Magnate Leto gave Jaye a stern look. "Did you interfere with Everly and Larrina's match?" After the Great Splotching Championship—Zoe had won, no surprise there—Magnate Leto had demanded that Jaye, Everly, Larrina, and Lady Marya join him in his office.

"He did," Larrina promised.

"Everly?" Magnate Leto asked.

"I have no idea," the other teen said. "One second it was a normal splotching match, next second...it was a splotching match where no one knew the rules. Don't ask me for my input."

Lady Marya shrugged. "It seems plausible. Jaye is known for misbehaving far more than Larrina is, and we know that he hasn't been getting along with her."

"Maybe she's faking," Jaye offered.

Larrina glared. "I would never—"

"You've done worse," Jaye argued.

"You deserved it."

Jaye snorted. "My sister deserved to be tormented just because she's a Pyrokinetic. Zoe deserved to be tormented just because she didn't manifest. I deserved to be tormented because I was a twin."

Larrina smiled primly. "Your families may have saved the Lost Cities back before you were born, but now they seem determined to ruin the Lost Cities. In a few years, they might actually get the Council to let Talentless into the Nobility."

"And how exactly is that a problem? The Nobility is kind of messed up as it is."

Larrina turned to Magnate Leto and Lady Marya. "You're not going to let him get away with saying that, are you?"

"Gee, I'm allowed to say what I believe."

"Me too. If I think that letting Talentless into the Nobility will ruin our society, I'm allowed to say that," Larrina snapped.

"And can you back this claim up with any, you know, evidence." The challenge came, surprisingly, from Everly.

"It's just common sense."

Everly shook her head. "Keep in mind the the Council and the Nobility needed a bunch of teenagers to keep the Neverseen from taking over. Is that the mark of a healthy society? I think not."

"But letting the Talentless into the Nobility would only make the problem worse," argued Larrina.

Magnate Leto cleared his throat. "While I do appreciate the younger generation's willingness to debate the relative merits of our society, now is not the time. Jaye Redek, did you or did you not mesmerize Larrina to interfere with the splotching match?"

"Of course he did! But he'll just lie," Larrina blurted out. "Like the son of a bad match," she whispered to Jaye.

"I heard that," Lady Marya said. "Be respectful to other prodigies, Larrina."

Jaye felt sick. If he lied, he might get off without a punishment, but he'd be proving Larrina right, not to mention centuries of elvin stereotypes against twins, bad matches, and Mesmers. But, if he told the truth, he'd get more detention—or maybe even get expelled. The Lost Cities were at peace—life wasn't supposed to be this complicated.

What would my friends do? Torrin would confess and take the punishment, Callista wouldn't even be in this situation—she'd be too clever to get caught—Zoe would confess, but then try to explain how what she'd done was justified and she didn't deserve to be punished.

Sounds like Zoe's method would be my best bet.

"Yeah," Jaye admitted, "but you heard Larrina over there. She's terrible. What's that word—elitist? She's that. Magnate Leto, you know how the Lost Cities are trying to change for the better? If Larrina had her way, we'd be stuck in our old ways forever. I had to do something, but I'm a kid, so this was the best I could do."

Larrina glared at him.

Okay, maybe talking about how mean Larrina was wasn't the right idea. Jaye would have to try a different method. "I know I caused a bunch of trouble, but it's kind of minor compared to most of my pranks. And I was trying to prove a point."

"Let's be clear, you did mesmerize Larrina?" Magnate Leto checked.

"Uh...yeah."

"I think that's all we need to know," Lady Marya interjected.

"But I—" Jaye began.

"If Larrina has been bothering you, then you should have talked to a Mentor," said Magnate Leto.

"That never works."

Magnate Leto groaned. "Just keep it in mind for the future. Since I wasn't aware of any of these recent incidents, I won't be able to take action about them. But if you kids actually tell me what's going on, I'll do my best to support you."

Jaye nodded, doubting Magnate Leto's last sentence. "I guess."

"Can I go?" asked Everly.

"And me?" added Larrina, shooting Jaye a malevolent look.

Magnate Leto nodded, waiting for them to leave the room before continuing. "Jaye does have a point, though. This is relatively minor compared to some of his other shenanigans. Therefore, I propose that he should receive a week of detention and will be required to make a written apology to Larrina. Lady Marya, you witnessed the incident. Would you say this is reasonable?"

Lady Marya nodded.

Jaye did not agree. A written apology? To Larrina? Maybe I should've lied about it. Though the truth would have come out sooner or later, and the punishment would've been even harsher if he'd tried to deceive Magnate Leto.

A week of detention wasn't that bad. Jaye had gotten much worse before.

But he couldn't help feeling like he'd lost some sort of battle he'd known nothing about.