Tangled

Unshift 260

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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 us. Not a happy time. But

says, her eyes

us back to the present as his eyes remain glued to the road ahead. "As much as I

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?

Vanessa chimes in with a

"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, there were once upon a time-they were all cut out at some point in

That makes sense. Magic seems to

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

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

bit foolish. "Maybe? It's worth a

leans over the seat to whisper, "He

what you can do."

can hear you,

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

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

deep breath, I close my eyes and try to

concentration. A stale, acrid smell of cigarette smoke lingers

I picture it in my mind, with the silky feel its leather cover and the ornate silver clasps, tarnished by

260 Ava Call It

disappeared like

That's what I need

breath, trying to center myself. The truck hits another pothole, and I grit my

Focus, Ava. Focus.

try to grasp them, to hold onto their

I need to be

breaks through my concentration. "Are you

not opening my

she says softly. "We'll be

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

open my eyes-nothing

book in my

rust bucket on wheels, and

traveling.

it to me, so it

massive undertaking for a new magic

It's distracting, pulling me out of my focus. I try to push it away, but it lingers, stubborn

way still before we make it to wherever Lucas is

of potential. The way it seemed to hum with energy, as if it was alive