Chapter 1

It was a Sunday afternoon. Harmony was curled up on the sofa with a book when there came a knock on the door. Her dad, Entity, went to get it.

A man in a jet-black uniform stood in the doorway, sporting two blue horns and a welcoming smile, hands held behind his back. Entity nearly slammed the door right back into his face, but the man reached out a hand and stopped it.

"Wh-What did I do?" Entity's voice was trembling as if he saw a spider in a corner.

"Why, if there's anything you did, that was raising a wonderful daughter! Is little Harmony home?"

His eyes locked with Harmony's for a split second. She sank back into the book, though her attention was still focused on him.

Entity turned around to face her. "Honey? It's for you."

"Actually," said the man, "is Mrs. Frosting home? I would love to discuss this matter with the whole family."

Entity nodded. "Darling!" he called.

Frosting came out from her study. "What is it?" And then she saw the man in the doorway. "Oh. What's the matter, officer?"

They sat down around the tea table. Harmony put her book face-down on the sofa. The man introduced himself as Sky, from the Ministry of State Security. Frosting made tea.

"I am here on behalf of the the Middle School for Young Officers in Training Affiliated to the Ministry of State Security." Sky began. "I know it's a mouthful. We usually call it Ministry Affiliate.

"Your daughter is about to graduate elementary school. We are giving her an offer to attend middle school here."

"Really?" Frosting burst out.

"You are not mistaken. Our administration sees potential in a student like Harmony."

For the second time, he looked into Harmony's eyes.

Harmony felt compelled to say something lest Sky thought she was an idiot. "Uh, what's Ministry Affiliate?" She asked.

"It's a special school ran by the Ministry of State Security," Sky said. "Where you can start early in your training to become an officer there. We will teach you things you'd never learn anywhere else." Sky took another sip of tea. "You get to participate in missions, catching spies that are damaging our national security. And finally you can graduate into becoming an officer just like me."

Oh. Harmony had heard about the mystical school before, of its prestige and its secrecy. Everyone wants to attend Ministry Affiliate.

Not Harmony though.

"I was supposed to go to Flower City Middle School with my friend," Harmony said.

"Sugarcane? I just visited her yesterday. She agreed to attend."

Harmony caught her parents eyeing each other.

"…I can see why," Frosting said finally. "Sugarcane is a bright kid."

Harmony coughed.

"Of course, you're amazing too! That's why uncle Sky came to you too!" Frosting added immediately with no genuineness in her voice.

"I'm going wherever Sugarcane is going," Harmony said.

"Do we have time to consider?" Entity asked.

"Of course," Sky produced a booklet from his pocket. It was an introduction of the school. "When you're ready to attend, come to our office" — he pointed to an address written on the back cover — "with your ID, elementary school diploma, and a document photo receipt. Make sure to take a new photo. The deadline is August 1st. Please don't tell anyone else about it until then."

"Thank you, officer," Frosting said.

"I should be thanking you." Sky got up and headed for the door. "Bye! I look forward to teaching you." The cup of tea was emptied.

"Well," Harmony said, "let's go get the photo taken!"

"Let's not rush things," Frosting said. "Take some time to consider it."

"What is there to consider?" Harmony picked the book back up from the sofa and headed for her room. "Sugarcane is going."

"Do you know what that school is?" Frosting stood up and walked after her. "They all call it Spy School."

"I think I've heard of it," Harmony set the book facedown on her desk.

"It's known for its rigorous coursework. A lot of people end up quitting. I remember a year when the graduating class had only half the kids they started with."

Now Harmony was reasonably worried. "Where do these kids go then?"

"Back to normal middle and high schools. Although, because what Spy School teaches are a lot different, a lot of them have trouble catching up."

"Really?"

"So," Frosting continued, "all I'm saying is to take more consideration before making a significant choice like this."

Harmony thought about her future as a middle school dropout. But she also thought about going to school without Sugarcane. Without her warm and uplifting laughter, her gentle lecturing about class content Harmony didn't understand, and her confident authority in everything that brought Harmony doubt. She had been Harmony's best and only friend all throughout elementary school. Harmony didn't want to leave her.

"I'll go find Sugarcane at the playground."

Sugarcane was already there when Harmony arrived at the playground. She was sitting on a bench, legs crossed, too cool for any of the swings or slides; though Harmony noticed she wasn't on her usual bench, but another one, next to some shrubs. Harmony yelled at her, and she turned her head.

"Hey!" she yelled back, swiping her bangs out of her eyes.

"Hey," Harmony replied. "I want to ask you something. There's this guy who came to my home earlier today. He wanted me to attend this Ministry school and he said you agreed to go. Is that true?"

Sugarcane smiled. "Yes."

"So you're going?" Harmony asked.

"Of course!" Sugarcane said. "It's a nice school. It's way better than Flower City Middle School. Honestly, I'd say anyone who goes there is a loser. So glad we're not among them."

"This is great!" Harmony was hopping up and down.

"What is great?" Came a teasing voice from behind. Harmony turned around. It was Rose, leaned against a lamp post behind the shrubs.

Rose was a classmate of Harmony and Sugarcane's. Sugarcane didn't like her, so she refused to hang out with any of her friends either. Except that Rose was friends with nearly everyone else. Sugarcane would've been alone all the time if it weren't for Harmony, although Harmony suspected that she would've been fine with that.

"Oh, hey Rose," Sugarcane said without turning her head. "What's 'great' is that you're here, and you can play with things appropriate for your age." She waved at the swings and slides, around which a couple of kindergarteners were happily chasing each other.

Rose decided to ignore the comment. "What is this 'ministry school' I heard from you two?" She said with a face full of smug. "Some fancy version of a juvie?"

"Sitting in the grass getting your ass all wet and a bunch of bug bites, just to ask that basic question." Sugarcane shook her head. "This is why they didn't recruit you." She stood up, still facing away from Rose. "C'mon, Harmony, let's go. Talk somewhere without little spies snooping on us. Not that she's a good spy, but still."

Harmony got up to follow Sugarcane.

"Still latching yourself onto her butt, I see," Rose shouted behind them.

"Don't mind her," Sugarcane said. "You know you're my best friend."

When they were far enough away from Rose, Sugarcane finally turned excitedly to Harmony and said, "you're really coming! I said I'd only attend if you do!"

"Hey, I also said that!"

"Looks like they did go find you!"

"I'm so glad we'd still be together," Harmony said. "I wouldn't know what to do without you."

"Me neither."

The day of graduation finally came. The girls had received their diplomas, went to take pictures right after the ceremony, and returned to Harmony's home, where they bugged Entity to walk them over.

"Can't you wait until your mom gets home?" Entity said.

"But that would be way into the evening!" Harmony said. "Would they even still be open?"

"Aren't you eager," Entity sighed.

The school was a twenty-minute walk away from Harmony's — fifteen minutes from Sugarcane's. "That's close enough for you to go to school yourselves," Entity said to them.

"I can make a detour to Sugarcane's and we can walk the rest of the way together," Harmony said. "It's only a couple minutes longer."

"That sounds great!" Sugarcane said. Entity was falling behind them.

They reached the address. It was a large campus, surrounded by barbed wires and gray walls. Large, tall, foreboding buildings loomed down at them, with dark windows and paint peeling off the walls. Harmony must've passed this building many times in her thirteen years of living in Flower City, but it had never occurred to her that this place was a school. A juvie, more like. Oh no, was Rose correct?

A security guard stood at the intersection, guarding the road leading to the gate. "State your business," he ordered.

Harmony turned around to look at her dad, but he was lingering way behind. "I'll wait for you girls here!" He called out.

"We're here to sign up for Ministry Affiliate," Sugarcane answered the guard.

"IDs."

Sugarcane already had hers ready while Harmony fumbled for her own. The guard tapped each card against a machine in his hands.

"Who's that guy?" He gestured towards Entity.

"My dad," Harmony answered.

"Alright," the guard stepped away, beckoning them forward.

They reached the school's gate. The only indicator that it was a school was a tiny metal plaque, silver on the gray wall, bearing its absurdly long name. A gatekeeper sat in the security office by the door.

"New students?" He said. "You're very early. It's not even July yet. May I see your IDs, please?"

Again, Sugarcane already had hers ready. Harmony had decided to put hers back in the folder during the walk.

After checking their IDs, the gatekeeper pressed some controls, and the small human gate next to the big sliding gate swung open. "Right there," he said. "You'll see it."

They entered to find a clearing of dusty concrete tiles between them and the main buildings, all dusty gray and tall. Against the side of the building was a single canopy tent labeled New Student Registration. In the shade of the tent, behind the table, sat none other than Sky himself.

"Sky!" Harmony yelled out in excitement and ran towards him. Sugarcane followed close behind.

"Hi!" Sky replied. "So good to see you here! Documents, please."

Harmony gave her folder to Sky, realized that her ID was still in her hand, and handed that over as well. Sugarcane, however, had put her ID back into her folder during the run and simply handed over the entire thing.

Sky went to work, checking their IDs against their diplomas and against a list he had on the table. He typed into a laptop, shoved their photo receipts in a bag, returned their documents, and typed some more.

"You're all set!" He smiled. "Orientation day is on September the first. I expect to see you then!"

"Thank you," Harmony and Sugarcane said. Harmony raised her head and gave the imposing building behind the tent one last look.

"This is actually the high school part," Sky explained. "To get to the middle school, you turn right immediately after coming in. There will be people showing you the way by then, so don't worry."

They said their "thank you" again and left. Harmony took one last look at the imposing buildings in the campus. She would spend the next three years here with Sugarcane. Six years, if they also attend high school here. Ministry Affiliate, the best school in the city, and arguably the whole country.

She was now a part of it, and Sugarcane was by her side.

They passed the guard, greeted Entity, and started for home. Harmony suggested they go to Sugarcane's and then back to her home so she could familiarize herself with the route.

At dinner, Harmony excitedly told her mom about her enrollment. Frosting merely nodded, not looking up from her bowl. "Just remember," she said, "sometimes, the teachers and the schools make mistakes too. Nothing they teach you is an absolute fact. Sometimes they're wrong about things, so you need to judge for yourself. We can also help you; just ask us."

"Yeah, yeah," Harmony said, not paying attention.

"I'm being serious. If you're having any questions, or doubts, just tell us and we can answer it."

Harmony merely rolled her eyes. Her parents were always acting like they're her friend, and it was really corny.

"Or if you feel too pressured and want to transfer. I have teacher friends who would be happy to tutor you if you need help, so if you transfer out and have trouble catching up…"

"I'm not going to transfer out," Harmony said. "School hasn't even started! Have some faith in me!"

Harmony wondered why her mom was so worried. Did she know someone who attended the school and had to drop out? She looked at her dad, but Entity was being quiet as usual.

"I'm full," Harmony scraped up the last bit of rice in her bowl and headed for the kitchen. It didn't matter if her mom kept worrying. She had Sugarcane. She would be fine.

September the first happened to be a Monday. Harmony woke up early, even before her mom had left for work, and asked her to send a message to Sugarcane's mom saying that she was leaving. She stuffed a re-heated bun into her mouth, triple-checked her school bag, and set off for Sugarcane's.

"Be safe!" Frosting said as she left.

Harmony arrived just in time to see Sugarcane coming out from her apartment building. They greeted each other and continued on their way.

The guard was no longer present at the intersection. Instead, a barrier was set up on the lane, and a row of traffic police hurried around, directing the flood of cars that had taken over.

"Don't loiter!" Some of them yelled. "Drop off and go!"

Some of the students were pulling huge suitcases around. High schoolers, judging by their height and how they radiated maturity. They were kind of scary to look at.

"Don't cross the road here," an officer standing near the intersection put up an arm in front of them. "Turn right on this side and cross in front of the school entrance."

They did as she told them. At the entrance, the car gate was completely open as high-schoolers carted their suitcases in. Someone, presumably an upperclassman, was holding up a big sign that said "New students come here!" And they did just that.

"Are you seventh graders?" The upperclassman asked.

"Yes," they replied. Harmony twisted her backpack to the front, about to take out her ID card.

"Head right in," the upperclassman said. "Turn right, and you'll see a tent where you can check which class you're in."

"Where did all the ID checks go?" Harmony wondered as they walked.

"Too many people, I suppose," Sugarcane said.

A teacher sat behind the table under the tent. The girls handed over their ID cards and stated their names.

"Harmony… you're in class five. Sugarcane — also class five!"

"Yes!" Harmony jumped excitedly. "We're in the same class!"

"You'd wager Sky pulled strings?"

Grade seven class five was fortunately on the first floor of the main building. It was dimly-lit, with floor tiles that had once been white. Posters on the wall bore portraits of famous ancient people and their quotes, but they were too faded to read. Unusually clean spots on the windows outlined the stickers that had been torn off and the residual rubbed clean. At the front, the teacher's desk sat on an elevated platform, where a huge stack of boxes lay, presumably textbooks, waiting to be handed out. The blackboard hung on the wall, the bottom groove caked in chalk dust. The projector screen was retracted, leaving the default blue screen blasted straight onto the blackboard. Forty or so wiggly, rusted desks cramped into the small space, and some kids were already sitting in them. Some lifted their heads as Harmony and Sugarcane walked in, but their interests faded when they realized they were only fellow students, not the teacher.

Sugarcane found two spots for them right next to the door and they sat down next to each other. A girl with thick, long hair was right behind Harmony.

Sugarcane turned around and said "hi" to her. She lifted her head, and that was when Harmony noticed her eyes were of different colors, one blue and one pink.

Heterochromia, or two souls? Her ears were drooped so Harmony couldn't check the color of her inner ear.

And then she saw, on her forehead, she had a third eye. Yellow, with a black iris.

"Hi," she said back.

"I'm Sugarcane. This is Harmony. Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Cosmo."

Cosmo. "That's a pretty name," Harmony said.

She felt a weird tingling sensation in her mind as Cosmo looked at her. It felt familiar, though she couldn't remember when she last felt it.

"Thanks. Harmony is a good name too." Her third eye blinked. So it really was an eye.

"What's up with your eyes, if you don't mind?" Sugarcane asked. "I've never seen someone with different colored eyes before."

"Oh," Cosmo flashed a smile. "I have two souls."

"Whoa. How?"

"Apparently I was supposed to be twins. But I ate the other kid or something," Cosmo rolled her eyes, including the third, which she pointed a finger to. "Probably how I got this thing too. I can't actually see out of it. It's just there, being creepy."

"I don't think it's creepy at all!" Sugarcane said.

"Really," Cosmo crossed her arms.

"Well, maybe not," Sugarcane admitted. "But now I know what it is."

A new student arrived at the door. "Is this class five?" He asked.

"Sure is," Sugarcane immediately turned towards him. "I'm Sugarcane, this is Harmony, and this…"

"Cosmo."

"Hi, I'm Sunny." He walked over to the seat next to Cosmo, behind Sugarcane. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Not at all," Cosmo said. She scooted over a little bit, the chair making a horrible scraping sound against the floor as Sunny settled down.

They spent the rest of the time chatting. Well, Sugarcane, Cosmo, and Sunny at least. Harmony didn't speak a lot; she just watched. They caught Sunny up to Cosmo's eye situation. Sunny lived about an hour's drive away, and Cosmo had to take the subway to and from school. They had both been visited by Sky to attend the school.

The classroom slowly filled up.

At eight o'clock sharp, a teacher walked inside and the chatter died down. It was none other than Sky Elmwood Dazzle himself, in his MSS uniform, holding a cup of coffee that said "#1 teacher."

"Good morning, class five!" He said cheerfully, setting the cup down on the table.

"Sky definitely pulled strings," Harmony whispered to Sugarcane.

"No I didn't," Sky had apparently heard that. "They go off by who went to whose homes. And that means I had met all of you before. Nice to meet you again, and I hope we have a great three years together.

"Now, I'd like all of you to get in a line outside of the classroom. We're going to the soccer field for the opening ceremony."

Some kids audibly groaned, but a line was quickly assembled. Sky led them to the soccer field and placed them between classes four and six. Luckily enough, the sun was behind them, so they didn't have to stare into it as the principal gave his speech.

Harmony stood right behind Sugarcane. The principal was a middle-aged man. Harmony supposed he was also in the MSS, though he wasn't wearing a uniform, but a suit instead, which means he didn't have a hat on, exposing his bald head for all to see. They couldn't make out a word he was speaking, so they just stared and laughed at his head.

"You see that patch of light on the wall? It moves around." Sugarcane pointed. "His head reflected the light over!"

Harmony snickered.

"Hey," came a voice behind them. Harmony turned in horror to find Sky standing right next to her. "As a man with little hair myself, I didn't appreciate that. You're not gonna be seeing the principal every day like you do me and I'm worried." He tipped his hat up to reveal a mohawk, with the other parts of his head shaved to the scalp. "Once you're done laughing about this, I hope you'll leave me alone for the rest of our acquaintance."

"Sorry, sir," Sugarcane said, and Harmony quickly followed suit.

After they returned to the air-conditioning of the classroom, Sky unpacked the box on the table. It contained a stack of cards.

"Here are your student cards. Come up here and find which one has your name on it. You'll be needing this to swipe into the school from now on, as well as the cafeteria."

Sugarcane went up first and found both of their cards. She also went up when Sky asked for hands in helping him give everyone their textbooks.

Harmony soon amassed a big pile. Language and literature, math, physics, chemistry, biology, geography… and politics. That was new. She spent a good while writing her name and class number down on all of them. Sugarcane settled back in her seat and did the same.

At last, Sky had one final announcement to make.

"Tomorrow you will have an entrance exam," he said.

Voices of "what?" "no!" and "aaaarrrrgggghhhhh…" echoed throughout the room.

"Don't worry! It's just here to see where everyone's starting from. We're not even gonna return it back to you after we grade it. Don't be stressed about it."

"Oh no," Harmony said, perhaps a little too loudly. "They're gonna separate us! These classes are temporary; they're gonna split us into new classes based on the test results!"

"Isn't that illegal for public schools?" Sugarcane replied.

"Exactly!" Sky raised his voice. "That's why that's not what we're doing! You're all staying in this class. We just need to know who's a Math Olympiad kid and who can't count to ten on their fingers! Although," he added, "I hope everyone can count to ten here."

"What subjects are gonna be on the test?" Cosmo asked.

"I don't know. I hadn't seen the questions. But they could be anything. There's bound to be questions about things you never heard of before, and that's okay."

"Do you have any preparation materials?" Sunny asked.

"No. It's just an assessment of your current level, not how well you can cram."

"We should cram the new textbooks, got it," Cosmo said.

"That's not — whatever," Sky threw his hands up. "Just make sure to get enough sleep."

On that note they were dismissed. It was only eleven o'clock. They packed up the books — the backpack was visibly heavier — and waved goodbye to Cosmo and Sunny at the gate. Harmony invited Sugarcane to her home for lunch, but Sugarcane said her mom had already made lunch for her.

"When did she tell you?"

"Oh, she texted me just now."

"How?"

"Wait, I never told you? I have a phone now. For middle school." Sugarcane pulled it out of her pocket. It was modern-looking, perhaps the latest model of StarPhone, and had an adorable phone case featuring kittens and puppies.

"Awww, no fair! My parents didn't even mention giving me a phone."

"Then you can bring it up. Tell them it's dangerous for you to walk twenty minutes to and from school every day with no way to contact them."

"You're right," Harmony said.

They waved each other goodbye at Sugarcane's apartment building.

During lunch, Harmony told her parents about orientation day and the entrance exam tomorrow.

"Wow, they get stricter every year," Frosting said. "I don't think they used to do entrance exams for seventh graders."

"Lucky us," Harmony said.

"There is still time to quit," Frosting said.

"I'm not going to quit," Harmony was getting tired at her mom's lack of faith. "Not unless you can get Sugarcane to quit with me."

Frosting sighed, but Entity was being surprisingly cheerful. "I have a present for you!"

He pulled a box out of the trench coat he wore all year long. It was a mobile phone, same model as Sugarcane's. "Since you're in middle school and all grown up," he smiled.

"Really?" Harmony stared at it, wide-eyed. "Wow."

"The word you're looking for is 'thanks.'"

"Um-hm," Harmony nodded.

Entity put the phone box on the shelf behind him. "Lunch first."

"You're spoiling her so much," Frosting shook her head.

Harmony spent the afternoon setting up her phone at Sugarcane's. They created accounts and added each other on StarChat, and spent about an hour finding a perfect wallpaper so they could match.

On Sugarcane's desk, the new textbooks were strewn about, all of them open on unit one. Had she been studying before Harmony got here?

Harmony suddenly remembered to ask. "When I was talking to Cosmo, I felt this weird thing in my head. I remember feeling it before. Have you?"

"Oh, that. She's a mind-reader."

"That's it!" Harmony remembered. The feeling came from your mind being read.

"Most mind-readers won't let you feel that, though," Sugarcane said. "Maybe she just hasn't been trained."

Harmony wondered what thoughts of hers Cosmo heard. There was a mind-reader on their class in elementary school too, but like everyone else, she didn't hang out with Harmony and Sugarcane. Harmony didn't really like the idea of someone listening to her thoughts. Maybe she should stay away from Cosmo.

Late into the afternoon, Harmony's phone buzzed. Her own phone! It felt surreal. "It's my mom," she said as she answered it. "I have to go home now. See you tomorrow!"

They hugged each other goodbye like they always did, and Harmony was on her way home. Tomorrow would be the actual first day of school. Harmony would do her best, exam or no exam.