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…"

have silently formed a tight circle, boxing her in.

surrounding her, her eyes widening with each one. A hiccup escapes her lips as she stares at Vester, her hands twitching now in front of her as she twists

away moments ago seems important

keep my voice neutral. She doesn't seem like a threat,

assume she's on my side as a self-proclaimed witch,

immediately. "Oh! This?" She pats the worn leather satchel at her hip.

stop her, she yanks the book out and lurches forward, thrusting it toward me. "Here! You can

shoving her back with enough force to make her stumble. His face remains impassive, showing no remorse for his roughness, as Eleanor

terrible for her. She's strange, but to react so strongly when

my protest in silence. Better to make sure it's not dangerous first, even

confusion, Selene darts forward. She snatches the book from Eleanor's grasp and trots back to me, head held high

reports thoughtfully. No sense of power at

leather with countless loose papers sticking out from between the pages. The edges are frayed, and coffee stains mark the cover. I

"It's everything I've

distinctly amateur. Nothing like the elegant runes Grimoire has taught me to trace. These are more like a student's attempt to recreate something

curious how familiar

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

dissipated

much

last note makes

you, Grimoire observes, his mental voice unusually contemplative. Or at least, tracking magical signatures

doing in Cedarwood?" I ask, looking up from the

"I live nearby. Stopped at a bookstore and kept feeling something strange in the air. I spent a week there and found a spot in one of the local parks with a lot of residual magical energy there, but it was all…" Her fingers wiggle.

Detailed notes on energy fluctuations and theories about their origins. It doesn't seem like I'm the only