I had to be alert. The rumours I had injected into the discourse around the academy swirled on with or without my direct attention, evolving and changing with each mouth that uttered the words they’d heard from another. Talia was one of the few people who knew that I was responsible for spreading the fake story. She cooperated gladly if it would allow us to escape the school and the danger it presented.

The worst possible outcome was me being away from the scene when it all boiled over. I had to put my finger on the scale and keep a close eye on how the debate developed between Welt’s men. Darin struck me as the sort to doubt whatever disinformation I was spreading, but the man I’d met the day before, Koch, was far more panicked.

Walking back and forth and trying not to make myself look conspicuous was exhausting. I mainly lurked by the Principal’s office and the area between the two buildings, deftly evading teachers and students and keeping a firm grip on the sightlines that cut across the large gardens.

When I saw Darin, Koch and three others approaching the building at noon – I knew that my rumours had finally reached their ears. I silently pursued them back up the stairs and onto the second floor where the Principal resided. The door was left ajar when I got there, but the confrontation spilt back out into the hallway all of a sudden.

The Principal was being grabbed by Koch. He tugged and pulled on the front of his shirt, attempting to extract him from the building entirely. Darin was putting his body in the way to try and stop him.

“Koch! Cool it!”

He finally succeeded in wrenching Koch’s arms free and releasing the Principal.

“What in the Goddess’s name is all this about?” he blustered.

“You’re a bloody rat bastard!” Koch seethed, “I should have known that you’d try to screw us over!”

Darin’s face creased into a mask of concern. He turned to the Principal.

“Did you send a letter to the police?”

The Principal emphatically shook his head; “I can assure you that we have stuck to our end of the arrangement. None of the staff have so much as spoken a word of this matter to the students, never mind leaving the premises and speaking with the police.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. My primary concern has always been the safety of the students.”

Koch sneered, “Nothin’ would be safer than running to the police and getting us all locked up. It’s a good thing that Welt said we’d get pardoned when he takes over.”

“You and I both know that turning the campus into a battlefield is the very last idea on my mind. I made my position clear during our first meeting. I don’t want any guns being fired, no matter what happens.”

As if to throw a lit match into the bonfire – one of the students who had stumbled across the argument offered a suggestion that was precision designed to piss Koch off and start the fighting all over again. It was a boy from two years above me.

“If you’re so afraid of getting caught, why are you even here? Just run away!”

Koch immediately squared his shoulders and attempted to march up into his face, seemingly to punch his teeth out for suggesting such an idea, but Darin stepped in and grabbed his shoulder. He pulled him away before he could escalate the situation any further.

“Koch, cool your head! What the hell is wrong with you? Picking fights with a bunch of kids!”

“If the staff didn’t do it – then it was one of them. I bet they even had something to do with what happened to-”

“You don’t know that,” Darin snapped harshly, “You’ve made up this bloody story in your head, whole cloth, and are trying to find anything that supports your paranoia! I’ve had enough of this. We’ve been here two days and you’ve lost your bloody marbles after the first. All we had to do was stand here and keep watch for a week!”

“If we’re not proactive enough with this, who else is going to die?” he sputtered.

“You were saying that it was divine punishment a few hours ago! You can’t say that it was the Goddess and then turn around to start accusing the bloody students of doing it! Go find a quiet room and pray in it – and leave the talking to me, you knobhead!”

Koch was not going to abide by harsh words. He lashed out and struck Darin across the cheek with a shallow punch. Darin retaliated in kind, wrapping his arms around his stomach and wrestling him to the floor in a flurry of arms and legs. The scuffle cleared the corridor, as both the residents and their fellow conspirators got the hell out of their way.

Darin was the one on top. He rained down several more blows from above, forcing Koch to adopt a defensive stance with his arms held up to cover his face. He held back from launching the last one, his arm dropping limp by his side. Why was he even having this fight, with a man who was supposedly one of his friends?

He dismounted Koch, who finally released his guard and stared up at him from his feet.

“Get it together,” Darin concluded, “This isn’t a complex job. All we have to do is keep an eye on the wall for a few days.”

His eyes scanned the small crowd of observers and settled on me, arms crossed, with a wry smirk on my lips. Normally I would keep my head down and avoid standing out – but they were finished with their fight, and I needed to keep the ball rolling somehow. Making myself public enemy number one was the next best approach.

There was that look of dawning realization that I was hoping for. I ducked away through the crowd and moved to a quiet spot in the building, egging them on to come and chase me. Judging by the footsteps that followed me the whole way, at least three of them were now in pursuit.

“Hey! Stop right there!”

I did as Darin commanded and came to a halt inside of a neglected corridor that cut by several disused offices. He was red in the face and flustered by what was going on. The fight with Koch did not help matters. Koch was hanging back with the other goon having been humiliated in that engagement.

“I should have guessed that you’d have something to do with this. I thought you were all talk – but you’ve been busy trying to make my life difficult.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, sir.”

“Kids can be disobedient. You were the one who came up with this plan to get a message to the police. You’re going to tell us whether you succeeded or not.”

“What does it matter? Aren’t they going to ‘pardon’ you when you complete this job? It’s very strange that suddenly you are so concerned about the legal consequences of what is happening here.”

Darin’s mouth thinned.

“Unless... you already understand the truth of the matter. You are nothing more than a pack of convenient tools for Gerard Verner Welt to use and throw away at his whim. Noble luminaries such as him can’t be seen getting their hands dirty – so they throw a collection of reprobates and ideologues into the fire to do it for them.”

“How the hell do you know about that?”

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“I know a lot of things, but the most important question on my mind at this moment is how much you are willing to risk. Will you tough it out and remain here as the threat looms, for his sake, or will you cut your losses and go home instead?”

“We’re in this for the long haul,” he insisted weakly, “We’re already here. We’re not dropping our guns and going home. Welt wanted us to do this.”

“So it’s about personal loyalty? Or is Welt proposing a vision of this nation that appeals to you?”

“Both. He’s going to get our pride back.”

“Pride is worthless,” I scoffed, “What good has pride ever done for you? Do you find solace in returning home to a small house that lets the cold in, so long as it stands within the borders of this nation? There will be benefits to restoring the monarchy, for those positioned to exploit it with wealth and influence, but not for you.”

“None of that matters. Walser used to be the strongest – but now everyone wants a piece of us.”

“I’m sorry to say, but you are simply incorrect. It’s false. Walser is the envy of the world. It is the greatest industrial powerhouse on the continent, with the largest population, and most extensive railway network, with sciences and culture that far outstrip our competitors. After the Compromise was signed, every other nation followed in our wake and adopted a similar system of government.”

Koch pushed his way to the front, “Darin – you’re letting her distract you! We need to know if she spoke to the police!”

“It’s so, so easy for know-nothing blowhards like Welt to stand on their ivory tower and claim to have the solutions to all of your worldly problems. Everything will be better if you simply allow him to do as he pleases, and you needn’t worry about how he will deliver on those promises. The world is more complicated than that.”

“I’m done listening to this,” Koch complained, “Tell us what you did.”

“Why would I do that? This ambiguity serves my purposes perfectly well.”

Darin gently pushed Koch back with his palm.

“That’s your game, then? It’s pretty obvious to me that you didn’t manage to send any kind of communication out of this place. I’ve had men watching every exit since we arrived – and none of them have seen you.”

“Is that’s what you want to believe, then by all means, you are free to do so. All I can say is that there are more ways out of this campus than using one of the prescribed entrances or exits. The wall itself is full of vulnerabilities if you know where to look.”

“It’s a bluff. She wants us to think that the police are on the way.”

Koch was not convinced, “Are you sure?”

“She’s just a kid. They’re good at making up stories, but won’t do anything too risky if they can help it.”

I laughed, “Then you should cross your fingers and hope that no more unfortunate ‘accidents’ befall your friends. The police might take you alive in a siege – but I cannot say the same for the menacing grip of karma.”

Koch’s face fell like a stone. Darin was unable to hold him back with one hand when he pushed his way past and got up into my face.

“Say that again, lass.”

“I thought it was clear enough the first time. Rotten men meet rotten ends, like your miserable compatriot who is acting as rat bait in the basement as we speak.”

Koch’s fury could not be contained. He roared in anger and drew the pistol from his belt, holding it close enough to my forehead that I could smell the iron it was made from. I didn’t flinch.

“So very emotional!”

I pointed my finger at Koch’s gun and snapped. The latch holding the magazine in place was dissolved with a burse of high-energy magic, causing it to slide free from the well and limply drop to the floor with a clatter. He looked down at it, stunned at the ‘mysterious’ malfunction that rendered his gun unusable.

“It’s very rude to draw a gun during a discussion, Mister Koch.”

“What the hell did you do?” he murmured.

I crossed my arms, “A highly concentrated burst of magical energy, localized in a small area, is enough to break the bonds between the molecules in your firearm and render it inoperable. A very unique school of magic that they don’t teach for fear of the consequences. It’s gone. Reduced to dust.”

Koch stared at me, and his face twisted as the grim implication of what I had just done finally emerged from the depths of his boundless rage.

“It’s rather effective. It destroys whatever I wish and leaves no trace whatsoever! So long as it is within my reach, I can annihilate it. It works on organic materials too. I could even go so far as to rupture an artery or valve in your heart...”

The air turned cold. I paused for emphasis before delivering the coup de grâce.

“...and it would appear as nothing more than a ‘random’ cardiac arrest.”

There were gasps and appalled murmurings. Koch was struck physically by my words – staggering back behind where Darin was standing. There was a moment of unease when the three men confronting me were unsure of what to do next. It was an absurd situation to find themselves in. A young girl was alleging that she killed one of their friends.

Darin stared at me. He chewed on the story I was selling him. What was he weighing up inside of his head? Was he seeking some type of tell in the way I glared back, hoping that I would wave my hands and declare that it was all a joke, a bluff, intended to make them leave the campus?

I wasn’t going to budge. This was my big play. I played it up to rattle them, holding out my arms and speaking dramatically.

“Did I kill your friend? Did I succeed in sending a message to the outside? Will Welt pardon you when this is all said and done? So much uncertainty! If I were a betting person, I wouldn’t fancy my chances of winning three coin-tosses in a row.”

Darin took the obvious route; “What a load of crap. You expect me to believe you killed him? You’re just a teenager.”

“It would be hard to accept if it were coming from a normal child, but you already know that noble society is cutthroat at the best of times. Everyone here is scheming in their own way, and they would be happy to damn themselves if it meant securing their success and legacy.”

“No. That isn’t true. It can’t be.”

The nameless one behind them rushed to draw his gun in a show of force, but once again I snapped my fingers and completely destroyed the internal mechanism, causing the slide to come apart when he tried to load a road into the chamber. It all crumbled into a pile of discarded pieces on the floor at his feet.

“I already warned you about your manners,” I said dryly, “The next time I will not simply disassemble those brutish weapons. I will choose to rupture those vulnerable organs instead.”

Koch finally found the balls he had misplaced during his crisis of faith and charged at me with a roar. Darian couldn’t hold him back this time, though he was about to wish that he had. I stepped deftly, moving back just enough to give him a false sense of security, but in truth, I was trying to trip him up with a firm kick to one of his shins.

At the same time, I reached out while dodging his attempts to grab me, and hooked my arm under one of his shoulders. I spun him around - dragging him down into a kneeling position as we went and shoving the sharp end of my knee onto the back of his neck.

To further belabour the point, I also pressed the deadly end of my pistol against the back of his skull and released the safety. Darin’s face was indescribable. I was pushing one of his men into the carpeted floor and threatening to blow his brains out while I was at it.

“When you were so afraid of divine punishment – you should not have been turning your eyes to the stars. You should have been looking at me.”

Koch raged under my heel, “You bitch! I knew you did it! You bloody well killed him, didn’t you?!”

“I don’t have to answer that. Now stop moving before my finger slips.”

I pushed it hard into his head, and the cold bite of the metal was enough to alarm him into silence. This was a big risk. I wanted to wrap this confrontation up before one of the students came running to see what the noise was.

“I think she’s serious,” the unnamed goon whispered into Darin’s ear.

Taking down an adult man and keeping him at gunpoint was much more difficult than escaping the blockade and sending a letter. That was the exact thought process running through their heads at that moment.

“What the hell are you two hesitating for?” Koch growled, “We’re all in this together! We’re not going to get what we want if you two stand there and let her do this! Grab her!”

I laughed, “You really don’t understand, do you? This game is already over. Your friends are too kind-hearted to let you die here.”

“Shut up! We’ll get you, as soon as you let me go, it’ll be over for you!”

“You won’t win that fight, not when you’ve already underestimated me like this. None of you have weapons. None of you are even willing to sacrifice one another to win.”

I pocketed my gun and pushed him away, sending him staggering into the arms of his compatriots. It was messy. Not the way I’d planned to see all of this go down, but the effect was the same. I couldn’t risk shooting him and blowing my cover for the rest of my second life.

“Welt didn’t tell us about this bullshit. He said it’d be easy...” Darin murmured.

“They’ve had bloody government agents here the whole time?” The other man worried.

Koch shook his head, “We’re tryin’ to change the world here! If you thought it’d be easy, that’s your fault!”

“Go home!” I snapped.

Darin tugged on Koch’s shoulder and shook his head, “Leave her. Welt wants Walston-Carter on a short leash. There'll be hell to pay if his daughter bites it.”

Koch was remiss to leave without having the final word, but without a gun, and knowing that I had the only working one in the area, he was forced to go along with whatever Darin said for fear of ending up with a new hole to breathe through. They scampered away, brow-beaten and unsure of what the future had in store for them.

I knew what was going to happen here. That dogmatic response to the facts I gave them indicated that it was all a waste of time. Darin and Koch were still of one mind when it came to supporting Welt’s efforts – and having someone to blame for what was going wrong would potentially ease the fault lines that had formed between them during their stay.

An uneasy frown settled on my features. I was starting to feel that I overplayed my hand. Too much, too early, too fast. I was in a hurry to get out of here and stop Welt before he accidentally transformed the entire continent into a burning hellscape, and it was rattling me.

Every second I was wasting dealing with them was another that Welt could use to get the upper hand. If they didn’t leave then I’d have to use the nuclear option and really put the hurt on them.

The deadline wasn’t for me – it was for them.