Tangled

Unshift 258

Unshift 258

258 Ava: The Distance Between Us

By the looks on everyone's faces, they're thinking the exact thing I am.

"So, we won't only be fighting the enemy. We'll be fighting our friends. Family. Lovers."

My voice is flat and distant, the words feeling like they're coming from thousands of miles away.

"It is possible," Acarus murmurs, rubbing his eyebrow as he sighs. "Without knowing how they do it, how long it takes, what it involves..."

But my ears aren't listening. I'm thinking back to Sister Miriam and how she popped into my room out of nowhere to give me cryptic warnings. "Sister Miriam knew what they were doing.

Acarus hesitates. "In a sense, yes."

I pin him with a hard stare. "She knew what they were doing and never told us."

Marcus and Vanessa's gazes go dark; Sister Miriam has been a solid ally of recent times, but her nonanswers have not endeared her to the wolves.

The man claiming to be Sister Miriam's son holds up his hands. "Don't look at me like that. I do not have power over the knowledge my mother divulges, or doesn't."

Marcus scowls, and Acarus sighs. "Understand, my mother is full of knowledge. Some relevant. Some not. Things that never came to pass. Things that did. Most with clairvoyance go mad, living half in this world and half in another. Whatever information my mother deigns to share is a gift. It is not fair to put the weight of your world on her shoulders, don't you think? If she does it for you-then who next? How many more times must she go through several possibilities, never knowing which will come to pass?

When he puts it like that...

I shift uncomfortably, realizing that I've shredded my last piece of bread into little more than crumbs. "Where is she now?"

your dog-wolf are with your alpha. From what I understand, the wolf

Not leave

up the ladder to bizarre and out of

close I need to be to gain contact with Selene again?" I ask, throwing the question to any of them to answer. Acarus shakes his head. "I am

low-ranking members of the pack to their alpha is about fifteen miles. A delta can reach Lucas over thirty miles away. Kellan and Lucas have been

C

Ava: The

broken down

only reach me about forty

"Can you reach-"

cuts me off gently, sadness in her

to see her

away. I think back to the times Selene and I have been apart. "I feel like my range with

wolf, it takes time until you can think

quieter lately, and I question her

says out of nowhere.

to your pack is safer in these rural areas, Acarus says, his voice calm and reassuring. "There's little established wolf presence here,

heart leaps in joy, but Vanessa's brow furrows

she interjects. "If there's no wolf presence,

one I hadn't even thought to ask. My mind had been so focused on the possibility of seeing Lucas that I'd overlooked

small hospital run by supernaturals with no affiliations. They're registered supernaturals, to

suspicion. "There are no supernatural

the far border."

fazed by Marcus's doubt. "These are registered supernaturals who have chosen to integrate with human society. They're not part of established communities in the traditional

supernaturals in this place,