-eng- Ariel Academy-s Secret School Festival -r... Online

“That’s it, then,” Mira said softly. She had seventeen coins, but she wasn’t moving toward any door. She was watching him. “You could trade something else.”

And sometimes, the best way to earn a secret was to give one away. The rain had stopped. The mermaid statue no longer looked like she was crying. And for the first time since he’d arrived at Ariel Academy, Leo Chen didn’t feel like a mistake. -ENG- Ariel Academy-s Secret School Festival -R...

“They’re entry tokens,” Mira realized, after watching a student exchange three coins to enter a door that led to a personal cloud of starlight. “The more you collect, the deeper you can go.” “That’s it, then,” Mira said softly

They weren’t alone. All around the quad, students were emerging from shadows, each holding the same wooden token. Some wore elaborate costumes: a girl whose hair shifted colors like a kaleidoscope, a boy whose shadow moved independently of his body. Others wore pajamas, as if they’d been pulled straight from bed. “You could trade something else

Leo had never been invited. Last year, he’d waited in his dorm like a ghost, watching the lucky ones slip out after midnight in costumes that weren’t quite costumes. Feathers. Glitter that moved on its own. A boy with antlers growing from his temples that he claimed were “just for show.”

“Here,” Leo said, pressing all fourteen of his coins into the kid’s palm. “The door at the end. Go see what’s inside.”