Tangled

Unshift 229

Unshift 229

229 Ava: Fire

Bureaucracy in the Fae Ward moves with the pace of a paralyzed sloth, leaving me with an itchy feeling between my shoulder blades, as if staying here is the worst decision I've ever made.

Selene spends most of her time slinking around the Fae Ward, finding pockets of space with less wards to sneeze over. Vanessa and Marcus stick with me, with Vanessa sharing my bedroom. Our first lesson doesn't happen for three days. Why?

Application for Unlicensed Magus to Practice Dangerous Magic Within Residential Areas.

It's an actual title of a piece of paperwork Magister Orion had to file. Apparently, new wizards (though the official Fae-paperwork term is magus, unknown origin) are deemed a deadly force.

Whoever runs this place has a serious stick up their butt about me learning magic.

"I don't like it," Vanessa says, staring out the window. "They'll have your name on official paperwork. We have no idea how deep Renard's influence lies."

"It's only within the Fae Ward," I point out, like I have the other thirty times she's mentioned it. "If they're going to find me here, the paperwork won't be the only reason."

Marcus, of course, is quiet. We already know how he feels. He hates it and doesn't trust the paperwork, either.

Not that I disagree with either of them-it's just that, like them, I feel stuck.

17:05

that I've been unable to reach Lucas for three days.

ty

Knowing that they're fighting over there, not knowing the full

us on edge.

any progress" Vanessa changes the subject

me, where I'm surrounded

rapes written on them. Unlike the magic book I'm still kicking myself over for leaving in my room at the

and

over again and again. There's nothing that happens when I touch them: no

about red tape, gave me these five papers and told me to

With such vague instructions, it's no surprise I've had no

matter how I try to commune with a single element within me, nothing

fighting. Learning to center, to focus

you

not like I haven't tried that before-I grab the one that means fire, close my

SVR XS. FIR

The sounds and scents of the world fade away, leaving only the sensation of my own body, its thudding heartbeat vibrating through my chest, and the pulsing core of magic within

of reach.

it. Nothing happens. I try to visualize tugging at it, like pulling on a string, but it remains stubbornly distant. Knocking on it

either.

bubbles up inside me. How am I supposed to access this power if nothing works? Taking

rune for fire sitting

think about its properties-how it consumes, how it transforms, how it

Burning.

life, but of another. A

anything I've experienced.

scorching pain that raged through every fiber of my being. I couldn't move, couldn't scream,

over me. I want to pull away from the memory, to escape

17.50

220 Ava. Fire

matters.

primal and powerful. I focus on that feeling, on the memory of being unmade by fire. The bright core of magic within me pulses in response, as if recognizing a kindred spirit. For the first time, I feel

power.