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 to

I'm surrounded by

kicking myself over for leaving in my

Vanessa and Marcus are able to

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

gave me these five papers and told me to find the elements within

such vague instructions, it's no surprise

try to commune with a single element within

"It helps with fighting. Learning to center, to focus only on what matters. Maybe you're too in tune with the

you

a dubious look-it's not like I haven't tried that before-I grab

SVR XS. FIR

as I center myself. 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 me. It's there, bright and tantalizing, just

of reach.

I try to visualize tugging at it, like pulling on a

either.

nothing works? Taking another deep breath, I

to the rune for

properties-how it consumes, how it

Burning.

Not a memory of this life, but of another. A dream? A vision?

anything I've experienced.

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

the phantom sensations wash over me. I want to pull away from the memory, to escape the torment, but something holds me there. This is important.

17.50

220 Ava. Fire

matters.

death, I was nothing. Only pain. No name, no self, just pure sensation. And in that moment of complete dissolution, something else emerged. Something primal and powerful. I focus on that feeling, on the memory of

power.