Circles in the Stream (Avalon: Web of Magic #1) (9 page)

“Look, there’s the Rocking Stone!” Emily pointed to where the jagged peak rose above the trees in the distance.

Adriane pulled the map from her backpack and studied it. “We can pick up the trail on the other side.”

They started across the open field. The tall grass brushed against their legs. The air smelled sweet as soft particles blew around them.

“Hey! Look at you—you’re sparkling!” Adriane said.

Emily looked down at her arms and saw that they were, indeed, sparkling. Her legs looked like they were covered in tiny glittering lights. Then she saw them. “It’s the rainbow flowers!” she exclaimed. All through the grassy expanse, they were sending tiny bursts of color into the air.

“That is
so
cool!” Adriane exclaimed, spinning around like a dancer.

“Your hair is all sparkly,” Emily laughed. Rainbow twinkles were catching on Adriane’s long, dark hair.

Ozzie hopped out of Emily’s pack and started nosing around in the flowers. “Magic seeds. This is good, very good.”

“What are you talking about, Jack?” Adriane asked him, grinning. “They’re going to grow into beanstalks?”

“Jack?” Ozzie looked around. Then he nosed a flower again. “Can’t you feel it? It’s fairy magic!”

“These flowers were all over that glade,” Emily said. “Right before…” Her voice trailed off. “Where’s Storm?”

“Off somewhere. She has a mind of her own.” Adriane was crouched low, studying something in the dirt. “There are animals around here somewhere,” she announced.

“What did you find?” Ozzie nosed his way over to look. “BLAH! That’s disgusting!”

“Quiet, Alice, it’s just animal droppings.”

There was a rustling in the grass. The three turned together. A jeeran was standing there watching them, not fifteen yards away. Soft green-striped fur rustled as it breathed. Big purple eyes blinked at the girls.

“Wow. I’ve never seen anything like that,” Emily whispered.

“It’s so amazing. What do we do? Like, hello we come in peace?” asked Adriane.

“Might work,” Emily replied.

Emily started walking slowly towards the animal. The jeeran tensed but stood still as Emily approached. It stood as high as Emily’s nose. She stepped closer, hand reaching out. Ever so slowly, her finger made contact with the animal’s forehead and it blinked its eyes, pulling its head back to sniff her fingers. Emily smiled and ran her hand over the animal’s mane. The fur felt so soft and silky. Emily broke out in a grin. She turned to face the others.

“It likes me.”

Bang!

The sound of gunfire split the air. Ozzie screamed. The jeeran bolted.

“Guns!” Emily exclaimed. “Someone’s shooting!”

“Over that hill!” Adriane pointed.

Ozzie dived into Emily’s backpack. “They don’t hunt ferrets in this world, do they?” he squeaked.

“They shouldn’t be hunting here at all!” Adriane exclaimed angrily. She ran up the hill. Emily and Ozzie followed.

On the other side of the hill, three hunters were creeping across the grass. One of the men had his rifle raised. The other two were holding a huge net between them. They were moving slowly toward the most bizarre creature Emily had ever seen.

“What the—!” Ozzie scampered to Emily’s shoulder to get a better look.

“Is
that
the monster?” Adriane asked.

“That’s no monster!” Ozzie exclaimed. “I’d recognize that purple furball anywhere!”

As they watched, the hunters crept slowly toward the huge creature, but unlike other animals, this one didn’t seem to have a sense of danger. It didn’t move. It just sat.

Ozzie was getting more agitated. “That’s Phelonius!” He dug his claws into Emily’s scalp.

“Ouch! Calm down, Ozzie!” Emily pulled him off her head.

“We’ve got to help him!” Ozzie wriggled out of her arms and leaped to the ground.

The men were shaking their heads and gesturing toward each other. Then the man with the rifle pointed it at the sky.
Bang!
The creature still didn’t move. The man lowered his gun and moved forward slowly.

“We can’t let them capture Phel!” Ozzie insisted.

Emily looked at Adriane.

“I don’t know, it’s a talking ferret, maybe they’re all crazy,” Adriane offered.

“It’s a creature of magic!” Ozzie yelled

“And it’s not dangerous?” Adriane asked.

“Nooo!” Ozzie was very frazzled. “You've got to do something!” he urged the girls.

Emily nodded her head at Adriane. “All right.”

Adriane straightened her shoulders. “Okay, I’ll distract those hunters, while you and Alice see if you can move that…thing…out of here.”

“Be careful,” Emily said, crouching low in the tall grass.

“You, too.” Adriane took a deep breath and confidently walked down the hill. “Hey!”

Startled, all three hunters whirled to face her.

“It’s a kid!” one of them said. “Go on home, it’s not safe around here.”

Undaunted, Adriane continued until she was right next to them. “This is a wildlife preserve,” she said. “Didn’t you see the signs? They say ‘No hunting.’”

“Who are you?” the rifle-holder asked.

“I’m Adriane Charday. I live at Ravenswood Manor.”

“We don’t have to listen to a kid,” one of the net-holding men said.

Their backs were to the creature—and to Emily. She seized the moment. “Let’s go,” she said to Ozzie. She dashed into the field and skidded to a stop right in front of the purple giant. Ozzie was running so fast he hit the creature’s belly and bounced back off. The thing was enormous, easily eight feet tall. It sat motionless in the grass, surrounded by a ring of rainbow puff flowers. Deep purple fur shimmered in the sunlight. Emily stared in wonder. It looked sort of like a cross between a great bear and Humpty Dumpty. Its giant eyes were shut. A think line for a mouth ran across its face and it had no neck. Ozzie scrambled up the huge beast and looked into its face. “Phelonius! It’s me! Ozymandius!”

The creature just sat, eyes closed, still as a statue.

“Maybe he’s been tranquilized,” Emily whispered.

“No, no,” the ferret said quickly. “He can’t be tranquilized. That’s absurd!”

“You have no right bringing rifles onto private property!” Adriane yelled in the distance.

“This preserve has no right harboring killer grizzlies,” one of the men countered.

“That’s no grizzly! It’s a rare… um, panda from China… and it’s worth a million dollars! If anything happens to it, you’d be responsible!”

“I don’t care what it is, we’re bringing it in!” the hunter threatened.

Emily studied the creature. She felt oddly drawn to him. She realized she should probably be scared—but she wasn’t. She ran her hand over his smooth fur and felt a wave of calm wash over her. Light caught her eye, and she looked down to see her gem pulse a soft aqua blue. She took a deep breath.

“What are you?” she asked.

“He’s a fairy creature.” Ozzie had resorted to kicking the giant. “Wake up, you big thing!”

Looking past the creature, Emily saw that the field fell away into a shallow gully. “Maybe we can roll him down into that gully.” She placed her hands on the creature and pushed. “Come on, Ozzie, help me!”

The creature put up no resistance as he started to tilt over. Despite his girth, he felt as light as air.

“What?” Ozzie cried. “That’s ridiculous, you can’t roll—aaaahhhhh!”

In a cloud of rainbow dust, the giant furball starting rolling down the hill, the shrieking ferret hanging on.

“What was that?” asked one of the hunters.

“If you harm that panda, you’re all going to be in big trouble!” Adriane yelled.

“Get out of our way!”

The huge creature rolled to a stop in the gully, sitting upright. Keeping her head down, Emily quickly crawled back to peer across the field. She saw the man with the rifle start to shove past Adriane.

Suddenly he stopped. “Hey, where did it go?”

Watching Adriane point to the trees in the direction opposite the gully, Emily noticed an opalescent glow at her friend’s wrist. The section of woods that Adriane was pointing to rustled and shook, as if disturbed by something passing through.

“Look over there!” a hunter cried. “It’s in those trees!”

The hunter with the rifle moved off in the direction of the sounds. “Come on!”

For a moment, Adriane looked stunned. Then she seemed to collect herself and yelled after them. “And stay off this property!”

T
HE ENORMOUS CREATURE
sat like a giant Buddha, unaffected by anything that had happened.

Adriane came sliding into the gully. “That was
so
weird!” she exclaimed breathlessly.

“How did you do that?” Emily asked, wide eyed.

“I don’t know,” Adriane said slowly. “I was so focused on doing something to distract the hunters. Then I saw the trees and reached for them …it was intense, it felt like I was pushing through water.”

“I saw your stone glow,” Emily said.

Adriane glanced at her bracelet. The paw shaped stone looked perfectly normal. “I pushed harder, in my head, and my stone flashed and then the trees across the field started to shake and move!”

Emily peered at her own gemstone. “Do you think these are really magic stones?”

“Memerrmeemee!”

Adriane looked around. “Where’s Alice?”

“Ozzie!” Emily stood up quickly. “Where are you?”

“MmurrRRMMppphh!”

Emily circled the purple creature. “Ozzie?”

“Mm hmm…!”

She put her hands on the giant. His fur felt warm and soft. “Help me move him.”

Adriane got up and pushed alongside Emily. Two gigantic eyes opened and blinked. They were deep reservoirs of calm and gentleness. He blinked again.

“Please, could you move just a little?” Emily tried. “Our friend seems to be caught under you.”

The purple giant seemed to search Emily’s face. She felt overwhelmed by a sadness so deep that tears welled in her eyes. But the feeling passed in a flash and her hands fell away from the creature’s side as he lumbered to his feet.

“Gah!” Ozzie sputtered.

Emily reached down to peel Ozzie off the ground. “Are you all right?”

“No! I’m all flattened out!” The ferret shook dust off himself and kicked the big creature. “What are you trying to do, squish me?”

The huge beast just blinked down at Ozzie. Then silently, he turned and started to walk away.

“Hey, come back here!” Ozzie yelled. He ran and grabbed hold of the creature’s leg, then scampered all the way up to his shoulder.

“We’d better follow him until we’re sure those hunters are really gone,” Emily said.

The girls ran to catch up as the purple giant entered the woods. He moved silently forward as if gliding on air, trailing a colorful wake of rainbow flowers behind him.

“So that’s where the flowers are coming from!” Emily exclaimed.

“Phelonious, am I glad to see you! I thought I was sent to the wrong place!” Ozzie gestured wildly with his arms as he chattered into the great beast’s ear. “I ended up in this strange body— what were those Fairimentals thinking? Look, I’m a weasel!!!” he wailed.

A flash of color moved through the trees behind them. Emily grabbed Adriane’s arm. “Did you see that?”

“See what?” Adriane stopped to look. In the stillness, they heard rustling and the patter of hoofbeats. Suddenly a herd of jeeran burst through the brush, bounding through the trees.

Adriane whirled around. “Look, there’s more!”

Behind the jeeran, a group of strange duck-like birds appeared. They were goofy-looking, with silver bills and webbed feet too big for their bodies. One of them waddled right up to Emily. It cocked its head up at her, but made no threatening moves.

“Hello,” Emily said.

“Hello yourself,” it responded. It spoke out loud, its rubbery beak moving weirdly to shape the words. “Are you a mage?”

“Mage? No, I’m a girl.”

“A warlock, then?” it persisted.

“We’re not warlocks,” Adriane said.

The creature thought for a moment. “All right then.” It waddled past them, herding the others along the trail of rainbow flowers left behind by the purple giant Ozzie called Phelonius.

Following the parade of animals, the girls made their way around a mass of dense thickets. Phelonius was entering the natural archway that led to the Rocking Stone.

“This is it!” Adriane exclaimed. “The glade must be on the other side!”

Emily hung back, suddenly overwhelmed by the reality of being back here again.

“C’mon!” Adriane called.

Reluctantly Emily followed, hoping the glade really
was
there. They skirted the immense boulder—and stopped.

“Wow.” Adriane stopped, awestruck. “This is amazing!”

The glade was just as awesome as Emily remembered. The slender boughs of the weeping willows touched the pond, sending cascading ripples through the water’s reflection of the sky. The ground was a flower-carpet of rainbow colors. Sparkling sunlight glinted off the turquoise wing of a bird perched on the arching bridge.

“Wow…” Adriane breathed, looking around. “I can’t believe this was here and I never knew it.”

Phelonius was settling his great bulk beside an enormous tree. Stormbringer padded out from the far trees and walked over to him, lowering her head, her ears, and her tail in a wolfish bow. Emily caught brief glimpses of animals huddled together.