The bustling Academy Hub was livelier than ever on the evening of the second Friday of the school year, filled with students and teachers alike looking for an escape from the stress of the IAYN. A group of younger residential students circled the fountain in the center of the quaint little circle of private shops, tossing coins into its bubbling waters and braiding each other's hair, while their older counterparts hovered at the entrances of stores, sipping on their gourmet coffees as they spoke to each other in hushed whispers. I sat in a corner booth at Minette's Mists, a strawberry banana Mist sitting, untouched, in front of me.  Every other table in the small cafe was taken, and the crowd in the waiting area overflowed into the street outside. I had been inside for over an hour, but despite my royal status, I was so socially insignificant that not a single person had so much as noticed my presence, let alone acknowledged it. 

I hadn't told Nemesis about the note Lillae had slipped me the previous day detailing when and where I was to meet her or about my intentions to do my cousin's bidding. Something told me that the strong-willed girl would try to stop me, and I didn't want anyone or anything getting in the way of what could be my first and last chance at climbing out of the social abyss. 

I hated to admit it, but I was weak. I knew that Lillae and her friends were nothing more than fake brats, but the possibility of being one of them, of being loved and cared for like them, of having a voice like they did, easily melted away any degree of self control I may have possessed. And so I found myself waiting alone for the crown princess in an IAYN cafe on a Friday night, eagerness lighting up my mismatched eyes. 

By the time I started to wonder if the entire affair had been little more than an ill-humored joke, my eyes fell upon my cousin's unmistakable figure sashaying through the door, followed closely by Zaliana and a few other girls whom I had seen before but didn't know by name. The relatively warm temperature- downright hot for the polar climate of northern Lessaenes- didn't stop her from wearing a stylish silk top over a tight-fitting, dark-colored skirt. As usual, forks fell from mouths and clumps of people eagerly made way as the heiress approached the counter to place her order. "One small mocha Mist, please," Lillae chirped in the angelic tone she reserved for public use. 

"Only a small, Your Highness?" the girl behind the counter, probably a poorer student working to supplement her tuition, asked. 

"One does not look like this by drinking large Mists," Lillae gestured proudly to her body. 

"Of course, Your Highness," the girl nodded eagerly. "I will never forget your wise advice." With that, she scampered off with the speed of a rabbit to prepare Lillae's drink as fast as possible. 

After waiting for Zaliana to place her own order, Lillae took her friend's arm and the duo began to slowly approach the back of the shop. Their high heels clacked against the wooden floor in perfect synchrony and their eyes floated pompously over the shop's patrons, as if they were rulers surveying their kingdom. My heart beat faster and faster in my chest as they grew closer to me, and I was overtaken by my instinctive fear of them. I was sure of it now. They had lured me here during the shop's busiest hour for the sole purpose of humiliating me. Or worse. 

How stupid I was. 

Sparrow was alone and vulnerable back at the IAYN, and neither my parents nor Nemesis had any idea where I was. Lillae could get away with doing absolutely anything and successfully blame it on her still-developing ability to control her Gift. 

No, no, no!

I squeezed my eyes shut and balled my hands into fists, feeling the cold marble of the tabletop press into them. 

Is this how it ends? 

"Good evening, stickbag." 

My head flew up with a start, and I found myself face to face with Lillae. Her smirk looked more amused by my surprise than it did malicious, but I knew better than to trust her expressions. 

"Hey, Lillae," I muttered as she and Zaliana sat down across from me, placing their designer purses across from each other on the table. 

"Now, don't you think for a second that I actually want to hang out with you," my cousin clarified, flicking away an excess dot of lipstick with a filed fingernail. "There's something we need to talk about: something important." 

"And what would that be?" I crossed my arms. 

"Rhoda Faye wasn't just killed randomly. The killer left a message on the wall behind her: I was looking through my mother's files and I found a photo," Zaliana explained. "I don't know about you, but I think it's pretty creepy." 

"What's the message?" I raised an eyebrow. 

Lillae leaned in, her full lips barely parting as she spoke in a strained whisper. "All shall fall victim to the Lights." 

"You've definitely got the creepy part right," I nodded. "But what are the Lights? And why is everyone their victim?" 

"We don't know," Lillae admitted. "But we do have a pretty logical guess based on the Scientist Clan files Zali found: the Scientists have found evidence of life on Earth in the form of strong, unnatural lights coming from the planet. Since it's obviously not humans, they've been conducting studies to figure out who or what's actually there. Those are the only 'Lights' of current significance Zali and I know about, but it's impossible for us to learn any more about them because all pertinent information is under a seal of strict government secrecy." 

"Why would they keep that a secret?" I frowned. "That's huge! The whole Empire should know!" 

"We don't know," Lillae shrugged. "But the fact that they're trying so hard to keep people from finding out about it means something really awesome is going on," she grinned. "Something I intend to learn more about." 

"Since when are you interested in knowledge?" I raised an eyebrow. I was finding it very hard to believe that Lillae would stoop so low as to talk to the likes of me for the sole purpose of learning more about something. 

"Since it became a real life murder mystery," she squealed with excitement. 

Okay, that's more like the Lillae I know. 

"Aren't you curious?" Zaliana added. "A murder, a secret government project, a tunnel that leads to nowhere..." 

"Wait, a tunnel?" I questioned after making sure that there was no longer a significant number of eyes on us. I couldn't say that the Golden Duo was wrong: this was beginning to prove very interesting. 

"Oh, right, I forgot to mention that," Lillae perked up. "The investigation into these lights on Earth, which may or may not be the lights referenced in the message left at the site of Rhoda Faye's murder, is called Project Gateway and was very recently initiated by the Scientist Clan. At least according to Zali, the only tangible thing it's done so far is build a really long, cylindrical tunnel that sticks out of the side of Icicle Hall. And that's all it does- it sticks out of the palace like a useless, misplaced arm. It doesn't even go anywhere, unless you count the air as somewhere. Completely ruins the aesthetic, but that's not the point."  

"I haven't seen this tunnel in real life, of course, since it was built after we got to school, but all pictures of it in Zali's secret file show it being very clearly labeled with Project Gateway's engraved logo. This tells us for sure that it was built for the Project, by the Project. The fact that it's only ever even mentioned in top secret documents tells us that this tunnel deals with some serious junk. Any further information about it would have to be accessed from a Chief's personal device, and none of us are going to get access to one of those in the near future. This means the only way we can find out what's in that tunnel, which is probably the solution to the mystery of the Lights, is going in ourselves." 

"You'd get into so much trouble." I advised my cousin righteously, as it was my duty to do, but the idea of Lillae and Zaliana being publicly reprimanded by Aunt Tara and Chief Valior didn't seem half bad to me. 

"Why on Lessaenes would I take that risk? We're not going in." Lillae laughed before flashing a devilish smirk. 

"You are."