I moved closer, my shoes tapping on the hardwood. “You keep saying ‘we,’ but I gotta be honest, I’m only seeing you. If you’re going to do stuff like set a building full of kids on fire, I’d kind of like to talk to your supervisor.”

“Harper,” David said again, but Alexander held my gaze.

“As far as you are concerned, I am the alpha and omega of the Ephors, Miss Price. You do not dictate the boundaries of our tests, and there is no one you can talk to above me, I assure you.”

I shook my head and said, “School should be off-limits. Period.”

“Hmm,” Alexander said, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head. “I see. So when you protect the Oracle from people who may want to hurt him, there will be places in this world that are off-limits? When some despotic ruler learns there’s an Oracle in the world, ripe for the taking, if he approaches you at, say, your family’s home, you’ll simply inform him that this is not one of the agreed locations where an Oracle may be in danger?”

Faltering, I shook my head. “No, it’s... it’s not like that, but if it’s only for a test—”

“The tests are meant to assess your readiness for real-world situations, Miss Price,” he said sharply, all trace of that lazy elegance gone from his voice. “If you cannot be ready, then you cannot be a Paladin. This is not a hobby or an extracurricular activity.”

I wanted to argue that, but nothing I could think of seemed to work. He was right, and, ugh, I hated that so much. Still, I could at least try to get him to fix some of this mess.

“Fine,” I said. “You’ve made your point. Now if you could please”—I waved in his direction—“rustle up some magic or whatever so that my principal forgets that I hit him and my parents don’t freak out, I’d appreciate that. Ryan’s Mage skills are apparently on the fritz.”

But Alexander gave a tiny, elegant shrug. “They’re not ‘on the fritz.’ They’re gone for the time being.”

“What?” David asked, coming up to stand beside me, his sneakers squeaking on the hardwood.

“Gone,” Alexander repeated. “A simple ward I myself was able to create to keep Mr. Bradshaw from using his magic to assist you. It isn’t as though that particular use of magic benefited the Oracle.”

I swore I could feel my heart skip a few beats. Next to me, David scoffed, throwing up one hand.

“It benefits me plenty. Him helping Harper would help me. So let him do his mind-wipe thing, and let’s—”