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.

Vanessa changes the subject

me, where I'm surrounded by

the magic book I'm still kicking

disappear, and Vanessa and Marcus

papers, looking them over again and again. There's nothing that happens when I touch them: no tingle or buzz within my fingertips.

tape, gave me these five papers and told me to find the elements

them. With such vague instructions,

commune with a

advises, grimacing at the papers before me. "It helps with fighting. Learning to center, to focus only on what matters. Maybe you're too

you

haven't tried that before-I grab the one that means fire, close my eyes, and focus

SVR XS. FIR

leaving only the sensation of my own body, its thudding heartbeat vibrating through my chest, and the pulsing core of magic within me. It's there, bright

of reach.

warms me from within, I imagine myself reaching out to touch it. Nothing happens. I try to visualize tugging at it, like pulling on a string, but it remains stubbornly distant. Knocking on it in my mind

either.

supposed to access this power if nothing works? Taking another deep breath, I force myself to relax.

my thoughts drift to the rune for

it consumes, how it transforms,

Burning.

of this life, but of another. A dream? A vision? Whatever it was, it feels

anything I've experienced.

move, couldn't scream, couldn't see. There was nothing but the all-consuming

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

17.50

220 Ava. Fire

matters.

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

power.