Page 51 of Shadow Weaver
“Did you not get any sleep?”
“Ten hours.” She unzipped her bag and pulled out her notepad and textbook. “Doesn’t feel like it, though. I swear, I could sleep for a week.” She illustrated her exhaustion by laying her head on the desk and closing her eyes.
Fiona chose that moment to enter the room, smiling like the cat that got the cream.
Kash’s cream, no doubt.
Urgh.
Speaking of Kash … He walked in behind her, but his body was tense, jaw clenched, and dark smudges sat under his eyes. This wasn’t the face of someone who’d just enjoyed a good fuck. He looked like he was under a storm cloud.
Fiona took her seat, and Kash slipped into his usual spot at the desk beside her.
The air rippled, and Madam Latrou appeared at the front of the class. She scanned faces, and her mouth turned down.
Beside me, Joti was snoring.
What the fuck? I prodded her. “Joti, hey.”
She mumbled something unintelligible but didn’t wake.
“What seems to be the matter?” Madam Latrou asked. She clipped over and patted Joti. “Miss Raj.”
Joti didn’t even stir.
“Shit,” Kash said softly.
“What did you do?” Fiona snapped.
It took a moment to register that she was speaking to me, another to note that Madam Latrou was staring at me as if I had two heads and she’d only just realized, and another to feel the hot gaze of everyone in the room.
“Excuse me?” I shook my head. “What did I do? I didn’t do anything. She said she was tired and then she fell asleep.”
Madam Latrou waved a hand over Joti and then clenched her fist. “This is no ordinary sleep.” She stared around the room at the other cadets.
Fiona yawned and then covered her mouth.
“Everyone is affected,” Madam Latrou said. “Except you.”
What was she talking about? “I’m sorry. I’m confused. What does everyone being tired got to do with me?”
She pressed her lips together, her gaze flicking from side to side as if working on a problem.
“Yes,” Fiona said. “It must be something to do with her whacky connection to the weave. She’s messing us all up.”
Madam Latrou studied me for a long beat, and my heart thudded hard against my ribs.
Wasthis my fault? Had I unwittingly done this to my friend?
Madam Latrou smiled thinly. “I’ve seen this phenomenon once before,” she said, her gaze roving across the room to touch each student. “Miss Raj has fallen into a deep sleep, and in a few minutes that sleep will become a coma. Only the person responsible for her condition can save her.”
I nodded. “If I did this, then tell me what I need to do to fix it, please.”
Madam Latrou sighed. “We can try, but we have very little time. If this doesn’t work, then she will die.”
“What do I do?”
“No,” Kash blurted out.
