A/N: Sorry it's been awhile. I've had a lot going on and I haven't had the house to myself for ages. Here we go!

Disclaimer: If I owned Avalon, the next book would be here by now. Has that happened? There's your answer.

Previously:

It was Liz. Suddenly, her skin rippled until she had a completely different character. They gasped in surprise.

It was the Evil Sorceress.

Now: Finding a New Friend

0OooO0

Emily picked up the channel changer and turned the TV off. The group stared at each other. Marlin was the first to speak up.

"We have to get out of here." The others nodded in agreement. Suddenly they heard a door close.

"Hello? Emily, Kara, Adriane?" Liz called out. They froze in horror.

"Okay. Act calm. Pretend we didn't see that. Let's go see what she wants." Emily nervously reasoned out. The girls stood up and walked to the kitchen. They saw "Liz" holding bundles of grocery bags.

Liz's voice was muffled from behind the bags. "Can you grab some of these?" she asked.

Emily, Adriane, and Kara stepped up and grabbed some of the bags and set them on the table.

"Thank you. My arms were starting to get sore." Liz smiled. Silence.

After about a minute, Emily spoke up. "Um, Liz, we won't be able to stay any longer, unfortunately. We need to head north." She was desperately praying inside her head that Liz wouldn't suspect anything.

Liz looked surprised. "Oh, is that so? Who are you're friends? We might know them." She asked.

Kara cut in. "Oh, you wouldn't know them. They just moved there. They're names are…uh-" Adriane finished for her.

"Katie and David Beeson."

Liz looked thoughtful. "Oh, okay. Well, why do you need to go?"

Emily thought to herself, Gee! What is this? The third degree? "Um, our supervisors told us to. I'm assuming they'll contact us as soon as we get there." Please believe us! Please believe us!

"Okay. I admit we'll miss having you, Karlos for sure," Liz said with a wink at Emily. Emily blushed. "Stop by anytime."

Emily sighed inwardly. "Yes, we'll do just that. Now, if you'll excuse us, we need to get packing." They girls turned and left.

As soon as the kitchen door closed, Kara looked at Emily and asked, "Since when did you get to be such a good liar?"

Emily grinned. "I had to lie to protect Ravenswood, didn't I?" Kara and Adriane just grinned.

0OooO0

Five minutes later, they all headed up to their rooms. When Adriane got to her room, she stopped.

"Wait," she called. Everyone stopped. "Let's check to see what's in the master bedroom."

When everyone agreed, Adriane walked over to the door. She put her hand on the knob and turned it. The door was unlocked and it opened without a sound. Six human heads and three animal ones peeked inside. Emily gasped. There, on the floor, lay the real Liz and Brad Connerly. They rushed in and quickly untied the couple. The two former captives sighed in relief.

"We were wondering when you were going to find us." The real Liz smiled. Emily hoisted her up.

Lorren spoke up. "I guess we can assume that the fake Brad is the Spider Witch then." They all nodded.

Emily suddenly thought of something. "We need to evacuate all of you, Kathryn and Karlos included, to somewhere safe. If the Spider Witch and Evil Sorceress find out you two got out, what would she do to the other two?" Liz and Brad froze.

"She's right. Let's go find the other two," Brad said.

Luck was on their side. Both we're in they're rooms. Brad and Liz rushed into Karlos' room first.

"Karlos!" they cried. He screamed.

"Mom! Dad! What are you doing?" he yelled.

Adriane started off ordering them what to do. "We need to get out of here. We'll explain on the way. Kara, go get the d-flies and make a portal to Tasha. Ask her if she has a potion to change Drake back for a short time."

"Sir, yes sir!" Kara grinned and ran to her room for space, Lyra loping along beside her.

Brad, Liz, go get Kathryn." The couple ran out.

"Zach, go and get Drake ready. Emily, Lorren, and Marlin, all of you and I will get everyone's stuff together. We don't have much time. Let's go."

0OooO0

Soon, everyone's tasks were done, and they all stood outside, including the family that they transformed into talking ferrets like Ozzie. Emily smiled as she remembered.

0OooO0

The whole family looked nervous except for Karlos as they stood in the hallway. He merely stared dreamily at Emily and said, "Anything for you, Emily."

Marlin stood in front of her, glaring menacingly and blocking her view so she could change them.

Emily moved. "Marlin, remember that talk I had with Karlos? I'm sure HE still remembers it, right Karlos?" Karlos' eyes grew wide as he nodded.

Emily took her place between Kara and Adriane, the balance of the two. They lifted their arms, and of pink, blue, and gold shot out from them, surrounding the family. In a puff of silver smoke, the family disappeared, and then reappeared on the ground as cute fuzzy little ferrets.

Kara called out, "Hey Ozzie! For a little bit you'll have people your own size!" The mages laughed.

The ferret family ran forward, wanting to be picked up. Adriane picked up Liz. Zach picked up Brad. Kara picked up Kathryn, and that left Emily to hold Karlos, as Lorren and Marlin were holding everyone's miniaturized suitcases. Emily already had Ozzie on her neck, but she picked Karlos up anyway. She put him on the other side of her neck.

Karlos' face radiated as he sniffed Emily's hair. Ozzie turned to him and said, "Listen, buster, you do anything inappropriate, and I'll have you're tail turned into a beavers. And believe me, that's not good." Ozzie paused, remembering when they were trying to save the unicorns.

Karlos merely smirked and said, "I'm not afraid of you."

Ozzie shook his head. "Gah! That's not what I meant." Ozzie stopped as he thought of something. A grin was plastered on his face. "But you're afraid of Emily." Karlos the ferret shot him a look but didn't retort back. Ozzie grinned triumphantly. Even Emily smiled.

0OooO0

Adriane snapped her out of her thinking when she spoke from right behind her. "Okay. Everyone on. We don't have much time." Emily turned around. Drake was back to being a dragon for a short time. Dreamer and Lyra were already on; Kara was starting to climb on, Lorren right behind her. Zach was at the front, ready to roll.

Emily, we're going to put the family in this box," Adriane held out a big box. "It'll save room on Drake, so we won't turn them back yet. Will you be able to hold it?"

Emily nodded. "Just let me get on first." Emily walked on over to the big dragon, and got on. Adriane handed her the box. Karlos slid from her neck down into it. Zach turned around and set Brad in.

Kara tapped Emily on the shoulder, and then moved to put Kathryn in. Emily laughed as she saw the girl ferret with some bows in her hair, looking quite stylish. Adriane handed Liz to her, and Liz was set in it too. Adriane climbed in behind Zach and in front of Emily.

Emily jumped as she felt two arms slide around her waist. She looked back to see Marlin right behind her, squeezed in front of Kara.

"Hey, I'm just holding on. Tell me when it gets uncomfortable," he said slightly smiling.

"Okay." Emily turned around before he caught her blushing. She rather liked his arms around her waist, but she wasn't about to let HIM know that. She settled in, and held onto the box with her hands, the dragon with her feet, praying desperately that he didn't go upside down.

Drake took off. His wings beat through the air, ad pretty soon, they were right below the clouds. Anyone who looked up would think it were a low flying airplane. Emily looked at her jewel to see that it was pointing slightly to the right. She carefully took her right hand off the box to point in the direction her jewel pointed. Adriane saw it, and yelled to Zach to go that way. This continued for miles until the arrow suddenly disappeared from Emily's jewel.

Emily yelled out, "You guys! The arrows gone!" Adriane looked back to see as Zach started to land Drake next to some woods, a house visible in the distance. Everyone started to get off. Marlin offered his hand to Emily over the box to help her down, and Karlos tried to bite it. Emily glared at Karlos, and he shrunk down to the bottom of the box, trying to become flat.

His sister chuckled. "She's got you whipped." Emily smiled at Kathryn's comment. As soon as everyone was down, Emily, Adriane, and Kara walked over to each other, and placed the ferrets on the ground outside the box. In the same puff of silver smoke, they returned to normal. Marlin glowered at Karlos.

Emily heard him mutter, "He was better as a ferret," but didn't do anything. They heard a gurgling behind them, and turned to look, jewels ready. It only turned out to be Drake, transforming into the stallion he was before.

Zach dusted his hands off on his pants and said, "Well, let's see who lives at that house over there. They're bound to notice if something funny has happened within the past month." The group started through the field, careful not to twist their ankle. Ozzie rode up on the Drake.

Finally, they came to the road. Across it, was the house. Emily read the mailbox. The Kastmell's.

What an odd last name! Emily thought.

They walked across the driveway to the front door. Emily could hear a dog barking behind the house. Zach rang the doorbell.

DING DONG! They heard someone coming to the door. It opened a crack, and they saw a brown – headed girl with brown eyes around 13 – 14, really short, about 5' 1", ask, "Can I help-" she stopped as she stared at all the people crowded onto her porch. Her jaw dropped. She was snapped out of it as she heard a voice come from inside.

"Hey, Kelsey, who is it? Is it your stupid cousin, Michael again?" The girl, Kelsey, looked back and called,

"No, but come see this. There's a whole group of people standing on the porch and I have no idea who they are. Come and see if you know them!"

They heard footsteps. A girl who came up to Kelsey's nose, with brown hair also and hazel eyes looked through the space. Her eyes widened, as she looked out at all the people on her friend's porch. "I-is that a ferret?" she asked.

Ozzie nodded. "What's it to ya?" he asked trying to be tough. Emily looked at him in shock.

"Ozzie!" He realized his mistake. They looked back at Kelsey and the smaller girl, who had opened the door wider. Both were extremely pale, and looked like they were about to faint.

Kelsey said faintly, "Maybe you'd better come inside…" She trailed off as she led them inside.

The house had a lived in feeling. Very cozy. The couches in the living room were attached together, with a chair of a soft green material like the couches sat in the middle, and there was a big (but not a big screen) TV by the hallway. The dining room was beyond, a computer in the corner. The mahogany table had pizza on it. Apparently the girls had been eating. Next to the dining room was the kitchen.

Adriane left Drake on the porch, as she didn't think Kelsey would like it very much if he came inside, even though she caught the girl gazing at him adoringly. She closed the door.

Kelsey and the other girl had sat down close together on the couch. Kelsey nearly screamed when she saw Lyra. Emily sat next to Kelsey, Marlin next to her. Ozzie sat down on Emily's lap, and Kelsey looked at him with interest. He tried to look threatening, but she only smiled.

Kara sat in the chair in the middle of the couches, and Lorren sat in the black fake leather chair sitting in the corner. Zach and Adriane sat on the love seat next to Liz and Brad. Kathryn and Karlos and to make due with sitting on the floor with Dreamer and. Kelsey picked up the channel changer and turned the TV off. She then got up and dragged two chairs from the dining room for Kathryn and Karlos to sit on.

"Here you go. Now you don't have to sit on the floor." The two siblings got up and sat on the chairs.

"Thanks," they said, smiling at her. She smiled back. "No Prob." Kelsey sat back down.

"Okay, so, I'm Kelsey, and this is my friend Sara. What I'd like to know is how the heck you have a talking ferret!" Kelsey shook her head in disbelief, as if it was a dream and she'd wake up.

Emily took the liberty to introduce them all. " Well, I'm Emily, you know Ozzie, and this is Marlin. Over there is Kara, Zach, Adriane, Liz and Brad Connerly, Zach, Kathryn, and Karlos." She pointed to the two animals on the floor. "This is Dreamer, and this is Lyra. Don't worry, she's harmless." She said quickly after seeing Kelsey and Sara shrink back.

Lyra turned her gaze on Emily. I certainly am NOT harmless!

No, but don't let them know that. Emily calmly replied back.

"What?" Kelsey asked.

Emily glanced at her curiously. "I didn't say anything."

"Oh. Never mind."

Emily got the feeling that there was more to Kelsey than meets the eye, but she didn't dwell on it.

Sara spoke up. "Why are you here?"

Adriane shifted in her seat, and said, "Well, we were, uh, well, wondering, if, uh, you've seen anything unusual."

The two girls looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we've been looking for something for the past couple of days. Have you seen anything out of the ordinary?"

Kelsey shifted uneasily. "Do you count…?" She looked at her feet. They didn't hear the rest.

Zach stared intently at her. "What?" he demanded.

Kelsey closed her eyes. Sara put her arm around her. "It's okay, you don't have to." She comforted. Kelsey shook her head.

"I said, 'Do you count a portal opening as out of the ordinary?" She looked up, her eyes blazing as she yanked up her sleeve and showed her wrist to the rest. A jewel that had different pictures of animals and one of a human hung at the end of her arm. A sign that she was a mage.

0OooO0

A/N: How'd you like that? More is on the way. I'll write some more soon!

O&O

XD Peace Out XD

SF

0OooO0

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