The whole campus was buzzing about the latest news. I wasn't sure how to feel. Everything felt strange, so this news felt hazy, too. I was just coming to terms with the idea of a sister I didn't know about that hated me. I didn't have the brain space yet for school trading or whatever this was. I tried to not think about Jeans technically going to the same school as me now, but we'd stopped her before, if she did try anything we could stop her again.

I was mainly telling myself to do one assertive thing to not think about Anastasia, or Wildfire Hearts, or Jeans, or my parents, or any of the things that were making my brain feel foggy.

Before we left for the sibling school that was soon to be elsewhere (well, the building would still be there, just the student body would be different), Lillia approached with a toy wagon.

"There you freaking are," Oka said. 

"I have been told not all of the furniture and other items from Falling Shards will make the move, and that we may potentially call 'dibs' on some of them," Lillia said.

"I don't know if that wagon is big enough if you see a good couch," Oka said.

"This is merely for the items smaller than a chair," Lillia said. "Though I don't want to regret it if I see a nice coffee table..."

"Dang, we could use one," Oka said. She poked the wagon with her foot. "I dunno, I bet you could fit a coffee table on this."

"Eager, aren't we?"

A boy with a soft smile and spiky white hair stood by us, waving. I'd never met him before so I hid behind Oka.

"Dang, another Kris Krag?" Kalei said.

"Heh, I'm not a Kris Krag," the boy said.

"Sorry, man," Kalei said.

"My name is Lucian, welcome to Falling Shards!" Lucian chuckled. "Though I guess it's only Falling Shards a bit longer. Say, have you seen a boy with a dark blue hat on? I'm looking for him."

"Can't say we have," Oka said.

Lucian waved again. "Ah! There he is! Sorry, I'll leave you to it."

The boy left, where his friend with the dark blue cap met him.

"Hey, was that that one guy?" Oka asked. "Marble or whatever?"

"Who's Marble?" Kalei asked.

"Your friend! That one guy…"

"You mean Syval?" I said.

"Yeah!"

"I don't think so…" I said. 

"Obviously not," Kalei said. "His hair color's completely different."

"Well, he could've dyed it," Oka said.

"Either way, I hope that guy doesn't come back here." I said.

"Why not?" Kalei asked.

"I dunno, didn't you get a weird vibe about him?" I asked.

"I definitely did," Oka said. "Whatever it is, he did it, he's the culprit."

"What does that even mean?" Kalei asked.

"I concur with Oka," Lillia said. "He did it."

"Did what?" Kalei asked.

"Well, introduced himself out of nowhere for one," I said.

"Crap, they're coming back…" Oka said.

Sure enough, Lucian and his friend with the cap approached us, along with a girl.

"I wanted to introduce my friends, too," Lucian chuckled again. "This is Seth Kerres, my dearest friend."

The boy in the blue cap nodded. "I've known Lucian for a bit now, I trust him so dearly."

That was an odd way to phrase it, but I didn't say that out loud.

"We're both on the Falling Shards mat ball team," Seth said.

"And this is Gwen," Lucian said, gesturing to the girl, who had a short hair style kind of like my mom's, but a less stoic demeanor.

"Hey there," Gwen said. "I play mat ball too, but lately I've been on support for the Falling Shards team. I've known Seth since we were kids, and I look forward to living a long, full life with him."

"Yes…" Lucian squinted.

I did make sure to shake their hands when we introduced ourselves, though I didn't say much as I was feeling too shy to otherwise. Also, Lucian seemed kind of creepy.

"It's so weird to be here when everything's about to change," Seth said. "But the three of us will always have each other, right?"

"Right!" Gwen said.

"Yes," Lucian said. He laughed again. "Sorry, my mind is elsewhere today…"

"Understandable, given the big move," Gwen said. "I haven't decided if I'll stay or go yet."

"I think perhaps it would be good if you stayed…" Lucian said.

"Or I could go with you guys! It won't just be a boys' school, and I suppose it wasn't already." Gwen said.

"I'm happy as long as you two are with me," Seth said, blushing as he pulled his cap forward to try and hide that a bit.

"Oh, golly," Lucian checked his watch. "We better be on our way. It was nice meeting you all."

Finally, the three left.

"That was strange," Lillia said.

"Are there girl Kris Krags?" Oka asked.

"Probably," I said. "It's getting like a backdoor pilot in here with all these introductions, if you ask me."

"Zates, you can't call real people's lives a backdoor pilot," Kalei said. "That's so egotistical, and rude."

"Wow, OK! Sorry my joke didn't land!" I said.

"He did it though," Oka said. "That Lucian guy is the culprit."

"What are you even saying?" Kalei asked.

"He was so shady! Probably plotting that Gwen girl's demise as we speak so he can be alone with Seth." Oka said.

"You're being ridiculous!" Kalei said. "This is stupid."

"You don't need to have a meltdown about it." I said.

"Zates, didn't you just have a complete meltdown over Tower like yesterday?" Kalei asked. "Don't talk to me about meltdowns."

"It was a week ago!" I said.

"Fine, a meltdown a week ago." Kalei said.

"Yes? And?"

"Whatever, can we actually go somewhere? I'm sick of just standing here," Kalei said.

Kalei seemed to be getting in a mood where she was rude and annoying until one of us blew up at her, but I was getting a little better at noticing it. She probably needed to go cool off on her own for a bit. I had an idea for something that might get her to do just that before we all really started arguing.

"I think we should check the library," I said, promptly needing to cut off Kalei as she started to boo me. "Listen! They might be giving away books and movies and whatever that won't fit when they move things! We could get cool stuff."

"I dunno," Kalei said. "Why would they even move the library? Wouldn't it just like...the books…stay here? And we get another library?"

"Run out of steam mid argument, didn't ya?" Oka asked.

"Shut up," Kalei said. "I just...wait yeah, actually, you guys check that out, I am gonna go see if I can find my own wagon. Marms, want to join me?"

"Sure," Marmalade said.

"We'll be back, so don't get too engrossed in your boring books," Kalei said.

We watched the two leave.

"She's in a mood today, geez," Oka said. "That came out of nowhere."

"Maybe she's displeased about the Falling Shards news," Lillia said, stroking her chin. "Perhaps she's closer to Syval than we thought? Or…"

"Or maybe this has to do with whatever weirdness she has going on," I said.

We hadn't really been able to make any headway on figuring out what was up with Kalei. All we had gathered was that she was acting different, that it maybe had something to do with Aira and Syval, and…that was about it.

"I could text Marmalade and see if she can figure anything out," I said. Last time we teamed up on this Kalei mystery she didn't find much either.

I sent a quick message before we went to the library.