Scarlet overhears Cassie and Sage talking about her from her new dorm room in the third/fourth year dorm. (Quick Cassie aside: She has both hair colors in this book. Silvery-white here at the beginning and pinkish-white later on. Ophelia is still orange.) One of the more interesting things they mention is that Leona's Wish Pendant burned out because she didn't use her special power. I'm not sure if this is a theory or a fact. Cassie mentions the flowers and Sage treats her like a little kid. I can see why Cassie gets so annoyed with this.
Then we meet Mira, Scarlet's new roommate, whose color is indigo. She's an actress and she first appears dressed as an old woman, trying to trick Scarlet into thinking she's Mira's grandmother. We learn a bit more about Scarlet here. Her parents are famous classical musicians who travel a lot and Scarlet initially got into the color black (later on referred to as the Starlings' least favorite color) to be rebellious. Her hair is naturally hot pink. She chose to apply to the school so she could live on her own.
Vega texts her and Scarlet meets up with her in the maze, which she doesn't like because she doesn't have the patience for it. (I'd probably feel the same.) Vega immediately starts blabbing about her wish mission and then the band, and Scarlet gets justifiably annoyed with her. After all, SHE was the one who texted Vega to talk about something, not hear about things she can't do and reminders that she's no longer a SD. Vega tells Scarlet about Cassie's flower theory. Then she makes a deal that she'll try to help Scarlet if Scarlet goes back to class.
Scarlet does the next day. As she sits alone at lunch, she flashes back to when she was told she was no longer a SD. It's Lady Cordial who showed Lady Stella the school records, but Scarlet doesn't believe she can possibly be lower than the others, because she's actually extremely powerful. Scarlet skips her next class and goes to her room to play her drums and clear her head. Then she uses her roommate's costume stash to disguise herself as a man and attempt to sneak into the records room. She succeeds...almost. She isn't caught, not even in the teachers' lounge, but the records room is closed.
That night, Scarlet can't sleep, so she goes to the Star Caves. She'd actually discovered one of the secret entrances a week before she learned she was a SD. This time, she happens to find a passage into the records room and confirms her theory. She tries to see Lady Stella in the morning, but runs into Cordial instead. She tells her there's been a mix-up, that her scores were switched with Ophelia's. Cordial is clearly shocked and offers to tell Lady Stella herself, which I firmly believe she didn't do, because something's totally up with her.
Scarlet meets up with Vega, who brings Cassie along, and tells them the news. Vega once again brings up the band, because there's a battle of the bands happening soon.
Now honestly, Vega is supposed to be the smart, driven one. How would she feel if she'd been the one kicked out? You cannot tell me she wouldn't have put her brilliant mind to fixing the mess and would have been equally irritated with anyone who tried to bring up trivial things. She's being written kind of out of character here, if you ask me. Like I'd have an easier time believing ANY other character would make this mistake, but not Vega.
Anyway, the botany lab contacts Cassie and the three girls go check it out. And Cassie was right. (Eat that, Vega. I love Vega, but her not believing Cassie annoyed me and I'm glad to see her intelligent, logical theory is correct.) The lab people say it's as if the flowers were grown in negative-energy-infused soil. While the girls are there, a Wish Orb is identified. Scarlet tries to go with them, but they convince (sort of) her to stay away from the meeting. But she's waiting when they come out and she's not happy to learn that Ophelia was chosen. Or that Lady Cordial said nothing about Scarlet. Scarlet is even less happy when both Vega and Cassie seem now convinced that she doesn't belong in SD.
Scarlet grumps her way through the rest of the day and a professor catches her off-guard. He wants her to continue reading from where Leona left off and Scarlet has no clue where that is. Leona unexpectedly helps her, then after class, she tells Scarlet she owes her. Naturally, she only did it because she wants Scarlet back in the band for the competition. Scarlet refuses and Leona tries to talk her into it, but Scarlet is smart. She throws Leona's nasty dismissal of her at the end of her book right back in her face just like she deserves. Why in the world should Scarlet help her when she kicked Scarlet out of the room and ignored her when she needed help? Damn right, Scarlet. You show her what an ass she is. Leona is speechless and Scarlet would have actually been happy with just an apology, but they're interrupted by a text and Leona races to the office. Scarlet follows. She sneaks into the office and hears the announcement that Ophelia's wish Orb has gone black, which means her mission is close to failure and there's "potential loss of a Starling." Leona offers to go help, which makes me like her a teeny tiny smidge, even though I'm sure her motivations are at least 25% selfish, but Lady Stella says the Wish Orb will choose. And it chooses the hidden Scarlet.
I'll keep the Wishworld mission brief. It's a fun read, but not necessary to the summary much. Although Scarlet and Ophelia's interactions are fun and it's cute to see Scarlet warm up to the girl. Scarlet's Wishworld eyes are described as brown in the text, but are clearly green in both the art and doll. And her hair is black. It's actually black and not purple in both her forms. No idea why Jakks is acting afraid of black hair. I'm sure Vega's WW doll will have it. Sigh. Scarlet finds Ophelia hiding in her tent in a field. She can't get her StarZap to work. She hasn't changed appearance. She hasn't found her wisher. She's massively incompetent and it wouldn't surprise me if she was the worst student in the school. Like she's sweet, but she's clearly not cut out for this and I'm kind of amazed she even got into the school, which is definitely not easy to make it into. Scarlet helps her change appearance and they go find her wisher, only it's Scarlet's wish pendant boots that glow, not Ophelia's bracelet. They fairly quickly learn that the wisher is afraid of butterflies, which is keeping her from being a successful project partner to two girls she wants to be friends with. So they take her to the local butterfly sanctuary to get her over her fear. Unfortunately, it's closed, but a tiny butterfly lands on the girl's shoulder and she's actually okay. The wish energy is collected...by SCARLET.
The girls return to Starland and Lady Stella offers thanks and apologies because Scarlet is clearly the SD and not Ophelia (who is blissfully relieved). Scarlet heads off by herself because she needs to process things alone, but she gets texts from Vega and Cassie, revealing that the flowers were grown on the Isle of Misera. Or something having to do with the Isle. We'll find out next book!
Definitely enjoyed this one a lot. Scarlet is one of my two favorite characters, along with Piper. Libby and Cassie are right behind them, followed very closely by Vega. I am looking forward to getting to know the other girls though. They're doing a decent job with this group of them, slowly expanding the band group to include Cassie and a little bit of Piper, Clover and Gemma, but I want more.
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