Secret of the Unicorn (Avalon: Web of Magic #4) by Rachel Roberts Read Free Book Online Page A

into her mind. “ Something is following us. ”
    At the sudden interruption, Emily’s concentration faltered and the magical connection slipped. Her heart beating faster, she turned to see the mistwolf gazing intently at a dense copse of evergreens. The thick fur along Storm’s spine was standing on end.
    Ka-thunk. Ka-thunk.
    The sounds of heavy feet pounded the earth, headed toward them.
    Ozzie and Emily huddled close together. “What is it, Storm?” she asked.
    Stormbringer bared her teeth and a low growl rumbled in her throat. “ Stay behind me, healer .” Her voice was grim. “ It comes .”



K A-THUNK. KA-THUNK .
    The sound came directly toward them, flat steps falling with a dull thud. Storm and Ozzie moved in front of Emily. The wolf tensed, growling low. Ozzie grabbed a stick from the ground and held it up like a club. Nearby, leaves and branches rustled. Then the steps came to a halt.
    Emily panicked, remembering that horrible, ghoulish face, those deep-socketed, soulless eyes. If that hideous specter stepped out of the trees, she would surely lose her mind. The branches parted.
    A large, rotund creature hopped out.
    Hopped? Emily raised her eyebrows in surprise. It looked a like a giant frog. It had lumpy blue-and-purple skin, flippers for feet, and a wide mouth stretched across its face in a perpetual smile.
    “Look out!” the giant frog screamed.
    Emily, Ozzie, and Storm looked around, confused.
    “A mistwolf!” it whispered, pointing a flipper at Storm. Its bulbous, crystalline eyes were wide with fear.
    “What the—” Ozzie lowered his weapon. Storm stopped growling.
    “She won’t hurt you,” Emily said.
    “She won’t?” The frog creature was not convinced.
    “Not unless you mean us harm.”
    “Me?” The creature slapped a flipper against its chest.
    Ozzie stomped up to it, examining it carefully. “It’s a flobbin!” he exclaimed.
    “A what?” Emily stared at the newcomer, who was easily as tall as she was but three times as wide.
    A long, ribbon-like purple tongue flicked out over Ozzie’s head.
    “ Gah!” The ferret frantically wiped his head with both front paws.
    “I didn’t think any animals from this world talked,” the flobbin said.
    “I’m special.” Ozzie kicked the big frog. “And I am not edible!”
    “Oh. Well, thank goodness I found you,” the flobbin continued. “I’ve been wandering around for hours in these forests.”
    “ Flobbins are fairy creatures ,” Storm explained to Emily. “ They are made mostly of fairy magic .”
    “Is it dangerous?”
    “Not that I know of.”
    “Dangerous? Heavens, no!” The flobbin took a hop closer to Emily but stepped back as Storm walked between them. “I was on assignment for the Fairimentals, looking for magic blobs.”
    “What’s a magic blob?” Emily asked.
    “You know, pockets of loose fairy magic. Some blobs are quite large and dangerous. I track the blobs, map them out, and report to the Fairimentals for proper handling.”
    “You know the Fairimentals?” Emily asked him.
    “Sure.” The flobbin shrugged his sloping, warty blue shoulders. “The F-sters and I go way back. Say, maybe you can help me. I’m supposed to find an elf called Ozymandias.”
    “ Gah! That’s me!” Ozzie jumped up and down.
    “Really?” Big, bulbous eyes looked Ozzie over. “You’re awfully fuzzy.”
    “It’s a long story. Trust me.”
    “My name is Ghyll,” the creature announced.
    “I’m Emily, and this is Stormbringer.” Emily waved her hand to include the wolf.
    “I was heading to the Fairy Glen when everything went crazy,” Ghyll explained, keeping a wary eye on the mistwolf. “The portals got all mixed up and I ended up here. At first I thought I was in the Moorgroves, near Dingly Dell.”
    “Dingly Dell?” Ozzie’s eyes went wide.
    “I have many elf friends there. Donafi, Brommy, Fernie—”
    “Brommy’s my cousin!” Ozzie cried delightedly.
    “Yes, he’s the one who told me about