All's Fairy in Love and War (Avalon: Web of Magic #8)

by Rachel Roberts

  “Who invited you here?” the first creature sneered, fanged smile shining wickedly.

  “I did.” The Forest Prince materialized from the crowd, smiling. His silver sword glittered dangerously in its sheath.

  The creatures snarled, but stepped back.

  The masked boy bowed. “My lady, would you do me the honor of a dance?”

  “Totally,” Kara breathed, grabbing his outstretched hand.

  He led her onto the crowded dance floor, where disguised creatures of all shapes and sizes whirled, spinning and dancing among the flashing lights.

  “Friends of yours?” Kara asked.

  “Bulwoggles,” the Forest Prince said, moving to the thudding beat.

  “Those are some charming fairies.” Kara swirled, checking out the crowd.

  “They’re not fairy. They’re creatures that feed on darker magic, like werebeasts or demons.”

  “What do they want?” Kara asked.

  “What do you think?” He nodded at the silver necklace around Kara’s neck. “Ever since the web went wild, more and more creatures have come here searching for magic. They’re the bad guys, not me.”

  “Everyone seems to think you steal magic, too.” Kara glared.

  “A lot of stuff gets blamed on me. That’s okay, as long as I can help those who need magic most.”

  “So, sometimes bad is good, huh,” Kara commented.

  Goldie was frolicking in milky moonbeams, somersaulting with a small flying bear-like creature wearing a tutu and a pirate hat.

  “Goldie’s made a new friend,” Kara said, watching the pair chattering up a storm.

  “That’s Spinnel, an evolved form of fairy dragon,” the boy explained.

  Kara regarded the strange assortment of creatures. It felt like they were all eyeing her, checking her out. It gave her the creeps. “Your note said I could help Lyra,” she said anxiously. “Where is she?”

  “Castle Garthwyn,” he said, spinning away. “But I really brought you here to convince you to go after the fire stallion.”

  “Ride it yourself,” Kara said, annoyed. Had he lured her here just for her magic? No way was Kara Davies putting up with that!

  “This is a rough crowd, don’t go wander—Princess?” The Forest Prince stopped in mid turn, looking around. “Wait.” He ran to her side, grabbing hold of her arm. “It’s the only way to help Lyra.”

  Kara stopped short, cheeks flushed with anger, acutely aware of his fingers on her arm.

  “She’s at the goblin castle being treated by Tangoo,” he said quickly, removing his hand. “But I don’t trust him.”

  “Why should I trust you?” Kara asked suspiciously.

  Green eyes shone from behind the black mask as he stared deep into Kara’s eyes. “You are the blazing star. You defeated the Dark Sorceress.”

  Kara went rigid.

  “But now she’s now working with a dark fairy creature. An elemental magic master, the Spider Witch.”

  Fear inched along Kara’s spine. How much did he know about her real connection to the Dark Sorceress?

  “I think they’re working to escape the Otherworlds,” he told her.

  “And you know this how?”

  “I work with the Fairy Underground, a secret group organized to fight them. According to our information, something big is going down. Mirrors have been popping up all over the place, strange creatures roam the lands, and magic is in very short supply.” He looked around and continued. “The Spider Witch had one of the power crystals, but foolishly used it to try and capture a herd of young unicorns.”

  “My friends and I stopped them,” Kara said.

  “Yes, you did.” The boy’s eyes twinkled in admiration. “Now they seek the crystal of the Fairy Realms. You have to find it first.”

  “The only thing I want,” Kara said hotly, “is to help Lyra!”

  The Forest Prince continued as if Kara hadn’t spoken. “Rumor has it, the Spider Witch is going to attempt to reweave the web. Starting with the Fairy Realms.”

  “Is that even possible?” Kara couldn’t picture it.

  “The power crystals are the keys to Avalon itself. I’m not willing to take that risk, are you?”

  Kara gulped. She had failed to ride the fire stallion. How was she supposed to find the crystal all by herself, with only Goldie to help her?

  “We have to keep moving,” the boy said, scanning a suspicious group that was pushing through the crowds. Kara recognized the yellow silted eyes of bulwoggles as they locked on hers.

  “We must leave before the stroke of midnight,” he said worriedly, trying to find the exit.

  “What happens at midnight, you turn into a pumpkin?” she quipped, then gulped. The bulwoggles were making their way right toward them. “What now, mystery man?”

  The largest bulwoggle pushed masked dancers aside and stomped toward her. But before it had taken two steps, a red and green striped bunny-like creature with dragon-wings flew in graceful figure eights. Glimmering circles on the creature’s body shimmered like a collection of magic gems.

  “Out of my way, Elfan,” the bulwoggle snarled.

  “Let’s bulwoogie!” Elfan grabbed the bulwoggle and started dancing away.

  The other bulwoggles closed in, grinning fiercely.

  Suddenly loud chimes echoed across the glade.

  “We’re too late!” the boy’s voice held an edge of desperation.

  “Fairies, trolls, and hobnobblers!” a voice broke over the speaker system. “Amaze your friends, shock your date, it’s time to take off your masks and reveal your true identities!”

  “I see.” Kara smiled wickedly. “What’s your rush?”

  “On my count…” The DJ continued.

  Giggles of excitement ran through the rave as the crowd eagerly prepared to take off their masks.

  “… one, two, go!”

  Masks flew high in the air as dwarves, sprites, gnomes, and dozens of other fairy creatures revealed their own grinning faces.

  “It’s not much of a surprise any more,” Kara said, taking off her elaborate peacock mask, blinking ice blue eyes at the boy.

  The Forest Prince gasped. “Only a fool would not be stunned each time he beheld your beauty.”

  Kara blushed. “Stop stalling. Your turn,” she ordered.

  He leaned in close and smiled.

  Kara reached up and untied the black silk mask. His sharp green eyes twinkled as she pulled it away.

  “Hey!” she exclaimed.

  He was wearing another black mask, exactly the same, underneath it.

  Kara looked to Goldie, widening her blue eyes. The d-fly immediately understood Kara’s thoughts and casually flew by the Forest Prince’s shoulder. With one swift flap of her wing, Goldie snagged the second mask and ripped it off.

  “You!” Kara gasped.

  “You!” the bulwoggle sneered, towering over Kara.

  “You!” Goldie squealed at the flying bunny.

  “Hello.” The bunny smiled.

  The boy snatched the mask and turned away, quickly tying it around his face again.

  It was the Goblin Prince, Lorren! But the handsome boy looked nothing like the primly dressed goblin she’d seen earlier that day in the Fairy Ring. ‘Cept they both were green.

  “What is going on?” Kara began, wondering what game Lorren was trying to play.

  The bulwoggle chuckled, eyes flashing eagerly as it reached for Kara. The others appeared behind her, separating her from Lorren.

  “Unhand that princess!” Lorren grabbed the bulwoggle and spun it around.

  Razor teeth flashed as the creature roared, taking a swipe at the boy with a massive fist.

  Lorren easily dodged the blow. He turned, giving the creature a kick in the rear, sending it flying. But the others were on him, locking his arms behind his back. The first bulwoggle towered over the boy, ready to rip his head off.

  “Let him go!” Kara commanded.

  Lorren and the bulwoggles stopped.r />
  The blazing star stood, arm raised. In her hand, the diamond-white unicorn jewel pulsed with power.

  Lorren groaned. “Oh, great.”

  The bulwoggles’ eyes flashed with hunger.

  Kara held her gem with trembling fingers. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, she thought, surveying the mass of magic starved creatures around her.

  “It’s only a girl,” the bulwoggle taunted.

  Kara felt the hot rush of power flowing through her as the jewel erupted with blazing white magic. The bulwoggle howled as its angry companions dove out of the way.

  “Kaaraaa!” Goldie’s claws dug into her shoulder.

  The d-fly’s voice snapped Kara back to reality. She had to get control of her magic before she lost herself completely in the brilliance of her own power. Screaming with the effort, she wrenched the magic back.

  The crowd of costumed creatures stared at her in shocked silence.

  A cluster of fairies zipped above her head, forming a bright blue spotlight. Her jewel pulsed, draping her in shards of sparkling diamond magic.

  “She’s got a jewel!”

  “A unicorn jewel!”

  “It’s the blazing star!” squeaked a pixie, hopping so excitedly her pickle costume fell off.

  Costumed creatures shoved and pushed each other, everyone trying to nose in and get a good look at Kara and her magic. The Forest Prince began ushering her to the door. A riot was about to break out.

  “Take a picture!” Kara cried, holding up the sparking gem. “It’ll last longer!”

  Jagged lighting split the skies over the isle as clouds swirled. A gust of wind howled through the rave. Discarded masks skittered across the dance floor and fairy lanterns bobbed in midair.

  Something flew from the clouds, spinning like a whirlpool. It glided down, skimming over the heads of the crowd. Partygoers yelled and cheered. The swirling light came to a stop and landed right in front of Kara, expanding as it spun in rainbow spirals. This was no light show. It was a portal.

  “Kara!” Emily’s voice echoed through the portal. “Can you hear me?”

  “Emily!”

  “Jump through,” Emily screamed.

  The portal followed Kara as she turned and moved away.

  “Not without Lyra!” Kara yelled, backing away from the snarling bulwoggles.

  “This might be your only chance,” the healer’s voice echoed desperately. “Tweek doesn’t know if it will open again!”

  “Give me the magic!” the bulwoggle leader roared, his crazed eyes locked on Kara’s jewel.

  “Stay away from me!” Kara shrieked.

  “What?” Emily asked, startled.

  “Not you, the bulwoggle!”

  “Bulwoggle?!” Ozzie screamed from the other side of the portal.

  The bulwoggle lunged, huge muscled arms outstretched.

  “Stay back,” Lorren yelled. Sword in hand, he took on all three bulwoggles, trying to keep them away from Kara.

  Something rattled in Kara’s purse.

  “I gotta go. I have a situation.”

  The bag burst open and Mirabelle flew out. “I couldn’t stay away, let me reflect your radiant beauty—arkq!”

  A giant clawed hand swiped at the clamshell mirror sending her spinning as Puffdoggie sprang out. It hit the bulwoggle in the nose with an explosion of twinkly puff powder.

  “Ahhhh ChOOOO!”

  Mirabelle, Puffdoggie, and Goldie tumbled head over heels as the bulwoggle staggered backward.

  “Oh no!” Kara watched in horror—as the vicious lizard creature fell into the swirling portal and vanished.

  Kara waved her arms, trying to swat the portal away from the dance floor. The portal veered crazily on its axis and dove sharply into the screaming crowd. Three more creatures were sucked in.

  “We have to get out of here before the entire rave falls through!” Lorren yelled.

  “Hooooweeee! This rocks, dude!” A dwarf whirled skyward and vanished into the portal.

  “Let’s move!” Lorren yelled.

  Stuffing Mirabelle and Puffdoggie in her purse, Kara grabbed Goldie and ran after the prince. The portal followed, zipping overhead.

  Troves of trolls dove out of the way, overturning the food stands.

  Together, princess, prince, and dragonfly charged through the mists and out of the archway, skidding down to the water’s edge.

  Hordes of enraged creatures poured from the archways, chasing them.

  “You sure know how to show a girl a good time,” Kara commented.

  “Thank you.” Lorren let out a piercing whistle.

  With a whoosh of wings, the giant bat swooped out of the night. The crowd ducked and rolled as a clipped bulwoggle went flying face first into the muddy bank. Lorren took a running leap, grabbed hold of the saddle and hauled himself up.

  He reached out his hand. “Shall we escape?”

  Kara hesitated. Her new friend was not only an outlaw, but also a goblin. But bandit or not, she had to trust someone.

  Grabbing Lorren’s hand, she swung into the saddle behind him. In a flash, the bat was airborne, the Fairy Isle shrinking far below. The portal followed, zipping into the sky, trailing after them.

  “Emily!” Kara squashed Goldie to her ear. “Come in, Emily!”

  But all she heard was screaming, crashing, and the sounds of her room being completely trashed.

  THE SPINNING PORTAL shimmered and glowed like a small sun in Kara’s closet. Everyone had stepped away, huddled in the center of the room except—

  “The portal’s opened!”

  Musso and Sparky barreled for the bright circle of light.

  “Incoming corporeal particles transporting across the astral planes!” Tweek announced, focusing his jewel like a magnifying glass over the swirling hole.

  “What?” Musso asked, running by the little twig figure.

  “Something is coming thro—Argghk!”

  A mass of scaly muscles crashed through the portal, sending Musso and Sparky flying back into the bedroom.

  Roaring with fury, the bulwoggle destroyed a row of Kara’s summer dresses with one deadly swipe of its claws.

  “Bulwoggle!” Musso cried, crawling from the windowsill, fumbling with his utility belt to free a few spells. “Mercenaries! The war has started!”

  Tearing a pile of pink sweaters off its head, the lizard creature stomped to the closet door. “What place is this?” it bellowed, scanning Kara’s bedroom.

  “Go back!” Adriane yelled, as she and Dreamer stepped in front of their friends. “You don’t belong here!”

  Yellow slitted eyes moved from the snarling black mistwolf to the golden magic sparking from the warrior’s wolf stone.

  “I will take that magic!” the monster bellowed, eyes shining wide.

  Adriane spun and kicked the closet door closed. Twisted hangers shot from the closet as the beast smashed the door back open, crushing Tweek into a mass of flattened mulch.

  Ozzie dove under the bed as Spinnel suddenly barreled out of the portal, smacking into the back of the bulwoggle’s head.

  Trying to pry the bear creature loose, the bulwoggle rampaged across Kara’s room, wreaking havoc.

  Dreamer leaped, locking teeth into the monster’s leather armor, spinning around the room in a wide circle. He crashed into Musso, sending the hobgoblin’s fistful of spells flying. Magic splattered against the shelves, covering two stuffed bears, a hippo, and a moose. The stuffed animals twirled to the ground in a fluffy tangle of limbs just as a flailing dwarf flew from the portal and crashed through the canopy of Kara’s bed.

  “Whoa, dude! Is this the PIG room?” the dwarf hung upside down as the ripped material caught his feet.

  “I will swallow your magic, and you with it!” the bulwoggle roared.

  “Eat this!” Adriane yelled, Dreamer at her side, Fred and Fiona on one shoulder, Barney and Blaze on the other, lending their magic to her intense golden wolf fire.

  A bolt of magic slammed th
e beast right in its armored chest. The bulwoggle tottered and fell across the bed, bringing the canopy down with it. The bedspring collapsed, and the bed crashed to the floor.

  “Hey, keep it down up there!” Mrs. Davies’s annoyed voice floated up the stairs.

  A screaming bunny with dragon wings hurtled from the portal and bowled Ozzie into Kara’s stereo, sending CDs flying.

  “Sorry!” Emily answered Mrs. Davies, her stone glowing bright blue as she grabbed Ozzie out of the way. A panicked mookrat leaped on the windowsill, clawing up the curtains. “Just helping Kara rehearse!”

  A large red, yellow, and blue fox dressed like Robin Hood in green tights and cape stepped from the closet and bowed. “Colfax, Fairy Underground. May I be of some assistance?”

  “What is this, a convention?” Ozzie exclaimed, sliding across the floor on loose CD cases.

  “Roll it up in the quilt!” Adriane commanded.

  The mages, Ozzie, the d-flies, Dreamer, Spinnel, Elfan, Colfax, and Kara’s stuffed animals all jumped on the roiling lump entangled in the fluffy quilt.

  “Your friend has caused quite a scene at the rave.” Colfax smiled, holding down the monster’s thrashing tail.

  “Leave it to Kara to find a party,” Adriane commented as she and the others lugged the rolled-up creature back toward the closet.

  “Give me that magic!” the bulwoggle mumbled, now wrapped like a mummy in Kara’s quilt. The monster’s massive foot ripped through the quilt, long claws wiggling. Barney bit a scaly big toe, keeping the lizard pinned inside the bedroll.

  “The portal’s shrinking!” Tweek yelled, sticking his flattened mossy head dangerously close to the flashing circle.

  The portal was swirling in on itself.

  Together, the group heaved the screaming quilt into the closet.

  The bulwoggle fell into the portal, Kara’s blouses and sweaters tangled on flailing scaly limbs.

  “Hurry!” Emily shouted, herding the fairy creatures toward Kara’s closet.

  Elfan, Colfax, and Spinnel dove through, the dwarf charging behind.

  “Thanks for the party, dudes.”

  Sparky ran at top speed, Musso right on his heels.

  But just as the dwarf disappeared, the portal shuddered and vanished.