bomb, there’s no threat. And mind reading doesn’t exist, so it wouldn’t be an option anyway.”

“This is a hypothetical, Mr. Banach.”

“Then I’d hypothetically dream up a pretend-Telepath powerful enough to scan the man without hurting him.”

It was Winter’s turn to roll her eyes. “You can’t change the hypothetical, Damian.”

“Nobody asked you, Penelope.”

“Just answer the question, Skeletor.” That was Santiago, barely visible past the dual bulks of Jeremiah and Alan Jackson. “Some of us actually have plans tonight.”

“Fine. In this magical world where Major Disaster bothers to use bombs and telepathy is a real thing… “I gave it a moment’s thought and then shrugged. “My answer would still be no.”

“So you would condemn hundreds to death?”

“Potentially hundreds. You said yourself that we don’t know where the bomb is located. We don’t know how many people are at risk. We don’t even know for sure that the person being held has the information.” I shook my head. “I’m not lobotomizing someone just because it might save people.”

A couple of the other first-years were nodding their heads, Tessa and pale Erin Pearson among them.

“So you’d just sit on your ass then?” That was Caleb, tearing his eyes away from Isabel’s own rear end for just long enough to join the debate.

“No. I’d get Jitterbugs like you to canvas the city while Earthshakers and Druids used their powers to sense for locations the device might have been stashed. And I’d have Sirens like Prince help evacuate public centers to minimize casualties in the event that we couldn’t find the bomb.”

“That’s… not a bad plan,” admitted Paladin.

“It’s also irrelevant,” said Ms. Ferra. “This is Ethics of Power 102, not Disaster Preparedness.” She focused back in on me. “Let’s modify the hypothetical. What if you knew for a fact that this person had information on the bomb?”

“How would I know that?”

Winter started to babble something about hypotheticals again, but Isabel cut her off with one upraised hand. “Let’s say that the person in question is Major Disaster himself.”

“So he went through the trouble of planting this bomb, and then somehow managed to get caught?” I frowned. “Sounds to me like he’s already been lobotomized, but whatever. Fuck him. He deserves what he gets.”

She narrowed her eyes but let the expletive go by unchallenged. “So your concerns about an individual’s rights and freedoms are contingent upon that individual’s innocence?”

“He’s the one who placed the bomb,” I reminded her. “That makes his brain fair game.”

“Even a Black Hat has rights, Damian.”

I turned to Paladin. “Does he? Nikolai’s been literally beating it into our heads that we need to be prepared to kill should it come to that.”

“Yeah, in combat. This is different. You can’t lobotomize someone in cold blood.”

“If you say so.” I turned back to Isabel. “Are we done?”

“Not quite. Let’s add one final wrinkle. After setting the bomb, Major Disaster was killed in action. However, you know with complete certainty that he was able to telepathically embed the information about that bomb in a single person’s head. You also know that you have a fifty percent chance of retrieving that information from the individual’s brain without causing any damage. However,” and here she paused to smile yet again, “that person is not some random individual, but instead a friend.”

“That might be pushing the hypothetical too far, Ms. Ferra,” complained the Viking. “Damian doesn’t have friends.”

“No?” Isabel’s eyes landed on Kayleigh, seated next to me. “For the sake of argument, let’s say the individual in question was Ms. Watai. Would you risk destroying her mind?”

“No.” I wasn’t sure what she was driving at. I just knew her end goal was to make me look bad in front of the class.

Her smile widened triumphantly. “You’d put the needs of one over the needs of a hundred?”

“Depends on the one, I guess.” Kayleigh. Dead Alicia. Little Nyah back at Mama Rawlins’. Even Silt. Can’t say the list of names was all that long, but I guess it didn’t have to be. “But yeah.”

“How about a thousand innocent people? Ten thousand? Exactly how far are you willing to go?”

“As far as I need to,” I growled back, my words seeming to echo in a classroom that had suddenly gone quiet.

“One person’s life over the rest of the nation? Over the world?”

“Fuck the world,” I told her. “What’s it ever done for me?”

•—•—•

See what I mean about Ethics?

Total bullshit, every fucking time.

CHAPTER 53

Ethics wasn’t the only class where my lack of focus was noticed, and Isabel Ferra wasn’t the only teacher I got into it with over the ensuing weeks. Even got reamed by Amos once, which was an experience. When you live forever, I guess you learn all there is to know about verbally tearing someone a new asshole.

It’s not like I didn’t realize pissing off my professors was stupid. It’s not like I was going out of my way to do so either… with the possible exceptions of Isabel and Emery-fucking-Goldstein. Mostly, I was just stuck in a loop; fixating on Nikolai’s ultimatum and my own lack of progress in that area.

I was eighteen and scared. Can you blame me?

If you’re the sort of asshole who answered yes to that, you’re going to have some serious problems with my actions down the line. Assuming you don’t already know what I did. Assuming you’re not here, a faint fragment of your living self, because of what I did.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. I was almost halfway through the month Nikolai had given me, two days before my next sparring match, with another beating staring me in the face, when it finally happened. Call it a breakthrough. Call it an epiphany. Call it pure dumb luck. Just whatever you do, please don’t give that fucker Emery any credit.

Even if it did happen in his class.

•—•—•

Perception was my least favorite class as a first-year. Ethics had twenty-one other first years to distract Ms. Ferra. Projection had people hurling fire and lightning and

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