Jack glared at Josephine. He briefly considered just getting up and walking out of this room. Even if Josephine called on her magic, he could call on his own. Death could enter even a locked room, and so could a banshee. That meant he could leave one too.
But that would not be fair. Blake had exposed himself - willingly or not - and if Jack left right now, wouldn't that only create resentment? An imbalance that Blake would later surely use against him. So, Jack would stay and he would speak the truth. Fortunately, he knew what was working against him. Perhaps he could edit.
"Cheap," he told Josephine truthfully.
Then, the banshee sighed. "Blake is... Tenacious. Stubborn. Intelligent. Pretty good at the repartee. He would have made a decent Sphinx. Most Hydras tend to be. Those were not the qualities that surprised me however. It was how good he is with the students and his charges. He has... a knack. They like him. And, more importantly, they listen to him. They want to be taught by him. He is a good teacher - far better than I imagined he would be. I would never have fired him." Jack blinked and then shook his head, realizing he had not meant to be that honest.
He sighed. "Now, I don't know why he doesn't want to play nice with others. Maybe it's in his nature to go against the grain, maybe he doesn't know how to. Maybe it's just me and the way I am. But... despite our differences, I do respect him. As a teacher. As a person."