In one fluid motion Stella rolled off the bed, pausing to set her tablet on the nightstand, and walked to the door. “Greetings.”

“You’re not dressed?” Harlow asked.

Stella looked down at herself. She supposed her blue-and-white gingham romper could be viewed as pajamas. More than that, though, it had become an opportunity. “A question even though you can clearly see I’m not. Why are you like this? Who hurt you?”

“Is that supposed to be a joke?”

“Are you laughing?”

“No.”

“Then it wasn’t.” Stella shrugged, turning back to her room. “Come in. If you dare.”

Harlow continued to hover near the door. “Breakfast is in like thirty minutes.”

Stella resumed lounging on the bed, turning on her side. The mattress hit a perfect sweet spot of plush firmness that had knocked her out cold the moment she had lain down after her shower. “I’m not the breakfast type,” she lied.

“Meals are mandatory.”

“So, then, go,” Stella said. “I’m not stopping you.”

Harlow rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” Instead of walking back through her black room—the colors of onyx and ebony and coal—she used Stella’s red door, opening it with more force than was necessary. She probably would’ve slammed it too, if the padded red envelope waiting on the other side didn’t make her pause. “What’s this?”

“What’s what?” Stella asked, watching her carefully. At the sight of the envelope, clearly labeled A PRESENT FOR STELLA, she rolled off the bed again, hurried to Harlow’s side, and snatched it from her. “Did you get one?”

Harlow glanced at her door. “No.”

Stella tore into it, upending the contents into her palm.

“A necklace?” Harlow asked.

“I do believe this is an Ouroboros.” A rather large wyvern with wings eating its tail with a heart-shaped hole in the center of its chest. Stella held it by the chain, and read the inscription on the back aloud:

For Red, I gift this medallion and chain

Once unlocked it will show the way

How to unite, lead, locate, and play

Too bad for Black sacrifice is the game

A White Key in the heart of blame

“Cryptic and low-key threatening. Seems par for the course of this weekend.” Stella was about to return the necklace to the envelope when Harlow asked, “Can I see it? Please?” with her eyes too wide, too focused on the necklace.

The golden wyvern turned slowly between them.

“Sure.” Stella watched Harlow, her naked desire for the thing, and noted the way Harlow’s hands shook as the necklace landed on her waiting palms.

“Why did you get a present?” Harlow asked. “I thought we got them from challenges.”