Spellsinger (Avalon: Web of Magic #5) Read Free Page A

koala-like bear. She leaped back, cried out, and tripped, landing in a puddle of mud.
    By the time she raised her camera and wiped the lens clean, Rommel had rushed off.
    “Come back here you little freak!” Mrs. Windor shouted, spitting out muddy goop.
    “Oh no,” Kara groaned. What were they supposed to do now?
    A sudden gust of wind blew around the woman, a spiral of force that kicked up dirt, twigs, and stone, quickly forming into what looked like a mini-twister!
    “Adriane!” Kara hissed. “Stop it!”
    The dark-haired girl looked at her wolf stone. The jewel was pulsing with strong amber light. “I’m not doing that!”
    Then the ground beneath Mrs. Windor trembled. The whirlwind spun closer to the struggling woman. Mouth agape, she managed to keep the camera focused.
    Suddenly, Mrs. Windor’s camera was ripped from her hands by a blast of wind. It flew into the air, smashing to pieces against a large stone.
    The whirlwind picked up grass, vines, twigs, and leaves, magically forming into a figure made from the earth itself. Sparkling quartz eyes regarded its surroundings.
    “It’s a Fairimental!” Adriane gasped.
    Fairimentals were extremely magical beings, the keepers and protectors of good magic on Aldenmor.
    “What’s it doing here?” Kara asked.
    “Magesss,” the twiggy figure rustled, bits of leaves and dirt flying as it wobbled about.
    “What the—?” Mrs. Windor looked closer at the creature.
    With a sudden shudder, the Fairimental exploded, sending debris everywhere.
    Mrs. Windor whirled around and raced back through the woods, howling.
    Adriane and Kara ran to the various pieces of the Fairimental. Two tiny whirlpools of dirt and leaves spun from the ground, desperately trying to regain shape.
    “Warrior…” one said. Rattling crazily, the whirlpool flew apart.
    “…blazing star… terrible danger,” the other small pile managed to say. It, too, was starting to break up.
    “What’s happened?” Adriane asked urgently.
    “…ussse… fairy map…”
    Kara swallowed hard, thinking about the glowing map she had lost.
    “Spellsing as three...” The Fairimental caved in on itself, shaking violently into a whirling mess. “Before isss too late…”
    Then whatever force was holding the Fairimentals together abruptly vanished and their elements crumbled to the ground.
    Adriane looked at Kara.
    The girls knew that the Dark Sorceress of Aldenmor would stop at nothing to find magic, and Avalon was the source of all magic. Her most recent attempts to locate Avalon had damaged the magic web itself, the strands of magical energy that connected worlds everywhere, and supposedly, reached all the way to Avalon. As far as the girls knew, the portals to the Fairy Glen on Aldenmor—where the Fairimentals lived—were still missing. No one had seen or heard from the Fairimentals since those portals had disappeared... until now.
    “What was it trying to tell us about the fairy map?” Adriane asked.
    “We already know the sorceress has it.” Kara remembered the gift the fairy creature called Phelonius had tried to give her. At the time, she didn’t know how important it was. In fact, she didn’t know what it was at all. Until it had been stolen and taken back to the sorceress. It was their one clue to finding Avalon.
    “Maybe she’s trying to use it,” Adriane guessed.
    “This is just great!” Kara tossed her hands in the air and spun back to face Adriane. “We’ve got Mrs. Windor about to announce Stonehill’s first alien sighting and Johnny Conrad is arriving in two days! We can’t have Fairimentals and who knows what else popping up!”
    “Maybe we should just postpone the benefit,” Adriane suggested quietly.
    “No way !” Kara stated. “This show is going on! The Fairy Glen and Avalon are just going to have to wait.”
    Adriane bit her lip as she watched Kara stomp away, heading back to prepare Stonehill for the event of the year.



E MILY RACED UP the steps of Stonehill’s