Tangled

Unshift 260

Unshift 260

260 Ava: Call It

"I know" Nibbling the side of my finger, my brows pull together. Why would he tell me to keep it safe, knowing it might be too dangerous?

What were the words he used again? They seemed significant.

"Ava, I need you to tell me you're not going to the Blackwood territory."

Jerking my head up, I blink at Vanessa's worried stare. "I'm not going. I'm just trying to think."

My brain's dead set on remembering what Magister Orion said.

What was it?

Call my book?

Yeah, that's it.

"The book is useless to anyone even if they find it," Marcus says, his words soft. Is he trying to comfort me? "Don't worry, Ava. It'll be a paperweight. Or, if we're lucky, they'll be allergic. Like Selene." He is trying to comfort me.

How sweet.

"That's if we assume they don't know how to open it. The knowledge has been lost to us, but there are Fae involved now, remember?"

Marcus sighs. "Life was casier without this magic shit," he mutters, almost too soft for me to

hear.

But I do.

My lips quirk. I agree with him wholeheartedly.

"Magister Orion said to call the book to me," I say, looking to Vanessa instead. Sometimes it helps to talk out my thought process. "He wouldn't have said it like that if I were to go pick it up, right?"

Her eyes squint as she thinks it through. "That sounds right. But what does it mean? Can you move it from place to place with your magic?"

My nose itches, and I rub at it in frustration. "I think that's exactly what he means, but I have no idea how to implement it." A long sigh, filled with regrets and lack of time. Time is always in short supply. "I wish Magister Orion had taught me something like that before everything happened."

Vanessa's lips quirk into a small smile. "If wishes were fishes, we'd all cast nets.

I stare at her for a moment, the unexpected phrase catching me off guard. Then, despite the

gravity of our on a laugh bubbles up from my chest. "I haven't heard that phrase since I

was in human school."

reenite from the teneian tore heen miling tighter

200 Ava Call it

before I knew about the complexities of pack politics, before I discovered my own magical abilities, before the world seemed to be falling apart around

says, her eyes softening with

eyes remain glued to the road ahead. "As much as I appreciate the trip down memory

time on basic control exercises. Also known as the thing that would keep me from kabooming everyone within radius if I didn't get training. "I can light a candlestick if you need me too. Blackouts? I'm your

so much," Vanessa chimes in

Right?" Vanessa turns almost

That makes sense. Magic seems to be all about

"If I lose concentration, I lose control. So it's the

the back of Marcus' head can't hide his skepticism. Probably because it leaks out in his voice. "So what, you just think really hard about the book and

shrug, feeling a bit foolish. "Maybe?

"He just doesn't have the imagination

what you can do."

can hear you, Healer

meant to," she chides. "Don't make her feel bad when

rest of his words. "Never mind. I'll

a deep breath, I close my eyes and

road threatening to jostle me out of my concentration. A stale, acrid smell of cigarette smoke lingers in the air, tickling

silky feel its leather cover and the ornate silver clasps, tarnished by age. The way the pages felt beneath my fingertips.

260 Ava Call It

disappeared like

what

breath, trying to center myself. The truck

Focus, Ava. Focus.

and shifting. I try to grasp them, to hold onto their meaning, but they slip away like smoke.

need to be

Vanessa's voice breaks through my concentration. "Are you okay? You

opening my eyes. "I'm

softly. "We'll be

into my thoughts. I picture the book again, trying to will it into

whenever I open my

in my

the three of us, this ancient rust bucket

traveling.

to me, so it must be possible;

for

of smoke grows stronger, and I wrinkle my nose. It's distracting, pulling me out of my focus. I try to push

giving up. Besides, we have a long way still before we make it to

when I held it. The sense of power, of potential. The way it seemed to hum with energy, as if it was alive somehow.