Kierston was quizzical about the gondolier. Why had he given her his red necktie? What was so special about it? She sat up in her bed as she heard footsteps going past her door in their dusty, little-used summer home. That meant that Remus was finally going to bed, which in turn meant that she could take a closer look at the mysterious necktie. She turned it over, feeling the silky material slip through her hands like water before something rough slid past her hands. Grabbing the irritating piece of cloth, Kierston could tell that it was a piece of paper the gondolier must have slipped in. 'If you're reading this message, then please come see me at the Queen's Palace at the Old City. There's a map on the other side of this message. Many thanks," the girl read. She felt her pulse quicken. Quietly, she snuck out of bed. 'Good thing I forgot to change into pajamas,' she thought as she wrote a note to her mother telling her that she had to go somewhere and not to tell Remus that she had left the house without him knowing. She grabbed the message, the necktie, her parents' visitor's guidebook, and her shoes as she silently crept out the door.

As she reached the location she had been aiming for, Kierston gasped. The huge palace easily dwarfed even the largest building in the city! Looking at the guidebook, she saw the only differences between the palace when it was last used and the modern-day one was that old one had a large pool that had long since dried up, and that the modern day one was in ruins except for its high turrets, adorned with statues of the Three Heroes. While she was gawking, the gondolier from that morning walked up behind her. "So. You came," the man remarked. Kierston jumped, then turned around guiltily. "Yes," she answered. "I couldn't bear not knowing." The gondolier nodded. "Good," he affirmed. "Curiosity is a good thing. I thought you might be, so this is why I asked you to come here. But be warned- it's a little creepy the first time." The girl's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything. Until the stone statues started moving. Then she screamed.