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

200 Ava Call it

back memories of a simpler time, 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 us. Not a

all the time," Vanessa says, her eyes softening with the memory. "She had a saying for

present as his eyes remain glued to the road ahead. "As much as I appreciate the trip down memory lane, we should focus. It must be important, for him to warn her

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

so much," Vanessa chimes

"He did mention something about intent being crucial in magic. He must think I'm capable of doing this, 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,

huh? That makes sense. Magic seems

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

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

foolish. "Maybe? It's

whisper, "He just

what you can do."

can hear

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

wasn't trying to-" he bites back the rest of his

close my eyes and try to empty

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

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

260 Ava Call It

disappeared

what I

breath, trying to center myself. The

Focus, Ava. Focus.

memory, swirling and shifting. I try to grasp them, to hold onto their meaning, but

I need to be

through my concentration. "Are you okay? You

nod, not opening my eyes.

she says softly.

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

whenever I open my eyes-nothing

book in

us, this ancient rust bucket on wheels, and the

traveling.

concentrating harder. Magister Orion said to call it to me, so it must be

for a new magic

pulling me out of my focus. I try to push it

have a long way

power, of potential. The way it seemed to hum