Secret of the Unicorn (Avalon: Web of Magic #4) (10 page)

The other girls exchanged a glance. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Adriane said.

“She’s right,” Kara agreed. “It sounds like that non-unicorn of yours is pretty dangerous. What if it’s the evil something Zach warned us about?”

“Evil?” Emily echoed in surprise. “Lorelei isn’t evil.”

Adriane ducked as two dragonflies swooped past, inches from her head, furiously trying to spin tiny pink dreamcatchers. “Well, knocking down trees and throwing around boulders doesn’t exactly sound good to me.”

“Lorelei didn’t mean to do all that.” Emily couldn’t believe how her friends were reacting. They hadn’t even been there! She whirled toward the mistwolf. “Storm, tell them!”

Storm met her gaze steadily. “
The creature has very strong magic
,” she said. “
So
strong that she seems unable to control it. That counts as dangerous
.”

Glancing over her shoulder, Emily saw Ghyll hopping over to them. Ozzie was strolling next to the flobbin.

“Hey, Ozzie,” Kara said, staring curiously at the giant froglike creature. “Who’s your new friend?”

Emily realized that Kara must not have seen Ghyll the day before. She was about to explain.

But before she could say a word, Ghyll suddenly straightened up, his bulging eyes seeming to expand to twice their usual size. His warty blue skin glowed as his mouth opened in astonishment, purple tongue rolling onto the ground. “Well, hello there!” he cried out, leaping forward so eagerly Ozzie went flying.

“Hey!” the ferret cried. “Watch it!”

Ghyll didn’t even seem to hear him. His gaze was pinned on Kara. He hopped up to her and stopped. “Most beautiful of creatures,” he said breathlessly. “I am Ghyll, your most humble and adoring servant.”

“Hey. Not so close.” Kara brushed her blond hair back from her face, dislodging a stray spaghetti noodle as she did so. “I’m Kara Davies,
the
most beautiful of creatures.”

“What ravishing beauty!” Ghyll hopped closer still, gazing at Kara adoringly. “Would you honor me with a kiss?”

Kara wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think so,” she said, taking a step backward. “I’m on a break.”

Ghyll leaned forward eagerly. His bulging eyes were level with Kara’s forehead. “Just one little kiss—to turn me into a handsome prince!”

He puckered his wide, rubbery lips and closed his eyes. Lyra stood up, her fur bristling, pushing her way between the flobbin and the girl.

“She said no,”
the cat growled.

Lyra jumped as Ghyll planted a slobbery kiss right between her eyes. “
Bleeccch!”

“Hey!” The flobbin’s eyes flew open. “What’s the big idea?”

Ozzie rolled on the ground, laughing. Even Storm looked amused.

“Is this frog for real?” Kara asked.

“He’s a flobbin,” Ozzie explained.

“Listen up, flubber, you’ve been reading too many fairy tales,” Kara said. “I don’t do magic kisses.”

Kara took a few steps away from Ghyll as Lyra glared at the flobbin suspiciously. “Maybe the unicorn is a flipper, too—”

“Unicorn?” Ghyll broke in. “Is there a unicorn here?”

“No,” Kara and Adriane replied at the same time Emily said, “Yes. Maybe.”

“
There is a magical creature on the loose
,” Storm explained to the flobbin. “
Horse-like, but with no horn
.”

“Ah.” Ghyll blinked his bulbous eyes. “No horn means no unicorn, right? It’s probably an eqqtar—a wild Aldenmor pony.” He glanced at Emily. “You should be careful,” he added. “Eqqtari can be unpredictable at the best of times. And if this one’s
pretending
to be a unicorn, well, who knows what it could be up to? You really ought to stay away from it. Far away.”

Emily was about to respond when five despondent dragonflies plopped to the ground at her feet. “Uh-oh,” she said, bending to pick up Barney. “I guess the shoelace thing isn’t working either, huh?”

The dragonflies squeaked helplessly, sparks shooting out in all directions, and popped out of sight.

Adriane turned to Kara. “So what do we try next?”

Kara glanced at her pink-strapped watch. “Nothing, for now,” she said. “We have a tour in, like, ten minutes.” As part of their agreement with the town council, the girls had agreed to lead public tours of the Ravenswood Preserve on the weekends. Tourists could see exotic animals, just not the magical ones.

“I will come, too,” Ghyll said eagerly. “I want to help you, beautiful princess of Earth. I will earn your love and gratitude.”

“Fine,” Kara said. “Go stand over there and hide.” She pointed to a spot all the way across the field. “Forever.”

“Your wish is my command!” Ghyll hopped away quickly.

Ozzie shook his head. “I’ll make sure he stays out of the way,” he murmured, scurrying after Ghyll.

“You guys probably don’t need me for the tour, right?” Emily said to the other girls.

Adriane and Kara stared at her.

Emily shrugged stubbornly. “Whatever Lorelei is, she needs help. I’m not just going to abandon her.”

“Just be careful,” Adriane said.

“Okay.”

“Storm and Lyra will check on you once the tour’s finished.”

Emily nodded as Kara and Adriane hurried toward the path leading back to the manor.

Soon the field was empty except for Emily. She bent over to pick up her backpack. The top flap was half open, and she noticed something sticking out. Huh?

She reached in and pulled out her flute. How had that gotten in there? She had taken it out to practice for the band tryout, but she always put it back in its case when she was done. Didn’t she? She must have stuck it in her backpack without thinking.

“Oh well,” she muttered aloud. She slung the backpack over her shoulder and walked into the woods, holding the flute in her hand. The smooth, cool metal felt somehow comforting, reassuring.

An hour later she stood at a crossroads in the trail, feeling stupid. What was she doing? She couldn’t even
find
Lorelei, let alone help her. Meanwhile, her friends were stuck doing her share of things—not just the easy things, like leading tours of Ravenswood, but really important things, like trying to replace the dreamcatcher.

Glancing down at her jewel, she saw that it was cold and dark. If she didn’t know better, she would think it was just a pretty hunk of lifeless rock.

Still, she kept walking.

Somewhere nearby, a twig cracked loudly. Emily glanced toward the sound.

And there was Lorelei just ahead of her, coat swirling with colors that changed so fast Emily couldn’t keep track.

Emily gasped. “I—I thought you wouldn’t come,” she blurted.

The creature jumped, startled by her voice. Backing away, she gazed at Emily suspiciously.

“No, wait!” Emily had an idea. Putting the flute to her lips, she played a few bars of her song. Lorelei cocked her head, her expression wavering between interest and wariness.

Emily kept playing. A moment later, a humming sound filled the air around her. She tensed, expecting it to explode into that horrible, jarring noise she had heard before. But this time Lorelei’s “singing” was clear and pure, her sweet voice wrapping around Emily’s notes and carrying them, expanding them into something perfect and whole and—magical.

Lorelei approached Emily and knelt down before her. Holding her breath, Emily slowly lowered the flute. She moved close, hand outstretched and touched Lorelei’s head, combing through the silky mane with her fingers. Lorelei closed her eyes. Emily ran her hand down the creature’s neck and back up over her head—and stopped. There was a small nub, like a slightly protruding bone, in the middle of Lorelei’s forehead.

“What’s this?” Emily asked, feeling the bump. Lorelei crooned softly.

Images flooded Emily’s mind. Twinkling stars, spread out in a pattern, like a city seen from a nighttime flight. Circles of light, steady and beautiful.

Emily tried to send a few images of her own. Questions. What was she seeing? What was Lorelei trying to tell her? What had happened to her?

Lorelei’s music grew hurried, almost frantic. The sounds were becoming different, darker. Anguished. Almost violent—

Crash!

A giant tree branch fell to the ground at Emily’s feet. Startled, she jumped back, swinging her flute through the air—

A glint of steel, a horrible blade cutting into bone—

Lorelei’s voice erupted into a jumble of screeching, painful noise. She reared up, looking at Emily, eyes wide in terror.

“Wait!” Emily gasped. “It was an accident. Don’t go!”

Too late. With one last burst of noise, Lorelei vanished.

“O
VER HERE! HE
totally looked at me. He’s just the cutest guy on the entire football team. I should so play ‘We Will Rock You,’ that’s the first song I learned on flute. I’m going to do that for my solo, don’t you think?”

Emily sighed, not bothering to answer. She knew the girl next to her wouldn’t even notice. The band audition had been easy, since Emily could read music and had her own flute. That was about it. And now here she was, actually at the afternoon football game against Evanston High, sitting next to a chatterbox named Rae.

Slumping in her seat, she rested her chin on her hand and glanced out at the football field, where the players from both teams were huddling. What had possessed her to join the band anyway? It was just one more thing keeping her away from Ravenswood—and Lorelei. Not to mention her chores at the Pet Palace.

Thinking about the fight with her mother, she got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. When she’d arrived home last night, her mother had acted as if nothing had happened, and Emily had not brought it up, either. The two had pretty much avoided each other as much as possible all evening. This morning, Carolyn had left for the clinic by the time Emily had come down to breakfast.

Maybe that’s the best way, she thought uncertainly. We should both just forget about what happened.

Pop!

Emily jumped, startled by the sound. She looked around frantically for any unidentified flying dragonflies.

Rae was staring at her from behind a huge bubble. She sucked it back into her mouth, then popped her gum noisily.

“Ravenswood has been there, like, forever,” Rae chattered away. “Kinda too bad it’ll all be gone soon.”

“Ravenswood isn’t going anywhere,” Emily said firmly.

“My aunt says it’s practically a done deal,” Rae said in her loud, slightly nasal voice.

“Your aunt?” Turning to look directly at the other girl for the first time, Emily narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

Rae gazed back. The crisp autumn breeze lifted a loose strand of brown hair and blew it across her cheek. For the first time, Emily noticed that the other girl’s face looked strangely familiar. Who else had those beady eyes, those broad, flat cheekbones, and that pointed nose?

“My Aunt Bea. She’s right over there.”

Emily looked where Rae was pointing. Mrs. Windor was sitting in the wooden bleachers directly across from the band, her thin frame wedged firmly between Mayor Davies and his wife.

“Mrs. Windor is your aunt?” Emily asked through clenched teeth.

“Uh-huh.” Rae didn’t even seem to notice Emily’s dismay. “Aunt Bea told my mom a golf course is just what Stonehill needs, not an animal preserve.” Leaning into Emily, she whispered, “You know the animals there are dangerous.”

Emily knew that she should just ignore Rae. She knew all too well what Mrs. Windor thought about Ravenswood. Still, she felt anger bubbling up from deep inside her, hot and frantic. How dare Mrs. Windor decide what was best for the town? How dare she try to undo all their hard work, belittle Ravenswood’s long history, and displace all those innocent animals?

Her gaze wandered to the field again, searching for the cheerleaders. Kara was standing in formation with the rest of the squad, watching the play on the field. Just behind the cheerleaders, Emily spotted Molly, Heather, and Tiffany. Sitting near them, but obviously not
with
them, was an unhappy-looking Adriane. Emily felt bad. She knew Adriane hated these school games. She shouldn’t have asked Adriane to come hear her play. But Adriane
was
here, and Emily wondered if she should try to send her a magical message about what Rae had just said.