Blythe rolled her eyes. “You were the one who grabbed the knife.”

As she said it, some of the adrenaline started to wear off, and a wave of nausea swept through me as I remembered the blade so close to my throat, the blinding pain of wrapping my palm around it. How close to death had I actually been? Moments, definitely. And for the second time in my life. Third if you counted the car chase.

I was pretty sure Paladins weren’t supposed to feel scared or sick, but that was fine. I wasn’t really one. Was I?

That wasn’t something I wanted to think about right now, so I scowled at Blythe. “Answer my question,” I said. “What does your . . . magic or whatever have to do with David?”

David had moved across to Blythe’s desk, and he leaned back against it, bracing himself on his hands as he waited for Blythe to answer. That put him a little bit behind her, and I could tell she was trying to look at him out of the corner of her eye.

“Boy Oracles can be just as awesome as girl Oracles. Heck, they can be better.” Behind her back, she flexed her fingers. “And—look, can y’all loosen these things? I can’t feel my hands.”

David made a move forward, but I held up my hand. “Answers first.”

The look Blythe gave me was weirdly approving. She shrugged and continued, “If you know the right kind of alchemy to use—which, hi, I do—you can . . . I don’t know, like, supercharge him. Make it so that he can see further into the future. And more. And it’s not even that difficult of a spell, really. Some alchemy requires, like, lizard innards and stuff, but this is just saying some—”

“We know about the spell,” I interrupted, clenching my hands at my side. “It made Alaric insane and ended with a whole bunch of people dead and a whole village destroyed.”

Disgust flickered over Blythe’s cherubic face. “Because he wasn’t a Mage. The spell itself isn’t bad. It was just that Alaric didn’t know what the heck he was doing. I would. I mean, I do. And there’s so much you could do once the spell was in effect.”

“Like what?” David asked, and even though she couldn’t look right at him, Blythe swiveled her head in his direction.

“Come with me and I’ll show you,” she said, her voice lower than before, almost like a purr.

David straightened a little, and I saw him swallow hard. “Um . . . no. Thank you,” he said, and it was all I could do not to roll my eyes. Boys, honestly.

“Okay, so the Ephors want David all Super Oracle. Got it. That really doesn’t sound all that bad, I guess.”

Blythe’s eyes narrowed as David startled. “Pres?”