Spellsinger (Avalon: Web of Magic #5) (9 page)

“What’s with you?” Kara slipped her arms into her backpack. She looked up just as Lyra rammed into her, sending Kara flying backward, the wind knocked out of her.

“Lyra!” she sputtered, shaken to the core. “What are you doing?”

Kara tried to get back on her feet but Lyra was too quick. The cat smashed into her back and Kara slammed face-first against the railing. She found herself staring straight down at the rushing river below.

Kara was too astonished to even think. Cold fear rushed up her body as she scrambled back—just as the cat roared and lunged for her again. Sharp claws raked down her side, tearing out patches of suede and silk.

“
Lyra!
” Kara screamed, flailing her arms to keep razor claws from slicing at her neck and face. “Stop it!”

The cat brutally swiped at the girl, sending Kara hurtling toward the other side. The rope caught her stomach, almost flipping her completely over. She clung to the railing, her sweater ripped, a ragged gash down her left leg.

“Please! Lyra, don’t hurt me!” she cried out. Sweeping sweat-streaked hair from her face, she tried to scramble across the bridge. The riverbank was only a few dozen yards away and the path to her house just beyond it.

Lyra landed on the bridge, blocking Kara’s way. The cat crouched, the fur on her flanks upright, her eyes dark with cold fire. Baring razor teeth, the cat advanced.

Tears streaming down her face, Kara searched her friend’s eyes, looking for an answer. “I didn’t mean to lie to you.”

Lyra stared at Kara as if the girl were a hated enemy.

“I took the horn… I’m sorry.” Kara felt as if a hole had opened in her chest where her heart had once been. She watched Lyra snarl viciously as the beast pounced!

Kara instinctively threw her backpack in front of her. Sharp teeth sank into the pack like a vise and diamond fire exploded around the cat’s head. Lyra wailed, shaking her head in pain. The pack tumbled to the ground.

Kara staggered to her feet. The unicorn horn was in her hand, blazing with power.

Feral eyes, flaring bright with hatred, turned to the girl.

“Don’t make me do this!” Kara shrieked. Diamond fire ran up and down her arms, encircling her.

The cat opened her great wings and rose into the air, razor claws fully extended. With a terrifying roar, she attacked.

“
No!
” Kara screamed, forcing every ounce of will into the horn. Magic fire leaped free and crashed into the cat. For a second Lyra was held frozen in the air, seared by intense, burning magic.

Something ripped open inside Kara, a deep, bitter pain, screaming for release. She couldn’t stop it. She strained, trying to pull back the power, but it streamed out of her, slamming into the cat.

For a breathless heartbeat, Kara waited. The wet thud as the cat’s body hit sent spasms of sickness racking through her. She couldn’t breathe. She wished she would faint. She wanted cool blackness to envelop her, to take her away from the nightmare.

Her heart pounded as she stumbled to her feet and raced for the trees beyond the riverbank. Kara strained her muscles until they burned and felt like they might tear apart inside her body.

She burst out of the grove, her heart racing, her breath coming in ragged gasps.

Lyra! What had happened? How could she have been so viciously attacked by the one creature on the planet she trusted most?

And now Lyra was dead—killed by her best friend!

At last she fell into her empty house, her eyes burning, and raced upstairs to her room. All she wanted was to hide forever from the blackness that welled inside, threatening to devour her.

She flung open the door to her bedroom—and froze.

Lyra lay on her bed, amid a pile of stuffed animals and the mad mess of papers and pamphlets for the concert. Her eyes were closed. The cat was
snoring
!

Kara backed away in fear as Lyra’s head lazily rose from the pillow. The cat yawned. “
I feel so strange. It’s not like me to take a catnap.
”

Kara’s back hit the door—and she gasped as she accidentally knocked it shut. “Get away from me!”

Lyra struggled up from the bed, her limbs seemingly heavy with sleep. She looked at Kara with wide, confused eyes. “
Kara, what’s happened to you? You’re hurt!
”

“Just go!” Kara yelled. “Go!”

Lyra bounded from the bed. “
I don’t understand. Did I do something—
”

Kara’s chest rose and fell with terror as she slumped to the rug, hands covering her face. “Get out! I don’t ever want to see you again!”

Lyra sailed past her, giving one last look of worry and hurt before she leaped out the window. Kara slammed the window shut—and locked it.

Then she collapsed on her bed, clutching the locket that had miraculously not been lost at the bridge.

She cried for a very long time.

B
Y THE RUSHING
waters of the river, a second winged cat carefully pulled its broken body onto the damp earth. It shook its head and cried out in pain. Then, in a single fluid movement, the creature changed. Animal limbs extended, bones reshaped and straightened, becoming long, human legs. Gashes healed as claws turned into fingers. Fur retreated into flesh.

Johnny Conrad stood—or the creature that looked like Conrad.

So it was true. The girl wielded the power of a unicorn horn. The Dark Sorceress had warned him it might be here. Considering the forces he had seen Kara unleash on the bridge, there could be little doubt about the girl’s ability to do what was required.

Keep Kara under his spell. Keep her confused enough so she only trusted him—that was the plan. He had only been able to use a subtle spell on the warrior—the girl’s mistwolf was already getting suspicious—but it had been enough. The stunt with Windor took care of that problem. Now he had taken care of the flying cat before the animal could sense the spell on her bonded, but still, the other animals knew he was here. He had to move fast. It was time to drive the final wedge between the warrior and the blazing star.

And when the moment was right, Kara would use her magic to align the portals hidden in the fairy map—and the pathway to Avalon would be revealed.

Spellsinging was the perfect way to control the blazing star’s magic. That book had been meant for Kara alone, but the other mages now knew of it.

Perhaps he could use this to his advantage.

After all, evil wore many faces—and the Skultum could wear any he desired.

E
VENING HAD FALLEN
and Kara had pulled herself together as best she could. She had been lucky; none of the wounds were deep. She bandaged her leg and cleaned the scratches on her arms and sides. She had to tell Emily and Adriane, but she didn’t know what to say. It still made no sense. She hid her feelings from Heather, Tiffany, and Molly, who had dropped by with a triple-cheese pizza to help with the concert preparations. They had no clue that Kara’s world was coming apart at the seams.

Trying to pretend everything was normal, Kara went into overdrive. She made a grand show of flaunting the locket Johnny had given her, regaling her friends with stories of Johnny and his infinite wonder. She was the fearless leader; she pushed away all the confusion she felt by talking non-stop about the details for Saturday’s show, trying her hardest to pretend that her closest friend hadn’t tried to rip her to shreds.

While Kara sorted through a pile of papers, talking about ticket takers, additional parking, concession stands, placement of banners, and a hundred other things, Heather drifted over to the window and ran through a few simple voice exercises.

Kara kept talking until Tiff and Molly shushed her into silence. When Heather was done, they stared at her in shock.

“That was
amazing!
” Tiffany exclaimed.

“You’ve been holding out on us, girl!” Molly applauded.

They’re right, Kara thought. She had never realized how beautiful Heather’s voice was.

“How long have you been singing?” Kara asked, looking away and trying to sound like it was no big deal.

“No big thing,” Heather said modestly, pulling her long red hair back in a ponytail. “You know my mom used to sing, and it gives us something to do together at church.”

“Well, tomorrow you’re singing at the church of Johnny Conrad!” Tiffany quipped.

Heather blushed. “You think I really have a chance?”

Tiffany swiveled her hips and shimmied into a dance step. “
Let me tell you, if I sing it true, get up and start the dance,
” she sang, imitating Johnny.

Molly jumped to her friend’s side and sang the next verse. “
A rock-and-roll rap with some zap, come on now and take a chance.
”

The three girls sang the third verse together
. “No matter what you do it's your life, you're you.
”

They circled Kara and pushed her between them. “
So come on and take a chance and dance!
”

“
Dance, dance, dance! Take a chance and dance!
” They chanted, hopping and dancing around the room.

“Cut it out!” Kara said, annoyed. She couldn’t help thinking of the way she and Lyra had played together in the same way just the other morning.

“Oh, Johnny!” Molly, Tiffany, and Heather collapsed on the bed in a giggle fit, sending pizza remains flying everywhere.

Only Kara wasn’t laughing.

Watching them, Kara felt a sudden flash of jealousy. Heather had natural talent. She could really sing while Kara had to resort to magic. She had borrowed, no—let's get real—
stolen
the unicorn horn.

It was wrong! Or was it…?

She clutched Johnny’s pendant and felt it sparkle with her magic.

I don’t care if Heather is better than me, Kara thought. She doesn’t want it as much as I do. She doesn’t deserve it like I do…

“C’mon, Heather,” Molly squealed. “Sing ‘Supernatural High,’ B*Tween’s song.”

Come on, Heather, Kara mimicked Molly in her mind.

Heather started singing.

I’m in my moon phase, my pink days

When everything is okay

I am beautiful, invincible

Perfectly impossible

Kara wished the girl would stop. That was
her
special song. The one she sang with Lyra!

Tiff and Molly barely seemed to notice Kara’s distress.

Kara cleared her throat. “
I’m
going over to see Johnny rehearse tomorrow, and then we’re doing a radio interview, then Johnny and me, we’re gonna—”

Kara had to stop talking as Heather nailed another perfect note.

I can’t take anymore, Kara thought. Turning away, her hands over her ears, she shouted, “Heather, will you please stop that noise? It’s making me sick!”

Heather stared at Kara in shock. Tiffany and Molly also fell silent.

“Noise?” Heather asked, clearly upset.

“Sick?” Tiffany said, springing to her feet and facing Kara. “I’ll tell you what’s sickening! Hearing you go on and on about how tight you are with Johnny!”

“
Noise
is all the hot air that’s been coming out of you ever since this whole concert thing started!” Molly added.

“This concert thing,” Kara repeated, rolling her eyes. “It’s
only
to save Ravenswood! Geez. You're all involved in that.”

“For you,” Molly said in a low, soft voice, shaking her head of short dark hair.

“Yeah,” Tiffany said. “My dad says it’s no big deal if those animals get shipped off to a zoo or a
professionally
run preserve. It might even be better for them.”

“And sometimes it can be a little scary, giving tours with that wolf and that big cat wandering around,” Heather noted.

Kara stiffened. “Fine!” she yelled, scattering the entire pile of papers against the wall with a wide swing of her hand. She couldn’t bear to think about the way Lyra had attacked her today. She could still smell the sweet scent of the cat in her room—and she burst into tears.

“Kara, are you all right?” Molly asked.

Kara gave a sharp nod, quickly wiping her eyes. “If you three have better things to do, then don’t let me stop you.”