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

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

all the time," Vanessa says, her eyes softening

much as I appreciate the trip

as if it's full of potholes, making it even harder to concentrate. "We spent most of our time on basic control exercises. Also known as the thing that would keep me from kabooming everyone within radius if I

Vanessa chimes in with a

so I just need to figure out how. Right?" Vanessa turns almost completely around on the passenger side of the bench to face me. There are no seatbelts. Well, there were once upon a time-they were all cut out at some point in

sense. Magic seems to be all

idea. "If I lose concentration, I lose control. So

head can't hide his skepticism. Probably because it leaks out in his voice. "So what,

feeling a bit foolish. "Maybe?

to whisper, "He

what you can do."

hear you,

she chides. "Don't make her feel bad when she's

rest of

my eyes and try

concentration. A stale, acrid smell of cigarette smoke lingers in the air, tickling my nose and tempting me to sneeze. I

feel its leather cover and the ornate

260 Ava Call It

disappeared

what I

to center myself. The truck hits

Focus, Ava. Focus.

my memory, swirling and shifting. I try to grasp them, to hold onto their meaning, but they slip away like smoke. Frustration bubbles

need

my concentration. "Are

nod, not opening my eyes. "I'm

says softly. "We'll

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

whenever I open

book in my

three of us, this ancient rust bucket on wheels, and

traveling.

call it to me, so it must be possible; I just

massive undertaking for a new

distracting, pulling me out of my focus. I try to push it away, but it

Besides, we have a long way still before we make it to wherever Lucas is

power, of potential. The way it seemed to hum with energy, as if it was alive somehow. I reach out with my mind,