All That Glitters (Avalon: Web of Magic #2) by Rachel Roberts Page B

the Stonehill Journal,” Adriane cracked.
    “Oh, very funny! And if she did, she’d know who you are, too! But it’s all happening to me!”
    “She?” Balthazar asked.
    “I think so. She had these weird eyes.” Kara twisted her gem in her hand.
    “That jewel,” Adriane said. “It’s been nothing but trouble!”
    Kara glared at her.
    “Kara,” Emily said, “ever since you found it, these creatures have been after you, right?”
    Kara swallowed. “Um . . . sorta . . . maybe.”
    “Maybe what?” Adriane asked.
    “The night before I found this jewel, one of those banshees was in my room. It took my pink sweater. Why did it do that?”
    Emily turned back to the computer screen. “We’ve found some files that Mr. Gardener left.” She clicked on a book-shaped icon. A heading in an old-fashioned scroll spread across the top of the page. “Creatures of Magic.” Below was a list of names, each accompanied by a picture.
    Emily scrolled down. Some of the creatures they recognized: jeerans, pegasi . . .
    “There’s quiffles!” Ronif exclaimed.
    The creatures became darker, more bizarre, some hideously ugly and monstrous.
    “Eww, creep me out!” Kara made a face.
    “Any of these look familiar?” Emily asked.
    “No.”
    “There’s a manticore,” Ozzie pointed out. The terrifying winged demon looked out from the screen. Even though it was only a picture, its razor teeth and bloodred eyes sent chills up and down Kara’s spine as she recalled facing the real thing only weeks before.
    “Wait, open that one,” she instructed.
    Emily clicked on the thumbnail and the screen filled with an image of the ragged creature Kara recognized from the glade and the sunroom.
    “That’s it ,” Kara said, backing away. “Only it doesn’t have that green stuff.”
    “You mean Black Fire.” Balthazar nodded.
    “The ones we saw looked badly poisoned,” Ronif confirmed.
    “Banshees,” Emily read. “Creatures of fairy that have been cursed. They have long, streaming hair and ragged clothes. Eyes are fiery red from constant weeping. Banshees cry because they foretell darkness and pain.”
    “Like messengers of bad news?” Adriane asked.
    “They were monsters, not messengers,” Kara said.
    “There are a lot of poor creatures on Aldenmor that wander the Shadowlands,” Balthazar said. “Hideous and twisted by dark magic.”
    “What’s the Shadowlands?” Emily asked.
    “A place on Aldenmor. It used to be beautiful forests and meadows until the witch destroyed it.”
    “It’s where Black Fire comes from,” Kara informed them.
    They all looked at Kara.
    “Lyra told me. She was there. She was captured by hunters and brought to this castle where this . . . person was torturing animals.”
    “That’s terrible!” Emily cried, outraged.
    “Lyra escaped, but her sisters didn’t.” Kara felt the cat’s sadness, connected to it somehow.
    “We know of this Dark Sorceress,” Balthazar shuddered.
    “A terrible witch who hunts animals,” Ronif added.
    “Lyra said she’s stealing magic from the animals,” Kara continued.
    Ozzie grimaced. “It’s a complete perversion of the magic. Horrible!”
    “But we know our magic is stronger with our animal friends,” Emily reasoned.
    “And the legends that say humans and animals once worked together to make strong magic,” Balthazar agreed.
    “Well, now the animals have defenders to protect them!” Adriane punched her fist into her palm for emphasis.
    “That’s right!” Ozzie sprang to his feet. “Let’s go!”
    “Ozzie.” Emily caught his tail and pulled the agitated ferret back. “We don’t know what we’re up against yet.”
    “But I’m not an animal,” Kara argued. “Why is this sorceress after me? And she can’t have my jewel!”
    “Why would she want your jewel and not ours?” Adriane asked.
    “’Cause mine’s better,” Kara quipped, then added, “I don’t know but she’s not getting it and neither are those banshees.”
    Adriane