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.

you doing? Selene's question

how I'm supposed to learn to read

is no text. Selene's voice is

finger stilling on the page. "What do you mean? It's right here. Can't

her skull.

stare at the

you come here for

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

open book. "Can

together

chill skitters down my spine as I look between Marcus and Selene. How is it possible that I can see these cryptic words

mean? Selene's question echoes my own racing

feel the warmth and tingling against my palm. I think it has something

my hand, offering

we're always

it out

get through

We'll do it together.

never together for the things

Selene being somehow separate from my magic. Why can't she see what I can? Why

some sort of terrible

It isn't, Selene insists.

pages, each stroke imbued with a meaning that hovers just beyond my grasp. It's like trying to remember a

as if they 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. Each symbol is a masterpiece, a work of art that speaks to my soul even as my mind struggles

runes are alien, yet somehow familiar. They tug at something deep inside me, at that core of glowing warmth within my chest. It's as if they're whispering secrets, ancient knowledge long forgotten by the

can't

what do you see? Selene's voice is a distant echo, a whisper in the

as they hover over the pages.

can't seem to project the images into her mind. It's like there's a wall between us,

distance between us. I don't know how to

nose against my leg, offering silent comfort even as I sense her unease. It's okay, Ava. We'll figure

that spreads up my arms and into my chest. It's like the book is calling