Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 451: Ava: Journal

Crone… My mind races, grasping at fragments of memory. Magister Orion told me about them, I'm almost positive. Something about three priestesses of the Goddess… which one, though? Damn.

You don't seem to be a very good student, Grimoire says thoughtfully.

Oh, shut up.

"It's you, isn't it? It has to be!" Eleanor's face blossoms, her cheeks flushing bright pink as her eyes sparkle in my direction. She steps forward impulsively as she tucks her book into a bag at her side.

Vester stiffens and side-steps to come between us again.

"Stay back," he warns, but Eleanor barely acknowledges him, peeking around him like a curious animal.

"Your magical signature is all over these wards," she breathes, her eyes wide. "I've been tracking energy patterns for months, but nothing like this. The complexity, the layering—it's beyond anything I've ever seen!"

I hold up a hand, trying to slow her torrent of words. "Wait. What do you mean, my signature?"

You should know this. Grimoire's disgust with my question is almost palpable. Have I been teaching you in vain?

"All magic leaves traces, but yours… Yours is so delicate. Like the most beautiful signature." Her hands flutter as she talks, and then she presses them against her face with a little squeal. "I can't believe it. It's you! I've been looking for you."

"Hold on, Eleanor. I'm not the… Crone."

Eleanor shakes her head vigorously, her braids flying around her head. "It must be you! The knowledge you have far exceeds anything I've ever seen."

Vester moves closer to me, voice pitched low and arm out to dissuade the overexcited woman from approaching. She takes a step closer every time he steps back, though, so he eventually stops trying to reach my side. "Luna, we should take her back to camp. She seems suspicious."

"I'm not suspicious!" Eleanor's face goes pale as she waves her hands in the air once again, like a scarecrow with a seizure. "I swear, I'm not a suspicious person! I'm just a witch, trying to find other witches. I'm not strange. Well, I am strange, but I'm not suspicious…"

squeak; my bodyguards have silently formed a tight circle, boxing her

between the men surrounding her, her eyes widening with each one. A hiccup escapes her lips as she stares

away moments ago seems important

neutral. She doesn't seem like a

while I want to assume she's on my side as a self-proclaimed witch, it doesn't mean our interests or morals align,

This?" She pats the worn leather satchel at her hip. "It's my magic journal. I document everything I learn

her, she yanks the book out and lurches forward, thrusting it toward me.

make her stumble. His face

for her. She's strange, but to react so strongly when she's just trying to show me what I'm asking

Better to make

snatches the book from Eleanor's grasp and trots back

No sense of power at

are frayed, and coffee stains mark the cover. I flip it open while keeping one eye on Eleanor, who watches with a mixture

softly. "It's everything I've learned

vaguely familiar yet distinctly amateur. Nothing like the elegant runes Grimoire has taught

familiar it

varies wildly—sometimes neat and precise, other times a frantic scrawl that's barely legible. Observations

Energy dissipated

so much magic in a

last note

Grimoire observes, his mental voice unusually contemplative. Or at least, tracking magical signatures that led her

in Cedarwood?" I ask, looking

spot in one of the local parks with a lot of residual magical energy there, but it was all…" Her fingers wiggle. "Muddy? I couldn't really see it, but I knew it was there. I've been following the traces ever since. Well, the Goddess had to give me a few

on