Tangled

39 Ava: Her Identity

39 Ava: Her Identity

You have the potential, Selene says, her voice a cautious whisper in my mind. The arcane flows through your veins. But…

My breath escapes me in a giddy rush. Magic. Real magic. Human magic. It’s something out of a fairy tale, not something that should exist in my life. Then again, supernaturals exist–and we’re pretty nonstandard,

ourselves.

It’s not that simple, Selene continues, her tone growing more serious. Magic is not a toy, little one. It’s a force of nature, raw and untamed. To wield it requires knowledge, discipline, and control.

I swallow hard, feeling the warning in her words. “But how do I learn? I don’t even know where to start.”

You would need a teacher, Selene explains, her voice tinged with hesitation. Someone well–versed in the arcane arts, who could guide you, show you how to harness and control your power. But magic is a lost art. Magicians were lost to the curse and became shifters.

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39 Ava: Her Identity

Talk about a letdown.

O

“So, I won’t be able to do magic.” Is that how you say it? Do magic? Cast magic? Spell magic? Cast spells? It all feels weird in my mouth.

It is unlikely, Selene says, but she still has that cautious

sound to her voice.

“If I tried, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Death.

A simple word, bluntly given, with all the truth in the world behind it. I shudder at the matter–of–fact tone.

talented humans were lost to the recklessness of their magical talent. Until magicians began to teach each other, too many lives were lost in

some of the warmth that fled my body as she

say, shoving down the odd sense of loss. Magic would have been amazing to learn, of course. But–if Selene says it’s too dangerous, I believe her. It

Ava: Her

volatile.

I focus on a question that’s been bothering me from the beginning. “Selene, you’re my wolf, right?”

Of course.

me? No shifter has a wolf with a physical

sound that echoes through my mind. You were born bonded with the ancient magic, she explains in that non–explaining way, where nothing is really answered. We are both separate and one at the same

cryptic again. All shifters are bonded with ancient magic, and they don’t have

is something that can’t be helped, Selene sighs, and I can almost picture

What are you, an English professor now? And what are we,

Her

voice filled with a quiet pride. I came to be with you of my own choice.

if that somehow makes my brain work better.

who is matched?”

more important that you take a cold shower

spine, and I can feel the first tendrils of heat starting

to be in a frantic state like yesterday. But I can’t let

to be with me? And what do you mean, we’re separate and one at the same

is much you don’t understand yet. But trust me when I say that

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more later.

the heat is building faster now, and I can feel my skin starting to prickle

humiliation is enough.

and tossing it on the ground as I go. Niceties

as I can.

of a powerful wolf. I don’t know how far they are, but they’re close enough that I’m lifting my chin

my nose.

a little

Ava!

nothing to help but makes me feel better for at least trying, and turn on the water at its coldest setting.

in minutes, huddled under that freezing

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Ava: Her Identity

help keep my mind clear to an

extent.

talk to Selene through my mind again. Why is heat even a thing? This is ridiculous. I’m losing my mind because I want some