Fighting this urge, Lottie took in a big breath and grabbed the envelope, realizing as she laid her eyes on the elegant script that they’d never had any power at all.

7

Nothing was going right. In fact, Ellie was pretty sure the whole world was currently conspiring against her and all she wanted to do was run to the bridge and scream into the abyss below.

Pulling at the hem of her damned tartan pinafore, she tried to cover up some of her exposed skin as she pushed the Stratus Side door open with her shoulder. It was club hours, and Stratus students tended to be in the library. Despite this, she checked and double-checked to make sure the coast was clear before she approached the stone statue of the falcon Elwin, the Stratus mascot, and the door to Rosewood’s greatest secret.

Twisting the ‘W’ until it turned into an ‘M’, she waited for the cogs to turn, the sound always making her jump even if she was ready for it, until the bird slowly lifted, revealing the staircase below. It was a shame none of the Stratus students could use this secret room that was hidden in their house quarters as inspiration for their Presentation of the Pillars tribute, but this place was Lottie’s secret, so Ellie and her friends would protect it with their lives.

Rubbing her arms at the cold that sighed out from the hidden door, she began her descent into the secret study that had belonged to the school founder, the lost princess Liliana Mayfutt under her cover identity of William Tufty – the very study that had revealed Lottie’s true heritage. Ellie hadn’t ever given much thought to the secrets and resemblances that Lottie had inherited – the underground study, the tiara heirloom, and her matching wild honey hair. So why did it now leave a hard lump in the pit of her stomach? One that was shaped unmistakably like guilt.

She could be so much more without you, a voice sneered in her mind.

She could hear them talking as she lingered at the end of the winding stairwell, peeking into the room without giving herself away as Raphael’s distinctive hybrid Los Angeles and Oxford English accent echoed through the door.

‘So the fire just blew out completely?’ Raphael sucked his teeth, turning to Jamie for an answer and receiving only a shrug in response.

The twins were being strangely quiet in the corner, absorbing the information like two creepy ornamental dolls while they nibbled anxiously on nearly gone lollipops. The look on Micky’s face was vague, the kind of half-there stare adopted by people who weren’t comfortable with what they were hearing.