“But what do you mean about Harper not being a Paladin?” Ryan asked. He was slouching again, but he tugged at his sleeves, his eyes never leaving Alexander. “Does that mean I’m not a Mage? I mean, Oracles are born, I got that, but if we were both made into... whatever it is we are—”

The Ephor held up a hand. “Every point on the triangle is different, comes with different responsibilities and duties. A Mage, once powers have been transferred, is a Mage, fully and completely. All the knowledge the previous Mage contained is passed on. But a Paladin is a horse of a different color, as it were. Paladins have a sacred duty. As do the Oracle and the Mage, of course, but the Paladin has an especially challenging role. To be sure Miss Price is up to the task, she would have to go through the Peirasmos.”

The word rolled off his tongue in a pretty way, but there was power in those three syllables. I could feel it, and even David shuddered a little bit.

“Do you know what that is, Miss Price?” Alexander raised his eyebrows at me, still totally pleasant, and I hated to have to shake my head.

“No.”

Alexander made an exaggerated moue of disappointment. “What a shame. I hoped Miss Stark would have completed that part of your training.”

“Things were a little rushed,” I told him, scowling, “what with you people and your crazy Mage trying to kill us all the time. We didn’t have time for... whatever that word was.”

“Peirasmos,” he repeated. “And in all fairness, Miss Price, we were using the Mage to kill you, not the Oracle.”

“David,” Ryan interjected, and I glanced over at him, throwing him a quick smile.

Now all pleasantness disappeared from Alexander’s face, and he sat up in his chair. “Oh, for the love of the gods. Is it like that, too?”

My cheeks flamed red, and I looked away from Ryan, back toward the Ephor. “None of that is any of your business.”

Alexander only wrinkled his nose, bracing his elbows on the desk. “Teenagers,” he said on a long sigh. “Well, what can one expect, I suppose. In any case.” He steepled his long fingers. “When Saylor Stark and Christopher Hall broke away from us, they rejected many of our traditions, it would seem. Which is a shame since the Peirasmos is vital.”

“Says who?” I asked, crossing my legs at the ankle. “And why? I mean, I’m clearly a Paladin, I have all the... the...” I waved my hands in the air. “Superpowers or whatever. What would this Peirasmos change?”

Alexander sniffed, resting his elbows on the desk. “What would they change? For starters, by completing these trials, you get to live. Is that enough of a reason for you, Miss Price?”