“Two of the big fellows that had been up at the front of the class with Dudley got me pinned me between them in the scuffle to get out the door,” she said, feeling absolutely nothing, because, of course, she had no reason to try to fight the Truth Spell. “Besides pinning me between them, they were trying to hide me from Master Morell. Dudley tried to assault me with intent to hurt. I grabbed his hand in that handa hold that Master Leandro taught us and broke his finger.”

“There!” shouted Remp. “She admits it! She—”

“Shut up, Remp!” Master Ketnar shouted. “She just accused your son of trying to assault her! Are you stupid as well as deaf?” As Remp stood there, mouth agape, Master Ketnar turned to her. “What do you mean by ‘assault,’ Abidela?” he asked, his tone crisp.

“He tried to grab my breast,” she said, matter-of-factly. “I guess he thought no one would believe me if I said anything. I reckon he must get away with that a lot.”

Anyone who didn’t know Mags would think that Abi’s words had meant nothing to him, but she saw the slow burn of anger in his eyes, though his mouth continued to smile and his tone never changed. “What made you think he was trying to grab you there?” he asked.

“Well, the fact that he shoved right in front of his friend and lunged his hand at me, mostly,” she replied. “But just to be sure, I let him get within a finger-width of his goal before I grabbed his pinky, and to tell the truth, an awful lot of what made his finger break was his own lunging. Honestly if I hadn’t been pinned in by his friends, I’d have just stepped aside, stuck my foot out to trip him, and let him fall on his face, he’s that clumsy. I thought about letting him grab and then cracking him in the chin with the heel of my hand instead of breaking his finger, or crunching him in the family treasures with my knee, but from the way he came in, he intended to hurt me, and I didn’t want any bruises.”

“Will that be enough, Master Ketnar?” Mags asked politely. Ketnar nodded.

Abi didn’t feel any differently as her father turned away from her than she had when he’d put the Truth Spell on her, but that was the point. You weren’t supposed to feel anything as long as you’d made no effort to hide anything.

“Now,” Mags said, and whether or not Dudley and his father heard the steel in the Herald’s voice, Abi did. “It’s time for Dudley.”