Tangled

192

192

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.

•

10:27

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.

on edge," Vanessa murmurs, looking straight forward as the elevator

thinking about my mom, or her wolf. Avoidance has

But habits are really,

step heavy with dread. Selene presses close to my side, her warmth a small comfort

corridor is the same as the last, and yet it feels as though we're going in the

they move her?" I ask, confusion

smile playing on her lips. "They

enter the room. Two of our guards take up positions outside, whil the other two follow us

suffocating.

beep of machines filling the silence. Vanessa makes

She checks the IV bags hanging beside the bed, her movements practiced and

of the bed, my eyes drawn to the frail figure beneath the sheets. The sight of

she looks so much smaller, her cheeks hollow

not long for

murmurs, her voice tinged with something I can't quite place. Pity, perhaps,

resignation.

But when they land

voice thin and brittle.

like a physical blow, but

nothing.

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

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Mom's Legacy

vile, coming

that even the

yet you're here,

filled with clear liquid. "We're about

not to flinch at the words she throws my way, that

Don't let her bait you, she whispers

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

syringe, Selene's voice whispers through my mind, She'll be

but, I'll take

to block out the vitriol spilling from her lips. Her features, once soft and warm,

Ava: Mom's

twisted with loathing. It's hard to reconcile

a woman with the mother I remember from my earliest years. Back then, 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