All That Glitters (Avalon: Web of Magic #2) (13 page)

“Angela,” the girl yelled to the back of the shop, “rainbow girl is here!”

A young woman with short blond hair came bustling across the room. “Come on back.” Angela led Kara to a sink and sat her down. “Just relax, we’ll get this water nice and warm,” she said, wrapping a towel around Kara’s neck and turning on the water. “I’ll be just a minute.”

“Okay.” Kara sat with her back to the sink, looking at her rainbow reflections in the mirrors. Her hair was pretty amazing, she had to admit. Maybe I should keep it, she thought with a giggle.

A drop of water hit her in the face.

Kara glanced over into the sink.

“Blazing star,” whispered a familiar high-pitched voice. A tiny liquid figure swirled out of the steamy water. Another Fairimental. It was only inches high, its voice almost lost in the noise of the shop. Kara looked around. No one was paying any attention.

“Are you a Fairimental?” Kara whispered.

“I am water . . .”

Kara could see that the figure was struggling to hold its shape. She felt the great exertion and powerful magic it took for the Fairimental to come here.

“Look, what do I do with this jewel?” Kara asked quickly. “I can’t make it work right.”

“Some things are only yours for a short time,” the watermental gurgled.

Oh no! Had Ozzie been right after all? Maybe she wasn’t the blazing star.

“Beware, the Dark Sorceress is coming . . .”

Kara shuddered. “Is Lyra in danger?”

“She wants
you . . .”

“I don’t understand.” Kara bit her lip. “What does she want from me?”

“Your magic.”

Kara quickly glanced around the shop. Everything seemed normal. No one had noticed her talking to the sink.

“Am I the blazing star?”

But when she looked back, the Fairimental was gone. My magic? The water thingy said
my
magic. Her jewel hung around her neck, pulsing with diamond light.

“You sure you want to bleach this color out?” Angela said, returning to the sink.

Kara covered the jewel with her hands. “Yes.”

Angela adjusted the chair, leaning Kara back over the shiny black sink.

“Never seen anything like it,” Angela admitted, lathering up the hair. Kara forced herself to relax as Angela rinsed out the shampoo and worked in the conditioner. “We need this to set for a few minutes,” she told Kara. “Back in a sec.”

Kara moved her neck into a more comfortable position and felt her jewel warm in her hand.
My
magic. Through half-closed eyes, she gazed at the mirror across from her. Images of the shop flickered on the glass, dim and unreal in the cool, stark light. The glass began to shiver as ripples spread and the surface seemed to fall away. A gossamer spider’s web of lines interlaced and stretched back, reaching to infinity. Cool. Must be reflecting from the toy store across the hall, she thought. A small light moved along the grid, arcing its way toward Kara.

She stared as the spot of light took form, expanding into an image: a magnificent white horse with a long, flowing mane and tail, streaking like a comet across the web. Something flashed. A crystalline horn sparkled on the horse’s forehead—just like the jewel she grasped so tightly in her hand. A unicorn! The majestic creature was something out of a dream—her dream.

Swish, swish . . .

Kara felt cold air rush over her.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t come in here.” The receptionist was trying to keep a ragged old lady from shuffling into the salon. The tattered thing was hunched over, face hidden under a long shawl.

Swish, swish . . .

Kara jerked up. “Oh, no!” This can’t be happening! Not here!

“Please, you have to leave immediately,” the receptionist said to the hunched creature. Outside the doors, Kara saw
another
banshee shambling toward the salon.

She jumped to her feet. “Storm!” she hissed. “Where are you?”

She frantically searched the salon. Where was that stupid wolf when she really needed her!

“Are you all right?”
It took a second for Kara to realize the voice in her head was Lyra’s.

“Lyra! They’re
here!
In the mall! Where are you?” she whispered urgently.

“Nearby.”

Kara moved to the front window, looking for the cat. “You can’t come in here. People will freak out!”

Splat!

A third banshee smashed into the window. Its hideous face pressed to the glass, eyes red from weeping, empty dark openings where its nose and mouth should have been.

Kara leaped back. What do I do? I have to do something!

Her jewel raged like fire against her chest.

Darting past the trio of banshees, Kara ran out of the salon and skidded into the hallway of the mall. In the mirrored wall, her hair was wild, glued together with gobs of drying conditioner and sticking out in all directions. Something moved inside the mirror. The unicorn rose up on his hind legs, shook his mane, and leaped away. Kara ran after him, the banshees shuffling behind.

Kara rushed toward the open circle of the mall’s center hub. Looking over the railing of the atrium from three stories up, she saw the food court spread out below, full of people.

Swish, swish . . .

Swish, swish . . .

Five banshees were closing in from both sides of the hub. She backed into the railing, trapped.

Something darted through the crowd below. An animal, big and spotted like a leopard. Lyra!

“I’m up here!” Kara screamed to the cat.

“Hey, Kara!” someone called.

Kara looked down to see Molly, Tiffany, Heather, Joey, and Marcus at one of the tables.

“Hair looks much better!” Joey called out. They all laughed.

The big cat was headed right down the center of the food court. No, Lyra! You can’t be here!

A wail made Kara turn. A banshee reached for her. Kara screamed, kicking it away.

A terrifying roar split the air. Lyra leaped onto a table, scattering food and drinks. She leaped to another, trying to reach the escalators. Pandemonium erupted as people ran screaming, trying to get out of the way of the ferocious beast.

“Help!”

“A leopard loose in the mall!”

“Call security!”

“Over here!” Kara yelled, waving to Lyra.

Thunder rocked across the atrium as lightning lit the skylights overhead.

Kara whirled—right into the face of another gruesome, grasping banshee. Burning claws sank into Kara’s arm. The jewel flashed searing bright, instantly bathing Kara’s arm in white light. She screamed and tried to twist away, but another banshee was at her back, filling the air with a foul, rancid sewer stink. Kara choked and tried to cover her face. A green hand was clawing at her necklace, trying to rip the silver chain from her neck.

Kara struggled to pull away and grabbed the railing. Below, police officers were entering the food court, walkie-talkies in hand as they rushed through the crowd. The view vanished as Kara lost her footing and went down, slamming into the hard floor. Her breath was knocked from her chest; she couldn’t scream. Banshees clawed at her hair, her clothes, her flesh.

With a roar, Lyra crashed into the banshees, knocking them off Kara. The big cat crouched, teeth bared, growling dangerously at the creatures.

Kara stumbled to her feet. “Help! Help!”

“Up there!” someone yelled.

“The leopard!”

“It’s got Kara!” Molly yelled.

“Oh, Kara!” Tiffany cried in panic.

Police rushed up the escalators. “Don’t make any sudden moves!” they ordered.

Kara turned back. Lyra growled ferociously at the banshees, trying to keep them away. The officers thought the cat was attacking
her!

“We have to get out of here!” she told Lyra urgently.

Lyra hissed.
“Go while I hold them off.”

The cat swiped at the banshees with a massive paw and they stumbled back.

Kara dashed around the circle all the way to the other side of the atrium. Security guards were trying to contain the crowds of curious shoppers below. The police moved cautiously toward the big cat, guns drawn.

“No!”
Kara screamed. “Don’t hurt her!’

Slowly fanning out, officers closed around the cat, trapping her against the balcony railing. Lyra snarled. She was surrounded.

“Kara!”

“Lyra!”

The cat crouched low and snarled. With a roar, she leaped.

The police scattered. One was too slow. Lyra’s huge paws clipped his shoulder, sending him flying backward. A shot rang out, echoing like thunder across the cavernous atrium.

Kara watched in horror as Lyra soared into open air—she was trying to jump from one side of the atrium to another, a space of several hundred feet! The cat wasn’t even halfway across when she lost momentum. She was going to plummet three stories with nothing to break her fall but the hard floor below!

Suddenly two iridescent golden wings fanned open from the cat’s back! Lyra flew across the wide-open space and crashed to the floor by Kara’s feet. The magical wings shimmered, folded closed, and vanished.

Sobbing uncontrollably, Kara buried her face in Lyra’s thick coat.

“We have to move,”
Lyra urged.

Kara looked up to see the astonished police running around the circle toward them. She jerked back sharply. “Oh no!” Her hands were full of blood. Lyra’s blood.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move. The unicorn! It was leaping from mirror to mirror, running toward an emergency exit at the end of the hall.

“I have to get you to Emily!”

Lyra stumbled to her feet and lurched forward. Kara helped the cat stay upright as they staggered down the hall. Reaching the door, Kara slammed into the security bar. The door flew open and a piercing alarm began to wail.

Kara and Lyra tumbled down two flights of steps and burst into another hallway.

“There! That side door!” Kara pointed. She urged Lyra forward, moving down the mirrored hall. Kara looked over her shoulder. No sign of any police. They were going to make it!

Thunder boomed and the lights dimmed. Kara saw herself reflected in the darkened mirror. Suddenly the reflection twisted, her face becoming strange and sneering. It was not her own image at all, but that of an older woman with silver-blond hair and the hypnotic, slitted eyes of an animal.

“I know who you are,” the Dark Sorceress said, her voice smooth as velvet.

Kara was mesmerized. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to run, but she couldn’t move. I know who you are. The message on her computer screen!

“You are right to be afraid.” The animal-woman’s words seemed to float through the air. “The banshees have foretold darkness will befall you.”

“Call them off!” Kara cried. Her own voice sounded desperate to her ears, childish and high.

“Only magic can keep you safe,” the sorceress continued. “But you need to make it truly yours.”

“You mean with this?” Kara held up the jewel.

The sorceress smiled knowingly. “Use it . . . and bring me what I seek.”

“I won’t let you take Lyra!”

“That pathetic beast is useless to me. You know what I want.”

The sorceress jerked her finger upward, and the jewel around Kara’s neck flew into the air. The chain tightened, biting into the back of her neck.

Smiling in triumph, the sorceress pointed.

Kara slowly turned. The unicorn stood in the mirror behind her. His eyes blazed with fury and desperation. The sorceress was hunting the unicorn all along. Yet there he was. Kara’s heart felt like it would break as she realized using the jewel must have summoned him.

“You can take what you want. Or are you too afraid to use the jewel?” The sorceress twisted her hand, pulling the jewel closer, making Kara cry out in pain.

Her feet slid across the floor as she tried to pull away. “Lyra . . .”

The cat lay sprawled on the floor, blood pooling under her belly.

“You do not need anyone.”

“Who are you?” Kara gasped.

“Don’t you recognize me, dear?” the sorceress spoke. So cool, so casual, the words held no threat, no pain, just truth. “I am you.”

Kara’s eyes widened.

“You want magic. I can give it to you.” The sorceress’s eyes blazed, and for the first time Kara tasted the full power of the jewel—it was overwhelming.

The hallway tilted at a dizzying angle. Diamond fire burst up her legs, twisting like snakes around her arms, rocketing into her brain and into the very depths of her heart. Power rushed through her like a tornado threatening to take her off the face of the earth. Stars exploded behind her eyes as magic crackled like lightning across the mirrors.

She couldn’t stop it, she didn’t want to stop it. With this jewel, she could do anything her heart desired and it was all hers!

The Dark Sorceress laughed, her animal eyes blazing.

With a sudden blast of light, Kara was back in the hallway. Breathless, she turned to face the unicorn. The creature was giving his magic to her, fighting to pull her back from the sorceress’s grasp. Kara clung to the unicorn’s magic like a shield. She felt caught between forces she could barely comprehend. But she knew that if she succumbed to the Dark Sorceress, the unicorn would fall with her.

The jewel flared around her neck. “I am not you!” Kara threw her hands in front of her and the power blasted outward, every ounce of it directed at the wicked face in the mirror.

Magic exploded in the hallway, shattering the glass. Shock waves ricocheted like gunfire as silver shards flew everywhere. Kara scarcely noticed as she pulled Lyra to the door.

“Hang on, please!” Kara kicked open the exit door and dragged Lyra into a driveway behind the mall. Black clouds swirled above while a cold, damp wind whipped through the parking lot. Thunder ripped across the sky and rain began to fall.

Kara hunched over Lyra’s fallen body. Rain splattered her face, mixing with her tears. “Help me! Someone help me!”

“I am here,”
a voice said, clean and pure as the rain.

The unicorn stood on the pavement not four feet away. The creature was magnificent: tall, lean, and muscular, with a lustrous white satin hide and long silky mane and tail curling in the wind. A scalloped crystalline horn protruded from its forehead, glistening with faint rainbow colors.