The room goes silent and we move quickly to hang our cloaks on the far wall. Everyone returns to form a line in front of the professor, who looks directly at me. “I’m Professor Liu, November. Welcome to your first day of psychological warfare—or, as we affectionately call it, mind games.”

I nod my consent, careful not to speak out of turn like I did in Fléchier’s class. Liu—the name of the Chinese emperors of the Han dynasty…it means “destroy.”

Professor Liu begins to roll up the sleeves of her black linen blouse in nice, even folds. “Last class we were speaking about perception—how reality can be immaterial because what matters is what your opponent thinks is real. For instance, if you can convince someone that you are more powerful than you really are, you can potentially scare them out of battle. Anyone?”

Brendan answers before the others, which seems to be a pattern of his. “At night, Genghis Khan would order his soldiers to light three torches each to give the illusion of an enormous army and intimidate his enemies. He also tied objects to horses’ tails so that when they rode through dry fields they’d kick up clouds of dust and further enhance the impression of their numbers.” He delivers his answer with a clear voice and a smile. Upon first encounter, I thought Brendan, Charles, and Nyx were the equivalents of the popular crowd at Pembrook, but I’m now thinking Brendan’s confidence comes from being well trained and prepared.

“Right,” Lui says. “Influence perception and you have the ability to change an outcome without fighting.” She clasps her hands behind her back and looks up at the ceiling. “Today, we’re going to do something unusual and start class with a physical challenge. As you can see, I’ve hung a flag from the ceiling beam. There are two ropes and eight of you.” She opens a container of what looks like hand chalk for climbing and walks down the line of us; I watch as the students dip their hands in and pat them together. “You’ll have to be fast and you’ll have to be smart. There are no rules about the types of tactics you might use against one another. The only rule is that the first person to reach the desk directly behind you is the winner.”