Sejeong and I walk through heavy wooden double doors into an ancient-looking library. Rolling ladders are perched against walls of bookshelves, balconies that zigzag along the second floor contain small seating areas, and the ceilings arch high above, plastered in intricate patterns. The filtered light coming from the enormous stained-glass windows highlights the dust from the worn fabric and leather nooks and makes the air sparkle, giving the whole room a magical feel.

I've been trying to talk to Sejeong about what happened in mind games yesterday, but every time I attempt to bring it up, she just tells me to wait.

We walk past a row of tall bookshelves and climb a spiral staircase to the second floor. The library is virtually empty, not that I think everyone would be racing to get here on a Sunday, bu then again, who can really tell with a school like this? We make our way to the rounded back right corner of the second floor and Sejeong stops.

"Pay attention," she says as she checks the surroundings to make sure no one is looking, even though we are entirely shielded by a bookcase. She pulls two bluish books from the second shelf, a thick torn brown from the third shelf, and a faded red on the fourth shelf. Then she pushes the center of a carved leaf on the dark wood molding and the bookcase pops open to form a door.

My eyes widen. "That is so freaking cool," I whisper.

I make a mental note of the books she used and which leaf she pressed. Sejeong holds the bookcase door open for me, and I enter to discover a cozy little room with a rug and two armchairs around a table stacked with books.

"What is this place?" I ask in awe. A secret room behind a bookcase? Jisoo would die of excitement over this. She's not only a book lover, but was also the type of kid who would talk to an odd-shaped hole in a tree, convinced that fairies were hiding in it.

'Our private study," Sejeong says. "Each dorm room is assigned one." She grabs a mox of matches off the table. "They're scattered all over the library. Of course, you would never leave anything secret in here. They're clearly not impossible to break into. But we mostly leave each other's spaces alone to avoid retaliation." Sejeong lights the candles in the wall sconce, brightening the little study. "Besides, they give you a place to think without someone reading your facial expression every two seconds."

"Not to mention the stone walls make them virtually sound-proof," Sehun says, sliding through the door right before Sejeong closes it. He must have been following us, and the fact that I didn't notice worries me; I wonder what else I'm not noticing.

Sejeong scowls at him, which only makes him put on his most innocent expression.

"Awe, don't be mad, Sejeongie," he coos.

"I most certainly will be mad." Her look is icy. "That was a sneak, horrible trick, sending us to the parlor. You could have come up with another way to get information you were after."

Sehun slides up to her. "You would never have agreed. And you have to admit that if I had been there, the interactions wouldn't have been as revealing."

She pushes his hand off her elbow. "I really don't care, Sehun."

"You do care. You also know that sending Suzy by her herself wouldn't have the same effect," he says.

"But if it did, you'd have been happy to let me take the heat? Gee, thanks," I pouted.

"Apparently he'll do anything that benefits his strategy," Sejeong says. "He's practically cunning these days."

"Don't be cruel, Sejeong. I said I was sorry. Look, I'll make it up to you. I promise."

"And how do you plan to make up for the fact that Jennie said I seem less neutral every day?" Sejeong asks, and Sehun's face falls.

All of his earlier playfulness disappears. "Hang on. Back up."

"You heard me," Sejeong says, and I desperately want to ask about these political divisions, but I know this is the time.

"Luckily, Suzy shifted the conversation and it ended," Sejeong says, and Sehun looks at me, not like he's grateful but like I'm the root of the problem.

"Okay, Sejeong. We'll fix this," he says in a reassuring voice. "But in the meantime, let me try to make it up to you. Anything you want."

Her stubborn expression wavers slightly. "Anything?"

"Yes," he says, and with some dramatic resignation, he adds, "Even my sword trick."

Some of the tension in her face disappears. There is a long moment where they just look at each other, at the end of which he smiles.

"Oh, shut up," Sejeong says. "The least you can do is not gloat about it." And I realize they just had an entire exchange using nothing but facial expressions, which I only caught a silver of.

Sehun grabs two pillows from the armchairs and hands them to us. Sejeong sits down on the rug near the wall and places her pillow behind her back. I do the same thing opposite of her, and Sehun plops down lazily in the middle of the floor, leaning against one of the cushy chairs.

Sejeong levels her eyes to me. "We need to discuss what happened last night, but first we need to set some ground rules. I know all about that agreement you both made without me, and I have to say that you're not only reckless, but I honestly don't know which one of you gets carried away with ridiculous notions faster. Just the same, it's done. And whether I like it or not, we've each covered for one another somehow, so we're in this situation together. Suzy, you were right to ask to ask that we tell you things in return for your personal information. Secrets should always be traded at equal value. Fair is fair. But don't think for a second that the trust we're establishing is unbreakable. If you betray us in any way, you will regret it way more than we will."

I look at Sehun and back to Sejeong. I don't doubt that for a second. "I understand."

"And the tutoring you asked for," she continues. "I'll help. Sehun and I have different strengths in analysis and you would  benefit from learning from both of us. Besides, asking for tutoring when you need it isn't shameful; it's smart."

I breathe deeply. "Please. I'll take all the help I can get. The last thing I need is to pick a fight and then embarrass myself in class."

"You embarrassing yourself might be unavoidable," Sejeong says, and Sehun chuckles. She gives him a warning look. "Your training in a few areas clearly needs work. But we can't afford for people to think you have weaknesses, either. They will attack them. Or exploit them like some people."

Sehun makes a face like "Who? Me?" which Sejeong pays no attention to.

"So then where should we start? You guys know better than me who might have motives," I say.

"Yes," Sejeong agrees. "We'll tell you what we know. But we also need to talk through the sequence of events surrounding the murder. Lots of people could potentially have motives, but only some will make sense in context."

"Taehyung's murder happened right after you got in that fight with Jungkook," Sehun says.

I nod. "Right. I was thinking about that, too. Do you think the murder is somehow connected to Jungkook?"

"Yes, in a way," Sejeong says. "Jungkook and Taehyung are from the same Family, they were roommates, and they spent most of their time together. Whatever punishment Kang gave Jungkook because of your fight has kept him out of classes. So it's possible that someone knew Jungkook would be occupied and saw it as a good time to strike."

"I see," I say. "If they were always together, getting Taehyung alone was an unusual opportunity?"

"Exactly," Sejeong says.

"It's interesting that someone would try to frame you for killing another Eagle, though," Sehun says. "Your Family tends to stick together - through love, hate, infighting. They don't usually kill one of their own unless it was ordered and agreed upon." He looks at me in a strange way and it dawns on me what he's asking.

"Omo, no. Definitely no. I was not sent to kill Taehyung." Asking someone to assassinate someone else in your Family is a thing? I want to laugh, it's so crazy, except that apparently, I'm part of a Family that has been known to commit contract killings and I feel sickened by it.

"We know you weren't," Sejeong says, and rolls her eyes at Sehun, "otherwise we wouldn't be helping you."

"My point is," Sehun says, "that whoever did this might have a reason to think that could make Jungkook believe that you would kill Taehyung."

I push my hair back, not because I need to, but just to clear my thoughts. I went from living in a town where I way too much about everyone to being in a castle where I don't even know who I am. It's like trying to figure out the rules of American football when you're already on the field with the ball in your hand and have twenty players running at you. "Okay, I see what you're saying. Someone thinks my family and Jungkook's have some kind of long-standing grudge or grievance - potentially explaining why he punched me, and also making it believable that might retaliate by kill his friend. Except, if there's a problem between our immediate families, I don't know anything about it."

Sejeong looks at me weirdly, like she's not sure what to think. "Well, it's likely that whoever set you up is aware of some sort of issue. It's just hard to believe something so serious would have been kept from you."

I'm starting to think that everything serious has been kept from me my entire life. "So then we start by looking at people who might know something about me? Honestly, I'm not sure who that would be besides . . ."

"Jungkook?" Sehun says, finishing my thought.

I hesitate. If I tell them Jungkook thinks I look like someone, and that the only person I've ever looked like is eomma, I'll be revealing practically all I know. On the other hand, keeping his observation to myself probably isn't going to help me survive this. "He said I look like one of my family members, a dead one."

"Huh," Sejeong says.

"What?" I say, watching her reason through something.

"Jungkook is the firstborn in the Eagle Family and is in line to lead it one day," she says slowly, like she's still putting the pieces together. "But you, you don't recognize any of the other students, which, combined with your half-American, means you probably grew up largely outside of Strategia society. It's just weird that the future leader of the Eagle Family would feel he knows you well enough to come after you, while you're totally unaware of who he is."

"However," Sehun continues, "if Jungkook recognized the resemblance to your relative, then other students and teachers might, too. More people here might know you than you realize." 

I know Sehun said that I'm part of the Eagle Family, and as difficult as that is to believe, I can only assume there must be some truth to it, given that I was admitted to this school But until this moment, the possibility of being one of them - a Strategia - always felt like some far-removed idea that didn't really have anything to do with me. " Okay, well, if you're right, and someone other than Jungkook recognizes me, who would benefit from pitting me against him?"

"The Tigers," Sehun says like it's the most obvious thing int he world. "Even living in America or Gangwon, you must know know much your Families hate each other."

"Yeah, of course," I say, even though I have no clue what he's talking about. But if the Tigers and the Eagles are known enemies, then my interactions with Taemin are starting to make a lot more sense. "I was asking who specifically from the Tigers. Do you think Taemin killed Taehyung and set me up?"

"Taemin could have a motive," Sejeong says. "But, with so many other Families falling over themselves to please the Tigers, it's hard to tell what Taemin does himself and what he manages to get others to do for him - Kai, Jennie, and a whole list of students could owe the Tigers favors or be in debt to them in some way that allows Taemin to manipulate them."

"What is the deal with Kai and Jennie?" I say, purposefully leaving the question open-ended.

"As I told you," Sejeong says, running her fingertips over the edge of the rug, "they're both in line to lead their Families one day, and therefore pretty secure in their own right. Still, both of their Families depend heavily on alliances with the Tigers. Especially Kai's. His Family ties to the Tigers don't go back as far as Jennie's so, so taking down key members in the Eagle Family would definitely serve him."

Sehun looks from me to Sejeong, and there is something in his expression that makes me think he's not totally comfortable with Sejeong giving me all this information.

"When I first met Kang," I say, "she told me that there had been a few deaths here recently."

Sejeong sighs. "It's no secret that the Tigers have been killing off the very best and most skilled members of Families who won't bow to them."

I immediately think of Lisa and how everyone says she's one of the most skilled in our class. Maybe she has more reason to be standoffish than I originally thought. Sejeong, too.

"In recent years it's spilled into this school - some students have been killed off before they even graduate," Sejeong continues. "This place was always respected by all the Families as a safe space. Sure, there were death now and again, but nothing like this."

"So if everyone suspects the Tigers are behind the student deaths, why isn't anyone doing anything about it?" I ask, which wins me another smile from Sejeong.

"Who's going to stop them?" Sehun says.

"Well, I . . . I don't know," I say.

"Exactly," he says, and we're all silent for a second.

"What about Rose?" I say. "How's she involved? I mean, besides that stunt in the parlor last night, she also announced to everyone in the caf - dining hall that Sehu stole her knife last week."

Sejeong turns to her brother in horror. "Tell me you didn't."

"I didn't," he says, and they stare at each other until she's convinced he's telling the truth. Strange that he didn't tell her that. I thought they told each other everything.

"But from what I hear, Suzy flipped it on her by announcing the knife to everyone last night in the parlor," Sehun says. "Brilliant, by the way."

"Thanks," I smile. "So then you think Rose could be part of it or have a motive?"

"I'm not sure," Sehun says. "But she's at least partially in the know, which makes her suspicious."

"What about Jimin?" I ask. "He's a Tiger, right?"

Sejeong nods. "If Rose's involved, then Jimin is," she says. "For now, I think we should pull on that thread and see where it leads, since getting near Rose and Jimin is exponentially easier than getting near Taemin, Kai, and Jennie."

"By pull on that thread, what do you mean exactly?" I ask.

"That we follow her," Sehun says. "Try to find out what she knows."

My pulse quickens. "We?"

Sehun smirks. "You and I."

"What about Sejeong?" I say, and I can hear the nervousness in my voice. Following Rose does not sound easier than following Taemin.

"Afraid you can't handle all that time with me?" Sehun says, clearly finding the whole thing way too amusing.

I scoff. "More like I can't handle your ego."

He smirks. "Humility isn't a virtue."

"Neither is self-adoration," I say.

"It must be a weird feeling for you, Sehun," Sejeong interrupts, "not having a girl fall over you in two seconds. I think I'm going to enjoy this. And to answer your question, Suzy, I'll be working another angle. I'm much better at research than Sehun is."

"By better, she means more patient," Sehun says.

"By better, I mean better," Sejeong says, and Sehun smiles at me. If they were typical siblings, I could see him bribing her to help him with his homework and her asking him to teach her how to flirt. But there is nothing typical about them.