had she gotten the manor ready so fast? Putting all of this together must have taken days—unless, of course, she had a little magical help. And Adriane was certainly the most adept at using her magic to make things happen.

Ignoring her relief that everything seemed ready for Johnny, Kara stomped up the wide main staircase to the second floor.

Funky chords shuffled down the hallway as Kara peeked into the open doors. Every room she looked in had been thoroughly cleaned and dusted, sparkling and ready for guests.

Squealing guitar feedback echoed away into silence as Kara walked along the brightly lit corridor to the library. Then she heard something else and froze. Footsteps. From one of the rooms just ahead of her. Someone moving things around.

The lights went out, plunging the hall into darkness. Pale moonlight streamed through a small window at the end of the corridor as Kara’s eyes took a moment to adjust. Suddenly, a figure sprang from the library and raced toward the window, cutting a hard left and disappearing down another corridor before Kara could get a decent glimpse.

“Hey, Miss Guitar Hero!” Kara called out.

She ran toward the window, nearly tripping on a section of rug that had been bunched up. By the time she reached the corridor’s intersection, the long hallway leading down to other rooms was empty.

“Adriane, come on!” Kara yelled. She didn’t have time for this. Then she noticed a weird, golden glow at her feet, making her shadow stretch far and wide before her. Turning, she saw a flickering light reaching out from the open door to the library.

“Adriane?” She peered inside the library cautiously. No one was there. The library felt oppressively silent.

Kara walked into the large circular room. Moonlight glowed through the huge picture windows, illuminating rows upon rows of books lining the walls. The panel concealing the Ravenswood computer screen was closed. Everything seemed untouched.

A shadow moved near Kara’s feet. She looked up and stared at the giant mobile that hung from the center of the library’s domed ceiling. It was made of a series of celestial pieces, a sun, planets with moons, comets, and stars all designed to swing in synchronous movement. It swayed lightly in the air. Had someone just hurried by it?

Moving under the mobile, she bumped into the large reading table. Rich leather-bound books with gold trim were piled high. Had Adriane been reading all these volumes?

Kara stopped. One of the old musty books lay open. A candle cast a wavering light upon its pages. A low, whistling breeze taunted the flame as it flowed into the room from an open window a dozen feet away.

Someone had been in here, reading this book. She looked at the ancient gold lettering along the book’s spine:
The Art of Spellsinging.
What kind of research was Adriane doing?

A shuffling noise from the hall made Kara spin around again. She didn’t like this game Adriane seemed to be playing one bit.

But
was
it Adriane?

She thought about calling Lyra, but Johnny and his people would be here any minute. She examined the book. She was about to close it when the wind kicked up, making the candlelight shine brightly upon one particular passage.

Song of truth, words of age

Spread in song what you read on this page

Music awakens the power of the lightbringer

For stars to shine, call upon the spellsinger

Kara stared at the passage for several long moments. The rest of the world, all her responsibilities and even her fight with Adriane, were suddenly swept away and forgotten.

The power of the lightbringer? It almost sounded like the book was talking about
her
. She was the blazing star, after all. That’s what the Fairimentals said, even if none of the girls had figured out exactly what that meant. The three had been chosen to become mages, magic users. Emily was a healing mage, using the power of her rainbow jewel to help animals. Adriane was a warrior, using the magic of her wolf stone to defend the magic. But Kara hadn’t found a jewel and still didn’t understand her blazing star powers... Maybe spellsinging was the answer.

“What’s that you’re reading?” a familiar voice asked over her shoulder.

Kara jumped and stumbled away from the table, knocking over the candle in the process. She reached for it—but Adriane was closer and quicker; the warrior snatched the candle before it could fall and set it back upright, its flame never going out.

She didn’t even look at Kara. She swung her cherry-red electric guitar across her back on its black leather strap and stared at the open pages, her lips forming the words Kara had just read. “Spellsinging. That’s cool…”

“Yeah, well, it’s better than loud obnoxious power chords! That’s so last century!” Kara glared daggers at Adriane, but the warrior was oblivious. “I can’t believe you are so jealous that I’m going to sing with Johnny.”

“No one said it’s going to be you, Miss Center of the Universe,” Adriane retorted as she scanned more pages. “Besides, I wouldn’t exactly call what you do singing.”

“Oh, that’s so funny I forgot to laugh!”

“Didn’t that Fairimental say something about spellsinging? Where did you find this book?”

Kara crossed her arms. “Oh, like you weren’t so reading it before I got here!”

Adriane looked up. “I’ve never seen it before.”

“Tell me another one.” Kara paced back and forth under the mobile. “That Fairimental also said use the fairy map. How can we do that? The sorceress has it.”

“If you hadn’t lost it,” Adriane waved her arms in frustration, “we might still have it!”

“I didn’t lose it! I… I—
oooh!
”

“It did say you’re in danger—all of us,” Adriane continued.

Kara shot a withering gaze. “Well, that’s your department, isn’t it? Saving the day? I just have my stupid little concert to take care of, thank you very much!”

A loud
squawk
buzzed from her backpack. She fished out the walkie-talkie.

“What!” she snapped.

“Drone One to Queen—”

“Yeah, yeah, what is it?”

“Target on route to Ravenswood—”

Kara’s eyes went wide as she shut off the walkie-talkie. “He’s coming!” She surveyed the room frantically. There were several strange-looking objects strewn across the tables. “We have to put away anything that looks magical!”

“We can hide everything next to the computer,” Adriane said, gathering up the books from the table and walking to the secret compartment. She lifted her wrist and held her amber wolf stone against the wall panel. The stone flashed with golden light, outlining the wall with bright lines. The panel silently slid back to reveal the computer screen of the Ravenswood library.

Kara tapped her foot and crossed her arms. “I don’t have a jewel. How am I supposed to get in there?”

“Oh.” Adriane smiled wryly. “I forgot.”

Frustrated, Kara stormed across the room and started gathering items. A snow globe that was anything but what it looked like, several talismans of protection given by the wondrous creatures of Ravenswood, and a small woven dreamcatcher.

“What’s the deal with all these candles?” Adriane asked. “Why didn’t you just turn on a light?”

“I thought that was
your
touch. You have been, like, so busy around here,” Kara retorted with a snort.

“Yeah,” Adriane chuckled. “I was cleaning up the manor with Storm, but we weren’t in the library—” She looked at Kara, then pointed to the books. “If you didn’t find these books and I didn’t—”

Kara felt a chill that had nothing to do with the cool air filtering in through the window. Someone else
had
been here. The person she had glimpsed in the hall hadn’t been Adriane. Was that person still here?

She regarded the open window. “Someone else has been here,” Kara said stiffly.

“No way,” Adriane disagreed, picking up the book about spellsinging. “Storm would have warned me if someone had snuck into the manor.”

Kara dumped the items she had gathered behind the secret panel. “Or some
thing
…” She flashed on the Fairimental’s warning of danger.

“This could be very useful for my singing debut with Johnny,” Adriane said, opening the book again.

Kara’s entire body tensed. She was about to start screaming when something sparkled from the hiding place. Kara’s eyes opened wide. It was the horn of Lorelei, the unicorn, given to Emily to lead the girls across the magic web and back home to Ravenswood. The power of the horn was supposed to grant the user
any
magic he or she desired. Kara cut a quick glimpse back at Adriane and saw that the raven-haired girl was riffling through the pages.

With one quick, furtive motion, Kara snatched the crystalline unicorn horn and slipped it in her backpack.

Emily was right, Kara decided. It didn’t matter who started this business between her and Adriane—only who finished it.

In other words, whoever stood onstage with Johnny Conrad, singing in front of the world, the envy of everyone, was the winner!

The unicorn horn sparkled with magical energy as she closed her backpack.

K
ARA HEARD THE
knock at the manor’s front door and only barely beat Adriane to it. She smiled brightly as Johnny and his mix master, a dude called Inky Toon, stepped inside. Inky was a big guy, well over six feet tall, with ebony skin and cropped black hair. He wore a red hoodie with oversized jeans, silver sneakers, and a black bandana with little yellow squares. He sported sunglasses and a blinding smile.

Johnny was, as always, totally laid-back and cool.

“Hello, paradise!” Johnny whistled as he looked around the spacious foyer. “This place is awesome!”

Kara smiled. “Welcome to Ravenswood Manor. I’ll be happy to show you guys the digs.”

“Cool crib, girl,” Inky said. “You know what I say, life is always a par-tay, and this is a place where we can work it.”

Looking vexed that Kara was getting props for welcoming Johnny and his people to the manor, Adriane cleared her throat. Inky nodded toward the raven-haired girl and handed her his leather jacket. “Yo, guitar girl—hang that up for me? We got a few things out in the car, too. Thanks!”

Adriane took the jacket, adjusted the guitar still hung over her back, and walked off with it. “Yeah, sure, you’re welcome...”

“Everyone else is on their way,” Inky said.

“Everyone else?” Kara stopped in mid-grin.

“Yeah, you know what I’m sayin’—we got our crew to take care of.”

“Sure… okay, I guess.”

Soon, the entire mansion was buzzing. Johnny’s band and all his technical people had arrived, along with Emily and Gran. Adriane’s grandmother looked concerned about the way the manor was being taken over. She even took Adriane outside for what looked like a stern talking-to.

Good, Kara thought.

The band’s equipment piled up in the immense dining room, which would be used for rehearsal space. The parlor, kitchen, and adjoining sitting rooms were overflowing with the newcomers, including a reporter interviewing Mrs. Windor!

“I do
not
listen to rock and roll music,” Windor was droning on. “Big events are dangerous for a small community. Attracts all the wrong elements.” She eyed the reporter suspiciously.