Ava?
Ava!
Selene's ntal shout has shaking my head, startled. I'm back, and it's like I was never gone.
Ava, are you listening?
"Sorry. What is it?"
Selene stands in front of , her ears twitching. You were here, but our bond was silent. Like you were far away.
"Ah." Clearing my throat, which is parched now that I've returned, I blink until I adjust to the darkness of my room, compared to the brightness of that magical place I was in just monts ago.
"Selene, what does the Moon Goddess look like?"
Why do you ask? Selene's head tilts, her icy eyes studying with an intensity that would be unnerving if I wasn't so used to it by now.
I glance at Marcus, who stands sentinel by the door, before focusing my thoughts inward. It's so much harder to think this way, and I wonder if it will ever feel completely natural. I think I t her. The Moon Goddess.
Selene's confusion ripples through our bond. She was never here, Ava.
I know. We were sowhere else.
You never left the room. Selene's voice in my mind is tinged with concern, her ntal words hesitant.
I think my consciousness did. It was like my spirit traveled to this magical place. I struggle to find the words to describe the ethereal experience. Even my body felt real there.
Selene's worry intensifies, a cold thread winding through my thoughts. Will it happen again?
I don't know. Absently stroking the pages of the book in my lap, I think back, trying to focus on the details. Yet the mories are already fading, vivid pictures blurring in my mind's eye. There was a woman there. She called herself Selena. She spoke to about my magic, about embracing it.
I don't know what the Moon Goddess looks like. I can't rember, Selene admits. Though, they say she appears differently to everyone who sees her. So even see her as a wolf. She pauses. I think I saw her as a wolf.
Nodding, I look down at the book again, my gaze drawn to the strange runic text that dances across the pages. Each symbol seems to breathe with a life of its own, pulsing in a srizing rhythm.
What are you doing? Selene's question breaks through my fascination.
"Looking at the text. Trying to figure out how I'm supposed to learn to read it." My finger traces the graceful lines of a particularly intricate rune.
Ava, there is no text. Selene's voice is slow, cautious.
I blink, my finger stilling on the page. "What do you an? It's right here. Can't you see it?"
Selene's ears flatten to her skull. The pages are blank, Ava.
Confusion swirls through as I stare at the book, at the undeniable presence of the runic words.
"Marcus, can you co here for a second?"
The older wolf shifter approaches with caution, boots heavy, each thud a countdown to the answer I know he's going to give. "Yes, ma'am?"
I point to the open book. "Can you see anything?"
Marcus leans over, his brows knitting together as he studies the pages. "Nothing."
A chill skitters down my spine as I look between Marcus and Selene. How is it possible that I can see these cryptic words so clearly while they perceive only emptiness?
Ava, what does this an? Selene's question echoes my own racing thoughts.
I don't know. Resting a hand on a page, I can feel the warmth and tingling against my palm. I think it has sothing to do with what happened earlier.
Selene noses at my hand, offering silent comfort. We'll figure it out.
That's what we're always saying.
We'll figure it out together.
We'll get through it together.
We'll do it together.
But sohow, we're never together for the things that matter.
My heart twists at the thought of Selene being sohow separate from my magic. Why can't she see what I can? Why can't she feel what I can?
I hope it isn't so sort of terrible on for the future.
It isn't, Selene insists.
I can't tear my eyes away from the graceful lines dancing across the pages, each stroke imbued with a aning that hovers just beyond my grasp. It's like trying to rember a dream—the harder I focus, the more it slips away, leaving only a tantalizing impression of sothing profound and powerful.
The runes almost seem fluid, as if they shift and change in my peripheral vision, then breathe in static form as I focus on them. They flow across the pages with a simple, elental beauty. Like water. Ink spilled from an artist's brush. Each symbol is a masterpiece, a work of art that speaks to my soul even as my mind struggles to comprehend.
I've never seen anything like this before. The runes are alien, yet sohow familiar. They tug at sothing deep inside , at that core of glowing warmth within my chest. It's as if they're whispering secrets, ancient knowledge long forgotten by the world.
Only, I can't hear them.
Ava, what do you see? Selene's voice is a distant echo, a whisper in the back of my mind.
Beauty, I breathe, my fingers trembling as they hover over the pages. Mystery. Magic.
I can feel Selene's frustration, her longing to share in this experience. But no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to project the images into her mind. It's like there's a wall between us, a barrier that keeps this magic separate from our bond.
I'm sorry, I whisper, my heart aching at the distance between us. I don't know how to show you.
Selene presses her nose against my leg, offering silent comfort even as I sense her unease. It's okay, Ava. We'll figure it out.
As I stare at the pages, I feel the familiar tingling sensation in my fingertips, a warmth that spreads up my arms and into my chest. It's like the book is calling to , urging to delve deeper into its secrets.
And then, to my amazent, the runes begin to move in a way that I can observe.
They swirl and dance, rearranging themselves into new patterns, new shapes. I watch, transfixed, as they slowly coalesce into sothing recognizable.
Letters.
Words.
A ssage.
For ?
My breath catches in my throat as I read the words, each one searing itself into my mind with the force of a brand.
"Embrace your destiny, Ava Grey. The ti has co to..."
The runes shiver, their edges blurring as if they're struggling to maintain their form. I lean closer, my heart pounding as I wait for the rest of the ssage to reveal itself.
But instead of clarity, the symbols dissolve into chaos, their anings lost in a swirl of ink and magic. I blink, my eyes straining to make sense of the jumble, but it's like trying to catch smoke with my bare hands.
Selene, sothing's happening, I whisper, my voice trembling with a mixture of awe and fear. The runes, they're trying to tell sothing.
Her warmth by my side keeps grounded, with half my mind deep in this weird place between here and there—between reality and the magic of this book.
What do they say?
"I don't know… They're fighting. Trying to break through…"
My breath catches as the runes continue to shift and change, growing more frantic as each second passes.
Then, as suddenly as it began, the chaos stills.
One by one, lines erge.
"Your teacher awaits. Enter the sanctuary of wizards, Ava Grey." What the hell does that an?
What sanctuary?
Wizards? Yet a new term brought to my ears. First magicians. Then witches. Now, wizards?
My phone rings, a quick musical note. A text ssage.
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