Mrs. Laska

"*My mother, as our teacher, is one of the main perpetrators of this giant lie.*"
—Amber Laska, *Masterminds*

## Mrs. Laska

### Affiliation

Serenity (previously)
Project Osiris (previously)
Serenity school (previously)
Amber Laska (previously)

## Physical description

### Gender

Female

**Mrs. Laska** was the surrogate mother of Amber Laska and one of the few teachers in Serenity, New Mexico's only school. She was very supportive of Project Osiris while it was in effect, as she was the main teacher who taught the Serenity kids and omitted any violence or negative influences from their education. Mrs. Laska was also married to Mr. Laska, another citizen of Serenity.

## Biography

Sometime before the trilogy took place, Mrs. Laska met and married Mr. Laska. They were employed to work for Project Osiris by Felix Hammerstrom and moved to Serenity, raising Amber Laska as a surrogate daughter. Mrs. Laska was hired as a schoolteacher, sometimes giving the students false grades as part of her research for Project Osiris.

When Randy Hardaway was sent away to McNally Academy, a small going-away party was thrown for him in the upper classroom. She spoke after Hammerstrom, saying kind words that she actually meant. When she finished, Mrs. Laska hugged Randy while tearing up, and was escorted out of the room by Hammerstrom after the party fizzled out.

Later that night, she brought up the subject of Randy at dinner, saying that it must be difficult to see him move away. When Amber responded "it's murder", she stared at her surrogate daughter, as she should never have learned that word. After learning that she had read it off a copy of the *USA Today* given to her by a few tree trimmers, Mr. and Mrs. Laska exchanged glances and confiscated the newspaper upon finding it.

After Eli Frieden shared the Purple People Eater cards he and Randy had made of the Surety for fun, Mrs. Laska entered her classroom and silenced the laughter. She then passed out a geometry quiz, stating that she had a meeting with Eli. Later, when Eli had a "relapse" of his illness, Mrs. Laska planned for the other students to write a message to put on a get-well card for him.

Not long afterward, Amber stomped on Malik Bruder's foot to stop him from teasing Tori Pritel, and Mrs. Laska hauled her surrogate daughter to the principal's office, then lowered her Contentment midterm a full grade. When Eli finally arrived at school, Mrs. Laska smiled and told everyone to settle down.

Mrs. Laska was seen for a final time in *Payback* at Poseidon Resort and Water Park while relaxing to music. She was alerted to a cry from Freddie Cinta, another Osiris clone. Mrs. Laska was then aghast at the sight of her former surrogate daughter before getting tackled by Amber herself, and even attempted to persuade Amber by calling her "sweetheart". She was also seen at the hotel lobby among the other Serenity parents and the Surety.

## Personality and traits

Although part of it may have been pretending, Mrs. Laska was seen to be loving and kind. She gave a heartfelt speech filled with nice words at Randy Hardaway's going-away party and cared about Amber's emotions by talking to her and sometimes giving her advice. It's also likely that she was intelligent and good with children, as she was a teacher at the school.