Tangled

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192 Ava: Mom's Legacy (V)

The hospital is eerily quiet, our steps echoing through the halls. Visiting hours are long over, and night shift reigns.

Vanessa is unfazed by the creepy quality of the place at a late hour, but I jump when the elevator dings, signalling its arrival in front of

1. us.

"You okay?" she asks, concern knitting her brows.

Selene-who's finally out from beneath my bed, though she refuses to talk about why she avoided me for the rest of the day- leans against my leg in silent comfort. "It's just so quiet. I'm not used to hospitals without people bustling around."

There's a giant machine coming down the hall in our direction, cleaning the floor with whatever algorithm powers its movement.

I always wondered how hospitals kept their floors so clean. I guess everything's automated these days.

Vanessa nudges me onto the elevator, pressing the button for my mom's floor before we've all even made it in.

Four bodyguards flank us. Massive overkill, considering that there isn't much we're expecting to happen on this visit.

Still, Lucas-and Jericho-are taking no chances on my safety.

Marcus, at least, is getting a break, and a new guy seems to be the one to shadow me for the night. He's a little short, but his eyes are black and intense, and I wouldn't want to be found in an alley with him in the dark.

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log Ave Mom's Legacy (V)

He smells like death, Selene says. To me, such words are atrocious, like I should avoid the person. To her? She speaks as though she

admires him.

And that's a good thing?

Selene's ears flick toward me, and I can feel her side-eye even without her eyes moving. He is a capable guard. This is a good thing. Right. I guess that's true.

forward as the elevator numbers change

avoiding thinking about my mom, or her wolf. Avoidance has always been

habits are really,

feels longer than it should, each step heavy with dread. Selene presses close to my side, her warmth a small comfort

last, and yet it feels as though

I ask, confusion lacing

on her lips. "They had to

guards take up positions outside, whil the other two follow us

suffocating.

the silence. Vanessa makes her way to the bed where

IV bags hanging beside the bed, her movements

near the foot of the bed, my eyes drawn to the frail figure beneath the sheets. The sight of her steals my breath. It's only been

looks so much

long for

taking its toll," Vanessa murmurs, her voice tinged with something I can't quite place. Pity, perhaps,

resignation.

presence, my mother's eyes flutter open. They're dull, lacking the fire I've always associated with her. But when they land on me, they sharpen, a glare that pins me in place. "You must have come to curse me into the

voice thin and brittle.

accusation hits me like a physical blow, but I

nothing.

She struggles to sit up, her arms trembling with the effort, before finally giving up. The vitriol in her eyes never fades, though. "To gloat? To see me wither away?" "I'm not here for you."My honesty cuts through the

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Ava: Mom's Legacy

is vile, coming

that even the sound of her cough is

you're

Vanessa finishes checking her medicine as a nurse steps in, holding a syringe and an impossibly tiny vial filled with clear liquid. "We're about to give you something for your agitation." "I wouldn't be agitated

not to flinch at the

hand keeps me grounded. Don't let her bait you, she whispers

whose eyes dart around the room like a cornered animal. She scurries out, leaving an unsettling silence in her wake, broken only by the beeping

syringe,

but, I'll take

focus on my mother's face, trying to block out the vitriol spilling

Ava: Mom's Legacy

loathing. It's hard

her smile could light up a room, and her laughter was infectious. She'd pull me into her lap, tickling me until I was breathles The memory rises unbidden, a bitersweet pang in my chest. I latch onto it, desperate for any shred of the mother