Tangled

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210 Ava: Moon Goddess (III) — END Season

3

Ava?

Ava!

Selene's mental shout has me shaking my head, startled. I'm back, and it's like I was never gone.

Ava, are you listening?

"Sorry. What is it?"

Selene stands in front of me, her ears twitching. You were here, but our bond was silent. Like you were far away.

"Ah." Clearing my throat, which is parched now that I've returned, I blink until I adjust to the darkness of my room, compared to the brightness of that magical place I was in just moments ago. "Selene, what does the Moon Goddess look like?"

Why do you ask? Selene's head tilts, her icy eyes studying me with an intensity that would be unnerving if I wasn't so used to it by

now.

I glance at Marcus, who stands sentinel by the door, before focusing my thoughts inward. It's so much harder to think this way, and I wonder if it will ever feel completely natural. I think I met her. The Moon Goddess.

Selene's confusion ripples through our bond. She was never here,

Ava.

210 Ava: Moon Goddess (1) END Season 3

I know. We were somewhere else.

You never left the room. Selene's voice in my mind is tinged with concern, her mental words hesitant.

I think my consciousness did. It was like my spirit traveled to this magical place. I struggle to find the words to describe the ethereal experience. Even my body felt real there.

Selene's worry intensifies, a cold thread winding through my thoughts. Will it happen again?

I don't know. Absently stroking the pages of the book in my lap, I think back, trying to focus on the details. Yet the memories are already fading, vivid pictures blurring in my mind's eye. There was a woman there. She called herself Selena. She spoke to me about my magic, about embracing it.

I don't know what the Moon Goddess looks like. I can't remember, Selene admits. Though, they say she appears differently to everyone who sees her. Some even see her as a wolf. She pauses. think I saw her as a wolf.

Nodding, I look down at the book again, my gaze drawn to the strange runic text that dances across the pages. Each symbol seems to breathe with a life of its own, pulsing in a mesmerizing rhythm. What are you doing? Selene's question breaks through my fascination.

I

how I'm supposed to learn to read it." My finger traces the graceful lines of a

<

Moon Goddess (II)-END Season

there is no text.

finger stilling on the page. "What do you mean? It's right here. Can't you see

flatten to her skull.

me as I stare at the book, at the undéniable presence of the runic

you come

wolf shifter approaches with caution, boots heavy, each thud a countdown to the answer I know he's going

ma'am?"

point to the open book. "Can you

knitting together as he studies

skitters down my spine as I look between Marcus and Selene. How is it possible that I can see these cryptic words so clearly while they perceive only emptiness? Ava, what does this mean? Selene's question echoes my own

don't know. Resting a hand on a page, I can feel the warmth and tingling against my

silent comfort. We'll figure it

37

Ava: Moon

it

get through

We'll do it together.

together for the things that

heart twists at the thought of Selene being somehow separate from my magic. Why can't she see what I can? Why can't she feel what

some sort

It isn't, Selene insists.

dancing across the pages, each stroke imbued with a meaning that hovers just beyond my grasp. It's like trying to remember a dream-the harder I focus, the more it slips away, leaving only a tantalizing impression, of something profound

shift and change in my peripheral vision, then breathe in static form as I focus on them. They flow across the pages with a simple, elemental beauty. Like water. Ink

to my soul even as

They tug at something deep inside me, at that core of glowing warmth within my chest. It's as if they're whispering secrets, ancient knowledge long forgotten by

477

Moon Goddess

I can't hear

you see? Selene's voice is a distant echo, a whisper in the back of

breathe, my fingers trembling as they hover over the pages.

I can't seem to project. the images into her mind. It's like there's a wall between us, a barrier that

my heart aching at the distance between us. I don't know how to show

as

up my arms and into my chest. It's like the book

secrets.

begin to move in a way that I

new shapes. I watch, transfixed, as they slowly

Letters.