Free Dark Mage (Avalon: Web of Magic, Book 11) by Rachel Roberts

pattern.
    “Look!” Goldie pointed her wingtip over the path’s edge.
    Another strand gleamed a few feet below them. Stuck to its surface was a large green cocoon, dripping with slime. Something blue glowed inside.
    Raising her arms, Kara sent tendrils of pink light snaking from her fingertips. As her magic reached through the webbing, she was rewarded with a charge of pure power. Her jewel lit up like a sparkler.
    “You found it!” Kara exclaimed as Goldie somersaulted happily in the air.
    Kara leaped over the edge and landed on the strand below, Lyra right behind her.
    “I don’t like this. ” The cat growled low in her throat, shaking bits of goo from her fur. “ I smell trouble.”
    “Don’t be a ’fraidy cat.” Kara pointed a finger at the cocoon, projecting a thin laser beam of twinkling red light. “Can you believe it? We’re the first ones to find a power crystal! How cool is that? I sure wish it’s the best, most beautiful crystal ever found by mage, cat, or D-unit!”
    With a few deft slices of Kara-magic, the sticky green webbing began to fall away. Magic flared like wildfire, streaming from the center of the webbing. When the glow subsided, Kara gazed at her outstretched hands.
    “Whoa.”
    In her palms was the most amazing gem she had ever seen. It was an exact duplicate of the unicorn-horn shaped jewel that hung from her neck. Except it was three times the size.
    “It looks like your unicorn jewel,” Lyra observed, gazing warily at several strands of web slowly shifting toward them.
    “But it’s bigger.” Kara smiled as pink, silver, red, gold, and diamond white swirled around the gem’s smooth surface with iridescent sparkles. All her favorite colors in one fantabulous jewel. “And better!”
    Lyra studied the gem uneasily. “We already found a unicorn power crystal in New Mexico.”
    “Maybe there are two of them.” Kara clutched the radiant crystal ecstatically. Warm magic engulfed her, filling her with the most joyous feeling of accomplishment. “It’s the best power crystal ever!”
    Lyra’s ears twitched nervously. “ Let’s call Tasha and Tweek. We need to take it back to The Garden.”
    “I thought you wanted to find the unicorns,” Kara reminded the cat.
    Suddenly they heard a faint hissing.
    “What’s that?” Kara looked up sharply, her jewel pulsing with danger.
    Lyra tensed, a deep growl rumbling in her throat. The hissing grew louder. It was all around them.
    With a roar, Lyra slammed into the blazing star.
    Kara tumbled aside just as a gigantic purple spider dropped from the web above. It missed her by inches. The hideous creature raised up on its back four legs, sharp mandibles snapping at the air with deadly force.
    Goldie fluttered in the air, spitting tiny flames at the spider’s head.
    Blazing magic lashed from her Kara’s fists as she sprang to her feet. In an explosion of light the spider was blown off the web and disappeared into the void.
    More spiders advanced, swinging in on strands of green web, clicking and clattering in a sickening insect orchestra.
    Snarling, Lyra crouched low, ready to defend her friends.
    Kara clutched the power crystal tightly. Diamond white magic flowed from her hands, spreading out in waves. “Stay close.”
    “Behind you!” Lyra growled.
    The blazing star spun as hundreds of spiders charged from every direction, red eyes glowing.
    “Finders keepers!” Kara threw a fiery red shield around Lyra, Goldie, and herself.
    The spiders swarmed onto the shield, clawing and spitting green ooze. Kara shuddered at the gruesome sight, but her magic shield held strong. The spiders were no matches for a Level Two blazing star armed with a power crystal.
    That didn’t stop them from trying. Ear-splitting shrieks echoed inside the bubble as waves of spiders covered the dome in sticky green goop. All Kara could see was a mass of legs, oozing fanged mouths, and livid red eyes.
    “I hate bugs!” Kara cried.
    Lyra swished her tail.