Athena scoffed. Even Teddy was a better liar. She puffed out her chest, brought a hand up next to her chin, and struck an intimidating pose. “I don’t believe you,” she said.

The man blinked dumbly, clearly taken aback by Athena’s scariness. “Uh, right. Look, I’m sorry I just walked in, but the door wasn’t even locked.”

Athena made a note not to mention that to Emily. “Who are you?” she asked.

“I could ask the same,” he said. “You’re not the bear girl.”

So . . . he knew Teddy. That was nothing. “I’m Big Sister Emily’s strongest sister,” Athena said.

Technically, since she was the only sister in the room, she was the strongest in every sense. That didn’t matter, though. Athena started to press in with her power.

The changes weren’t obvious, but they were there. He shifted a little, eyed the door behind her, then rubbed at the side of his neck with nervous energy. “So, uh, do you know when Emily will be back?” he asked.

Athena’s eyes narrowed. “How about you tell me who you are?”

“Look, kid, I don’t know you, and frankly, I don’t trust you, okay? I just . . . I just need to talk to Emily.”

Athena sighed. “I understand,” she lied. Her power started to press in even more. “Big Sis should be back any minute now. Do you want something to drink? Maybe something to eat?”

She pressed her power, wrapping it around so he’d doubt any food they had, then, when he hesitated and took a small step toward the door, she latched her power onto that and made the idea that something bad was behind that door feel very, very real.

“Uh,” he said. “I should, um.”

“Sit down,” Athena said. She tried another pose to see if it would help. “Come on, it’s safe in here. But you might not want to go out.”

“What? Why not?”

She shrugged with false nonchalance. “It’s a dangerous place out there? All sorts of scary people.” Athena’s grin was predatory. “So many dangerous things.”

The man started to sweat.

“And that’s how I figured everything out,” Athena said. She tried to keep the pride out of her voice, but she’d done such a good job and she knew Emily would be proud, so it was hard.

The weird man, who’d called himself both Jacob and Alea Iacta, was still on the floor, though he’d moved over so his back was to the wall and his knees were drawn up to his chest. She stopped using her power on him as soon as Big Sister Emily told her to, because she was obedient like that.

“So,” Emily said, “you left the dorm to go help us, then you ran into some biker gang . . . accidentally joined them, then came back here and did . . . that to Alea?”

Athena nodded. “Yes. That sounds about right.”