Tales & Time (Lost Time Academy #1)(24)
I stand up slowly, gaping at the room of students sleeping on the floor. Roger is at my feet, completely knocked out for the count, with white glittering dust all over his body. The brothers are passed out in a row not far away, and I can’t see Tavvy through the mass amount of bodies. Only their moving chests and even snoring from a few tell me they are sleeping and that I didn’t kill them.
When I hear clapping, I glance behind me to see a man I don't know, walking through all the students, stepping over a few like they aren’t here. The man looks about my dad’s age, but he has more grey in his blond hair and a few wrinkles that no doubt come from stress. The man has a full suit on, and I figure he must be another teacher. Remembering teachers, I look over at Miss Aquana passed out near me as well and assume I am going to be in trouble for knocking out the class. Somehow, I must have made that dust and knocked out the entire class, including the teacher. I don't think beating the teacher was part of the class. Whoops.
"You're simply amazing, Madi. I don't know any student that knocked out every single one of their classmates on their first day," he states, seeming proud as he finally gets to me. "I'm the supervisor here at Lost Time Academy, and I came to see if Miss Aquana needed any help. It seems she might, just not in the way I expected. I always assumed Sleeping Beauty’s descendant would have premonition dreams and no outward powers. I am happy to be wrong." The supervisor stops rambling and laughs to himself.
I look around the sea of passed out students. "It was an accident...but do I win?" I ask. "I mean, everyone is technically passed out, and that was the goal. I am the last one standing." It's worth a shot.
"Well, there are no rules against using sleeping dust to make the class pass out. I guess you have won," he says with a smile, clapping his hands. "Oh, and by the way, my name is Mr. Newman. It is lovely to meet you, Miss Dormiens. I once knew your father when we were children, and I was so very sorry he didn’t get powers. I know he will be extremely proud of you."
"I can't believe I could do that. I make sleeping dust, that is pretty cool," I admit to him, looking at my hands and wiping the dust off. Mr. Newman steps back, pulling a hanky out of his pocket and covering his mouth before speaking through it.
"I am going to get some help to wake everyone up. As you are clearly immune to your own powers, why don't you try waking some of them up while you wait?" he suggests.
"Okay, I can do that," I say, trying not to smile.
"Right then. I will be right back," he says and walks a little before looking back at me, his eyes seem calculating. "Congratulations on such useful and powerful defensive powers, Madilynn."
"Thanks," I reply quietly, but he is already walking away, and for some reason, I don’t trust him. I just don’t know why.
Chapter 14
"Wakey, wakey, Knox," I gently shake his shoulder as most of the class are waking up now after the teachers decided the best way was to wake Miss Aquana up and have her wash the class with water to get rid of the dust. Now, all of the class are soaking wet and looking at me like I’m their worst enemy as they try to stay awake. The class has been cancelled for the day, and most of them are walking back to their rooms to sleep it off.
"I wouldn’t do that if I were you," Tobias goes to warn me as he sits up, and I frown at him. I go to move my hand away from Knox’s shoulder, but then Knox suddenly grabs my arms, slamming me onto the floor and covering my body with his in a swift motion that makes my head spin. He grabs my arms, holding me tightly, and he doesn’t even seem to be awake as I stare up at his narrowed, dazed eyes.
“Knox, wake the fuck up, man. It’s Sleepy,” Tobias says, moving closer.
"Knox, it’s me," I lightly whisper to him, and he blinks his eyes, looking down at me in shock as he finally seems to wake up.
"Madi? What the fuck happened?" he asks me in a grumbly voice as he moves his hands near my head and leans his weight off me a little. “I was going to knock Roger the fuck out for taking it too far with you, and then everything is a haze.”
"Err, well, I kind of put you and the rest of the class to sleep, accidently. Small bonus though, I won the prize!" I say, trying to not act nervous about or affected by all of Knox's hard, wet body pressed into mine. I can’t do anything but stare up into his dark silver, almost swirling eyes that seem to burn with what I think is protectiveness mixed with an anger I don’t understand.
"You put me to sleep?" he questions. “And the entire class while you were at it?”
"Yeah," I reply, and he quickly gets up off me, standing up and storming out of the room as I take a deep breath before sitting up.
"Knox never sleeps well, and waking up is usually much worse for him. He once knocked Oisin out, so don’t take it personally," Tobias tells me, offering me a hand to stand up as I finally look away from Knox’s tense back as he disappears from sight. I slide my hand into Tobias’s and let him lift me up. Oisin and Noah are talking to the teacher nearby, occasionally glancing at me as I search for them.
"Knox never had that trouble sleeping before," I reply, wondering what happened to him over the years.
"I thought you would have guessed that things have changed by now," he asks and suddenly frowns at me, stepping closer. I freeze when he grabs my chin lightly, turning my head to the side. “Your cheek is bad, and it will bruise. Come with me.” After he finishes his assessment, he walks off like he expects me to follow. I stare at him in confusion for a moment, wondering why he seemed to care about my face all of a sudden. He hasn’t talked to me at all since I got here, and I’ve barely seen him since he sent Noah flying through the door on my first day. I decide to follow him though, even if he is confusing. Tobias walks to the other side of the room where there are two doors. He holds the one open for me, and I go to walk in just as someone catches my arm gently, causing me to look back.