Tales & Time (Lost Time Academy Book 1)

by G. Bailey

  "Madi?" I hear Sin call my name, and I gasp, realising that I have moved extremely close to the edge of the roof without realising it. "Whatever it is, whatever has happened, don't you dare jump. I swear I will follow you anywhere, even death."

  "I wasn't going to jump," I turn to tell him and take a big step back. Knox, Tobias and Noah stand right behind Sin who comes to me first, placing his hand on my cheek, running his finger across the blood on my lip.

  "Who hurt you?" Knox asks from my left, his voice just about concealing his fury. “Tell me a name.”

  "Your mum," I answer, clearly shocking them all. "She also told me I'm now engaged to Roger, and you guys are going to be engaged to Ella. I'm sure she will be a great fucking wife to you all." I push away from Sin, walking across the roof and not having the strength to turn back to them. I gasp as I look down at my hands, seeing them sparkling with dust that I wish could put me to sleep. My powers are too deeply connected to my emotions, the place in my soul that I have trouble separating the two.

  "Don't you know by now that we can't be commanded to do anything?" Sin tells me, sounding close, but I don't look back. “And you are one of us. You always were, Madi.”

  "I don't care what the Masters tell us and what they expect. We are not their slaves, nor will we comply with their demands," Knox replies. “We are not theirs and neither are you. You are only ours.”

  “And we look after our own, we always have done. Madilynn Dormiens, you will not be controlled by anyone or be marrying someone you don’t want,” Noah remarks. “We don’t play by the rules, and neither do you.”

  "Then they will send us all to the Masters’ army where I don't know about you guys, but I will die," I say, trying to keep the sadness in my voice out. No matter what they say, it doesn’t mean they have control over this entire world even if they don’t play by the rules.

  "Madi, we would never let you die or be forced to marry Roger, the plank," Tobias says, speaking for the first time, and I can’t help but smile.

  "Really?" I ask, turning to face them fully. I've not wanted to accept how much I care for each of them, how I would have been happy if Mrs. Tale said I was engaged to them all. I don't know when it happened, most likely before I even realised it, but I never want to be away from them all again. I don’t want to play by the rules. I want to do whatever the hell I want, with the Tale brothers at my side.

  "For now, we play along and keep our heads down. We can't tell you more, not without risking your life, but I promise you won't be marrying him. We won't be marrying Ella, and we have a plan to get us all out," Noah tells me, stepping closer and placing his hand on my cheek for a brief second before lowering it.

  "And Tavvy. Tavvy doesn't deserve to be stuck here either," I add. If they have a way out, Tavvy has to be included. She has become as close as I imagine having a sister would feel like.

  "Got it. Now, will you come here and possibly smile? I miss seeing it," Knox says, opening his arms for me. I run over and embrace him tightly, resting my head on his chest. I feel them all watching me even before I open my eyes.

  "You are safe, Madi, and hardly powerless yourself. Always remember that," Tobias says, even though I really didn't expect him to say anything more.

  "Knox, you stay with Madi. Brothers, we need to pay Roger a visit to make sure he understands that Madi is ours," Sin says, and damn he frightens even me with the possessive tone. Poor Roger. Then I remember Roger in fight class, being a dick and knocking me out whenever he gets the chance. He has this coming. Knox presses a protective kiss to my forehead as his brothers leave the roof, before looking down at me.

  “I can heal that if you want?” he asks, nodding at my lip and cheek.

  “No, don’t. That would be hiding your parents’ behaviour when I want the world to see. They shouldn’t just get away with what they like,” I say, and Knox only nods. I know this must be hard for him, considering they adopted and brought him up.

  "Want to escape this world for a little bit?" I don't question Knox, knowing I would trust him to take me anywhere, to any place. I trust him completely.

  "Yes."

  Chapter 25

  "When you say ‘escape this world,’ you mean literally?" I gape as Knox holds his hands in the air, his eyes closed and focused as blue light shines from his hands. The light stretches to the floor in a matter of moments, looking like a blue stand-up mirror, but the mirror shimmers almost like it is liquid. The outline is a bright white light, and Knox seems to be fine using this much power. It appears almost effortless for him. "I heard one of you could take people to other dimensions."

  "Just me, and it is useful to beat my brothers in fight class. They can't fight me when they are stuck in another dimension," he explains, and I chuckle because that is pretty awesome. I never do get to see them fight, because I'm so focused on beating Roger that I don't notice what is going on around me. Roger beats me every time and knocks me out, or I beat him but still get knocked out. It's frustrating, but I'm getting quicker at using my powers every lesson. "Come with me. It's safe, I promise."

  Once Knox finishes creating the portal, he releases the mirror opening and steps to my side. I slide my hand into his and try to control my fear as he walks through the mirror first, and I follow straight through. I don't know what I expected to see, but this was certainly not it. It's a rainforest but not like any rainforest I've ever seen before. The trees tower into the sky, hiding the clouds as leaves fall from them in the wind. The leaves are light blue though, not green like a normal forest. We are in a clearing covered in white grass that is high enough to brush against my knees. A little in front of us is a wooden house, probably handmade, and right in front of it is a rock pool.

  "It's safe, remember. I created everything here with my imagination, with my powers. It was just a field before, but now it's so much more," he explains to me. “Though I can only change things that exist here. Like trees, water and the very earth. Actually, this might not be earth, I’m not sure.” I chuckle at that, leaning down slightly to run my fingers through the soft grass. This place smells seductive, like roses almost.

  "You made all of this?" I turn and ask him, and he grins as he holds his hand out. Out of nowhere, a flower slowly grows from a seed in his palm, stretching into a pretty pink rose. That is some sexy magic, the kind that would make any girl’s knees feel weak. Knox smiles down at me as I stare at him, not the rose, noticing the changes in him recently. When I first got here, he was always tired, stressed, and there was never a smile on his lips. Now Knox is more relaxed with my help getting him to sleep, and just sometimes, I catch him looking at me, and he is so happy. As kids, I always used to love making Knox happy, because he had the best smile out of everyone I knew. Now, that smile is a sexy smirk, which has the same effect—I always want to see it.

  "For you," he says, offering me the flower after brushing it very slowly down the side of my cheek, not the one that hurts though.

  "Ah, so you're the closet romantic," I say, swirling the rose around in my hand.

  "No, that would be Sin," Knox says, walking past me and towards the house. I follow him over, passing the very tempting looking rock pool that I can feel the heat from, to the door of the house. Knox pushes it open and walks in, and I pause as I step in after him. The cabin is one large room where everything is made from vines and wood, and it is still very impressive. There are three sofas, with bases made of wood, and the fabric looks like giant blue petals.

  "You want a drink, Madi?" Knox asks, and I turn to see him sat at the wooden bar, where rows of bottles line the counters behind him. "It's the only things I've brought into this place from the outside. You can't make beer and whiskey appear here. Sin wants to bring a TV in, but he hasn’t worked out how to get electricity working."

  "Everything is made from plants and trees. Is that the trick?" I ask, which makes a lot of sense. “Unless you bring in things.”

  "Yes, it's something to do with this place. I can go to another dime
nsion where everything is made from metal. That place is boring though. I send Tobias there when he is too high and fucked up," he adds, looking frustrated. “I might have to send him there again soon.”

  "Is he still doing that stuff?" I ask, because I thought he was alright recently, and Knox shrugs.

  "I think so, Sleepy," he despondently replies, clearly wishing he could tell me something different. Knox slides a beer in front of me after undoing the cap. I swallow the lump of disappointment in my chest, hoping that Knox is wrong about Tobias but knowing there is a good chance he isn't, as I take a long sip. I’m not a massive beer fan, but today has been stressful as hell, so anything will do. My lip stings from the cut, but I drink anyway, pushing past it.

  "Tavvy says you guys sneak off all the time, and you just about confirmed that when you said the others were away on the night of the party. Where do you go?" I ask him.

  "Secrets, Sleepy," he states, eyeing me carefully with that stubborn expression he shares with all his brothers.

  "I'm tired of secrets and lies. I don't want to hear them anymore," I say, placing the bottle down. “You said I’m one of you, and that means you can trust me, right?”

  "I know you are one of us. You know it too, but sometimes secrets are there to keep you safe," he warns me, but it doesn’t scare me all that much. I’m already scared of this world; it’s fucking terrifying and we all know it. The problem is, I want more than just surviving. I want to live, to fall in love with the men close to me. The kind of love that makes me not fear death as much as I fear losing any of them. We have all been on the edge of this for so long, just inches away before they left. I just started to fall for each of them then, and now it’s worse than before. It feels like my soul is burning when I’m around them. And all I do is keep the fire going because it’s better than nothing. It’s better than a life without the Tale brothers in it.

  "I'm starting to think there is nowhere safe when it comes to this world I've just been thrown in," I decide to say, rather than anything I’m thinking. My thoughts aren’t safe around them, I’d end up blurting too much out.

  "We do work for our parents, missions of importance...” he pauses for me to take that in. “The dark tales are changing leadership, and their armies are not attacking any longer. There is something going on, and we are keeping close watch."

  "That's dangerous," I say, feeling my heart beating quicker at the thought of them being around dark tales, let alone spying on them.

  "Very, but we can escape in a moment's notice to here. We aren't really in danger," he replies, after taking a long sip of his beer. "That's why they ask us to go."

  "The other night, they didn't have you there, so how would they have escaped?" I enquire.

  "As usual, nothing escapes you, Madi. Right, well, that night wasn't a mission, that was our parents calling us to a meeting to ‘tell’ us of our engagement with Ella," he explains to me, and for a second, I feel too shocked to actually move. They knew all this time.

  "You've known this whole time," I say, placing my drink down and walking away from the bar towards the door. I want to leave. "You all knew and didn’t tell me. You all say I’m one of you, but clearly not. You guys have your secrets, and I’m firmly on the outside."

  "We don't care about Ella. Neither should you," Knox firmly says, putting his own drink down, I notice out of the corner of my eye. “And you are not on the outside.”

  "Of course I care about your engagement, and all these secrets mean I must be someone you can’t trust! That is the problem!" I exclaim, spinning around and freezing when I see Knox is right behind me. Before I know it, his lips are on mine, his hands are in my hair, tugging me closer. Knox kisses me slowly, taking his time to explore every part of my lips before deepening the kiss. I know this is a kiss I could never forget, just like I could never forget Knox himself. I’m speechless when he pulls away, and I know it was only a little kiss; it just felt so much more.

  "We don't care, because she is nobody, nothing, compared to how we feel about you. We wouldn't fight for her, we wouldn't touch her, and there is only one girl in this entire fucked up world that we all want. Madi, if it isn't obvious by now, that girl is you," he tells me, his finger drifting slowly down my neck to my shoulders.

  "You are romantic, you know that," I mutter, not having a clue what to say.

  "Only with you, Sleepy," he replies and kisses me softly one more time before letting me go. "You've had a difficult day. Let's just relax for a bit," he suggests, offering me a hand. After getting our drinks, we sit on the sofa, cuddled up, and spend the rest of the day talking about the past. Knox was right, this was just what I needed.

  Chapter 26

  "Did you expect to have this many men in your life, Madi?" Tavvy asks as I pull on my clothes and glare up at her as she lies back in her top bunk. "One fiancé that is shit scared of going anywhere near you, four hot as hell brothers that have always been in love with you, and one creepy ass floating man head in your book. It certainly all adds up."

  "I'm pretty sure my dad would have a meltdown if he realised how many men I have in my life. I'm sure he'd prefer you for a daughter-in-law," I honestly say, even though the tales laws are shit and ban relationships that aren't chosen. It's ridiculous if you ask me, and I have no intention of marrying Roger Stalk. Though any time I’ve seen him this week, he has literally turned around and run in the opposite direction. Whatever the Tale brothers said freaked him out. Their possessive nature shouldn’t be sexy, but holy hell, it is.

  "The Tale brothers aren't that bad," Tavvy remarks with a low chuckle. Oh, they are and she knows it.

  "Dad never liked them," I point out. I'm pretty sure his warning not to trust anyone was meant for the Tale brothers. He'd have a meltdown if he learnt I was back to being friends with them all the time. I think we are friends...that kiss sometimes. I've only kissed Sin and Knox...but that's bad enough on its own. I’m always thinking about Noah and Tobias when I’m not replaying my kisses with their brothers. I'm also not over Quinton, not one little bit, as I'm always thinking of him as well, and then I don't know how I would choose one of them. This is pretty complicated.

  "Actually, I'm not surprised. My dad wouldn't be a fan of four sexy and dangerous men in my life," she says and then sighs. "Though I would not be opposed."

  "I had five, remember? Quinton was always there, and dad hated him the most. I never knew why," I remind her, needing to add Quinton's name to this conversation. I look at the pillow, feeling like it burns a hole into my hand and begs me to call him. He asked me not to call him, remember, Madi?

  "Most likely because he is human," she says, and I can hear the sympathy in her voice. I finish pulling my shoes on just as the door is knocked a few times. "See you later, Madi. Don't do anything I wouldn't do with sexy Noah."

  "That doesn't leave much left not to do," I quip with a laugh following my words, and she throws a pillow at me, which I just dodge out of the way of before pulling the door open to see a beaming Noah leaning against the door frame.

  "Morning, beautiful," Noah says, running his eyes over me and winking before looking up at Tavvy in bed. "Hey, Tavvy."

  "Hey, I'm beautiful too!" Tavvy mutters.

  “You know you are. See you later, Tavvy,” I say, laughing with Noah as we leave the room, and I shut the door behind us. I cross my arms, wishing I pulled a hoodie on because it is damn cold out these days. There is no snow, but I’m still waiting to see some fall.

  "I know we usually do practice fighting on Sundays, but the gym is empty tonight, and it's a good idea to practice before fight class tomorrow. Roger is sick, so you will be teamed against someone new," he explains to me. “And I want to make sure you can defend yourself in close combat.”

  "What is Roger sick with?" I ask. I didn’t think Tales could get sick like humans. We heal too fast, so viruses cannot bring us down for much longer than an hour. I read that somewhere in the ridiculous amount of homework I have.

  "A brok
en rib and nose. Don't worry about it," Noah waves off my wide-eyed look.

  "Who did that to him?" I demand, stopping at the top of the stairs as he walks down a few steps and stops to look back up at me with a sheepish expression.

  "Roger said something he shouldn't have about you, and he needed to learn a lesson. Trust us, Madi," he says, coming to stand in front of me and reaching for my hand. "It's nothing major, and he will be good as new in a few days, thanks to the nurse at the medic bay."

  "Do I have a choice but to trust you?" I ask, linking our fingers together and sighing.

  "Yes, but you know you do anyway," he reminds me, leading me back down the stairs together. We head straight to the gym, where Noah opens the door and lets me in first. The lights are already on, and there are mats all over the floors.