Liam did not answer immediately. He moved toward the desk, adjusted the document case he had retrieved from Tactical Espionage, and placed it properly beside his notes. The assignment was already irritating enough without Mabel making it sound more important than it needed to be. Observe one person for a week without being noticed. Record habits, routes, repeated behaviors, blind spots, emotional triggers. Do not get discovered. Do not lie about it if discovered. Simple in structure, unpleasant in implication, and exactly the sort of thing Seraphina would use to turn half the class into fools.
"Whoever seems easier to deal with," Liam said.
Mabel's head tilted slightly. "What do you mean?"
"It means exactly what it means."
"That is not an explanation."
"There are only seven students in that class," Liam said, turning back toward her. "That leaves a large number of people outside it to pick from. I have no intention of treating this like a life-or-death assignment."
