Glorissa’s thin wiry body was taut and tight, her every muscle ready to explode with force. Her upper body curled forward as she ran and threw the javelin. Her muscles flexed, and she threw it with all her might, throwing all her weight into it and grunting as she let it fly. Her very long dark hair whipped around her head with the motion, its long curly locks eventually falling like a curtain around her dark-skinned face and neck after she came to a halt.

  The javelin sailed through the air, but, again, not far enough: it fell to the ground a few paces short of the concentric red circles of the bullseye that had been set up thirty paces in front of her in the Star Knights Academy weapons-and-combat training center. The javelin made a loud crack and trembled as it hit the ground, vibrating for a moment and then staying motionless. Thin cushioned white gym mats lined the floor where Glorissa was standing, but farther on, where the javelin had fallen, it was just naked pale-pink stone.

  Glorissa frowned. She grabbed some of her long curly chestnut-brown hair and began to massage the locks of her hair between her thumb and forefingers. She was a bit sweaty, which made her hair feel wet to her touch. Her group of friends from among her fellow students, who had gathered to watch her take weapons practice, moved in and formed a tight circle around her now that she was done. Glorissa did not look at the students clustered around her: she was still looking at the bullseye target.

  “I missed it. Again,” Glorissa said.

  “You’re still the best Star Knight cadet out of all of us, Glorissa!” Her best friend, Josper, said. “You’re the strongest out of all the cadets of White, and one of the best overall in any color! You get top marks every time! You’re destined to be one of the greatest Star Knights ever!”

  “I’m not so sure,” Glorissa said, but the corner of her lip curled up into a grin, despite herself.

  “Don’t worry about it!” another one of her friends, Lydia, said.

  “Your spear goes farther than any other cadet,” a third friend, Fransus, said. “And your sword cuts faster, and your axe swings harder than any of ours! And God answers some of your prayers for minor miracles, which almost never happens for any of the rest of us, even though you haven’t even ranked as a priest-knight yet! Only the ranked and graduated Star Knight warriors and soldiers and priest-knights do better. And you weren’t even wearing your enchanted Star Knight armor while you threw! You know a lot of this weapons range was designed for when we wear our magic armor!”

  “You will do better next time,” another of her many friends, Suzan, said.

  “But she won’t have a next time!” Glorissa’s friend Jaeny said. “Don’t you remember? She’s leaving!”

  “Waaa! Please don’t leave the Star Knights, Glorissa!” Josper said.

  “Yes, please stay!” Suzan said.

  “We need you! You’re our leader!” Lydia said.

  Glorissa’s hand let her hair go and fell to her side. She turned away from the direction of the bullseye and faced her group of friends.

  “You know I have to go,” she said. “I don’t want to, but I have to.”

  “Um, no, you don’t?” Fransus said, her voice hesitant and indecisive.

  “Yes, I do,” Glorissa said firmly. “My sister Leigh disappeared from the Star Knights Academy exactly one year ago. No one has been able to discover where she went or why she vanished. The Star Knights sent investigators to look for her months ago. They found nothing. I love my sister. I am no longer willing to leave the solution to this mystery in the hands of people who are either not capable or else who do not share the same passion for solving it that I have. I must find my sister. I have made my decision to leave the Academy and take a leave of absence to go looking for her. I've already filed my paperwork with the teachers. It’s too late for me to back out. But I do not intend to back out.”

  “I wonder if it had anything to do with when the Ancient Crown was stolen from the Star Knights Estate vault,” Suzan said. “I still think that can’t possibly have been a coincidence that they both went missing at the same time.”

  “I know you have that crazy conspiracy theory, Suzie, but we have no proof that the two events are in any way connected,” Glorissa said. “No one knows anything about Leigh or the Crown. But, yes, maybe when I find her, I’ll find it, too, if the two are in fact related. I will find out.”

  “But we need you! You’re the boss of our group! You’re our spiritual leader! And you’re the life of the party! We love you!” Jaeny said.

  “Yes, I know. I’m sure that you will all drop dead from having missed me too much a mere few hours after my departure. Not a speck of blood will be left in your veins. Your hearts will stop beating without mine. You will miss me so much you’ll die.”

  Glorissa grinned, revealing fine white teeth, and her eyes were sparkling with laughter. Her other friends moaned in sarcastic pain at her corny joke.

  “Aw, we really will miss you! I might die!” Lydia said, and she began to cry.

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  “Oh my God, relax Lydia, please relax,” Glorissa said. She wrapped her arms around Lydia and hugged her friend tightly. Lydia stopped crying, and wiped her tears away, her face red but smiling. “I’m just going exploring, just like we do on any practice training mission,” Glorissa said. “I’ve been well trained by the Star Knights. Once I find my sister and bring her back to safety, I’ll return to the Academy. I’ll come back to all of you, and we’ll be friends forever again, just our little club, the Junior Knights of White. I’m not going to die out there. We Star Knights can take care of ourselves.”

  “I know,” Lydia said. “I wish you nothing but the best in your adventures. I’ll be praying to God for your safe and speedy return every night. We all will.”

  Glorissa nodded. And one day, Lydia, I just know that God will answer your prayers for small miracles, the way he does mine. You’re a good person. I have faith in you. I have faith in all of you.

  Glorissa turned her head from left to right, looking at the Star Knights Academy training complex, a room she had spent much of the past three years training inside of, for what might be the last time for a long time to come. It was a gigantic room, with a tall arched ceiling, its walls high and very far back, made of polished marble stone a rosy pinkish shade of white mottled with veins of darker gray. Many Star Knight cadets were there, practicing with weapons, learning how to use the magic armor and magic sword that every Star Knight was given, getting coaching and training in combat from the teachers, or gaining practice in casting the spells of their color. The cadets of each of the five human colors tended to keep to themselves, and each had their own special slice of the room carved out, where the other colors hesitated to intrude upon. White was in the center of the room, from which Glorissa could gaze out in all directions. She looked left, right, and then back at the bullseye. I’ll even miss that bullseye, although I never hit it. I will miss this place so much!

  Glorissa walked to her dorm room at the Academy. The halls of the Academy, like all the buildings within the Star Knights Estate, were made of the same clean polished pale pink-white marble as the training center. Her dormitory and her dorm room were the same pink-white stone. The room was small and square: it was a single; she was a third-year student, and mostly only the first and second years were forced to have roommates. The room was simple and had almost no clutter. Her neatly made bed, complete with perfectly folded white sheets and white blankets, a small wooden dresser, and a large mirror on the wall, were the only objects within it.

  Her day to leave had been scheduled for tomorrow, and she had been putting off packing up her things and really getting ready. Some part of her, a big part, did not want to leave, and she knew it, too. But I have to find my sister! I must find Leigh! My friends will miss me terribly, but I miss my sister even worse! Where is she? What happened to her?

  Glorissa steeled herself, took out the large cylindrical bag in which she planned to carry her belongings on her journey, and began calculating how much space it could hold, which would be the best things she should bring, and what was the most logical and efficient way to position those things within the bag to maximize how much it could carry and the way its weight would be distributed onto her shoulders when slung across her back. Her magical armor and magic sword that the Star Knights gave to each cadet, like the silver pendant necklace with moons and stars that marked her as a member of the Order of the Star Knights, were things that she would be wearing at all times, other than when asleep at an inn or having made camp, so she would not need to pack those. She would begin her voyage on horseback and had already spent most of her savings to buy a horse for herself, but she had no idea where her adventure would take her, and she had to prepared to go on foot at any time, with nothing other than what she could carry in her bag around her back.

  A Star Knight is always prepared for anything! Glorissa thought. Then she frowned, and began tugging at her hair, and rubbing it together in her fingers. I hope I’m prepared for this, she thought, all bravado and confidence gone, and now she could see, clearly, what her future life would be like, not romantic adventure, but a lot of hard work, digging and looking for clues about her sister and, probably, not finding anything, just as the others the Star Knights had sent to look for her had found nothing, no clue, not a trace. Glorissa looked at the mirror that hung in her dorm room. Her body was thin and slender, her height a little bit shorter than average but not unusual, her frame sleight yet lean with strong muscle from constant weapons training. Her skin was a light shade of walnut-brown, while her hair was a darker shade of chestnut-brown. Her hair flowed down her shoulders to her elbows and all the way down her back, loose and curly in the back and sides but done into fine straight braids above her forehead, so that the braids fell in front of her eyes like a curtain, with her gaze just barely peeking out from beneath her hair.

  People sometimes wondered how she could see through her hair, but it was easy, and she wanted to look nice. But, as she looked at the mirror, she saw that she was frowning, the frown cutting deep curve-lines around her mouth and eyes, etching lines into her otherwise smooth, young, supple and unblemished face. She also noticed the huge clump of her own hair that she was holding in her hand, twisting and turning it within her fingers. Today, right now, she did not look nice. She looked upset, and she also looked afraid. I’m sacrificing my whole life as a Star Knight to go look for my sister. Do I really want to do this? Yes! I want to do this! This is what I want! Don’t doubt! Have faith in God!

  Glorissa suddenly let go of her hair and stood upright, sharp and straight. She placed one hand over her heart and raised her other hand up and held her palm open, making the Star Knights salute at herself, which she could see reflected in the mirror. Yes, I am ready. I will be ready. I’m a Star Knight! Her frown eased, and she smiled, her teeth the same shade of white as her perfectly clean clothes. She began to take her most valuable possessions, the things she knew she must bring, out of her dresser drawers and to place them on her bed in a straight line, so that she could assess them all and design the best way to pack them: her lucky dagger, a friendship bracelet that Jaeny had bought her, a silver ring that she had won for being the top student in a class, a small carved stone figurine of a cat that her sister had given her. This made it easier: she could just pack, and move, and act, with a sense of purpose, and this sense of purpose filled her mind and guided her actions, leaving no room within her thoughts, and no need within her actions, for any doubt. With precision, she mapped out her belongings, planned how to fill her bag, and started to put stuff into it.

  Tomorrow is the day. I leave the Star Knights and begin my journey tomorrow. And I will be ready.