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

by Rachel Roberts

  “Maybe they represent animals that were just visiting,” Emily said.

  “Oookay.” Kara skipped ahead through the tall hedges. Out of the topiary gardens, the lawn sloped downward. Kara stopped as Ravenswood Manor loomed ahead like a gigantic haunted house nestled in the woods. “Are you related to the Addams Family?” Kara quipped.

  “Very funny,” Adriane replied. “You’ve never seen Ravenswood Manor?”

  “Just in some old pictures.”

  “They used to have tours here,” Emily said.

  “Big business on Halloween, I bet,” Kara remarked.

  Adriane just rolled her eyes. “Come on, we’ll go out past the manor. I’ll show you the gardens out back.”

  “What about my stone?”

  “We said you might find one,” Adriane said.

  Kara crossed her arms and pouted.

  “We could look around a bit more,” Emily suggested.

  “All right!” Adriane led them to the side of the manor and onto another path. They were soon in deep woods and the air was cool and damp. Above, the boughs seemed woven together into a solid canopy of green.

  Something rustled in the trees.

  “What was that?” Kara whispered nervously.

  “Just animals,” Emily reassured her. “They won’t hurt you.”

  “This is creepy. It’s like they’re following us.”

  “They probably never saw anything like you before,” Adriane said sarcastically.

  “On any other day, I might take that as a compliment.” Kara studied the ground around her. She gingerly picked up rocks and pebbles, compared them to pictures in her book, and placed some neatly in her backpack.

  “Remind me again why she’s here,” Adriane grumbled to Emily.

  “To convince her father to keep the preserve safe.”

  “Ugh, bugs!” Kara announced behind them. “And I bet there’s poison ivy all over here.”

  “Just keep looking for stones,” Adriane shot back over her shoulder. “They could be anywhere.”

  She leaned in toward Emily again. “And what about the CDC?” she continued. “How are we gonna get through that inspection?”

  “I don’t know,” Emily admitted.

  “I don’t think they have a listing for ‘Black Fire.’”

  Over the next hour, Kara amassed a small collection of stones. But none of them glowed, no matter what she did. After a while, she sat down, picked out the nicest stone, and held it tightly in one hand.

  Emily noticed and nudged Adriane. The two girls watched, trying not to laugh, as Kara bent over the stone, wrinkle-browed and frowning, a look of intense concentration on her face. Realizing she was being observed, she glared icily at the other girls.

  “What are you doing?” Adriane asked incredulously.

  “Resting—what’s it to you?” Kara got up and tossed the stone away in disgust.

  “One of the stones you find is bound to be special,” Emily consoled her.

  Kara upended her backpack, pouring the stones on the ground. “None of these are any good!”

  “Face it, Barbie,” Adriane said, “the magic doesn’t like you.”

  Kara jumped to her feet, slinging her empty pack over her shoulder. “That’s it! Look, I am Kara Davies, and you are a couple of weirdos. If you think for a minute I’m going any farther into these woods in my brand-new sandals, you’re as crazy as you look! I am turning around right now and going to the mall, where normal people go!” She stalked off angrily.

  “Now what?” Emily asked. “We can’t let her wander around the woods alone.”

  “She’ll be completely lost in about, oh, fifteen seconds,” Adriane said.

  “Aaahhh!” Kara’s scream cut through the forest.

  “Correction: ten,” Adriane said. “Come on.”

  Emily and Adriane cut back in the direction of Kara’s voice. They found her off the main trail, on a smaller path, looking down into a ravine.

  “What now? Did you see a bee?” Adriane taunted.

  Kara pointed to a gully ahead of her. “What’s that?”

  Emily looked—and her breath caught in her throat. With a cry, she slid down the incline.

  “Emily, wait!” Adriane cried. But all of Emily’s senses were focused on the wounded creature that lay there, half buried under debris. Carefully, she cleared away the branches and wet leaves. As if in a dream, she saw her stone pulsing wildly with blue light. She felt light-headed.

  “Ariel!” she cried.

  The owl lay in the gully, her body torn and bruised almost beyond recognition. One wing was mangled and bent at an impossible angle. A sickly green glowed in spots on the owl’s body. Carefully, Emily felt the owl’s chest to see if she was breathing. She was alive—just barely.

  “Ugh! That's disgusting!” Kara said, peering down.

  “I need something to carry her in!” Emily called up.

  “Leave it, it’s dead,” Kara said. “Aahh—hey!”

  Adriane was pulling Kara’s silk jacket off her shoulders.

  “What are you doing? That’s a DK!” Kara protested.

  Throwing it down to Emily, Adriane said, “If either of us had a jacket, believe me, we wouldn’t want yours.”

  Emily gently wrapped the owl in Kara’s jacket, then carefully carried her up out of the ravine.

  “Is she all right?” Adriane asked.

  “No. We have to get her to Phel—quickly.”

  “What about her?” Adriane nodded in Kara’s direction.

  Kara stood, silently fuming.

  Emily’s only concern was the owl. “Ariel’s going to die if we don’t get her to Phel right now!”

  “Let’s go. This way.” Ignoring Kara, Adriane started down the small path. Emily followed, cradling Ariel in her arms. When Kara realized she was being left behind, she ran to catch up.

  “Where are you going?” she demanded.

  Adriane whirled around. “We need to get this animal to where she can be healed!”

  “She’s hurt bad,” Emily said softly.

  “Well, lucky I found her, huh?” Kara said. Then she paused. “What’s a Phel?”

  “Look, just remember your promise,” Adriane said sharply. “You tell no one about what we show you.”

  “I knew it! A secret place you weren’t telling me about!” Kara’s eyes sparkled.

  “I’m serious! Promise!” Adriane insisted.

  “Okay, okay, I promise,” Kara said.

  Emily hurried along the trail, Adriane at her side. Kara was falling behind, her sandals no match for the logs and rocks that littered the forest floor.

  They entered the archway of trees and rounded the Rocking Stone as a voice called out, “There you are! Did you bring any food? Oh no, what’s happened?”

  Kara caught up a moment later, looking up at the immense boulder. She stepped past it into the glade and her eyes opened wide. “Wow!” She looked from the lovely willow trees to the clear crystal waters of the pond. Flowers bloomed everywhere and rainbow sparkles drifted lightly in the air.

  “Ozzie, where’s Phel?” Emily was frantic.

  “Probably out spreading magic seeds,” Ozzie replied.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Emily could see Kara approaching. Clearly, the blond girl intended to meet whomever Emily was talking to. “Hello, I’m—” Kara began. Then she stopped, puzzled, and looked around.

  “Who’s that?” Ozzie asked.

  Kara peered at the brown-and-gold ferret, then back at Emily. “Who said that?” she asked. When no one answered, she shook her head, confused. “What is this place?”

  “Just another garden,” Adriane said.

  “Oh really! Well, I’ve never seen flowers like these!”

  “Phel, where are you? Phel?” Emily was beginning to panic as she paced around the glade, cradling the owl.

  “Phel, phel, phel…” Kara looked about. “What is a Phel, and where can I find a jewel—hey!” Ozzie was standing in front of her. “Get
away, you…rat!”

  Ozzie rose on his rear legs and crossed his arms. “Who you calling a rat?”

  “Aaahhh, it’s talking!” she shrieked.

  Kara started to back away. She turned to her left and saw a winged horse! A green-striped deer watched her. Everywhere she looked, another bizarre animal appeared. Kara whirled around—and came face to face with a huge purple creature. Two gigantic eyes stared at her

  “A purple bear!” she shrieked, backing away.

  “He is not a bear,” Adriane said calmly.

  In spite of her fear for Ariel, Emily couldn’t help noticing the interest the animals were showing in Kara.

  “Who are…what are all these…. these….things?” Kara stammered.

  Phel reached forward with huge paws.

  Kara grabbed Adriane. “Stay away from me, you bear!”

  “Let go of me! He won’t hurt you!” Adriane said.

  Panicked, Kara looked up at the giant creature. Phel spread his arms wide. The air seemed to swirl—and something formed between his huge paws. It looked like a circle in the air. Phel spread his paws apart, and the circle widened, revealing…stars. Pinpoints of light were strung out along what looked like a web—almost like a giant, three-dimensional dreamcatcher.

  “It’s a fairy map!”

  Kara’s head jerked around. The ferret jumped up and down next to Phel. More animals were gathering around, watching.

  Phel suddenly released the web of stars and it floated over Kara, gently cascading down like a starry rain. She was covered with sparkling dots of light as the web encircled her.

  Kara screamed at the top of her lungs, swinging her backpack to bat away the strands of stars. She jumped as if covered in ants, waving her arms and kicking her legs. The magical image tore apart in swirls and vanished.

  “Kara, are you all right?” Emily called out.

  “The map! It’s all gone!” Ozzie sat on the grass, moaning, his head in his paws.

  Kara slung her backpack over her shoulder. “I’m getting out of here right now! Keep your dumb stones. I can buy better ones at the mall!” She turned and stormed out past the Rocking Stone.

  Adriane turned to Emily. “So much for her helping us.”

  “Get me out of here!” Kara screamed from behind the rock. “I'm freaking out!”

  “Adriane, you’d better take her back,” Emily said nervously. “I’ll help Phel with Ariel.”

  Adriane grimaced. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She headed out. “Keep your shorts on,” she yelled to Kara.

  “You didn’t tell me you had bears here—and whatever else you’re hiding!” Kara shouted.

  As their voices faded into the distance, Emily walked over to Phel. He was sitting by one of the trees. As she lay the owl before him, she realized he was different now: weaker. His color wasn’t as vibrant, he seemed duller, with a tinge of gray... and no rainbow flowers bloomed about his feet.

  “Please, you can help, can't you?” she asked, gazing up at his eyes.

  Phelonius looked from the owl to Emily. A tear ran down his cheek. She could feel Phel’s pain, a deep sadness, and it hit her—he did not have the magic left to heal the owl.

  Emily felt the familiar sting of helplessness well up inside. Suddenly her hands were covered by Phel’s large paws. Her stone began to glow softly with pale blue light. Phel moved Emily’s hands over the owl.

  She recoiled, instantly knowing what Phel wanted from her.

  “I can't,” said Emily, tears spilling from her eyes. “I’m not a real healer. I couldn’t even help that poor cat!”

  As Phel pulled his paws away, Emily blinked back the tears. Her gem had been transformed! It was now a polished, crystalline blossom glistening with rainbow sparkles. It looked exactly like one of Phel’s magic puff flowers.

  Emily held her breath. She hardly noticed when Phel guided her hands back to the owl, holding them steady as she touched the snowy feathers.

  She gasped.

  Her stone pulsed faster, beating along with her heart. Suddenly she felt the owl’s heartbeat, out of sync with her own, weaker. Phel closed his eyes and Emily concentrated. She willed the owl’s heart to beat with hers.

  Slowly the wounded owl stirred. Emily felt something pushing against her, a sense of weakness, of pain. But she couldn’t break its grip. She felt the owl slipping away. “No! Stay with me!”

  The feeling of loss engulfed her, threatening to pull her into a dark abyss of despair. It was overwhelming. She’d lost so much already—her dad, her friends, her home. Then she thought of the cat, how she had failed when she needed her most.

  “No!” Emily cried out. She reached deep inside. All her emotions seemed to rise up at once and the jewel erupted with jagged blue light. It swirled around her wrist, spreading up and down to cover her arm and her hand. Concentrating hard, she willed the light to flow over the owl. Focus…focus on the heartbeat. Pulse… pulse… pulse… steady, strong… And then she felt the owl’s heartbeat lock with her own. The jewel and both hearts began to beat as one. Steady, strong… The light faded… The owl stirred and opened her eyes.

  Emily threw herself into Phel's arms, crying and laughing at the same time.

  “I can't believe it. We did it!” she said through her tears.

  “I think that counts as magic,” Ozzie commented.

  “YOU SHOULD HAVE seen Ozzie, he was so impressed. He was bragging to all the animals how he discovered you, a real healer!” Adriane laughed.

  Emily was on the phone in her room, listening to her friend. She had run right home with Ariel. Even if the owl seemed healed, she wasn’t taking any chances. Only after her mom gave the owl a clean bill of health did Emily relax.

  “I only helped Phel, and it was pretty scary,” Emily said, not wanting to talk about how scared it made her feel. “How did you do with Kara?”

  Adriane snorted. “She blabbered the whole way back about how Ravenswood should be fenced off and locked up tight.”

  “Well, we had no choice, we had to take her to the glade,” Emily said.

  “Yeah…” Adriane’s voice trailed off..

  “What’s the matter?” Emily prompted.

  “That thing Phel did to Kara—” Adriane started.

  “What was it?”

  “Ozzie said it was a gift from the Fairimentals, a fairy map.”

  “A map? Of what?” Emily asked.

  “Maybe where the animals came from?”

  “Or where they’re supposed to go.” Emily remembered the word left in the dirt:

  Avalon.

  “Something is going on here, Emily, and you and I are the only ones who know,” Adriane said.

  “And Kara,” Emily reminded her.

  “Yeah.” Adriane paused. “We have to do something before Barbie opens her big mouth.”

  “Like what?”

  “I think we should go and try to talk to the mayor ourselves.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “We can say we’re returning her jacket,” Adriane suggested.

  “I guess we can try,” Emily said.

  “Good. Meet me tomorrow. Ten sharp at town hall.”

  THAT NIGHT, EMILY couldn’t sleep. She pictured Phel, alone in the woods. Well, not really alone. She had to laugh when she thought about Ozzie, insisting on staying with the big creature to protect him. Poor Ozzie, so far from his home, and the other animals, scared and lost in a strange world. Emily realized she was talking about creatures out of some dream, as if the old legends about the woods were turning real. Had magical animals been here before? Had humans and animals really worked together in the past? What was a fairy map, and why had Phel given it to Kara…and not her? She felt a pang of jealousy. Not the first time someone was jealous of Kara, that was for sure.

  Whatever was going on, one thing was certain. Her life had changed forever, and not just because she wasn’t in Colorado anymore. Emily stared at the wondrous jewel in her hand. A stone of healing and she had found
it…or had it found her? She clutched it tightly, as if it really could give her some measure of protection from her doubts and fears. What had happened today with Ariel terrified her. A door had been opened that she didn’t want to—couldn’t—enter.

  “There is no going back.” Wasn’t that what one of the Fairimentals had said? Was she ready to go forward? And where would that path lead? Emily sighed. Ozzie had told Adriane that Phel’s fairy map was a gift to Kara. She looked at her jewel. Was this her gift?

  Quietly, she left her room and ran down to the Pet Palace.

  The cat was wide-awake, pacing back and forth. She had been moved to the Pet Palace, since she no longer needed constant care and attention. Emily sensed the cat’s restlessness.

  Emily walked over and sat down next to her. Moonlight drifted through the window, bathing them both in pale silver light. They stared into each other’s eyes.

  Emily held up her gemstone and ran it over the cat’s mottled and sparse patches of fur. She moved it gently over the odd bumps on the animal's shoulders, trying to think healing thoughts. The stone sparkled softly in the moonlight. She visualized the scars vanishing, the mottled tufts turning to lustrous fur; she closed her eyes tight and concentrated. She opened them and—nothing. The cat looked exactly the same. She lifted her head and licked Emily on the nose.

  Maybe healing Ariel had drained the crystal, or she needed Phelonius to guide her. “This is crazy! I can’t do this!”

  The cat stared at her.

  “I’m sorry…I don’t know what else to do.” Emily broke down and hugged the cat, sobbing into her neck.

  The cat pulled away and turned to pick up something from her bed. When she turned back to Emily, she was holding an orange stuffed lion. Emily took Mr. Snuffles from the cat’s mouth. She could swear the cat was smiling at her.

  “Taking and giving completes our circle. It’s time to let go.”

  Emily stared at the cat. Maybe she had helped her heal after all. There was something more she could do for her, she realized. She reached out to pet her one last time. “We each have to find our own path,” she said. Then she went to open the door to the outside.

  Moonlight danced in the doorway. A cool breeze ruffled Emily’s curls.