Scarlet Discovers True Strength (7 page)

Starf!
thought Scarlet as her eyes took in the scene. She was careful to keep her hat low, but she could still make out much of the room—everything from the frozen cocomoon yogurt bar to the manicure/pedicure stations to the hot tub
and
swimming pool! Most classes were still in session, so the lounge was far from full. Nevertheless, there were plenty of teachers already enjoying themselves. Professor Elara Ursa, the Wishers 101 teacher, was having her hair done by a Bot-Bot stylist as she read a holo-magazine. Professor Eugenia Bright, meanwhile, was playing a rather intense spark-filled game of star-pong with Professor Dolores Raye. Giggles spilled out of a holo–photo booth, but Scarlet couldn't see who was inside. She sniffed. Was that zoomberry trifle she smelled? She sniffed again.
Mmm
…yes, it was…and glorange meringue pie, as well. Scarlet's mouth was already watering by the time her eyes found the buffet.

“Come on in!” By now, Professor Nicola Cecelia had slipped around Scarlet and stood inside. Reaching up, she pulled a silver-star-topped comb out of each side of her tight plum-colored bun. With a shake, she let her hair tumble down loose over her shoulders, and it stopped well below her waist. “Don't be shy. Substitutes are welcome. More than welcome, in fact!” She flashed a smile far sunnier than Scarlet had ever seen on her normally dour face. “You could probably use a break the most. These students are bright, but give them half a chance and they'll wear your glow away. Whose class did you have, by the way? I didn't realize anyone was out. I hope you didn't wear that hat and coat all day. You know, there are Bot-Bot valets to see to things like that.”

For a moogle, Scarlet was actually tempted to play along and follow her teacher inside. Before, she had thought that the students' Lightning Lounge had everything a Starling could ever desire. But its cozy fireplaces, pillows, and walls of holo-screens were nothing compared with the faculty's giant lounge. The only problem was Scarlet knew that as soon as she took her hat off, she would give herself away. Frankly, she was surprised—
star
tled, even—that Professor Nicola Cecelia hadn't raised a single violet eyebrow at her beard, which was steadily shifting sideways.

“Ahem.”
Scarlet cleared her throat as deeply as she could. “Star salutations,” she said gruffly. She gave the brim of her hat a dapper tap, the way she'd seen her father do. “But,
ahem
, I'm looking for another,
ahem
, room.
Ahem.
”

“Oh.” The teacher's grin faded. “I see. And what room is that?”

“
Ahem.
Er, holo-records.”

“You mean the holo-records room right there?” Professor Nicola Cecelia pointed a delicate sparkly purple-polished fingernail at the next door down the hall.

Scarlet turned and squinted to read the sign.
STUDENT HOLO-RECORDS
. There it was!

“Star salutations!” Scarlet said—too quickly, she feared. But then Professor Nicola Cecelia's head suddenly snapped around. Her Bot-Bot masseuse was summoning her, rather impatiently by then.

“
Starf!
Got to go. So there it is. Glad I could help. Oh! And so you know, Lunadays we always play astro-poker in the lounge. I almost always win, but still, keep it in mind.”

Scarlet let out a long sigh as the door slid shut between them. She hadn't even realized she'd been holding her breath. She checked to make sure no other teachers were coming. They weren't. She sighed again.

It took just a starmin to reach the door of the holo-records room. Then the only question left was, how was she going to get inside?

Scarlet knew better
than to try the hand scanner. That would only give her away. There were other ways to get into a room, though, especially now that Professor Nicola Cecelia had confirmed the strength of her disguise.

Scarlet checked her reflection in the mirrorlike surface of the polished marble wall. She slid her beard back to the center and gave it a fluff. She tugged her hat down even farther and propped her collar higher. Satisfied, she raised her fist and rapped on the door…once…twice…three times.

While she waited for the door to open, she went over the story she'd already rehearsed a hydrong times in her mind:

“Hello, my name is Sir Copernicus, and I am here on behalf of Sir Andromedus and Lady Melodia, the famous musicians, as I'm sure you're well aware. Apparently, they've sent numerous holo-requests for their daughter's records, none of which has received a reply. You can imagine what an eclipse they're having. One would think a school like this would have all its stars in a straighter row. But since they're clearly not, the family has sent me to retrieve Scarlet's records, as they're on an extended tour across the Star-Belt region and so could not do it themselves. It's crystal clear, of course, that you're very busy, so I wouldn't dream of taking up your valuable time. Rather, if you'll just point me in the direction of the third-year holo-files…Star salutations for understanding. I'll take it from here, if you don't mind.”

Scarlet would be free to compare all her scores to Ophelia's—and anyone else's she chose. Leona's, for one…Gemma's maybe, too…Then she would at least understand why
they
were all Star Darlings and she suddenly was not.

It had to work. It just had to. Otherwise, Scarlet didn't know how she was going to go on. She couldn't keep avoiding everyone and everything forever. Her grades would suffer, and so would she. But until she had some real answers, she would never, in a hydrong staryears, be able to relax.

The only problem was the door wasn't opening. So Scarlet took another breath and knocked again. She tapped the toe of her thick-soled boot. Sparks bounced up from the floor. Did she have to
keep
knocking? She raised her fist. She guessed she did. That was when she noticed, for the first time, the hand scanner—or not the scanner, but what it said.

Scarlet groaned.

She should have looked at it sooner, but she'd been too focused on the door. Instead of displaying a hand outline along with the unnecessary
PALM HERE
message, the scanner scrolled a series of words:
OFFICE HOURS: SUNRISE TO APEX. PLEASE COME BACK. STATUS: CLOSED.

On the way back to the dorm Scarlet shed her disguise behind a lumilac bush about halfway to the building. Classes had ended and Starlings were wandering about, and if one more student had pleasantly waved and called, “Star greetings! Welcome to Starling Academy!” Scarlet would have exploded into a moonium bitter, red-hot stars right there in front of them. When she wasn't in disguise, the other students knew better than to try to talk to her or even share a smile. After Scarlet's more than two staryears at Starling Academy, her reliably antisocial reputation preceded her.

Thankfully, Scarlet made it back to her room before Mira, so she had time to put everything away. The floppy orange hat went back on the hat rack, and the coat went into Mira's costume closet, along with the itchy beard. Scarlet had just sat down at her drums and picked up her drumsticks when the door slid open and Mira breezed in.

“There you are!” Mira pointed one long glittery finger at Scarlet. The other hand perched on her hip. She was dressed as a regular Starling student for a change, even if she had a cobalt blue scarf the size of a bedsheet around her neck.
“Starf!”
she exclaimed. “
So
many Starlings have been asking me about you! Especially all those remedial Starlings, like Leona and Adora—and Ophelia now. ‘Where's Scarlet?' ‘Have you seen her?' ‘Could you please give her a holo-message for me?' I'm like, ‘Send her your own holo-message.' And they're like, ‘We do, but she won't reply.'” Mira cocked her head and frowned. “Did you lose your Star-Zap or something? We could literally find it in a moogle with my Zap-locate app, you know.”

“I didn't lose it,” mumbled Scarlet. “I've just been busy.”

“Oh.” Mira's eyes skimmed Scarlet's drum kit. “Right. Okay. I see. Well, don't let me stop you.” She shrugged and tossed a long triangle of scarf over her shoulder. It took three tries before it stayed. “I'm zipping right back out again, anyway. I just popped in to get my holo-script before rehearsal. Now…where did I leave it do you think…?”

“Why don't you just memorize your lines overnight?” asked Scarlet. Wasn't that what sleep and headphones were for, after all? So Starlings could play back and absorb class lectures and textbooks and anything else they needed to learn?

Mira sighed. “You don't know anything about acting, do you?” She tossed her head to show that
she
did.

Scarlet lowered her own head to hide the smile she couldn't keep from springing up. Oh, after her day, she knew about acting….Too bad Mira hadn't seen her. She would have been impressed.

“A script,” Mira went on, “is just the beginning. Like a supernova!” She held her fists out and flashed open her fingers. “It's merely the raw matter from which superstars are born. In rehearsal, we're taking notes constantly and making changes. It's not just memorizing a hydrong lines,” she said, scoffing. “It's a
process
. A
journey
. You know?”

Scarlet nodded, hoping to satisfy Mira, though she'd stopped listening at “beginning.”

“Is that your script?” Scarlet pointed to a holo-book near the edge of Mira's makeup-crowded table, behind a long sparkly teal wig on a tall silver stand.

“Is it?” Mira picked up the holo-book and brought it close enough to read. “Star salutations! It is! Okay, I'm off. Again.” She paused then, leaning toward Scarlet. “Are you sure you're okay? You know, you look a little green….”

“I do?”

“Mmm-hmm. Around here.” Mira stroked her cheeks and chin.

The beard!
Scarlet realized. Quickly, she rubbed her face to brush off whatever green glitter was stuck to it. “I'm fine,” she said. “Don't worry about me. Just go do your script journey…process…whatever you call it.”

Scarlet had lowered the window shades and blinked off the lights by the time Mira returned. The room had a soft, dreamy violet glow. Dinner was over, as was star-gazing hour, though lights-down had yet to come. Except for the secret Star Caves, of course, no place ever got truly dark on Starland, the way places on Wishworld did. In fact, it actually got brighter as the sun went down and all the wish energy stored in every atom on Starland approached its maximum glow potential.

Scarlet “acted” again, this time as if she was sleeping, in case Mira had more questions to ask her or, worse, offered unwanted advice. She lay as quiet and still as a moonbeam and waited for Mira to take her nightly sparkle shower and slip into bed herself. Actually falling asleep, however, was impossible. The thoughts whizzing through Scarlet's mind simply would not let her rest.

At last, Scarlet had no choice but to get out of bed. She couldn't lie there for a moogle more. Mira was fast asleep, though restlessly muttering something like “Wait! Where's my mark? Somebody moved it from stage left!”