“TIME’S UP!” General Cleandro’s voice cut through the peace.
I jolted awake—I’d been dreaming that I was sitting at the desk studying, but I hadn’t been. He ordered everyone back into the classroom, and we hobbled obediently.
Professor Pine greeted us with a big, toothy smile.
What is wrong with him?
The marathon of lectures continued.
I wished Charlie was with me.
It was only after our second meditation session for Discipline and Power that I realized Maximum was the only person sitting in the front row of the class. Dimitrios had never returned.
We were down to seven.
“You’re the next one to die, bitch,” Titus whispered in my ear and yanked on one of my curls when Pine turned his back to solve the equation written on the chalkboard.
Hopefully.
Time became even more peculiar.
Nyx whispered a steady stream of encouragements and nudged my face every time I started to fall asleep.
Titus’s taunts also got bolder and more frequent.
The ringing in my left ear intensified into a high-pitched whine.
A lifetime of partial deafness meant I could read the professor’s lips when they were facing forward, but when they turned away, I was lost.
Professor Augustus overenunciated his words, even though they were in Latin, so he was easy to follow.
Professor Pine mumbled.
Time stretched as seconds bled into hours that melted into days.
“Leo, what is the function?” Pine asked so loudly that the sound traveled over the noise in my ears.
The class turned around to look back at Leo (one person turned, two others fell over, and someone hit their head into the wall).
I rubbed the new bruise on my forehead.
Leo was asleep on the ground, arm draped over his eyes with drool running down the sides of his face. There was nothing discreet about his position. From the way his leg twitched, he was in adeepREM cycle.
That or he was convulsing and needed immediate medical attention.
Titus and Alessander shook Leo’s shoulder, but he didn’t wake up.
SNAP. General Cleandro slammed his yellow book shut—I was 110 percent certain he was just pretending to read it—and he picked up the pager.
No.
Please God, no.
Just make him run it by himself. It’s his own fault he has a sleeping problem. Everyone else stayed awake. Please don’t make us all suffer, it’s not fair?—
General Cleandro smiled as he pressed the button.
I shriveled into dust.
