Kara thought of Lyra and everyone else depending on her. She would not let her friends down. It was time to become the blazing star.
Starfire reared, sending licks of fire streaking into the air. Kara held up her jewel, surrounding them with diamond-white magic. “We are ready!” she called out.
The crowd surged to its feet, their cheers ringing into the skies.
Starfire leaped through the first mirror. Kara’s long hair streamed behind her as they vanished into the rippling glass. The ride of the blazing star had begun.
KARA AND STARFIRE landed hard, the horse’s fiery hooves melting tracks across a narrow icy ledge. Flakes of fresh snow drifted around them. They were in the foothills of a glistening mountain range. Before them a mammoth mountain of glittering ice towered into the sky.
“Ice mountains of the Troll Kingdom,” Starfire snorted nervously as his molten hooves melted through the ledge supporting him. Plumes of steam rose from the ground as they started to sink.
“We’ll have to move fast,” Kara said, realizing the mountains were made entirely of ice.
“Kaaraa.” Circling overhead, Goldie squeaked and pointed.
Kara looked up to the remote peak of the mountain. A bright spark winked in the sun.
“The mirror!” Kara cried. She held up her jewel, flashing beams of light into the sky.
“Everyone ready?” she asked, leaning forward, letting the stallion’s fiery mane envelop her.
The dragonfly dove to her shoulder, holding on tight.
“Ready!” Starfire stamped his hooves, eager to run.
“Let’s ride!” Kara shouted.
“Woot!” Goldie cried as Starfire shot like a bolt.
The stallion galloped to the base of the mountain, his heat leaving watery trails in the ice.
Kara focused on her magic, and on Lyra. Starfire’s immense power blazed into her, steadying her, filling her with a new confidence she had never felt before. Streams of diamond sparkles burst from her jewel, trailing behind like a comet. Firemental stallion, blazing star, and dragonfly streaked up the mountain.
With a mighty leap, the stallion soared high into the air. They landed on a small outcropping about halfway up.
Starfire stamped his legs, the melting ice sizzling at his hooves. This only made him sink deeper.
“Water fights fire,” Starfire said worriedly, leaping to another ledge.
“Let’s see if I can make you some leggings.” Kara twirled strands of light between her fingers. Bright magic flowed over the horse’s legs, protecting him from the corrosive ice. Starfire now shone fire red with brilliant diamond legs.
“Pretty,” Goldie said.
“Thank you.” Starfire admired his new look.
“No, there.” The dragonfly pointed.
Crystalline sparkles mixed with diamond magic whirled in the air before them, glowing pale blue.
“Elemental water magic,” Starfire said.
“All righty, then.” Kara raised her hands and released tendrils of magic, encasing the whirls, molding them into a mass of shiny blue light. “One talisman, hold the pickles.”
Nothing happened.
Kara had no idea what to make. “Hmmm. Okay, now what?”
“Focus.” Goldie snuggled into Kara’s neck.
“Remember when we were ice skating and came home for hot chocolate?” Starfire asked.
“That felt so good,” Kara smiled. “All warm and cozy.”
With their shared memory, she focused as the lights fused together, forming two lumps, elongating and stretching into–
“Oooo, bunny slippers!” Goldie pointed at the newly formed, long-eared purple slippers.
The slippers shuddered and fell to the ground. Ears flapping, they took off, running up the mountain face and disappearing out of sight.
“Let’s hop to it!” Kara yelled, thrilled with the new control over her magic. Starfire bounded up the mountain, jumping from ledge to ledge, narrowly avoiding the cascading ice that rained down the frozen mountain.
Finally there were no more ledges in sight for Starfire to jump on to. A hissing river of melting mountain blocked their way.
Starfire turned in circles, snorting as jagged ice floes rushed by.
This was their first challenge. She was not about to fail. There had to be another way to get to the top of the mountain.
Looking at the melting ice, Kara suddenly smiled. “When life gives you an iceberg, make some ice cream.”
Kara pointed at the sheer mountain face behind them. Understanding her perfectly, Starfire wheeled around and faced the solid ice wall. Focusing their combined powers, Kara sent red, white, and Goldie magic boring into the mountainside. Kara bent low as the stallion dove into the mountain, melting a tunnel through the solid ice.
They punched through the other side, higher up than they’d been before. In a blur of movement, the purple bunny slippers scampered by on a thin, frosty path that coiled up the pointed pinnacle of the mountaintop. Starfire charged after them, careening around the path as it wound tighter and tighter.
With all her strength and concentration, Kara scooped up the fleeing slippers with her magic. Goldie held open the silver bag as Kara tossed them inside.
“Now this is power shopping,” the blazing star yelled.
Starfire rocketed around the last curve. The magic mirror was set into the mountain’s peak.
Encouraged by her awesome new abilities, Kara grabbed Goldie and hugged Starfire’s neck. “All right, Team Magic, let’s see what’s behind door number two.” She held on tight as Starfire dove through the glistening mirror—
pHOnk!
A strange honking noise reverberated as Kara and Starfire landed.
Starfire stood on a fluffy cloud floating high above a dense, leafy forest. Kara’s stomach lurched as she looked down at the trees far below. Clinging to Starfire’s neck, she closed her eyes, convinced they would sink through the billowing clouds.
“Air supports fire,” the stallion reassured her. “We will not fall.”
Kara looked around. What were they supposed to do here? A gust of wind moved them gently drifting between a collection of other puffy white clouds.
“There’s nowhere else to go but another cloud,” Kara mused, twirling her jewel in her fingers.
“We must leap!” Starfire bunched his fiery muscles and leaped onto the nearest cloud.
Gong!
As he landed, a deep ringing filled the air. “Hey! Musical clouds!” Kara looked at the other clouds, all of different sizes. “Jump to the next one.”
The stallion soared over empty sky and onto a smaller cloud.
A high-pitched note chimed through the air, harmonizing with the other clouds.
Something about those three notes sounded familiar to Kara, part of a melody she couldn’t quite place…
“Try the others.”
Starfire leaped to each of the clouds, until they had heard eight different musical notes.
The winds picked up, howling around her and sending screeching dissonant chords through the clouds.
What would Adriane and Emily do? They were good with music.
“I know. Maybe we can arrange them!”
Starfire’s coat blazed as he sent his elemental magic into the winds around them, summoning air. The clouds moved closer, puffing squeaks, gongs, dings, andrings. Kara’s cloud bobbed into the others like bumper cars.
“Okay, we’ll have to hit the different clouds at the same time to make the song sound right,” Kara fretted. “Starfire can do it. Goldie can play, too, but I’ll fall right through.”
“Your new slippers are made of water magic,” Starfire pointed out.
“Clouds and water work together!” Kara exclaimed. “Huddle.”
Goldie flew close to Kara’s face as she leaned over Starfire’s neck. “Feel the music. I’ll tell you the right order, and jump when I say so.”
Goldie carefully opened the silver bag. The purple slippers hopped into Kara’s hands.
She slid off Starfire’s back, closing her eyes as she slipped into the bunny slippers and touched the cloud. Taking a deep breath, she let go of the stallion—and stood atop the cloud.
“At least I don’t have to sing,” Kara muttered.
Goldie flew about the clouds excitedly.
“Okay, Starfire, you first!” Kara raised her arms, pointing to a puffy cloud.
Starfire jumped and landed with a powerful Bong!
“Goldie, now you,” she pointed to the small cloud.
Goldie bounced up and down, releasing a flurry of notes.
Kara jumped, adding her musical harmony.
Conducting the cloud symphony, Kara sang along as she, Starfire, and Goldie created the chorus of her favorite B*Tween song.
“I’m—on a—su-per-nat-ural—high.”
As the last note filled the air, the clouds swirled with glittering white magic.
“There!” Kara gently gathered the air magic, molding the clouds into a ball of bright light.
Starfire was on Kara’s cloud in an instant, and she scrambled onto his back. The clouds continued to swirl in on themselves, gathering together to form an elemental air talisman. It was a pearly U-shaped frame, with eight golden strings.
“A harp.” Kara smiled.
“No bunnies?” Goldie frowned.
A lone cloud drifted nearby, a shimmering mirror shinning in its center.
Go!” she ordered.
A ripple of light flashed through the stallion as his fire sprang wildly out of shape. Kara felt it; for a split second he had lost his magic. Starfire leaped as Kara snatched the talisman in midair. She had completed two challenges, but Kara knew something was terribly wrong.
OVERWHELMING DARKNESS SWALLOWED Kara, Starfire, and Goldie as they tumbled, free-falling out of the mirror until they finally landed.
Kara eased herself down from Starfire and gripped the horse’s fiery flank to keep herself from pitching forward. The floor tilted steeply, making a screeching sound like rusted metal. “Where are we?” she asked.
“Dwarf mines,” Starfire said, tottering precariously backward as Kara peered over the edge.
They had landed in some sort of mining car. Beneath the car, jewel light bounced off steel tracks that dropped into complete blackness. Kara gingerly took a half-step forward and confirmed her fear—they were precariously perched on the tip of a terrifying drop.
“Nobody move!” Kara ordered.
Everyone froze as the car teetered forward and back.
“Affg…” Goldie slapped her feet to her mouth.
“Goldie!” Kara hissed.
“Ahhh…” The d-fly’s cheeks puffed out.
Kara put her finger under Goldie’s nose and the mini relaxed.
“Whew.” They all breathed a sigh of relief.
“Ah-CHOOOIE!”
The car tilted back, lurched forward and plunged straight down into the black, dropping like a runaway roller coaster.
“Ahh!”
“Ahhhhhhhh!”
“Neighhhhh!”
Kara’s stomach rolled over as the car plummeted through blinding gloom. She clung to Starfire as Goldie clung to her.
Streaks of red and diamond white reflected off silvery tunnel walls as the car swung wildly around a bend, then dropped again, whisking them farther down.
“Where’s the breaks?” Kara screamed, grabbing the edge of the car, her knuckles white.
The car veered up and around sharp corners, swinging Kara and crew back and forth, finally lurching to a sudden stop at the cavern floor.
“Watch that first step.” Kara staggered to her feet and clambered out.
Starfire leaped out and sniffed the air.
The trio gazed in awe at an immense underground grotto. Pools of silvery liquid cast steely shadows upon the high walls soaring above them. Some pools lay still, but sudden violent currents churned others, swirling the smooth surfaces.
“Quicksilver,” Starfire warned. “It’s very volatile.”
“Quicksilver?” Kara flashed on Lyra, melting in the goblin laboratory. Looking at her own distorted reflection in a silver pool, her throat ached. Something wasn’t adding up. Lorren’s question echoed in her mind—Tangoo was a sorcerer who worked with quicksilver to make mirrors. Why couldn’t he help Lyra?
The quicksilver sizzled and popped, exploding in a frothing mass of bubbling liquid. Kara backed away and ran her hands over Starfire’s flaming hide. She could sense the horse’s fatigue. “How are you doing?”
“I am still here,” the horse snorted.
Kara glanced at the silver pack, glowing on her back. “We have two talismans. Let’s use one to increase your magic.”
“No,” Starfire said sternly. “We need them to attract the power crystal.”
Kara bit her lip. She steeled herself and surveyed the area. “Where to?”
Goldie sprang into the air, pointing like a little retriever.
On the far side of the cavern, a corridor disappeared into darkness.
“Let’s go,” the stallion said. Kara was already swinging onto his back.
Starfire carefully threaded his way through the bubbling quicksilver. The silvery liquid rippled toward the stallion’s hooves, drawn by his powerful magic and the blazing star that rode him.
Leaping over the final pool, Starfire trotted into the dark corridor. Feeling her jewel pulse, Kara slowly released a tendril of magic from her fingers, watching it snake forth.
Starfire snorted anxiously. “There is strong earth magic ahead.”
“I can feel it pulling at my magic,” Kara’s voice echoed down the dark passage.
The unicorn gem illuminated shimmering walls leading deep into the mines. Rounding a bend, the corridor split in two directions.
“It’s a giant maze!” Kara realized.
The wall behind them trembled. With a roar like thunder, a section of it detached and shot toward them.
“Look out!” Kara screamed.
Starfire jumped just before the slab of rock slammed against the opposite side. Doubling back was no longer an option.
“That way.” Kara held her jewel, feeling the pull of the magic.
A section of maze in front of them shuddered and disappeared as if the earth had swallowed it whole, opening up an entirely different path. Another wall sprang up beside them, turning them down the left corridor.
Goldie fluttered overhead, trying to survey the maze from above. But the little dragon was getting confused as walls opened and closed, hiding the correct way to the maze’s center.
Before they knew it, they had lost all sense of direction.
“This is worse than the time we couldn’t find the pretzel kiosk at the Galleria,” Starfire said, picking up on another of Kara’s memories.
They stopped as one corridor forked out on either side of them.
There must be a way to navigate this moving maze, Kara thought. Her unicorn jewel could light up sections of the corridors, but they’d have to waste time exploring every dead end if they relied on light. Kara considered the other tools at hand. The bunny slippers wouldn’t do much here, but what about the harp?
Reaching into the pack, Kara removed the instrument and plucked a few notes. The chorus of “Supernatural High” reverberated in the passage to her right, dramatically amplified. But the passage to her left seemed to swallow the music, leaving only a faint echoing.
“The passage to the right is a dead end,” Kara announced. “The sound bounces right off a wall and makes it louder.”
“But to the left is a long tunnel, making the music echo,” Starfire concluded.
The stallion stepped into the left tunnel. A long passage stretched before them, and they advanced quickly until they came to another fork in the shifting maze. Kara strummed the harp. Following the echoes, they made swift progress, but walls were moving more rapidly as they traveled deeper into the mountain.
“We’re getting close.” Power snaked through Kara’s senses, a ti
ngling presence along her skin.
Rounding a curving wall, they found themselves suddenly standing at the edge of a giant bubbling pool.
“Quicksilver,” Kara gasped. If she didn’t succeed, Lyra would melt away into a puddle just like this. And she would lose her best friend forever.
“Magic,” Goldie said.
As each bubble broke the surface, twinkles of bright magic were released into the air.
Kara closed her eyes and concentrated. Raising her hands, she sent silky tendrils of fire from her fingertips.
What was she supposed to make this time? She tried to focus but all she could see were Lyra’s beautiful green cat eyes.
Goldie hugged her neck.
“Thanks, Goldie.”
“Look.” The d-fly pointed.
Floating above the pool was a pulsing silver heart. The glistening heart turned slowly, reflecting twinkles of light around the dark walls.
“The heart of the magic,” Starfire said quietly.
Goldie flapped, pointing to the bright mirror on the other side. Behind them the sound of sliding stone closed in.
“Okay, Starfire, let’s do it.”
The stallion backed up a few steps, then took a running leap. Soaring over the pool, Kara reached out and grasped the gleaming heart as they plunged through the mirror
Crisp air lifted her hair and sent flames licking from Starfire. A dark and foreboding forest surrounded them, deep woods where the sunlight could not penetrate and all was cloaked in shadow.
A bolt of jagged lightning seared across an ominous sky.
Kara’s pack now contained three talismans of elemental magic, symbolizing water, air, and earth—which meant the last one had to be fire. But in a forest?
She felt a tremor run through Starfire as howls erupted from the trees.
“Something comes.” Starfire shifted, ready to run.
Kara’s jewel burned hot against her chest. Something itched along her arms, a darkness clawing at her, turning her stomach.
“We will outrun them.” With his fiery legs still protected by Kara’s diamond magic, the stallion took off at a gallop. Twigs and leaves flew as his hooves pounded the earth.
Kara bent low, intent on one thing: finding the fire talisman. Holding her jewel high, magic streamed behind them.
All's Fairy in Love and War (Avalon: Web of Magic #8) Page 12