Adriane and Storm leaped into the fire’s path, spinning a shield of sparkling gold. Mistwolf and warrior worked like a fine-tuned machine, whirling to block every bolt, sending them flying harmlessly into the air.

  But the night stallions were strong and fast, thundering past Adriane straight toward Emily and Kara.

  Another group attacked from the side, driving the healer and blazing star apart.

  “Stay together!” Adriane ordered.

  “Kara, look out!” Emily screamed.

  A wave of imps ran between the riders and threw a sparking net over Kara.

  Adriane leaped and spun, fists of golden fire slicing the nets to shreds.

  Dreamer barked as he ran between the mages’ legs, barreling over Ozzie.

  The girls scrambled together as another group of riders charged.

  Roaring, Lyra pushed the girls behind her, teeth bared, wings unfurled, ready to absorb the crushing impact.

  A huge red tail swept through the haze, knocking the goblins off their mounts. The mutant horses careened out of control, missing the group by yards. Emily and Kara felt their fiery breath as they passed.

  The creature landed in front of the girls roaring defiantly at the goblins and imps. The attacking hoard dispersed over the far ridge, leaving, for now.

  “That’s not the manticore!” Ozzie exclaimed.

  “What is it?” Emily asked, trembling.

  The fierce creature turned a horse-like head on its long sinewy neck. It was as big as a bus with a long tail covered in glimmering red scales. Large reptilian eyes narrowed dangerously as it snorted. With a rush, it stomped toward them on massive hind legs.

  Something opened inside Adriane’s mind. Something familiar, strong, and right— feelings of love rushed through her mind and body, it was like… coming home.

  “Dragon!” Ozzie screamed.

  Kara grabbed for Emily’s and Adriane’s hands.

  “No, wait!” Adriane cried.

  The dragon lumbered toward them, practically stumbling on his enormous feet. When it was only a few feet away, it stopped, folding its shimmering, iridescent wings. Smoke drifted from its nostrils as it leaned forward, opened its huge mouth—

  “Momma!”

  —and licked Adriane so hard, she was lifted several feet into the air.

  “Drake?” Adriane laughed as she landed on the ground. “It is you!” She threw her arms around Drake’s neck, hugging the dragon as tight as she could. Then she stepped back to look him in the eye. “Wow. You’ve really grown!”

  The dragon was happily shuffling back and forth from foot to foot, tongue lolling out. “Momma! Momma!”

  Thud!

  The ground shook as Drake rolled over onto his back, legs and arms akimbo, waiting for Adriane to scratch his belly.

  “Tickle!”

  Adriane giggled, reaching over to rub the great creature’s amazingly soft belly. “I missed you so much!”

  The group watched, mouths opened in stunned silence.

  “Well, now I’ve seen everything!” Ozzie stomped over to inspect the dragon.

  Emily smiled. “It’s Adriane’s baby dragon.”

  “Some baby,” Kara muttered as she nervously scanned the skies. For all she knew, full-sized dragons traveled in packs like the pesky dragonflies. She could not handle another fan club—especially not one with members as big as the Drake.

  “Don’t worry,” Lyra told her, reading her mind. “The red dragons hatch only once every thousand years.” She eyed Adriane and Drake.“He’s imprinted on Adriane.”

  “Everybody, this is Drake.” Adriane introduced the dragon to her friends.

  “Hello!” Drake snorted, sitting up. The dragon’s lips parted, revealing rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth. Kara hoped it was a smile.

  “Dragons grow very quickly,” Storm observed.

  “You can say that again,” Kara replied.

  Adriane first met Drake when he was still inside his egg. When she left Aldenmor, he’d barely hatched. She knew that dragon magic was incredibly powerful, but she never expected her friend to grow so fast.

  “Such a sweet boy,” Adriane cooed, playfully scratching Drake under his chin. The dragon laughed, shooting sparks out his nostrils. A small fireball shot out of his mouth.

  Emily, Kara, and the others leaped back.

  “AhH!” Ozzie shouted. “Try to keep it on low flame!”

  “Sorry.” Drake hung his head over Adriane’s.

  “Drake, where’s Zach?” Adriane suddenly realized Drake had flown in by himself. She tried to keep the worry out of her voice.

  “He went after Moonshadow and the mistwolves,” Drake replied. He sounded worried himself. “Zach told me to stay outside so witch would not capture me.”

  “Wait, if that wasn’t Zach, then who—oh.” Kara flashed on B*Tween’s warning about the Skultum.

  “That wasn’t Zach, and I’ll give you two guesses who it really was,” Adriane said grimly.

  “That means Zach is captured, in a spell somewhere,” Emily said.

  “I have not heard from Zach at all,” Drake admitted. “Then I heard Momma and came here.”

  “The Dark Sorceress has the mistwolves,” Storm said. “That is the only way she could be using their magic.”

  Dreamer snarled.

  “But how is that possible, Storm?” Adriane asked.

  “I do not know. It takes very strong magic to capture or kill a mistwolf,” Storm said.

  Drake nodded, shuffling on his huge feet again. “Have not heard from Zach!”

  “If she has Moonshadow,” Adriane figured, “then she has his fairy map. And she must be using it to open the portals.”

  “The map was given to Moonshadow,” Storm insisted. “He would guard that map with his life.”

  “Perhaps he doesn’t have the strength to prevent it,” Lyra said quietly.

  There was a long moment of silence as the group considered this sobering thought—and another that nobody wanted to say aloud: maybe Moonshadow had defended the map with his life.

  “They tried to capture Kara.” Ozzie paced. “Why? What has she got?”

  “This.” Kara held out her backpack. “No, I mean, this!” She removed the fairy map. “B*Tween told me the Skultum would come after me.”

  “Why does she still need Kara’s fairy map?” Emily asked.

  “We stopped the Skultum before he finished his job,” Adriane stated.

  “The sorceress still can’t find Avalon,” Ozzie said.

  “So… I didn’t open all the portals,” Kara concluded.

  “It’s possible,” Storm said.

  Adriane sighed. “Anything is possible.”

  The three girls looked at one another but didn’t speak. They didn’t have to. They were all thinking the same thing. Anything was possible, but their task here on Aldenmor felt totally impossible. And they still didn’t have any real answers. Just possibilities.

  “One thing is for sure,” Adriane finally said. “We have to go after Zach and the mistwolves.”

  “Well, we can’t sit around here,” Ozzie agreed. “Those goblins will be back any second. Probably with some orcs or worse!”

  “We can’t just waltz into the dark circle, either,” Kara pointed out.

  “She already knows we’re here,” Storm said.

  “So if we can get into the lair before those riders and imps regroup, maybe we have a chance!” Adriane hit her palm with a fist. “We have to move fast.”

  “Okay, but that’s gotta be, like, miles from here.” Kara gazed toward the desolate plains beyond the valleys. “How are we going to get there before the monsters attack us again?”

  Adriane smiled and patted the dragon’s neck. “Welcome to Air Drake.”

  “Oy, why did I think you were going to say that?” Ozzie groaned.

  THEY SLID OFF Drake’s back as the dragon landed smoothly behind a large dune overlooking the Shadowlands. Lyra set down alongside, her magic wings folding and disappearing with a soft glow.

  “This is it?” Kara asked incredulously.

  It was hard to believe that this burnt-out desert had once been lush, vibrant, and full of life. It was even harder to believe that the small band of travelers had any hope of restoring it.

  Three girls, cat, mistwolves, ferret, and dragon peered over the gray ridge. Steam hissed across the barren landscape before them. Several ominous structures rose from the sand like smokestacks. Sparks of light flicked and danced from the open funnels.

  “We have to go in there?” Kara exclaimed.

  “Some of us have already been inside,” Lyra rumbled.

  Kara stroked her friend’s back, smoothing her raised hackles.

  “There.” The warrior pointed.

  A stone courtyard led to a pair of black doors at the first tower.

  “That’s her lair?” Ozzie asked.

  “There’s more,” Lyra growled. “Below.”

  The Dark Sorceress’s lair lay largely hidden underground. Adriane and Lyra were well aware of the vast caverns and catacombs that wormed under the surface.

  Adriane felt her stomach tighten, and a trickle of sweat trailed down her neck. She was back to a place out of her worst nightmares, a place she thought she’d never return to. And yet, here she was. The last time she had barely escaped, and that was with the help of the entire pack. Where were the mistwolves now?

  Storm sensed her friend’s dread. “Stay focused, warrior. Turn fear to strength. Use it.”

  “What’s that, Storm? Those weren’t here before.” Adriane pointed to three triangular crystals that pierced the ground in the center of the towers.

  “Zach told us she was building those,” Emily reminded them.

  “That’s where she’s going to store the magic,” Ozzie said.

  The squirming wolf pup in Emily’s arms sniffed the air and barked.

  “Shhh. We have to be very quiet,” Emily said, putting the pup on the ground.

  “Good point, Dreamer.” Kara’s gaze was on the entrance to the lair. “How do we get past those?”

  Tall serpentine guards walked in groups out of the doors, each holding long staffs. Around the base of the distant funnel, goblin riders rode patrol. Their night stallions snorted as the goblins on their backs scowled into the distance.

  “Won’t be long before they sense us,” Lyra warned.

  Kara sucked in her breath. “Okay, so, what’s the plan?”

  “We go in, then find Zach and the mistwolves,” Adriane said.

  “Right.” Kara nodded. “So we don’t have a plan.”

  “We keep moving forward,” Adriane responded.

  “I can’t hear Zach!” Drake’s voice echoed loudly in everyone’s head.

  Adriane looked into the dragon’s deep crystalline eyes. They swirled in distressed shades of red and orange. “We need you to help us, Drake.”

  The dragon’s eyes lit up with greens and blues. “Yes, I help Zach!”

  “Yes. But you have to stay out here.”

  Drake’s head drooped in disappointment, steam leaking from his nostrils.

  “You have a very important job,” Adriane explained carefully. “When I say so, you have to create a diversion.”

  The dragon looked confused.

  “Make lots of loud noise, swoop up and down, and keep the guards distracted.”

  “I can do that.”

  “Good dragon,” Adriane praised. “Wait for my call. And if any of the others that attacked us show up, let me know right away.”

  “Okay,” Drake snorted.

  Adriane reached up and hugged the dragon’s neck, giving him a kiss on his wide nose. “We’ll find Zach.”

  “What about Dreamer?” Kara asked.

  The little mistwolf stood shyly next to Storm.

  Adriane bent low to face the little guy. “You’re a brave boy, aren’t you, Dreamer?”

  The mistwolf snarled and barked, showing Adriane his fiercest face.

  Adriane smiled her approval.

  The dark-haired warrior stood and faced the others. “All right. We’ll take him with us.”

  Adriane extended her arm. Emily put her hand on top of Adriane’s. Kara’s hand covered theirs. Ozzie, Storm, and Lyra stood close by.

  The three girls looked into each other’s eyes. There was only one thing to say.

  “Let’s do it!” Adriane said firmly.

  Stormbringer shimmered under the hazy sun. A second later, her body disappeared, transforming into a thick white fog. Dreamer watched with interest as the silky mist thinned and slowly settled over the group.

  From the desert floor, the dark riders and guards fanned out, carefully watching the skies. They didn’t notice the swirling haze as it moved into the courtyard toward the open double doors.

  The group slipped quickly inside, and were instantly swallowed by darkness.

  “Which way, Storm?” Adriane whispered.

  “Down.”

  CLOUDY IMAGES SURFACED in the swirling crimson water. The Dark Sorceress bent over her scrying pool, stirring it with a single sharp claw. She waited for the pictures to clear.

  A snarl curled the corner of her lips as she narrowed her animal eyes. A sparkling bubble burst in the pool. When it cleared, it revealed a room filled with three enormous crystals. The life forces trapped within the crystals seethed with powerful magic. Closing her eyes, she focused again. The picture faded as another bubble rose to the surface and a new image floated before her: a ghostly cloud drifted down a corridor toward the vast chamber of crystals.

  “You see. It is like I told you.” She spoke to the tall, dark shape standing near her. Her claw retracted into a slender finger. “They have come.”

  The Skultum’s body shimmered and flowed. “These humans are incorrigible,” the thing hissed.

  “You have no idea,” the sorceress replied in a velvety voice.

  “The sequence of portals is opened, just as I said it would be,” the Skultum boasted.

  The Dark Sorceress spun toward the hideous creature, her long robes whispering to the ground like a shroud. “You are a powerful fairy creature, are you not?”

  “One of the most powerful!”

  The creature’s arrogance grated at her sharp senses. As much as she hated this mutant fairy, she had released it from the Otherworlds, and it still had a job to do. Complete and utter subservience was essential.

  “So powerful you let the mages elude your trap?”

  The Skultum sneered.

  “You got the blazing star to unlock the fairy map. But you let it fall back into the hands of these mages.”

  “Mages,” the Skultum laughed, a hideous cackle. “They are merely girls.”

  “You know nothing!” She snarled viciously, making the Skultum back up in alarm.

  “These girls have power! These girls channel magic through animals!” The sorceress’s voice rose in fury. “The very lifeblood of Aldenmor flows through their jewels! So do not speak to me of what they can or cannot do!” She shuddered, then calmed.

  The dark fairy stood silent, waiting. “The pathway to Avalon is open.”

  “There is still one more portal yet to be opened: the Gates of Avalon.”

  “Excellent.”

  “But, my dear fairy king… we do not yet possess both maps.” The half-woman, half-animal smoothed back her silver blond hair to gaze at the fairy map floating above a pedestal near the pool—the map she had taken from the mistwolf packleader. She had used his magic to open it. But to find the Gates of Avalon, she needed two maps—and the blazing star to combine them.

  Both were already on their way.

  The Skultum stepped into the light of the seeing pool and bowed. Reflections rippled over its distorted face, melting between flesh and bone. “You shall have the map, my mistress.”

  “Then you shall have the Fairy Realms to do with as you wish.”

  The Skultum’s mouth dissolved into a deathlike grin.

  The sorceress extended a claw from her fingertip and dipped her hand back into the pool, swirling the tainted liquid. The images faded as the Skultum began to weave its magic.

  The creature shimmered and glowed, arms moving in hypnotic patterns, conjuring, casting. Then, arching its back, the Skultum began to chant a series of guttural, unintelligible words. They jumbled together, echoing in the chamber, a raw combination of animal grunts and melody. The power grew, palpable and electrical in the air. Then, with a wave of its serpentine claws, the Skultum unleashed the spellsong of binding, sending it to the one who would have to answer.

  THE GROUP SILENTLY made its way through a maze of dank, dark tunnels. Lights flashed in the distance. They neared a wide corridor where the tunnel split into three passageways. At the end of one, red flames pulsed with heat as shadow shapes scurried to and fro.

  “The mistwolves are there,” Storm’s voice spoke through the mist.

  “What about Zach?” Emily asked.

  Adriane concentrated on her wolf stone, trying to keep her magic contained yet strong enough to get a reading from Zach’s dragon stone. She shook her head. Nothing.

  “Let’s find the mistwolves first, then,” Ozzie suggested.

  They crept along the right corridor, heading into the heat that poured through the tunnel.

  They came to a doorway cut out of the rock itself. Beyond lay an immense cavern as large as a football field. Staying close to the shadowy walls, they snuck inside. Three gigantic crystals towered in the center of the enormous chamber.

  “Incredible!” Emily said in shock, craning her neck to see the tops of the crystals cut off by the ceiling. The rest of the crystals were on the surface.

  “Oh my!” Ozzie exclaimed, wide eyed.

  The girls had learned how powerful their jewels could be. But the magic these crystals could hold was beyond comprehension—

  “Turn back!” the voice of a mistwolf yelped in Adriane’s head.

  “Storm?” Adriane strained to see in the chamber, but the blanket that was Storm still covered them.

 

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