Spellsinger (Avalon: Web of Magic #5) (8 page)

“Y
OU CAN GO
now, Mrs. Windor,” the desk sergeant said as he opened the cell door.

“It’s about time!” Mrs. Windor clutched a rolled up copy of the Stonehill Gazette, revealing the photograph of her at the Pet Palace, a monkey on her back. “I was nowhere near that house!”

The sergeant looked at her warily. He was a big man with salt and pepper hair. “Uh-huh. Beside the pictures, there were three eyewitness accounts. The photographer, Dr. Fletcher, and her daughter...”

“All of them at Ravenswood are in on this together. I bet it was that Nakoda who dressed up as me for these clearly
staged
photographs!”

“Ah,” the officer said. “And why would she do that?”

“To discredit me, of course. I know what they’re hiding there! Monsters, I tell you!”

The desk sergeant said, “I’m just stating the facts, ma’am. Now why don’t you go home, cool off, and have a nice long rest? You might even consider seeing a… doctor.”

“That was not me last night!” Mrs. Windor shrieked as she nervously backed out of the building.

The desk sergeant was no longer listening. Instead, he was watching to see if the door might be kind enough to hit Mrs. Windor in the rear end on her way out.

“Whaaaah!” she yelped.

He chuckled as it did.

T
HE CHAOS CAUSED
by Kara’s accidental window shattering blew over pretty fast. No one had been hurt, but a lot of students were badly shaken by the sudden “windstorm.”

The worst of it was that Kara
knew
she should feel terrible about what she had done—but she didn’t. She carefully tested her new vocal proficiency as she walked down the hallway. Humming a tune under her breath, she heard a familiar light musical ringing and felt a tingling throughout her body. After what happened outside, she couldn’t risk anything louder. She was dying to find out how long the effects would last. As soon as she could get free, she had to find a secluded area to do further tests. She just had to force herself to make it through the rest of the school day.

Finally, the three o’clock bell sounded and Kara rushed to her locker. All around her, kids were buzzing with excitement over the karaoke contest. Kara ignored them all, collecting her backpack and her books as fast as she could.

“Hey!”

She looked up to see Adriane standing there, glaring at her.

“Hey is for horses.”

“You haven't said one word to me or Emily today, and now you're rushing off again!” Adriane said angrily. The wolf stone on Adriane’s wrist suddenly pulsed with hot light as Kara lifted her backpack from her locker. Adriane quickly covered her wrist with the sleeve of her jacket.

She leaned in close and hissed, “Aren’t you even the least bit concerned about what happened to the animals last night?”

“No, should I be?”

“They think some kind of monster might have gotten through the dreamcatcher,” Adriane whispered, glancing around to make sure no one else was listening.

“A monster
can't
get through. That's the whole point, duh!”

“We need to get a message to Zach,” Adriane insisted, referring to the human boy she had met on Aldenmor who’d been raised by mistwolves. “Maybe he found the Fairy Glen.”

“And how do you propose we do that?”

“We can use the portal or the d-flies—”

“We can’t open the portal, and now you want a long-distance dragonfly call to Aldenmor? That’s the
last
thing I need right now!”

“And just where were you when that ‘windstorm’ hit?” Adriane asked suspiciously, rubbing her gemstone as if it irritated her.

“Uh… getting stuff done…” Kara held the backpack behind her, as far away from Adriane’s wrist as she could.

“What has gotten into you?” Adriane demanded.

“
Me?
What about you, Miss I’m-So-Gonna-Sing-With-Johnny!”

“Yeah, okay, I got a little carried away. But I’m over that.”

“Oh, really!” Kara scoffed.

“Look, you have to get this concert back under control. Gran is getting really annoyed.”

“You were the one who put Johnny and his people at Ravenswood,” Kara pointed out. “Don’t come crying to me!”

“This is
your
show, superstar! You need to get over to Ravenswood right now and finalize a million details.”

“I can’t… I… I’m busy.”

Adriane’s eyebrow rose. “With what?”

“I’m going to…” Guilt flashed through her. There might be something dangerous at the preserve. The girls had no idea what was going on in Aldenmor. They needed to talk to Zach. And there
were
a million details to deal with before the concert.

Kara sighed. All she really wanted to do was lose herself in the dream of Johnny and her sharing the spotlight, singing before a crowd, basking in their love—

Shouts and screams broke her thoughts. Hundreds of kids were suddenly pouring out the front door of the school.

What now? Kara thought as she followed and bolted from the building.

Suddenly, everyone turned to look at her. Silence fell as the crowd parted like a sea to reveal a long black limo parked by the curb. Johnny leaned on the car’s trunk, grinning as the horde of fans flocked around him.

Laughing, he signed notebooks, articles of clothing, even one kid’s arm. Then he looked right at Kara.

“Good luck with the contest, everyone. We’ll be seeing you all at the show tomorrow.” He raised a fist into the air. “Ravenswood!”

“Johnny!” the crown yelled back. “Johnny!”

“Let’s hear it for the other star of this concert. The one responsible for the entire show,” Johnny said, holding out his hand in Kara’s direction. Kara walked through the crowd in a daze.

Johnny opened the rear door for Kara to climb in. “Your coach awaits, princess. Where to?”

“Home is cool.”

He hopped to the other side, and in seconds they were off.

Kara was startled by the cheers and cries from behind them, and shocked when she looked back at the expressions on the faces of so many kids; they were calling Kara’s name just as often as Johnny’s. Many looked at her with the same awe they had reserved for the singer.

From the corner of her eye, she glanced at Adriane yelling something. Ooo, she must be so jealous! Smiling to herself, Kara turned and settled back in her seat.

“You know, anyone who tells you it isn’t fun being a star is either lying or crazy.” Johnny smiled as they drove on, heading toward a scenic road that skirted the woods and fields surrounding Stonehill.

Kara nodded. For a moment,
she
had been the one so many people were looking at with adoration...

“But I’m not a star, I mean, like you are,” she said self-consciously.

“Don’t be so modest,” he said. “You put this whole show together. Everyone in this town knows you’re special.”

That pretty much was true, Kara thought. Not to brag, but the facts spoke for themselves. She'd been the most popular girl in school even before all this stuff with the concert started.

“The way I figure it, sometimes that light’s already there, inside a person,” Johnny mused.

“What light?” Kara asked.

“The light that makes someone shine like a star. The only difference between the people who make it and those who don’t is doing whatever it takes to make the whole world see that light.”

Kara raised her chin and tossed back her golden hair. “I want to make the whole world see what I’m about.”

“There you go,” Johnny said, his voice once again sounding like music, a perfect, enchanting song that made her feel better about everything. She felt more confident than she had in days. She had done the right thing taking the horn. She knew that now.

Johnny continued, “You’ve got to play to win. And why take the long road around if someone’s pointing out a shortcut?”

Thinking about the karaoke contest, Kara couldn’t have agreed more.

Cool as it was listening to him, being with him, Kara had something more urgent to do. She had to practice for the audition! Luckily, Johnny had to get back to Ravenswood for a round of interviews. She asked to be dropped off near the orchard. She could walk from there.

Johnny signaled to the driver and the limo stopped by the side of the road.

Kara smiled as she hopped out of the car. “Thanks for the ride.”

“Anytime,” Johnny said, rummaging in a bag. “Wait… Here, take this.”

He placed a small locket on a slim gold chain in Kara’s hands.

“I was given this before my first big show. It brought me luck.” He shrugged. “Now you can use it to bring
you
luck.”

“Wow. Thanks.” Kara clutched the locket in her hand. She felt like she could have anything she wanted.

“I thought you might like to have it with you for the first round tonight. Not that I think you’ll need it—I know you’re gonna knock everyone out.”

You’ve never even heard me sing, Kara thought, suddenly horrified. Then she relaxed. After all, she had the unicorn horn; plus, she was learning about spellsinging, her secret weapon. And the locket sealed the deal.

Her sudden confidence must have shown on her face, because Johnny winked at her. Then the limo headed off down the country road.

Kara slipped the locket around her neck. She would wear it forever!

She crossed the orchard to the pedestrian bridge that spanned the Chitakaway River. The oaks and maples were so thick on both sides, she knew no one would see or hear her practicing. The beautiful suspension bridge arced like a web over the waters flowing in the ravine far below. She set off across, feeling the bridge gently sway under her feet. About halfway across, she stopped and looked around. She was alone. Taking a breath, she tried a simple scale.

Kara’s hands flew to her mouth in shock as her voice screeched across the ravine. Whatever happened before wasn’t happening now. She tried three more times, but her singing sounded worse than ever. What was she going to do? How would Johnny react when he heard her voice for the first time and it wasn’t as wonderful as he thought it would be?

Opening her backpack, she took out the horn. She felt the energy already sparking in her hands as she held the horn out in front of her. The magic of the unicorn was just what she needed to jump-start her spell!

Make my voice ring loud and clear

Change how I sing, change what they hear

I’ll be as perfect as can be

Everyone will want to sing like me

Bright magic flashed from the horn, encircling her in twinkling diamond light. She felt the winds kick up, the bridge tremble lightly, then pulse like a backbeat. Johnny’s locket sparkled and her fear melted away into pure anticipation and excitement. Power surged forth from the horn, but this time she was ready.

She opened her mouth and tried again.

Her voice rang out across the river in waves of sonic bliss. She sang perfectly in tune, every word as perfect as she had heard it on the B*Tween song. Tapping her feet to the rhythm, Kara started to dance on the bridge. Arms moving in a tight routine, she felt light as air, dancing in the diamond white glow of unicorn magic.

A dark shadow passed overhead. Kara spun and the bridge swayed. Still in step, she looked up at fluffy white clouds rolling under a blue-domed sky. She continued her singing. No one had a chance against her style. She was
super-
stylin'!

Bump!

The bridge lunged sideways, throwing Kara off balance. Something had knocked into it from underneath. Underneath? She was at least ten stories in the air. She held the rope railing as the bridge settled, and peered over. Far below, the river ran fast, cascading over rocks and sending sprays of water high into the air.

Kara began to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach and slipped the unicorn horn into her backpack. She was about to start for the far side of the bridge when the shadow passed over again. She whipped her head up and squinted against the sun. Something big was flying right toward her. Then she saw familiar golden wings and spotted fur. She let out her breath.

“Geez, Lyra, you scared me half to death!”

The cat angled low over the far side of the bridge and swooped straight at her, coming in fast.