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

<

Goddess

there is no text. Selene's voice

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

her skull.

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

come here for

each thud a

ma'am?"

open book. "Can

leans over, his brows knitting together as he studies

possible that I can see these cryptic words so clearly while

know. Resting a hand on a page, I can feel the warmth and tingling against my palm. I think it

hand, offering silent comfort. We'll figure it out. That's

37

Moon Goddess (III)-END

figure it

through

We'll do it together.

somehow, we're never together for the things

of Selene being somehow separate from my magic. Why can't she see what I can? Why can't she

isn't some sort of terrible omen for the

It isn't, Selene insists.

graceful lines 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 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 spilled from an

that speaks to my soul even as my mind- struggles to

yet somehow familiar. They tug at something deep inside me, at that core of glowing warmth within my

477

Ava: Moon Goddess

I can't

distant

my fingers trembling as they hover over

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

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

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

I feel the familiar tingling sensation in my fingertips, a warmth that spreads up my arms and into my chest. It's like

secrets.

amazement, the runes begin to move in a way that I can

dance, rearranging themselves into new patterns, new shapes. I watch, transfixed, as they

Letters.