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.

feel a little better. Like having a parent who's panicked after they wake up in the middle of the night to see their child gone; someone

says, peering at my face. "Does it hurt

jerks up. "What? No. Why do you

sorry. You just

always looks like that," Vanessa says,

nods, despite

wishing I had the strength to shove the both of them

They're way too comfortable making fun of me

I'd love to pick it apart. Especially you, Ava Grey, to have a wolf

171

237 Ava Whung Dry

to slice me open and look at me under a microscope, Selene says, and I can feel her internal shudder from my end

with his line of interest, because she interrupts him to ask,

by her full name? You almost always call her 'Ava Grey, not

us to the dining room as we talk. "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

a family name, wouldn't it be a part of your identity?" I ask with a frown, as Vanessa and Marcus help settle me into a chair. With a wave of his hand, Magister Orion manifests into creation several plates of

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 aquatic

all delicious and-most importantly-have no magic in

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

catches my eye. Everything on the

Orion

how exhausted I

my question. "Your identity is not defined by your family. Even when one is disowned, they remain true to their

pain shoots through my heart, 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 a moment, a

question