Tales & Time (Lost Time Academy #1)(33)

"I will guide you through it," Knox says with a relieved smile. I might not know what is going on with my Tale brothers, but I am damn sure going to find out. Knox goes and lies down on his bed, placing his hands behind his head as I follow him over. I sit on the edge of the bed, my back pressed against the side of his chest as he looks up at me.

"Place your hand over my face, hovering it almost," he instructs me as he closes his eyes. I do as he instructs, waiting for more instructions, feeling his hot breath blowing against my palm. It’s almost sexy and not helping my concentration at all.

"Done," I whisper.

"Close your eyes, Sleepy," Knox tells me, and I close my eyes, sighing when I don't feel anything but stupid. I go to tell Knox this when he starts talking himself.

"Our power is found deep within our souls, next to the part of us that feels great emotions like love, hate, loss and many others. When I call my powers, I find that part of me that is always there and always has been. It's right there, Sleepy. You only have to believe and trust in yourself to find it." I run Knox's words over in my mind, thinking of so many people I care for. So many people that I know I love in a way that isn't easy to explain, even to myself. There is something else there though, just like Knox explained. I focus on the warm feeling in my chest, and just like a button is clicked, everything changes. The power feeds through my body like a cold wave of water, making sure I'm aware and awake even though my power is sleep. I hear Knox gently snoring only a second later and I open my eyes, seeing white sparkling dust softly falling from my hand over his face.

"Madi, you are incredible," I hear Noah say as I stop my power and turn to see he came into the room at some point. Noah looks at me in wonder with a proud smile as I wipe my hand of the leftover dust and stand up. I try not to blush at Noah’s compliment, but ah crap, my cheeks burn anyway.

"Will you walk me back to my room, Noah? Knox needs some sleep," I ask, and Noah only grins at me as he offers me a hand to hold.

"I'd happily walk you back, Madi," he replies. I link my hand with him, looking back once at Knox who is peacefully sleeping before we quietly leave their bedroom.

"How long has Knox been struggling to sleep, Noah?" I ask him, waving at two girls who pass us who are Ella’s friends. I don’t know their names as I’m pretty forgetful, but they are nice. The nice girls are called... Crap, who knows?

"About seven months, since..." Noah clears his throat. Dammit, they are all keeping something big from me, and I can't even guess what it is because I haven't been here. I remember Tavvy saying something about their fiancé dying...but I know the Tale brothers wouldn't have had anything to do with that. They aren't killers, at least I don't think. Not that much could have changed in these last few years.

"Don't you trust me? I'm not going to judge you guys about whatever it is that Knox isn't sleeping over, Tobias is messed up from, Sin seems to be pretending never happened, and you...well sometimes you seem sad. I just want to know what the hell happened," I ask him, wrapping my hand around his arm to make him look at me.

"We all agreed not to speak of it. To anyone," he tells me, quickly looking away.

"And I'm just anyone to you guys?" I ask, feeling hurt from that response. They are far more than anyone to me, but perhaps it's not the same for them.

"It's complicated, Sleepy. I will talk to them about telling you, because you are right, you are not anyone," Noah promises, but it doesn't stop me from feeling hurt over this all. I nod once at him, telling him I'm thankful, before we walk silently until we get to my room. I know being upset isn’t going to help them or me. It’s pointless, and I just have to hope they will open up to me.

"Noah, will you train me to fight? Magic sleep dust is a cool power, but useless unless I can protect myself," I ask him, because I briefly saw Noah and Tobias fighting, and he looked incredible.

"Yeah, I can do that. How about every Sunday, we spend the day training?" he asks, squeezing my hand once before letting it go.

"Perfect. Thank you," I say, though it still feels awkward with this unspoken thing.

"I'll see you in class tomorrow, Sleepy," Noah says and leans forward, pressing a brief kiss on my cheek. He leaves me speechless as he walks off down the corridor, and I can only watch him go.





Chapter 20





"I'm pretty sure Miss A is still pissed about the last fight class," I breathlessly groan, leaning on Knox's shoulder as Tavvy laughs. We are all drenched in water, thanks to Miss A insisting we run laps around the gym today quicker than last week. Of course, the guys are not out of breath at all, unlike Tavvy and me. If anything, they look happy and ready to take on the world. I just want to put my butt into bed and stay there for the rest of the day. If I could have Netflix and chocolate, then I’d be a happy girl. Knox smiles down at me, looking so much more relaxed and, well, healthy since I've been putting him to sleep with my dust every night this week. Tobias avoids my eye contact when I look at him, but considering he has avoided me all week, I'm not overly shocked. Noah and Sin are talking together a good distance away, laughing at something, but it makes me smile to see them so relaxed.

"Just don't knock her out this time, babe," Knox suggests, and I grin at him as Tavvy laughs, finally getting her breath back with me.