“And don’t forget,” Marisol said, “if you hadn’t tried a spell, I would still be in the river.”

  Rissa nodded but still looked sad as they pushed through increasingly dense underbrush. Prickly thorns caught at their ragged gowns, tearing at the sleeves and skirts. When the group had to pause to untangle Shaylee from a particularly sticky thorn, the younger girl sighed. “This was such a pretty dress. I’m starting to look more and more like Cinderella before the fairy godmother.”

  “Walk as close behind me as you can,” Fleet said. “It should help.”

  When Rachel passed the direction on, Shaylee wrinkled her nose. “What if he poops or something? I mean, he is a an animal, after all.”

  “I have not eaten lately. I believe you should be safe,” Fleet assured them. Rachel repeated his message, though she suspected he was being sarcastic again.

  “Why haven’t you eaten lately?” Kaida asked suddenly.

  Rachel passed on Fleet’s answer. “The trees of the Guarded Forest have not flowered nor borne fruit for some time. Again, it will be better when Wellspring’s magic is restored.”

  “So everything is dying?” Rachel asked. “Then why do there seem to be more of these briars?”

  “You did not notice them so much when we carried you. And, as some life feels the magic fading, it reaches for a darker force.” The bear’s voice sounded hesitant. “It is difficult for me to explain, but not everything in the forest can be trusted.”

  Rachel shivered.

  Suddenly they heard a tremendous bellow coming from deeper in the forest.

  “Honeyglow!” Fleet roared, turning toward the sound and crashing through the brush.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Dark Magic

  “Fleet!” Rachel yelled after him. “What is it?” But the bear didn’t answer.

  “What is it?” Kaida asked.

  “I don’t know,” Rachel said. “But we’d better hurry up and follow him.”

  The girls raced through the broken brush, scrambling over small trees that Fleet had knocked down in his wake. They soon lost sight of the great bear, though they paused only when a branch or briar caught at them. However, they had no trouble following the sound of Honeyglow’s frantic roars.

  Finally, the girls burst into a small clearing, where two huge boulders stood so closely together, it was as though they were one. Honeyglow stood beside the boulders, slightly hunched on her hind feet and leaning toward the rocks. Her head was twisted awkwardly, as if she were trying to press the side of her face deep into the stone. Her front paws twitched, digging at the air.

  Fleet stood on his hind feet as well, facing Honeyglow, and using one front leg to push himself slightly away from the boulder. He bent over Honeyglow, his muzzle thrust deep into the fur at her neck as if he intended to rip out her throat.

  “Fleet!” Rachel shouted. “What’s wrong?”

  “There is a vine wrapped around Honeyglow’s neck!” Fleet thought at her, his jaws still biting at the smaller bear’s throat. “It’s a parasite created by dark magic.” Honeyglow jerked her head away from the rock and bellowed again in pain and fear. Fleet threw his weight against her, pressing her back against the rocks so she had to stop struggling. He growled in frustration “The vine is working its way through her fur. If it reaches her skin, it will feed off her blood. Already it is too deep for me to reach with my teeth.”

  “A blood-sucking plant?” Rachel cried. “Can we help you?”

  “My paws are too big to reach between the boulders,” Fleet said, panting as he held the smaller bear still. “Crawl between us and reach into the crack. It is wider near the ground. Puncture the sac that grows at the base of the stem. When you do that, the vine will release her.” The huge bear bit down on one of his long, thick claws, breaking it off close to the paw. “You can cut into it with this.”

  Rachel shakily took the razor-sharp claw and dropped to her knees. She squeezed between the bears, ducking once when Honeyglow’s flailing front paws nearly raked across her skull. She crawled forward until she reached the rocks and tried to shove her arm into the space between them, but the gap was too narrow to reach past the middle of her forearm. When she tried to force her arm in farther, a hair-thin vine whipped out and slapped across her wrist, slicing through the thick sleeve of her gown. Rachel jerked her arm back, raking scratches along her wrist and hand as she pulled it from between the rough rocks.

  “My arm won’t fit,” she said.

  Honeyglow moaned and the bigger bear growled again. “We must find something that will fit.”

  “I can try,” Aly said. “Tell me what to do.”

  “Your arm isn’t any thinner than mine,” Rachel argued. “We have to reach in and puncture a sac at the bottom of the vine to make it let go of Honeyglow.”

  “It’s a plant,” Aly said, kneeling next to her sister. “Maybe I can talk to it.”

  “It won’t listen,” Fleet said. “It draws life from the Darker Source. You are not its Princess.”

  “Fleet says it won’t work,” Rachel said. “We have to get into that crack somehow.”

  Then they heard a small, shaky voice. “I can try.”

  The girls turned to see Shaylee near tears. She was the smallest of the girls and her arms were much thinner than those of anyone else. She was also clearly terrified.

  “You have to be quick,” Rachel said. “The vines will fight back.”

  Shaylee was trembling, but she nodded and dropped to her knees, squirming between the bears until she reached the crack. Fleet shifted position to give her more room, and Rachel pushed in as well as she could to watch and murmur encouragement to Shaylee.

  She saw the slender girl take a deep, shuddering breath and thrust her arm into the crack. The space was tight but she pushed and wiggled, reaching deeper and deeper. Another small vine slipped out and waved in the air, feeling for something to grab.

  “Watch out for the vine!” Rachel yelled.

  Shaylee turned her face sharply away from the waving vine’s reach and it tangled harmlessly in a lock of hair. Shaylee winced when the small vine pulled her hair, but she kept pushing her arm deeper into the crack until she felt a spongy mass. “This is so gross,” she said as she tore through the mass with Fleet’s sharp claw. Wet goo covered her hand. “Oh, gross, gross, gross!”

  She felt the bears shift beside her. “You did it!” Rachel yelled. “Shaylee, you did it!” Shaylee pulled her arm free and grinned as her friends hauled her to her feet and engulfed her in a hug.

  Honeyglow shook off the dead bits of vine still clinging to her fur. She bowed low before Shaylee.

  “She wants to give you a ride the rest of the way to the Wellspring,” Rachel said, grinning.

  Shaylee was scrubbing the goo from her hand with a ragged piece of skirt. She straightened up and smiled at the bear. “Is she sure she doesn’t need to rest or something?”

  “Probably,” Rachel said. “But she insists, and you don’t weigh much.”

  The girls helped boost Shaylee onto Honeyglow’s back, and then they all turned back toward the Wellspring.

  “So, do you think we might run into more killer plants?” Rachel asked.

  “It is unlikely,” Fleet answered after a long pause. “They are still few—for now.”

  “‘Unlikely’ isn’t the same as impossible,” Rachel said. “I really don’t like killer plants.”

  The bear nudged her reassuringly, nearly knocking Rachel into a thicket. “Do not be afraid, Princess. We are almost there.”

  Finally, they reached the clearing that bordered the tall tangled wall of vines. “They still look healthy,” Kaida said glumly. “I don’t suppose Fleet has actual suggestions this time for getting us in there?”

  “It is still a task only you can do,” Fleet answered.

  “No,” Rachel told Kaida. “But we have our secret weapon this time—Aly the vine whisperer!” She grinned at her sister, but Aly only stared at the wall thoughtfully as she walked toward it.

  The other girls followed her as she moved closer to the wall. “What if it isn’t in the mood to listen?” Kaida said. “Those killer plants weren’t exactly chatty.”

  “The plants in this wall are totally different,” Rachel said. “Right, Fleet?”

  The great bear didn’t answer. “Fleet?” Rachel said, turning around. The bears were gone.

  “I guess bears aren’t big on goodbyes,” Rissa said with a frown.

  “I guess,” Rachel said. She knew the bears weren’t supposed to help, but somehow she felt a lot safer in their big, shaggy company. She sighed and turned back to the wall. “I guess it’s Princess time.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Restoring the Magic

  “Oh, goodie,” Rissa said. “We’re back where we started. Anybody want to dance?”

  “Well, fun as that sounds, I vote Aly does the plant whisperer thing on the vines,” Kaida said. “Can you tell them to go away?”

  “I can try.” Aly stepped closer to the vines, resting her head against the thick wall. Everyone else waited silently. After a few moments, Aly shook her head. “They won’t go away and leave the Wellspring unprotected—not until the magic is restored. I sense that they are troubled by the Darker Source that Fleet talked about.”

  “But we can’t restore the Wellspring if they won’t go away,” Rachel said, her voice rising in frustration. “Can you ask them again? Maybe picture how happy everyone will be when they get out of the way and let us fix the magic thing?”

  While Aly leaned against the wall again, Kaida said, “Well, I don’t want to wait around until these vines go renegade blood sucker or something. We’ve tried being reasonable. Now I’m going to try a more direct route.” She walked back and forth next to the wall, examining and shaking vines. They moved only slightly when she heaved against them.

  Kaida took a deep breath and started to climb. “This isn’t too hard,” she called down. “It’s a little like rock climbing, but there are more places to hold onto.” Rachel knew Kaida often went rock climbing with her dad.

  “Come on—it’s easy!” Kaida shouted. “We’ll just climb over the vine wall!”

  Shaylee stepped up to the wall and pushed up her sleeves. “I don’t mind trying. The sooner we get over the wall, the sooner we get home.” She hiked up the ragged edge of her gown and used her jeweled belt to hold it. Then she grabbed a vine and began to climb.

  Soon everyone but Aly was up in the vines. Rachel was surprised at how easy they were to climb. The vines were neatly woven together in a mat that offered thousands of hand and footholds.

  Suddenly Kaida yelled at them from above. At almost the same instant, Rachel felt a vine snake out and wrap tightly around her wrist. Another snared her ankle and then another thicker vine whipped around her waist. In seconds she was stuck fast. She looked around and saw Rissa beside her, struggling in the same viney grip. “Help!” she yelled.

  From far below, Rachel heard Aly’s voice say, “Don’t struggle. You could fall.”

  Rachel twisted and looked down. Aly was still on the ground. She had not tried to climb the vines.

  “I’ll try to get the vines to let you go,” Aly yelled. “Hold still and don’t fight the vines! I think I’m getting through to them about why we’re here.”

  “Then why are they still trying to squeeze us to death?” Kaida yelled.

  “Hush—give her a chance.” Rachel’s neck ached from the awkward position but she kept her eyes on her sister. Aly laid her hand on the thick vines at the base of the living wall. Rachel held her breath, hoping the vines didn’t snare her sister too. When she saw movement around Aly, she screamed, “Watch out, the vines are moving!”

  Hundreds of thin vines snaked out from the wall and wrapped around Aly. They didn’t twist tightly like the vines on Rachel’s arms and legs, but wove together until Aly had vanished completely, as if she had become a part of the wall itself. “Aly!” Rachel screamed again, thrashing hard against the vines that gripped her wrists and ankles.

  Then more of the tiny thin vines shot out around Rachel, weaving a capsule around her just as they had around Aly. Rachel struggled but the capsule was woven tightly. The thick vines around her arms and legs slipped away and Rachel felt movement beneath her as vines opened up. Soon she was sliding down as if in a steep tunnel aimed toward the ground.

  Suddenly her feet touched the ground and the vines in front of her parted. Rachel tumbled out into a small garden. When Aly reached down to help her up, Rachel gasped. “You’re OK!”

  “We all are.” Rissa’s voice came from beside her. Rachel turned to see all the girls. They looked fine except for the bits of leaves and twigs in their hair that added to their overall bedraggled condition. They were dirty, tattered and scratched. Every single one of them had the nastiest matted hair Rachel had ever seen. But seeing that they were OK, Rachel nearly cried with relief.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “Well,” Aly said, “they wouldn’t leave the Wellspring unprotected, but I realized they didn’t need to. We didn’t need them to go away and let anyone through. We just needed them to let us through.” She grinned. “Once I sent them a picture of us slipping through the vines, they let us in.” Aly gestured toward the clearing. “Rachel, this is the garden from my dream. The one I’m going to put in the mural in my room.”

  “Then that’s the Wellspring.” Rachel pointed to the center of the large clearing. A tall fountain stretched well above the girls’ heads. It was surrounded by a huge stone pool. The girls walked toward it slowly, mouths open as they stared. Around the outside of the fountain’s pool was an ankle-high stone wall, each rock fitting almost seamlessly against the next.

  In the midst of the dry pool, six statues stood frozen, dancing around the Wellspring’s center. They were young girls in long gowns, hand raised to the sky and faces filled with joy.

  “That looks like me,” Rissa said, pointing at one figure with short choppy hair. “And look, the little one looks like you, Shaylee! I think these statues are us. How could they be us?”

  “Magic?” Marisol said, shrugging. “But look at the top of the fountain.” She pointed. At the center of the fountain pool was a tall pile of stones. Each stone was cut in a perfect rectangle. The pile of stones reached high into the air like a model of a craggy mountain. At the very top, a winged unicorn seemed to be bursting from the stone. All around him, they could see solid sprays of water, frozen into an eerie ice sculpture.

  “How can that be ice? It’s not cold in here,” Rissa asked, wonder filling her voice.

  “It is ice,” Marisol answered. “I can feel it from here.” The others turned and looked at her, puzzled. She grinned at her friends and shrugged. “I think it’s just part of my weird water magic.”

  Kaida frowned. “So we need ... a hair dryer? Something to melt the ice?”

  Rachel stepped into the pool and walked closer to the center. As she passed one of the stone dancers, she saw something shimmering in the air. She stepped closer and realized she was looking at spider webs. They hung in the air like a lace curtain wall surrounding the fountain’s center but seemingly attached to nothing.

  “What do you see?” Aly asked, stepping over the low wall to follow her sister.

  Rachel didn’t answer, but reached out her hand. At the point where her finger touched the web, the thin strands burst into sparkles and dropped away. Immediately, six small spiders rushed to the spot and began spinning impossibly fast. In barely a second, the web was repaired.

  “I saw a drop!” Marisol yelled. “A drop of the ice melted—I saw it fall!”

  Aly had reached Rachel’s side in time to see the spiders weave their repair. “This web must have something to do with the Wellspring’s freeze.”

  “Then let’s tear it down!” Kaida said. She turned and looked at the ground around her, then snatched up a long thick stick and stepped into the pool. Rissa grabbed another sturdy stick and followed Kaida. Marisol and Shaylee trailed along behind. Marisol’s attention was still on the sparkling ice.

  “I don’t know ...,” Rachel said. Something about the spiders felt wrong to her—really wrong. Then, as Kaida and Rissa stomped across the pool, the spiders dropped from the repaired web and fell at Rachel’s feet, making her jump back.

  As soon as the spiders hit the smooth pool floor, they began to grow. Rachel and Aly scrambled backward immediately, plowing into Kaida and Rissa. The spiders grew to the size of hamsters, then cats and kept growing. Before long the girls were facing six wolf-sized spiders.

  “Go away and we won’t kill you,” the largest spider warned, her voice silky.

  “It can talk!” Kaida yelped.

  “Why are you doing this?” Rachel asked as she continued to back away, her voice shaky. “Don’t you know everything is going to die if we don’t fix the Wellspring?”

  “Not everything, Princess,” the spider said. “The old tiresome things will pass away and make room for a new magic!” A chorus of spider voices echoed, “A new magic!”

  “You mean dark magic,” Rachel said.

  “Interesting magic,” the spider replied. “You may find you enjoy it.”

  “Enjoy seeing our new friends die?” Shaylee said.

  “Enjoy being trapped here forever with you guys?” Rissa added. “You must be crazy as well as creepy.”

  The spiders turned toward Rissa and hissed, but the leader held up a hairy leg. “If you leave us alone, we will open the portal for you. As soon as our magic wins, we will send you home.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Rissa snorted. “I’m totally sure you wouldn’t lie to us.”

  The spiders chuckled. “The alternative is that we kill you and eat you. Your magic will help us make the transition to ‘dark magic,’ as you call it, quicker.”

  “I really don’t want to be eaten by a spider,” Shaylee whimpered, backing away.

  Throughout the conversation, the girls had been backing slowly out of the fountain pool ... and the spiders had followed them.

 

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