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."

the teneian tore heen miling tighter

200 Ava Call it

the complexities of pack politics, before I discovered my own magical abilities, before the world seemed to be falling apart around us. Not a

all the time," Vanessa says, her eyes softening with the memory. "She

"As much as I appreciate the trip down memory lane, we should focus. It must be important, for him to warn her in

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 didn't get training. "I can light a candlestick if you need me too. Blackouts? I'm your girl. Summoning a

so much," Vanessa chimes in with

must think I'm capable of doing this, so I just need to figure out how. Right?" Vanessa turns

That makes sense. Magic seems to

I lose concentration,

leaks out in his voice. "So what, you just think really

shrug, feeling a bit foolish.

seat to whisper, "He just doesn't have

what you can do."

hear

make her feel bad when

rest of

my eyes and try to empty

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

the ornate silver clasps, tarnished by age. The way the pages felt beneath my fingertips. The

260 Ava Call It

and disappeared

That's what I need

breath, trying to center myself. The truck hits

Focus, Ava. Focus.

shifting. I try to grasp them, to hold onto their meaning, but they slip away like smoke. Frustration bubbles up inside

I need

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

nod, not opening my eyes. "I'm

softly.

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

whenever I open my

book in my

us, this ancient rust bucket on wheels, and the deserted rural

traveling.

me, so it must be possible; I just have to figure

massive undertaking for a new magic

and I wrinkle my nose. It's distracting, pulling me out of my focus. I

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

again, this time focusing on the feeling it gave me when I held it. The sense of power, of potential. The way it