Tales & Time (Lost Time Academy #1)(7)

“The ward makes you feel fear, darling. It makes humans walk the other way from here and wards off people who are not welcome,” mum tells me, and it makes some sense. It’s a damn good alarm. I guess you can’t have humans just walking up to the gates of Lost Time Academy full of fairy tale descendants. The crunching of leaves makes me look up and straighten up as a man walks over. He has long black hair and dark eyes, but other than that, he is wearing a hoodie and jeans, looking like a normal guy in his mid-twenties I would think.

“The headmasters are ready to see you, Madilynn Dormiens. Please come with me,” the man firmly suggests. His voice is much posher than his appearance, which is odd. I look over at my mum for her thoughts, and she nods once before we start following him down the path. The path opens up to a large bridge over a river, and we walk across it into an enormous stone courtyard full of benches. The academy is basically a massive house, a mansion made from grey stone and tall pillars with dozens of cracks in them. There are no people—at least none that I can see—as we walk past the benches and up the stairs to the entrance. I look up when I get to the top of the stairs, seeing the circle and moon symbol carved in stone on the door, with the damn cat painted in tinted glass. There is writing surrounding it, but I can’t read it as it must be in Latin.

“I’m afraid only Miss Dormiens can enter,” the man stops my mum to remind her as he stands in front of the door with his hand resting on it.

“Good luck, darling. I know you feel lost, but maybe this is just where you are meant to be,” mum says gently to me. “I will miss you very much.” It’s difficult to say goodbye to her; I feel like I’m leaving everyone I’ve ever cared about right now, and I couldn’t think of a worse thing to do on my birthday.

“I will miss you, too,” I reply, sniffling a little as she pulls away. “Wait, how will you get back home?” I ask her.

“We will make sure your mother is returned safely. Now come, the headmasters are waiting,” the man says behind me in a strict voice, his tone suggesting he is tired of waiting. I let mum pull me into a tight hug once more.

“Be safe and beware of the ones you think you can trust,” she says in a quiet whisper, and I nod against her shoulder, not understanding her warning but remembering it anyway. I watch as she walks back towards the forest before I grab my bag and turn to see the man open the doors and wave me in. I walk past him into the big entrance hall of the house which is old. Very old and very dusty. Everything from the dark wooden floors to the massive chandeliers with giant cobwebs on them screams deserted mansion. There are small sconces that line the walls, casting huge creepy-looking shadows everywhere. The lights even go up the huge staircase. The man walks to the left of the stairs, and I keep following him as I don’t want to get lost in here. He leads me to a small corridor that is lined with doors, and between each door are old paintings in frames. I glance at the paintings, which are all old people in ancient clothes, before concentrating on where we are going once again.

The man knocks on the last door in the corridor before opening it and waving a hand for me to walk in. I enter, and he shuts the door behind me with a slight bow of his head. I look back into the room to face two women sat on chairs behind a desk. They both have grey hair in a tight bun, the moon and cat mark are in the middle of their foreheads, and their matching purple eyes watch me closely. They are twins and impossible to tell apart. They are literally identical in every sense. They both are wearing green cloaks that are tied at the neck by a silver clip that also dons the symbol. Another cat and moon. Damn cats are everywhere.

“Madilynn Dormiens, I presume?” the one on the left says, and I nod rather than answering one of the creepy twins.

“Please sit,” the other one suggests and nods her head at the chair in front of the desk. I glance around the room as I go to sit, seeing the dated green rug and painted brown walls. There is nothing else in here other than the desk and chairs. The desk is covered in paperwork in neat piles and old cat statues that look out of place. There must be at least four cat statues that I can see with a quick glance, and their eyes seem to watch me like they know I hate them.

“I am Miss Ona, and this is my sister, Miss Noa. Welcome to Lost Time Academy. This must be a shock for you as it is for every descendant that walks through our doors,” Miss Ona says with an almost kind smile.

“Not every day you wake up and find out all the fairy tales are real,” I respond drily.

“No, it certainly is not,” Miss Noa says, her tone sharper than her sisters.

“What fairy tale are you from then?” I ask.

“You may not understand the ways of our world, but let me inform you of something you would do well to remember. Asking what someone is, is considered very rude,” Miss Noa snaps. Miss Ona shakes her head slightly at her sister’s sharp reply but doesn’t say a word to correct her or answer me. I don’t say sorry, because I didn’t know, nor do I think saying anything will benefit anyone right now.

“Now, your father sent word of your gifts, and you will be trained how to use them as well as your normal classes,” Miss Ona says. The way they both speak, it’s almost as if they are the same person; one finishes a sentence, and the next takes off after it perfectly.

“This is yours,” Miss Noa says and slides a small book over to me. It has the symbol on the outside and my last name written in silver at the bottom. I open it up, seeing what looks like a blue cloud inside a mirror, and very slowly a face appears.