She might as well just give up. Move to Woodstock and paint fruit. There was nothing at Ravenswood for her now. She didn’t deserve to have magic, or friends, or a real home. Why had she ever thought she was special, that she didn’t have to be alone?
She hung her head and closed her eyes, cutting off the jabbering noise of the party. This was just a dream. She shut her eyes tighter. She wasn’t alone. There had to be someone she could count on, someone who would help her.
“Hey!” a familiar voice called out. “What’s happening, dudes, and how come I wasn’t invited?”
Adriane opened her eyes. A second Kara walked into the clearing, surveying the colorful garden.
“Soooo… slacking off, are we?”
Oh, this is just great! Adriane thought. Of all my friends, I gotta pull her in!
“Who are you?” the catter called out, now wearing a thick wool hat with the earflaps pulled down.
“The question is…” the blazing star inspected the scene. “Who are you?”
“We know who we are.” Lyra looked around. “Don’t we?”
“What are you doing here?” The second Kara walked toward Adriane’s overstuffed chair. “Get up.”
“Leave me alone.” The warrior was suddenly exhausted.
“Say,” the first Kara said, sizing up Kara Two. “You look very familiar.”
Kara Two smiled. “You’re quite beautiful.”
“So true.” Kara One giggled, pigtails swinging. “I wish I had hair like yours. Oh, I do!”
“But your fashion sense is, like, last Halloween.”
“Oh, you wish you had these shoes!” Kara One wiggled her pointy green elf shoes.
“Yeah,” Kara Two chuckled. “Next time I visit Saturn.”
“Well, I have everything you have and more.” Kara One crossed her arms and pouted.
Kara Two tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Except for one, teeny, tiny, eentsy, beensy, little thingy.”
“What?”
“You’re not real.” Kara Two swung her glittering unicorn jewel.
“Get out!”
“She just got here,” Ozzie complained, adjusting his giant polka-dot sombrero.
“Do they ever shut up on your planet?” With a brilliant flash of unicorn magic, the entire party freeze-framed. “Now, let’s go!” Kara ordered Adriane.
The warrior yawned, eyes barely able to stay open. “It doesn’t matter—I’ll just end up here again.”
“You have to find the power crystal.”
“How’d you get in my dream, anyway?” Adriane asked.
“I have some experience in the astral planes.” Kara swirled her sparkling jewel in her fingers. “Not to mention this little power booster thing I like to call my ‘Circle of Friends.’ Came in quite handy in the Fairy Realms.”
“Yeah, yeah, you saved everyone. Hooray for you.”
Kara placed her hands on her hips. “So, you just going to sit here and sulk and leave the heavy lifting to your buds, or what?”
“I can’t do anything.”
“Adriane, this isn’t real! We all need you.”
The warrior eyed her suspiciously. Since when did the perfect blazing star need Adriane?
“This is only the dream state,” Kara insisted. “You have to go all the way to the spirit world.”
“It’s too late.” Adriane hung her head.
“Listen to me.” Kara knelt in front of Adriane, taking the warrior’s hands in hers. “Dawnrunner is okay.”
Adriane looked up sharply. “Dawnrunner.”
Kara nodded. “She was knocked around, but Emily helped her.”
“Dreamer.” Adriane’s eyes widened.
Kara nodded. “If you don’t go now, he and the rest of the mistwolves won’t be so lucky. And we are going to lose Ravenswood.”
“I don’t even have my jewel.”
“You mean that jewel?” Kara pointed at Adriane’s wrist.
A small pinpoint of light shimmered. Adriane squinted, looking harder, and the golden glow flashed brighter. The wolf stone appeared like magic.
“Now, come back to your real friends,” Kara urged, releasing a sparkle of magic. It floated gently around the wolf stone, making it blaze with fire.
Adriane felt the gentle touch of the healing stone, the strength of the dragon stone, the warm, fuzzy ferret stone, and the steadfast love of the animals. Her friends were all there, sending her their magic.
“Adriane, there isn’t much time.” Kara stood, gently pulling the warrior to her feet.
Adriane’s heart thudded. Maybe it wasn’t too late. Looking at Kara—the real Kara—Adriane knew her friend was telling the truth.
“Your dream is a total fashion disaster, anyway,” the blazing star quipped. She held up her unicorn jewel, sending glittering magic sweeping over her and Adriane. “You ready?”
Adriane took a deep breath, held up her gem, and nodded.
Kara and Adriane faced each other and began to vanish.
“Hey, Barbie.”
“Yeah, Xena?”
“Thanks.”
In a flash of shining light, Adriane stepped into the spirit world.
She stood on cliffs of silver. A wide chasm gaped below her, seething with brilliant strands of wild magic.
A banshee whine wailed over the chasm. Like a whirling dervish, the ghostly demon spun, sending magic storms coursing through the air.
Adriane moved toward the edge of the cliff. “Storm,” she called out.
The wolf’s fragile connection with the crumbling Spirit Trail was fading fast. Wild magic swirled, picking away strands of mist. Storm was barely there.
Wolf stone blazing, Adriane sent the magic of her friends to Storm, praying she could hold the mist together.
The demon cackled, its mocking laughter echoing through the void. “The more magic the better,” it sneered, voice raspy and unfamiliar.
That was not Orenda. It could only be the Spider Witch.
“Give me back my wolves!” Adriane ordered.
She jumped back as the glittering Spirit Trail shuddered beneath her feet, buckling in on itself. Without a packmate to balance her, there was no way she could fight the witch. But Storm’s and Dreamer’s lives depended on her.
The wolf stone flashed wildly. Mistwolf magic was seething inside of her, struggling to break free. Adriane’s blood boiled. But she was terrified to let go. Would she lose herself forever if she gave in?
Suddenly the air shifted as bands of magic tore apart. Something flew above the demon, flashing in and out of light and shadow—a dazzling jewel.
The power crystal!
With a terrifying howl, the demon lunged, blackened hands reaching toward the glittering prize, drawing it closer.
Adriane raised her wolf stone. But a black blur flew through the air, knocking her aside.
Dreamer growled viciously, his emerald eyes completely veiled by blood-red fire. Pain lanced through her as Chain twisted inside Dreamer, devouring her packmate’s magic.
“Let him go, Chain!” the warrior commanded.
“You cannot save your packmates.” The black wolf’s proud face stretched into a ghastly grin. “You never could.”
It was true. A warrior did not have the power to save either of her packmates.
But a healer did.
Adriane reached inside, gathering healing power and sending it to Dreamer. She held out her other hand and fired a second beam of magic—to keep Storm alive.
“You are no match for my ghost wolf, warrior,” the Spider Witch laughed from inside the demon.
Adriane’s eyes widened as she realized what the witch was saying. “You are bonded to Chain?”
“Bonded?” the witch cackled. “Chain is my paladin!”
Dreamer suddenly lunged for the crystal, jaws opened wide. Adriane instinctively aimed her stone to stop him.
“Go ahead,” the witch ordered, demon eyes blazing. “Do it!”
Dreamer’s eyes flashed emerald as
he struggled against Chain’s grip, but the ghost wolf was too strong.
Adriane screamed—her magic stretched beyond the breaking point.
“You must save the crystal of Avalon,” Storm called, her mist wavering. “Or the mistwolves will be lost.”
Wisps of glittering white pulled weakly around the warrior’s magic. Her first packmate was nearly gone.
What was she going to do? She couldn’t help Dreamer without letting go of Storm. But without her magic, Storm would be lost forever.
She looked at the wolves, her heart ripping in two. She could only save one. No matter what she did, she was going to betray one of her packmates.
THE DARK SORCERESS drew in the pure magic and breathed deeply, as if tasting its power for the first time. Overwhelmed with the rush, she barely noticed the black wolf that had materialized in the murky chamber, the dazzling power crystal in his jaws.
The Spider Witch saw him, though. “Give it to me,” she commanded eagerly.
Eyes glinting blue and green, Chain wore Dreamer’s face like a mask. The wolf advanced and carefully dropped the large gem in the witch’s outstretched hand.
“Ravenswood is mine!” she cried, holding the prize high above her head. The magic of Avalon cast gleaming halos onto the lair’s rough stone walls.
Across the chamber, the sorceress’s animal eyes gleamed. Silver hair blew back from her face as the magic washed over her, reawakening her power. Yet there was something not quite right.
The crystal almost felt—alive.
“I suggest you examine the crystal a little more closely,” she said, retreating from the cascading light.
The witch’s eyes sparked with anger. The crystal was vibrating, rattling in her hands. Concentrating, she held the jewel tightly as tendrils of glittering mist shimmered around the faceted edges. A low hum emanated from its sparkling center. The noise got louder, until it crescendoed into a chorus of terrifying howls.
The witch screamed at the black wolf. “What happened to it?”
Mist snaked from the crystal, spilling over the stone floor. With a golden flash, the mist swirled into a tall shape.
A black-haired girl stood in the chamber, her dark eyes burning. Upon her wrist, the wolf stone pulsed dangerously.
Adriane looked around. “What a dump.”
Surprised by the girl’s sudden appearance, the Spider Witch stepped back, tightening her grip on the shuddering power crystal. “You don’t really think you can walk in here by yourself and take the crystal.”
The warrior advanced, her wolf stone blazing like a sun. “I brought a few friends.”
Adriane whirled, slamming a bolt of golden fire into the witch. The crystal flew out of the evil witch’s clutches. In a flash, it vanished as glittering streams of misty light coursed through the chamber. The magical mist assumed ghostly forms as the spirit pack poured out. Hundreds of wolves sparkling black, blue, silver, red, gold, and white, filled the chamber.
“The spirit pack!” Chain’s voice echoed from Dreamer as the wolf snarled, furiously yapping and biting at the air.
The Dark Sorceress watched intently. So, the spirit pack had been trapped inside the power crystal. A smile twisted her lips. Her theories had been correct all along. There was no doubt now that their magic was connected to the very source of all magic.
“Chain, kill the wolf!” the Spider Witch shrieked.
“I don’t think so,” Adriane said coolly.
The spirit pack descended on Dreamer, enveloping him in ghostly blue light. Adriane could feel the Spider Witch’s spell twisting at Chain. She understood now: The wolf was not the witch’s true paladin, but a prisoner. Just like Orenda.
Chain’s anguished howl tore through the chamber as his glowing form separated from Dreamer and was pulled into the swirling wolf storm. With a last yelp, Dreamer was free.
“Your spell has been broken,” the voices of the ancient wolves echoed.
With a loud rip, the top corner of the Ravenswood tapestry fell, strands of webbing unraveling.
The witch bolted toward the tapestry. Her robe fluttered, then fell to the floor.
Adriane was stunned.
The Spider Witch’s torso had warped into a swollen spider abdomen from which eight thick spider legs protruded. The faceted yellow eyes of an insect had monstrously distorted her face. Hair writhing like it was alive, the witch climbed up the tapestry, frantically trying to re-weave it. More spiders emerged, crawling over her heavy legs.
The spirit pack, now thousands strong, swirled in the chamber, a maelstrom of wolf power.
Wisps of Ravenswood’s tangled magic disintegrated into smoke as the witch’s spell broke. Adriane caught the remnants of the demon fluttering in the air before it vanished.
“No!” The witch staggered. The weaving unraveled, sending her tumbling to the floor.
With a booming crash, the ceiling crumbled to smoking rubble, leaving a gaping hole. Through it, the spirit pack swirled upwards, streaming into the dark sky overhead.
Adriane and the witch saw the floating crystal at the same time. With a shrill cry, the Spider Witch lunged, clawing at it with all her might.
Adriane whipped golden fire through the air, ensnaring the crystal.
“Help me!” the witch cried frantically.
Adriane flicked her eyes to the shifting shadows.
“Impressive, warrior.” The Dark Sorceress stepped forward, eyes glowing with hunger. “The magic of the mistwolves is truly breathtaking.”
“Choke on it,” Adriane snarled, wolf stone flashing.
The sorceress raised her arms, trying to pull the spirit pack to her.
Dreamer at her side, Adriane wrapped a shield of wolf fire around the escaping pack.
The ghost wolves howled, disappearing into the night.
Red fire crackled from the power crystal as the Spider Witch lashed out.
Adriane staggered back, but kept her jewel trained on the pack. In that moment, the witch pulled the crystal into her hands. Clutching the prize, the Spider Witch scurried from the chamber.
“I see you have a new mistwolf,” the Dark Sorceress sneered. “Used up the other one already, did we?”
“You will never take their magic!” Adriane cried, striking directly at the sorceress, pounding at her in a frenzy of fiery strikes.
Palms held out, the sorceress did her best to deflect the blows. But she was not at full strength. She could not stand against the warrior and the power of the spirit pack.
“I want the crystal!” Adriane ordered, arms raised, black wolf crouched by her side.
“It’s out of my hands, so to speak.”
Adriane moved to the door but stopped short. A huge shadow fell across the stone floor. An immense insect, oily wings shimmering upon its back, blocked the way. Like a giant beetle, black armor covered its torso. Green insect eyes gleamed as antennae twitched, sending out secret signals.
With a hiss, its black wings sprang open. Hundreds of spiders charged into the room, shrieking hungrily.
Adriane swung a circle of fire around her and Dreamer as more spiders spilled into the chamber. She wouldn’t be able hold them off for long.
Suddenly, the lair rumbled, shaking the very foundations of the castle. Adriane felt the magic of the power crystal tickling along her skin as if she were walking through spider webs.
“What is that witch doing with the crystal?” Adriane demanded.
“She’s a spider,” the sorceress said, smirking. “Think about it.”
Adriane looked at the destroyed weaving, strands now littering the floor. The witch would strike Ravenswood again, this time with the power crystal.
“Too bad you won’t be able to save your new wolf.” The sorceress smiled, vampire teeth gleaming, eyes focused on the wolf stone. “There’s no way out. Losing two wolves—that’s got to hurt.”
Adriane’s heart pounded. It was like her nightmare come to life, but this time she was not going to fail her packmate, either of
them.
Adriane looked skyward to be sure the spirit pack had all escaped. She knew Storm was bravely leading them onto the Spirit Trail. Now, she had to flee this chamber of horrors and make her stand at Ravenswood, surrounded by her friends. But she had one thing to do first.
Following a slight gesture of Adriane’s hand, Dreamer drew close to her side.
“Who did you lose?” She met the sorceress’s shocked stare, then gave her packmate a nod. Dreamer went first, shimmering to mist and vanishing. “Think about it.”
Adriane centered her elemental magic, feeling the bright power of the mistwolves wash over her. Standing on the cliffs of the spirit world, torn between Storm and Dreamer, she had looked into the heart of the power crystal and finally understood. Being part of the pack meant she was never alone, never without power. She was just as connected to the magic of the spirit pack as every other mistwolf. She had embraced the wolf within, diving into the power crystal itself.
In a flash, Adriane faded to mist and joined her packmates.
Welcomed by the spirits of the mistwolves, Adriane and Dreamer flew onto the glowing Spirit Trail. This time it filled her entire being—the knowledge, experience, love, and strength that was at the very core of every mistwolf. This was her magic, too, as much as it was Dreamer’s and Storm’s.
“May you always run with us, wolf sister.”
The voices fell gently in her mind as thousands of wolves surrounded her.
The Spirit Trail melted away. Mighty trees sprang up, surrounding them in lush greens, browns, and golds. The smell of the forest filled Adriane’s senses.
“My heart soars to see you, warrior.”
A silver wolf moved to her side, strong and full of magic. Stormbringer.
Adriane smiled at her packmate.
Fiery reds, ocean blues, brilliant yellows, and deep forest greens curled and danced, flowing across the sky.
The pack came to the trail’s end, where sand and sea met, where worlds joined. Their vision of the past shimmered before Adriane’s eyes. Giant interlocking stones set in an immense jigsaw puzzle led the way to the crystal city floating in an ocean of time.
“What is this place?” Adriane asked, awestruck.
“Avalon,” the wolves said.
Ghost Wolf (Avalon: Web of Magic #9) Page 13