“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.
“OVER 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.
No, better not, she decided a second later. With the way my luck is going lately, I’d probably mess it up and cause another magical explosion or something. After what happened at the last game. . .
A soft, insistent burst of music startled her. For a second she thought she had missed a signal, that the band director had started a song without her knowing it, and she grabbed her flute. But then she realized that nobody else was playing, either.
Then where was that music coming from? She half closed her eyes, listening intently as the melody wrapped its way around her brain. How could music like that exist? So mysterious, so strange, and yet so familiar.
Her head started to feel fuzzy. Rae’s voice faded until it was little more than an annoying drone at the heart of the silky melody. Glancing down at the field, Emily noted with surprise that the players seemed to be running in slow motion. The scene tilted, making her dizzy, and she grabbed at the hard bleacher seat to check her balance.
Wow, she thought. That’s weird.
The only thing that wasn’t moving in slow motion was her heart. It started to beat faster and faster. Her brain struggled to catch up.
This. . . has. . . happened. . . before, she thought. The music kept distracting her, confusing her, but somehow, somewhere at edge of her memory, she knew that something was about to happen. She could feel small eddies of magic swirling in the distance, building into a wave.
Oh, no! She tensed. Not again.
The rainbow jewel was throbbing at her wrist, its colors muddy green, sour yellow and blood-red.
Something was about to happen. Something bad.
Glancing around for help, she noticed the band director’s shiny, bald head, which seemed somehow comforting all of a sudden. She forced herself to focus on it. If she just watched that, all this weirdness would go away.
The band director stood up. Lifting his baton, he turned around. . .
. . . and grinned directly at Emily with yellowish, crooked teeth. Gaping eye sockets leered at her, burning in dead white skin.
Emily opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. A nudge to her ribs made her turn.
“Come on, we’re on,” Rae whispered, already holding her flute to her lips.
Emily turned back to see the director’s baton moving up and down, his normal, pudgy face concentrating on the trombone section.
Just breathe! she told herself.
Raising her instrument, Emily stared desperately toward her friends. Kara and the other cheerleaders were doing a routine, standing in a line and shaking their gold-and-blue pompoms over their heads, then down by their waists. As they lowered the pompoms, Emily looked for Adriane behind them. Her eyes scanned the crowd and stopped suddenly. There it was again. One horrible face—a gaunt, gruesome figure with dark evil eyes.
She jumped to her feet, her heart pounding so hard it seemed it would burst out of her chest.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
Rae’s voice sounded faraway and weak. Ignoring her, Emily stood on her tiptoes, trying to see over the cheerleaders’ waving pompoms. The hideous monster was just a few rows behind Adriane and the others. Was it after her friends? She had to warn them! Emily’s arms felt leaden as she tried to wave back and forth.
Was it her imagination, or was the monster one row closer now? Its sly, menacing gaze was waiting to meet her own; it locked in on her—and nodded.
With immense effort, Emily managed to rip her gaze away. Taking a deep breath, she did her best to shake off the spell of the sinister music. She had to get a message to Adriane and Kara!
But trying to organize herself—focus her magic—was like wading through quicksand. The wheedling, mysterious music was pulling her deeper and deeper, and before long the struggle just didn’t seem worth the effort. The ghoulish face had melted into the crowd, indistinguishable in the sea of faces. Emily felt heat at her wrist. She knew her jewel was pulsing a warning, but she didn’t care. She sat down, listlessly holding her flute. Wherever she was being pulled, she should just give in, let it carry her wherever it would—even into the comfortable numbness of utter darkness.
Suddenly a clear, high note cut through the fog in her mind, followed by another. The crisp notes called to her. Emily sat up straight, almost dropping her flute.
All at once, the heavy, foggy feeling disappeared. The mysterious music had stopped, and Emily felt things snap into normal speed again
And this time, she wasn’t the only one reacting. All around her, people were murmuring and calling to each other.
“What is that?”
“Hey, check it out—down there on the field!”
“Is that a horse? What’s it doing here?”
A flurry of notes rang out, cascading over Emily like delicate flakes of snow.
She glanced at her jewel, which was now pulsing with bright, clear light. Still clutching her flute, she pushed past Rae.
“Hey!” the other girl protested. “Where are you going?”
Emily ignored her. “Excuse me,” she muttered, pushing her way forward. “Excuse me. I have to get through.”
A chubby kid holding a trombone blocked her way. “Look at that thing! It’s wild!” he said.
The call came again, frightened and panicked. Finally, one of the tall kids in front moved aside, and Emily had a clear view of the field at last. “Oh, no!” she breathed, astonished at what she saw.
It was Lorelei. At least she thought it was Lorelei. The creature stood at the edge of the field, near the visiting team’s goal post. Now, her coat was a dazzling, snowy white instead of a multitude of shifting colors. Her silvery hooves gleamed in the sunlight, and her mane and tail were pure white silken strands.
But Emily hardly noticed any of that. She was staring at Lorelei’s head, where a long, graceful spiral of a crystalline horn jutted proudly from her forehead.
“I knew it!” Emily whispered in awe. “You are a unicorn.”
The unicorn shifted her head, long silky mane flowing, and looked around at the crowd, searching.
“I’m here,” Emily whispered.
“Whoa!” one of the trumpet players cried. “What’s it doing now?”
“I don’t know, but looks like Coach Berman is going to kick its horsie butt!” another boy shouted. “Woot! Go Coach!”
Both teams’ coaches and a dozen players were now running down the field toward the unicorn.
“No! Don’t hurt her!” Emily ye
lled. She pushed her way to the playing field. The band members all turned to look at her.
“What’s with her?” a sax player asked.
“Kara, Adriane!” Emily called.
Lorelei pawed at the ground, turning in a tight circle as more people surrounded her.
A flash of dark hair pushed through the crowd. Adriane stood face-to-face with three football players, yelling something and forcing them back. She was clearing a path for the unicorn to escape.
Lorelei was frantically looking left and right.
“Run!” Emily called.
The unicorn looked across the field to Emily, reared up, and raced through the break between the players.
“Hey, horsie! Stonehill can’t win even with you!” A large bird stood in Lorelei’s path, waving its arms up and down.
“Go, chicken guy!” Kids cheered from the bleachers.
“I am the Evanston Eagle!” the chicken guy announced, bowing to the stands.
The student dressed as the Evanston High Eagle wore an enormous round papier-mâché eagle’s head. He moved toward Lorelei, dancing and flapping his arms, which were encased in fake wings lined with scraggly feathers that fluttered in the light breeze.
“Go, Evanston Eagle!” the visiting students cheered on their mascot as the chicken guy did his chicken dance.
Stonehill students booed. “Go, Stonehill Unicorn!” they chanted.
Lorelei snorted and fixed her large, liquid eyes on the humans as they came up behind her. The chicken guy closed in, flapping its wings, “Evanston rules! For I am the chick—I mean, eagle!”
Chicken guy danced toward Lorelei, taunting her and trying to press her back towards the waiting players.
Lorelei reared up on her hind legs, and for a moment Emily thought she was going to wheel and vanish as she’d done before.
“No! No magic, please!” Emily breathed.
Lorelei landed with a snort, lowered her head. . .
. . . and charged.
“Nice horsie.” Then a muffled scream came from inside the giant eagle head. “Ahhh!”
Chicken guy turned to run, but it was too late. Emily gasped and covered her eyes as Lorelei’s gleaming horn ripped through the garish yellow beak and pierced the bulbous head.
Secret of the Unicorn (Avalon: Web of Magic #4) Page 7