Tangled

Unshift 237

Unshift 237

237 Ava: Wrung Dry

By the time we exit the training room, Vanessa and Marcus have to hold me up to walk in a straight line. <

It isn't the type of exhaustion where my muscles are sore and stretched and tired after running or doing a thousand squats. It's more like the energy in my body has bled away, leaving me so weak that my muscles can no longer function properly.

When exercising, you can kind of feel good about your exertion. The pain and exhaustion comes with a sense of accomplishment.

This?

It just feels like I'm a wet dish rag wrung out one too many times.

The water's gone, and now I'm going to float away on the next strong breeze.

Ava! Where did you go?

Selene's panic is so explosive in my head that my legs buckle, even with the support of two shifters.

Long story. Training room. Magic place. My body's dead. Training sucks.

Even in my head, I can only speak in short sentences. It feels fuzzy and also like something's slamming into it with a sledgehammer, fueled by the rage of a thousand flying monkeys.

Not sure where the flying monkeys came from, but I'm just going to go with it.

Are you okay? she asks, and the warmth and care from her side of the bond also seems to infuse me with a little bit of extra energy.

who's panicked after they wake up in the middle of the night to see their child gone;

contact," Magister Orion says, peering at my

"What? No.

I'm sorry. You

that," Vanessa says, sounding

despite

mutter, wishing I had the strength to shove the both of them off

They're way too comfortable making fun of me for such

to pick it apart. Especially you, Ava Grey, to have

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237 Ava Whung Dry

going to slice me open and look at me under a microscope, Selene says, and I can feel her internal

must feel uncomfortable with his line of interest, because she interrupts

by her full name? You almost always call her 'Ava Grey,

"It is a bit of a custom among the Fac. We don't have a first and last name as you humans do, you see. We do have a

ask with a frown, as Vanessa and Marcus help settle me into a

learned since coming here that Fac food doesn't always have a particular corresponding animal to the ones we are used to in our world; for example, their steaks might be from a giant carnivorous beast that they hunt, or an herbivore similar to a cow. Some of them are even from

importantly-have no magic in them

possibility when I brought it up, but I haven't told him the entire story of Sister Miriam and the Fac food. I'm still not certain on the allegiances of people in this city, and I'm hesitant to get Sister Miriam in trouble for possibly going outside of some sort of law against tampering with

she catches my eye. Everything on the table is food I've had

Magister Orion is

realizes how exhausted I

slides several meat slices and various vegetables onto my plate, Magister Orion finally responds to my question. "Your identity is not defined by your family. Even when one is

interrupting its normal rhythm for a moment. There's no way he's talking about my family dynamics, but I still feel like I've been put on display for

question makes