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

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

<

Moon Goddess (II)-END Season

text. Selene's voice is

do you mean? It's

skull. The pages are

stare at the book,

can you come

with caution, boots heavy, each thud a countdown to the answer I know

ma'am?"

open book. "Can you see

over, his brows knitting together as he studies the

I can see these cryptic words so clearly

I can feel the warmth and tingling

noses at my hand, offering silent comfort. We'll figure it out.

37

210 Ava: Moon

it out

get through

We'll do it together.

never together for the

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

isn't some sort

It isn't, Selene insists.

meaning that hovers just beyond my grasp. It's like trying to remember a dream-the harder I focus, the more it

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.

my soul even as my

inside me, at that core of glowing warmth within my chest. It's as if they're whispering secrets, ancient

477

Ava: Moon Goddess (III)-END Season

I can't hear

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

as they

matter how hard I try, I can't seem to

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

even as I sense her unease. It's okay, Ava. We'll figure

tingling sensation in my fingertips, a warmth that spreads up my arms and into my

secrets.

my amazement, the runes begin to move in a

swirl and dance, rearranging themselves into new patterns, new shapes. I

Letters.