Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 210 Ava: Moon Goddess (III) -- END Season 3

Ava?

Ava!

Selene's mental shout has me shaking my head, startled. I'm back, and it's like I was never gone.

Ava, are you listening?

"Sorry. What is it?"

Selene stands in front of me, her ears twitching. You were here, but our bond was silent. Like you were far away.

"Ah." Clearing my throat, which is parched now that I've returned, I blink until I adjust to the darkness of my room, compared to the brightness of that magical place I was in just moments ago.

"Selene, what does the Moon Goddess look like?"

Why do you ask? Selene's head tilts, her icy eyes studying me with an intensity that would be unnerving if I wasn't so used to it by now.

I glance at Marcus, who stands sentinel by the door, before focusing my thoughts inward. It's so much harder to think this way, and I wonder if it will ever feel completely natural. I think I met her. The Moon Goddess.

Selene's confusion ripples through our bond. She was never here, Ava.

I know. We were somewhere else.

You never left the room. Selene's voice in my mind is tinged with concern, her mental words hesitant.

I think my consciousness did. It was like my spirit traveled to this magical place. I struggle to find the words to describe the ethereal experience. Even my body felt real there.

Selene's worry intensifies, a cold thread winding through my thoughts. Will it happen again?

I don't know. Absently stroking the pages of the book in my lap, I think back, trying to focus on the details. Yet the memories are already fading, vivid pictures blurring in my mind's eye. There was a woman there. She called herself Selena. She spoke to me about my magic, about embracing it.

I don't know what the Moon Goddess looks like. I can't remember, Selene admits. Though, they say she appears differently to everyone who sees her. Some even see her as a wolf. She pauses. I think I saw her as a wolf.

Nodding, I look down at the book again, my gaze drawn to the strange runic text that dances across the pages. Each symbol seems to breathe with a life of its own, pulsing in a mesmerizing rhythm.

doing? Selene's question breaks through

at the text. Trying to figure out how I'm supposed to learn to read it." My finger traces the graceful lines of a particularly

is no text. Selene's voice

page. "What do you mean?

ears flatten to her skull.

I stare at the book, at the undeniable presence

you come here

shifter approaches with caution, boots heavy, each thud a countdown to the answer

to the open

over, his brows knitting together as he

between Marcus and Selene. How is it possible that I can see these cryptic words so clearly while they perceive only

does this mean? Selene's question echoes my own

a page, I can feel the warmth and tingling against my palm. I think it has something to do with what

offering silent

what we're

figure it out

get through

We'll do it together.

somehow, we're never together for the things that

twists at the thought of Selene being somehow separate from my magic. Why can't she

hope it isn't some sort of terrible omen for the

It isn't, Selene insists.

hovers just beyond my grasp. It's like trying to remember a dream—the harder I focus, the

shift and change in my peripheral vision, then breathe in static form as I focus on them. They flow across the pages with a simple, elemental beauty. Like water. Ink spilled from an artist's brush.

deep inside me, at that core

can't hear

voice is a distant echo,

I breathe, my fingers trembling as they hover over the pages.

matter how hard I try, I can't seem to project the images into her mind. It's like there's a wall between us, a barrier that keeps

heart aching at the distance between us. I

as I sense her unease. It's okay, Ava. We'll

a warmth that spreads up my arms and into my chest. It's like the