Mariana shivered. She was normally immune to the cold, but she couldn't tell the difference between her cold and her fear. Fear of what was yet to become of her. Fear of what would happen if they all knew the truth, knew that she was not a loyal Silver.

It hurt to lie. It hurt to lie to everyone.

Mariana hated lies. She hated the insincere ones. She hated the way everyone lied for their reputation, their supposed purity.

She had to lie, it was inevitable. She had to do it, to save her from possible execution. Heck, she had to watch her thoughts as well around Whispers like the queen. That same queen who gave birth to the worst king they'd ever had, the dirty double-crosser himself, Maven Calore, King of Norta, Flame of the North.

It was cold outside, so cold even Mariana was shivering. Ironic, wasn't it, that their family was made up of Shivers that never seemed to fear the cold.

They feared, all right. They all feared the king. Except a stubborn few, and Mariana was one of them.

It was tonight, she decided, to venture off to the heavily radioactive land of Naercey, and end all the lies, all the facades that were loyal to the Silver elite. She had a death wish, she did. At least she'd die a less painful and humiliating death than the Bowl of Bones.

It was a stupid idea, but there was no time to think about it as she set off into the Red territory, into the underground tunnels that led to all sorts of places.

There was no going back, no plan B. She was going to end this torturous life of lying and betrayal. She would have peace.

"Where are you going, Mari? Where do you go?" The nagging voices in her head chided her as she walked along the tunnel that led to certain death by radiation. "This was a bad idea, you know? This was the worst idea you ever had. This was-"

"Shut up!" She yelled aloud to no one. "I don't need your words. I'm going to die tonight, and you're dying with me! I can't stand living like this anymore, I can't stand living in fear! Just- shut up!"

"Well, what do we have here? Don't you know radiation means certain death?" a voice laughed, coming from the scaffolding of the tunnel, "and it seems like she's insane too!"

The words were sharp as knives, but the voice that said it was mocking, not a good sign.

She tried to stand tall, face the mysterious voice coming from above. "Then how are you here? Why are you alive?"

Silence. Mariana knew she had struck a weakness, from her previous experiences listening to the friendly debates in the court. She took control over her emotions, running to the end of the tunnel.

"Dammit. We're being found out." The voice muttered above her, but unbeknownst to whoever the voice belonged to, Mariana heard everything.

"Who's there?" Another voice asked, trembling slightly, maybe in fear. She recognized that fear. It was the same fear Reds had when they saw her passing by.

It was a Red.

What were Reds doing in these tunnels? The tunnels that led to certain death? Unless...

No. It couldn't be. Reds were intimidated by Silvers, weren't they? Reds couldn't have lied. They were loyal to the Silvers, they were given job opportunities. Why?

They weren't loyal, as she wasn't.

They were the Scarlet Guard, and their leader was about to kill her.

"What on Earth is a Silver doing here?" A haughty voice asked rudely.

"A Silver?" The first voice, which Mariana finally recognized as the voice of Diana Farley, the leader of the Scarlet Guard interrogated. "How did whoever it is get through you? Why didn't you attack? Was it- oh, no. It's a Gliacon."

"I can hear you! Show yourselves!" Mariana gathered her last bit of bravery and shouted.

"Show ourselves? As you wish, Your Silverness. Let's grant her her wish, shan't we?"

The Scarlet Guard surrounded her from all directions, Farley in the lead. Soon enough, a knife was at her throat.

"Aren't you the one who tortured me?" Farley hissed, voice filled with hate and anger. Mariana was famed for looking strikingly like her aunt, only without the signs of age.

"I... I didn't-" she gasped as the knife edged closer to her throat, "I... would never harm..."

"You would never harm?" Farley asked in disbelief, voice mocking and cruel. "You froze my blood, and now you say you would never harm?"

"It... wasn't me..." She gasped, and Farley released her and studied her carefully, knife in hand.

"You look just like her," she commented, sneering at the other girl's pathetic cowering, "but you say you aren't the Sentinel?"

"I'm not ma'am, she's just a relative of mine."

"Are you sure we can trust her, Mare?" Farley asks the figure in the red cloak next to her.

Mare. Mariana was sure she's heard the name somewhere, but she wasn't sure where.

"I think we shouldn't trust another Silver. Remember what happened with Mavey?" A deep voice, filled with an aristocratic tone reminded. She recognized the voice this time, it was the former prince, Tiberius Calore the seventh, also known as Cal.

Mariana never knew Cal, as she wasn't the poor girl, her elder sister, to prepare for Queenstrial. Neva was a skilled Shiver, and she could draw on the moisture in the air to make deadly spikes. She was the perfect Gliacon, unlike Mariana, the disappointment of the family, not disowned yet because of her resemblance to her aunt.

The figure in the cloak- Mare- removed their hood, and Mariana nearly gasped loudly from shock. It was Mareena Titanos, the Red Queen as the Silvers knew her.

The Little Lightning Girl.