(If you’re reading the original edition, this is Chapter 11.)
Everyone in town is milling about the great lawn at Ravenswood waiting for the concert to start. Mayor Davies is conducting interviews, and Kara is strutting about in her “Ravenswood hat and shiny dreamcatcher lapel pin … new cords rhinestone-accented jeans, boots, and brand new brown suede faux fur trimmed jacket worn over her Ravenswood tee”.
Pimped-Out Kara Outfit Count: 3
Kara says a few things to the press about how Ravenswood is supposed to bring the community together. Afterwards, she feels guilty about using the unicorn horn to cheat her way through the concert. There’s no way she’s going to be exposed as a cheater over the internet, so Kara resolves to return the horn and sing naturally. She runs inside the manor, opens the door to the library … and finds Johnny using the magitech computer.
I know, I know, the reader by this point should know that Johnny is a) a Skultum, and b) probably aware of the magitech computer now that he can shapeshift into Adriane. So it’s no surprise to us … but Kara, who’s been blinded by Just How Awesome Johnny is, is a little pissed off by Johnny’s intrusion.
Johnny distracts Kara, however, by telling her that now is her moment to become a star. (He’s also spellsinging under his breath the entire time, which activates the locket Kara’s wearing … which is not a +5 Luck locket, but a Cursed Locket of Mind-Raping!) He informs Kara that Adriane has been asking him for a recording contract, and ‘relays’ a message: Adriane deserves to be the blazing star, not Kara. This pisses off Kara even more! Johnny pretends to act clueless about Kara’s reaction in the new edition:
“Does that mean anything to you? Was that, like, supposed to be a name you wanted to record under?”
Kara vows to give Adriane a piece of her mind. Johnny gives her a few pre-boss-battle helpful hints, such as: “Hey, she’s downstairs in the dining room! And do everything in your power to show her you’re a star!” Of course, after Kara leaves (with the unicorn horn in tow), Johnny produces the Fairy Map and does some serious evil gloating (in the original edition):
He had practically smelled [the unicorn horn’s] power on her. But he could do nothing with it directly. The unicorn horn had been freely given to the Three, and as a result, only Kara, or one of her friends, could unleash its power.
He was, of course, much more powerful than Kara as a spellsinger, but magic was more than spellsinging … much more.
And, as he had told her quite honestly, she had something others simply didn’t possess. Star power. She would go out like a blazing star, a burst of magical energy as bright as the sun. If anyone’s life was going to be sacrificed in this endeavor, it wasn’t going to be his. And if by some miracle she survived tonight’s events, his instructions were to turn her over to the Dark Sorceress. She would disappear. Just as Be*Tween had disappeared. He pictured the famous girl band. They would never find a way to defeat him or any dark magic again.
Oh damn! Kara may die tonight when activating the Fairy Map! And Johnny may have been behind Be*Tween’s disappearance! (Which doesn’t make sense once you realize that Kara meets the band in the next book, and they’re totally fine.) The only thing that’ll make his evil plan work out is if Kara totally breaks down turns against her friends. And so far, it looks like that’s gonna happen….
Status Update!
Johnny’s Locket is re-identified as: Cursed Locket of Mind-Raping!
EDIT: Changes in the e-book edition
- The concession stands are selling lemonade instead of juice.
Next time: BASS BATTLE!
The Avalon Archive 