Three days.
That was the deadline I gave them.
Three days to come up with a festival project proposal that wouldn't immediately get us banned from all future Academy events.
It was day one, and morale was already collapsing.
In the empty classroom after hours, I watched from my desk with morbid fascination as my students tried—and failed spectacularly—to brainstorm like normal, functional people.
"Okay, hear me out," Julien said, standing on a chair like a demented preacher. "We set up a dueling booth! Visitors can pay to challenge one of us! Winner gets a prize!"
"What's the prize?" Mira asked, eyebrow raised.
Julien grinned. "The satisfaction of losing to us."
There was dead silence.
Even Garrick, who once tried to arm-wrestle a tree for dominance, looked unimpressed.
"I think that might get us sued," Wallace pointed out, fiddling with a mechanical doodad that looked suspiciously explosive.
"Especially if we actually win," Felix mumbled.
