In the next second she somehow scatters the glass without making a sound, motioning for me to join her on the floor. Then she picks up a shard and grabs my hand. My eyes widen. She nicks me on the palm and I wince but refrain from yelping.

Pippa knocks lightly and comes into my room. Her eyes widen at the sight of the blood dripping down my palm onto the floor. But I have to hand it to Layla: there is nothing all that out of the ordinary about a sleepy girl who knocked over her water glass and then cut herself trying to clean it up.

Chapter Twenty-four

“THE MORE YOU learn in deception class, the less you will have to learn in others,” Professor Gupta says from the end of the antique conference table. He’s a short elderly man I might take as unassuming if it weren’t for the fact that he’s teaching deception and could come off that way intentionally.

Gupta, I think. Sanskrit originally. And a common name in India meaning “protected.”

The two torches on the walls make the small room dance with shadows. It looks more like an office where medieval war strategists would plot an invasion than like any classroom I’ve ever been in. The walls are covered in dark wood paneling, and ornate wooden arches bracket the ceiling.

I sneak a glance at Brendan, wondering if he was responsible for the blood in my room this morning, and check his hands for any stray cuts. But I can’t see anything from here. And of course there’s always Matteo. The message was written in Italian. Only he’s not in this class for me to scrutinize.

I catch Ash looking at me from across the table and remember everything he read in my body language yesterday. I immediately relax my face and shift my gaze.

“Some of you will mistakenly believe that your fighting skills are what will help you most when you’re out in the world.” Gupta looks around the table. “But I assure you that your fighting skills will only get you one one-hundredth of the information that a mastery of deception will. Also, the more effort you put into concealing your intentions and reading others, the better prepared you’ll be when you actually get to the fight. Now, the opposite is also true: deception can get you into situations that you can’t back out of.”

I swear the teachers, Conner, and Blackwood have figured out a way to subtly weave manipulative strategies throughout all the classes. And what’s more, I feel like they’re secretly directed at me and my shortcomings. But maybe everyone feels that way.