Secret of the Unicorn (Avalon: Web of Magic #4) (9 page)

“Look, I’m sorry, okay?” Emily frowned. She’d totally forgotten that Scooter’s owners were coming to pick him up yesterday. Still, it wasn’t as if she was the only one who could open a dog run. Why was her mother making such a big deal out of this? “I had stuff to do at Ravenswood, and it took longer than I thought.”

“Ah, Ravenswood.” Carolyn sighed. “It’s great that you’re so eager to help over there, but you can’t just ignore the rest of your life.”

Emily clenched her fists under the table. Her mother had no idea how important Ravenswood really was.

“You were the one who wanted to start the Pet Palace,” Carolyn went on. “And now I’m afraid you’re going to have to adapt your lifestyle to the new responsibilities.”

“Adapt?” Emily exclaimed, totally fed up. “
You’re
telling
me
to adapt? What about
you
?”

Carolyn looked startled. “What?”

“First you tell me to go out and make friends. Then you tell me to stay home more.” Emily’s hands were shaking. She dropped her spoon, which clattered off the table onto the floor. “Meanwhile you don’t even
try
to adapt. You just work all the time and pretend everything’s all fine and dandy.”

“That’s not true, I—”

“Don’t tell me it’s not true!” Emily cried. “I’m not stupid.” She waved a hand toward Carolyn’s lab coat. “Where are you going right now? It’s Sunday, you know.
Most
vets take a day off once in a while. When was the last time
you
took a day off?”

Carolyn frowned. “Lower your voice, Emily. And try to understand, I’m so busy—”

Emily didn’t let her finish. “Yeah, like you were so busy back in Colorado that you let your family fall apart!” she yelled. Suddenly she couldn’t stop the angry words from flowing. “That’s the reason we’re here—that’s why I have to worry about adapting—because
you
couldn’t make things work with Daddy, so
my
whole life got ruined! I had to leave my old friends, my old school, everything, and move to a whole new state! Ravenswood is the only really good thing that’s happened to me here, and now you want to take it away from me!”

Carolyn’s jaw dropped. “Emily,” she breathed. “I—I—”

Before her mother could go on, Emily shoved her chair back so violently that her cereal bowl tipped over, splashing milk and Cheerios everywhere. She jumped to her feet.

“I’ll be at Ravenswood, where I’m really needed.” She turned and raced out of the room.

E
MILY WALKED INTO
the circular driveway in front of Ravenswood Manor. The grand building was more than two centuries old. When Emily had first seen it, she had been spooked by the strange Gothic manor, complete with gargoyles perched on stone parapets. Now she welcomed the strength of its solid stone and seasoned wood. The big front windows watched her, looking down in welcome.

So many other things seemed so fleeting, she mused. How something so real, so close, could vanish in an instant, gone in the blink of an eye.

Emily blew out a frustrated sigh and shifted her backpack to her other shoulder. She followed the cobblestone walkway around the manor and entered the first of many gardens that surrounded the great lawns. Her friends were probably already in the portal field. They had planned to meet there and discuss what to do about the portal. Somehow they had to figure out how to replace the dreamcatcher that had protected it from evil.

“Emily?”

Adriane’s grandmother was working in one of the rose gardens. Nakoda Charday—better known to Adriane and her friends as Gran—was the caretaker of Ravenswood. She had worked for its owner, Mr. Gardener, for many years before Adriane had come to live with her.

“Oh,” Emily muttered. “Hi.” Lowering her head to avoid the woman’s wise, observant gaze, she started to hurry past. She just wasn’t in the mood for dealing with adults right now.
Any
adults.

The old woman clipped several magnificent yellow and red roses, carefully settling them in her bag, then held up her pruning shears. “Nurturing, care, and love.”

“Huh?”

“To flourish and blossom, it takes more than peat moss and plant food.”

“Yeah.”

“What’s the matter, dear?” Gran asked. “Your face is as dark as a thundercloud.”

“Sorry,” Emily snapped without thinking. “I didn’t know that being in a good mood was a requirement for coming here.”

She immediately regretted the sharp words. Her face flushed with shame, and she stared at her feet. But Gran hardly seemed to notice as she stood up.

“Come,” she said. “Walk with me.”

Emily sighed and walked beside Gran across the great lawn toward the maze of gardens. Gran took a deep breath, looking around. “The world is full of colors today, isn’t it?”

“Sure.” Emily glanced around, too, suddenly noticing the brilliant, ever-changing autumn colors of the maples and the oaks, the dogwoods and the sweet gums.

Gran was watching her. “It’s amazing what one sees when one’s eyes are open,” she commented. “What good is a rainbow if we only focus on one color?”

“Gran,” Emily began hesitantly. “Do you think someone who’s injured has to
want
to get better?”

Gran nodded soberly. “If the spirit does not desire healing, no true healing can take place, even if the body seems to recover.”

“But why would a person or animal just give up when there’s still hope?” Emily pressed on. “Especially if there are people trying to help?”

“Hope means different things to different people,” Gran replied. “And if you want to help, you have to be willing to give the kind of help that’s needed, not just the kind you
think
is needed.”

Emily wasn’t quite sure what the old woman meant. After all, her mother didn’t ask each dog what it needed before she treated it.

Gran must have seen the confusion in her eyes. “Think of it this way,” she said, leaning over to pick up a stick from the ground. “The physical and the spiritual often intersect. Like this.” She scratched a figure in the dirt—one strong line going up and down, another crossing it from side to side. “Sometimes there is suffering on the physical line only, or on the spiritual line only. But when the pain lies right here”—she pointed with the stick to the spot where the lines bisected—“that is when healing can be most difficult.”

“Oh.” Emily nodded, thinking of Lorelei. The unicorn—or whatever she was—had been badly injured by the Black Fire on the outside. What if she had been just as badly injured on the inside? “But how can you help someone like that?”

Gran shrugged, dropping the stick on the ground. “By remaining open to all possibilities. If one way isn’t working, try another. And another. And another after that, if necessary.”

“But what if you run out of ways?”

Gran shook her head firmly. “There are infinite possibilities in this world,” she said, “just as there are infinite shades within a rainbow. It’s just a matter of opening your heart to them.”

Emily chewed on her lower lip. “I guess,” she said hesitantly.

Gran smiled. “Emily,” she said, “you can never truly fail as long as you give all of yourself to the attempt.”

Emily watched the autumn colors dance through the forests, a bold display before winter’s gray grip took hold. Why was it her burden to feel so much pain and loss? How was she supposed to handle it? It took only one image of the wounded Lorelei in her mind to bolster her resolve. She was a healer and one thing she could never do was give up, no matter how difficult things may seem. She took a deep breath and braced herself for what lay ahead.

“T
HIS ISN’T GOING
to work.”

“Okay, guys, do your thing! Go ahead! You can do it!”

Zzzzzinnnng! Pop! Buzzzzz! Slllllurrrrp!

“No! No! You’re not supposed to
eat
the spaghetti, you goofballs!”

“Yummmmmyyyyyyyyyy!”

“Aargh! Stop them, Kara! I have noodles in my hair!”

Even before Emily entered the meadow, she could hear the loud, excited voices drifting toward her on the slight breeze. What in the world was going on?

She stepped into the field just in time to see Adriane brushing frantically at her long, dark hair as Stormbringer circled her anxiously. Lyra was crouching in the grass, batting at Fred as the dragonfly flew about, skillfully missing the big cat’s playful swipes. Nearby, the other dragonflies, Barney, Goldie, Blaze, and Fiona, and others Kara had not named, careened around the field, leaving trails of twinkly magic sparks everywhere. Kara was waving her arms around, obviously trying to control the cluster of dragonflies.

“Emmeee!” Goldie flitted toward Emily, banking just in front of her face.

“Hello, Goldie. What have you got there?”

“Magiccc noodilll!” Goldie squeaked.

Adriane glanced at her and rolled her eyes. “We’re testing another one of Miss America’s lame-brained ideas,” she replied.

“I don’t see you coming up with anything better, Miss Crouching Tiger,” Kara snapped back.

Emily held her hands up to avoid getting hit with a wet noodle. “Whoa,” she said. “Somebody fill me in, okay?”

“Since the dragonflies wove the last dreamcatcher, I figured they could weave another one,” Kara explained. “I even let them take a few strands of my hair, and that didn’t work.” She crossed her arms over her chest, then ducked as Blaze buzzed past, wobbling crazily under a mass of spaghetti strands.

Emily had to admit that the plan made some sense but, “Spaghetti?”

“I like spaghetti. It could work,” Kara said.

A few weeks ago, a wild burst of uncontrolled magic had caused Kara’s hair to grow super long and turn every color of the rainbow. Once her hair had been trimmed, the dragonflies had used the cut strands to weave a protective web over the portal. It had worked like a dreamcatcher, only instead of keeping nightmares away it had covered the portal to keep nightmare
creatures
from coming through. That way, only good magical creatures had been able to pass through when the portal opened. But now the dreamcatcher was gone.

Emily glanced at Adriane.

The dark-haired girl grimaced. “We’ve already tried Kara’s yarn, some ribbon, some socks, and now this.”

“Yeah,” Kara added morosely. “That spaghetti was supposed to be lunch today.”

“Well, there’s always more possibilities, right?” Emily said, remembering what Gran had just told her. “We just need to find something else with Kara’s magic touch to give them.”

Adriane stared thoughtfully at Lyra. “Hmm,” she said. “What about—”

“
Poooowieeee!” Fred went flying as Lyra batted him across the field.

“
I don’t think so
,” the cat interrupted before Adriane could finish, backing away warily.

Emily brushed away Blaze, who was buzzing excitedly near her left shoulder, and pointed at Kara’s feet. “What about those?”

Kara looked down at her pink sneakers. “You mean my shoelaces?” she exclaimed. “I had to search every store in the mall to find these! They exactly match my pink baseball cap.”

“Fashion is so fickle, you know,” Adriane commented. “I heard purple is the new pink.”

“All you ever wear is black, so how would you know?” Kara rolled her eyes, but took off her sneakers. As she slid the laces out of the holes, she glanced at Emily. “Hey,” she said. “What’s happening with our mystery guest?”

“Pretty much what I already told you,” Emily sighed. She’d texted Kara and Adriane about Lorelei as soon as she’d gotten home last night. “I just can’t seem to get through to her. How are all the new animals?” she asked instead.

“Fine. Most of them are over at the glade. Ozzie and some of the others are filling them in on this world and everything,” Adriane told her.

Pink shoelaces in hand, Kara said, “Storm doesn’t think Lorelei is a unicorn. And neither do I.”

“Why not?”

“Think about it.” Kara tapped herself on the forehead. “What do unicorns have that makes them so special? Duh. A
horn
.”

“Yes, you’re right, but still…”

Kara waggled her shoelaces in the air. “Yoo-hoo, guys,” she called to the dragonflies. “I’ve got something else for you to play with.”

The dragonflies buzzed over and eagerly grabbed the shoelaces, spinning them into small webs. Tiny, colorful sparks started to pop in the air all around them.

“This is nuts. The dreamcatcher has to be made from something stronger, some real magic!” Adriane said.

“We’re waiting for your suggestions, Snow Black,” Kara quipped.

Ignoring Kara, Adriane went on. “We know something has happened in Aldenmor and it most likely involves the Dark Sorceress. We need to think of something more effective to cover the portal if it opens again.”

Emily bit her lip. She understood why her friends were so focused on fixing the dreamcatcher. As long as the portal remained unprotected, there was no telling what might come through when it opened again. But she couldn’t seem to concentrate. Not while Lorelei was still out there somewhere in the woods, alone and scared.

“I’m going back out,” she said as casually as she could. “See if I can find Lorelei again.”