Tales & Time (Lost Time Academy #1)(6)

“Good luck, and I want a phone call every week if they allow it, or a letter perhaps. It has been a long time since I went to school, and we didn’t have phones back then,” he tells me, and I nod against his chest.

“If Quinton comes here, I don’t know, just be nice to him please,” I whisper, and dad grumbles.

“I will do, but I doubt the boy is going to be happy with us for sending you away,” dad replies as he lets me go and steps back.

“I know,” I say, feeling my phone vibrate in my hand. I turn it off before looking who it was. I don’t know who I’m kidding as I know it’s Quinton. I just broke up with him over text, of course he’s going to try and call me. I swallow every part of me that wants to run out the door and find Quinton as I look at my parents’ worried faces. After pushing my phone into my bag, I force a smile on my face as I wait for my mum to say something.

“Okay, take out your key and hold it in the air like this,” she says and holds out the key like she is unlocking an imaginary door. I do the same and feel stupid as nothing happens, and I raise an eyebrow at her.

“Lost Time Island welcomes its blood,” she whispers, her words sending shivers through me, and mum smiles at me. A gold light appears from her key and surrounds her whole body until she has disappeared completely. I’m sure I stand with my mouth hanging open for far too long before I snap it shut and look over at dad. He is trying not to laugh, and I just glare at him as he chuckles under his breath.

“Repeat her words and have fun at your new school. We will speak soon,” my dad suggests after he stops laughing and acquires a more serious expression as he seems to realise I have to go now.

“Lost Time Island welcomes its blood,” I repeat my mother’s words, and all I can see is the gold light as it shines out the key that gets warmer in my hand until it feels like it is almost burning. I eventually have to close my eyes, blocking the light. After what feels like a few seconds, I feel a hand on my shoulder, and the light is suddenly gone. I open my eyes to see my mum right in front of me, and I lower my hand with the key. When I look past her and to the woods we are now stood in the middle of, it’s almost unbelievable that we moved anywhere, but this makes it seem so real. I can smell the pine, feel the cold wind brushing my hair around, and hear the snapped branches under my feet as I shift. I pull my leather jacket closer around me; the leggings and top I’m wearing underneath are no good against the cold out here.

“You did well for your first time using the key. Don’t repeat this, but your dad passed out,” mum says with a wink as she squeezes my shoulder, making me chuckle. She nods her head in the direction behind her and turns before she starts walking off down a purple stone path through the woods. I catch up and follow her, putting my key, still on the chain, around my neck. The path is lit up by stones that lightly glow, they are cool and pretty to look at, but I’m sure I saw similar solar lights on sale at my local shop. I doubt the stones are real. Or maybe I am still trying to pretend everything is normal.

“I was thinking. What’s your family descended from?” I ask my mum after we have walked in silence for a while.

“Oh, it’s not a well-known one, but Crows. Have you heard of the rhyme about crows?” she asks, referring to the nursery rhyme. I nod. “Well, that’s the closest humans got to our descendants’ story. We have wings if we get that power, and it’s meant to be unlucky. But your grandmother wins every week at bingo, so maybe that isn’t so true,” mum laughs, and I do as well. Grandma is super proud of her unbeatable score at bingo.

“But grandma doesn’t have wings. I’m sure I would have noticed that,” I comment, thinking of my slightly insane grandmother who I love to pieces. I usually stay at her house throughout the holidays as does Quinton because grandma loves him. I don’t say “insane” lightly; she has done a lot of things over the years that people would consider completely crazy. But she is the kind of crazy that walks into a stranger’s house, makes a cup of tea, and then cleans the house before she leaves. The nice kind of crazy you don’t mind so much.

“She does have wings, but she clearly hides them from you,” mum says with a shrug like it’s nothing. Grandma has wings. Next, she is going to tell me she has big teeth to eat me with.

“Grandmother has wings, okay then,” I mutter, and mum doesn’t respond to my sarcastic reply but only grins over at me. I wrap my arms around myself more, wondering where exactly Lost Time Island is and why it is so cold. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see snow falling with how cold it is.

“Can you get more than one descendant power?” I ask, thinking of my dreams of crows I’ve been having. It’s a strange thing to dream—or have nightmares—of when crows apparently have a lot to do with my heritage.

“No. It’s impossible,” she tells me just as a wave of fear hits me, making me want to run away. Sweat gathers on my forehead as my heart beats loudly in my chest, and my mouth goes dry. I start to take a step back, feeling the urge to run as my mum stands still. The fear of—well, nothing—is filling my mind, and I can’t seem to think of anything other than the massive need to run away.

“Lost Time Island welcomes its blood. Madilynn Dormiens is here to start her first year,” my mum shouts in a breathless voice, the only sign the overwhelming fear is affecting her. The feeling of fear disappears straightaway, making me take a deep breath and rest my hands on my knees as I bow my head.