All I can do is shake my head. "I just want to survive this school. I want to help my friends survive. And maybe if I do that, I want to go back to Saltcrest and see if there's a way to use my influence and position to help my mother and sister. Maybe it won't mean earning their forgiveness, but I can at least try to ease their burdens.”

"I understand, Nessa. You still don't grasp what you are. What you will become. So you're still thinking small. But that's fine. There will be time, yet." His lips curve into a smile I can't quite read.

"Rector Voss?" I ask, fingertip idly running across the smooth surface of the clear sphere filled with swirling air. "Could you do anything to make sure more of us survive? Tighten the restrictions? Add Empire guards to patrol the halls? Remind students we're not supposed to kill one another anymore? Anything?" I add, hating how small my voice sounds. “It’s just that I sense something building here. Another storm.”

His smile is sad. "Whether you realize it or not, Empire guards are already not powerful enough to stop even you first-years. It would take ten or more ordinary men to bring one of you down. And primals capable of controlling you are too busy being deployed in the war effort. No, Nessa, I'm afraid you're all quite dangerous. Too dangerous to truly control. And even if I could, these methods have been proven over many many centuries. The primals who graduate after their fifth year are sharpened blades. Absolutely deadly and nearly perfect weapons. Empire knows this, and they won't change the way we run things for fear of weakening their strongest tools."

Weapons. Tools. Deadly. None of those words are things I want to become, but what choice do I have?

"There's really nothing you can do?"

"I'm doing what I can. Right here," he says, gesturing to the vessels and then to me. "With the proper training, you'll be more than capable of protecting yourself and the ones you care about, Nessa. And whether you see it yet or not, you'll eventually be powerful enough to change things, if you wish. All things."

I frown at the odd tone in his words, but his quick smile convinces me I'm just being paranoid. And protecting the people I care about… That's at least something I actually want. Something that matters.

"Oh, Nessa, there's something I wanted to tell you…" Rector Voss says, moving to sit and lean on his desk as he watches me continue to practice pulling multiple elements at once. "You’ve perhaps heard mention of the Crucible—your final test for the first year, if you will. But you won’t have heard any details about what this test entails. That will change in a few days when your instructors will be told to share.”

I swallow hard. Another fucking test.