Page 20 of Class Studies

Doctor Roy and I walked to Moral Philosophy together. No one took Ashe’s empty seat, and I couldn’t look at the open space. My Gentle Giant needed time.

My gaze flicked between Mercedes’ empty chair and Alrick’s back on the opposite side of the room as me. Alrick, who still avoided me because I trapped his will with my own. As much as I wanted to free the MA, I enjoyed sitting through class with the air around me at a stable temperature.

Doctor Roy’s lecture on CBASIC turned into background noise. My skin prickled with nervous energy, waiting for something terrible to happen to me.

I glanced at Mercedes’ empty seat for the hundredth time.

‘BITCH,’ one of the Dealership mouthed. I quickly focused on my tablet to avoid looking at anything.

The tritone blared twice, making me flinch. I felt down my uniform, shocked to find myself whole with no visible pranks stuck to me. My tablet screen had already gone dark from lack of use, and I slid it into my bookbag. I stood, trying not to draw the attention of my peers. Someone slid up to my side. A long, tattooed arm picked up my bookbag.

“Hey.” Tanwyn bumped me with his shoulder. “I hear you’ve got Runes class next.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I do.”

He wiggled one of his sharp dark eyebrows. “What a coincidence, me too.”

I smiled and didn’t point out he wasn’t in this class. The students around us murmured. A few took pictures as we walked side by side out of the room.

“Ah, are you sure this is okay?” I asked. “I’ve got a target on my back.”

Tanwyn shrugged. “No one messes with me.”

I searched my memory and couldn’t find a single instance proving Tanwyn wrong. His rivalry with Ghalen seemed academic, and nurse Norah had even dropped his name while trying to intimidate my old advisor.

Tanwyn side-eyed me. “I don’t know what your hometown was like, but mine.” He flexed his arm. “There’s a reason I took it over. We lost three families to illegal technology experimentation. The fights between Natural and Rimmed Mages left the non-magical stuck between warring powers they couldn’t control. I was a kid and didn’t understand the subtlety of life yet. I wanted everyone to get along. Total control does that. Like it used to be here.”

“Used to?” I asked.

Tanwyn traced one of the tattoos on the inside of his arm, the motion so smooth I didn’t think he realized he did it. “You must have noticed the change in attitude.”

I nodded unhappily.

“I mean,” Tanwyn continued. “Before the MA came, the occasional thing got out of hand…not to belittle your experience, but what you went through isn’t normal.” He reached over and gave my arm a reassuring squeeze. “Until recently, you never saw students attacking others in the halls. We usually found our place here or died quickly. As dark as that is.” He spread his arms as best he could as we walked. “This place exists to ‘create better people,’ but the MA agents weren’t any better, so why should we even try?”

I frowned. “So, people only act good if they are accountable for their actions?”

Although I didn’t like the idea, it fit Saffron too well. Even Ashe had taken steps to ensure no one saw us when he broke the rules for me. On the other hand, Beryl openly broke most of the rules, though never to hurt another mage. Most of his black-market revolved around connecting students with their families and buying and selling illegal things outside this cage.

How did Professor Garnet fit into all of this? He’d not been discreet with me this morning. He clamped his lips around my pussy until I whimpered with pleasure but not helped himself because my transfer didn’t feel right for him. Not because anyone was holding him accountable.

Did everyone have a scale of wrongness?

Unaware of my turmoil, Tanwyn shrugged and opened the door to Runes, guiding me in first.

I slunk to the workstation I’d been sharing with Ram. My memories circled through my interactions at the Institute. Even Roisin and Sandy saw the world differently. How much did a person’s life goals affect their experience of right and wrong?

If no one saw me flick a Bead of Will into Abe, was it okay to do it? Just controlling her to give back my scales would honestly solve a lot of my problems. All it would take is one tiny crystal. I wouldn’t do anything else to her.

Tanwyn gently set my bookbag on the table. I nodded absently, still lost in my thoughts.

I looked at Ram’s empty stool, and my magic tingled in my fingertips. As far as I could tell, not a single student knew I turned my tormentor into my personal zombie. A fact that made me both grateful and annoyed. If they knew, I could keep him near me at all times. Then Cozbi and anyone else who wanted to bother me wouldn’t.

But making zombie Ram was definitely an evil action, and wanting to use him as a meat shield probably wasn’t any better.

“Aphrodite,” Abe screeched.

I yelped and shot out of my seat before I remembered I was in class. A tremor of fear shook me from head to toe as the skeletal woman marched toward my workstation. I put a hand over my heart to still its racing. Abe grinned at me, her march turning into an arrogant stroll.

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