His lips twitched. “Yes, lots of the elite families act more and more like human mob families the longer the fairies are gone, instead of noble as they should.” He was studying my aura as he said it, but I’d made sure one of the runes I’d prepared was the one to keep my aura muted and calm. I had expected someone to poke me and see if I gave anything away after the dragon royals said I was like a fairy.
Plus, people just poked at me when I breathed.
“Our systems weren’t set up to lead to such blatant corruption as the Edelman family did,” someone else called out, clearly taking a shot at the headmaster.
“Well, that’s good to hear and less work for you then,” I threw right back. “Maybe start by remembering that the sins of the father aren’t actually the sins of the whole family, especially their children.” I kept talking before he could reply. “I did this here because I could, and we had the right backing and support to make it work. The next step will need support outside of the Artemis community.”
“What comes after fixing the scholarship programs?” that nice guy asked before anyone else could start shit.
“Getting the councils and elite parents out of every area of your schools all day, every day.”
He blinked at me several times, the entire room silent. “Ms. Vale, you have my undivided attention.”
I smiled brightly when there were many murmurings saying the same. “Glad to hear it. I did some pushing after I won the Power Playoffs here and discovered that the supe community was behind the humans on their education system, crass in how they handled certain things. Teachers here didn’t know TAs got paid or free tuition.”
“We’ve done a lot of auditing of how human Ivy Leagues do things and it’s astoundingly different,” Edelman interjected. “While none of us want to hear we’re lacking, or our schools are, we can’t blame it all on the councils and elite parents. We didn’t push back when we should, or could have, and allowed too much of this to grow into the system it is. We’ve all done it, giving in when it was easier.”
I nodded. “And you’re going to have to acknowledge that if you want real change. Everyone has caved on something they shouldn’t have because it was easier, we were tired, or didn’t have the energy for the fight. It’s part of life. Accept that, and your part in it, so we can move on and make things better.”
“How?” a woman asked after a few tense minutes.
“First, we changed the scholarships,” I answered, holding up a finger and then another. “That outed the cheating as ‘help’ and other bullshit. Next is taking swift action on that, and Artemis will next semester. Before we can move into our dorms, there is a new addendum to the student forms that clearly and specifically lists what is considered cheating.
“More importantly, the punishments. This ‘getting kicked out of a school only to go to their council for a second chance like nothing happened besides blowing a stop sign’ is bullshit. You want another chance? Great, get one, but you lose what you blew, so there won’t be any readmittance to Artemis. Their spot will be given to someone else and they are ineligible to re-enroll. They can somewhere else, but not here.”
The large auditorium went completely quiet. A fly farting could have been heard, it was so quiet.
“You can’t think to enforce that, Edelman,” a woman argued.
“We can if we stand together,” he replied. “Say a senior gets kicked out of here. Our programs are on the same track and line up well. What if a senior from the next-ranked school takes that place?”
“You’re serious,” someone whispered.
“As a heart attack,” I purred. “If your top student got a shot here, it wouldn’t be the parents against the school, but the parents against parents. You think they won’t fight for their kid to get that spot and push back on the current system?”
“That takes power away from elites—somewhat—but you said councils too. How would you do that?” a voice from the back asked.
“What is the one threat all the supe students worry about the most?” I gave them a few moments to think about that, seeing from the glances there could be a few options. “Not graduating and getting their conduit so they can use magic as needed, not simply what their species can.”
“The councils are crystal clear that those without a completed education cannot have them. You will never get them to budge on that,” the person agued.
“Who said I was going to?” I smirked out at them. “Does it say they have to get the education at designated ages? I didn’t read that. Who’s to say it can’t be done later in life like the humans have programs for adults out in the real world?”
“You know that’s not the intent of the councils laws,” that first guy snapped.
I crossed my arms over my chest and stared him down. “So what? Does that make it right? The councils don’t protect you, they control you. You’re either with them, or you can’t have your conduit, and you’re an outcast. Or you’re with the Underground or a sympathizer. It’s insane there aren’t normal options.
“You—and maybe those who came before you—gave them too much power by not pushing back. I get it; it wasn’t over night. But that’s where we’re at, and it’s time to stop letting them control you, and your lives, because they are getting worse. Everyone here has seen how councils have lost their minds because I’m staying undeclared.
“Or they’re outlandish in how they’re treating me because
