“Today, class, I’m going to give you a very different sort of assignment,” grinned the teacher. Everyone became excited. Ms. Grange always had the best projects, and no one could deny that this one seemed especially fun.

“You all have a task,” Ms. Grange continued, “And it is this.” Here she paused to open her desk drawer and pull out a large, black and yellow chest. She placed it on a small desk in the front of the room. “You each have a puzzle. You’re jobs are to figure it out and use the key to unlock the chest. If you do, then you get what’s inside.”

The whole class erupted into chatter. They looked to their friends and already started discussing strategies.

“Oh, and one more thing…” Ms. Grange gave a wicked smile. “You must figure it out on your own…”

✨✨✨

As soon as the bell rang I ran from Ms. Grange’s classroom to my house. School was finally over, and the last minutes of class when everyone was waiting to be handed their clue felt like forever.

I finally sit down on my bed and open my bag. I reach in and pull out a single envelope. The shade of blue is so light it’s almost white, and the paper is unwrinkled and perfect. I slowly open the envelope and pull out a small, white card. It has words written on it and I read them over and over, trying to understand.

_ It’s not what it seems_

_ So find the true light_

_ No secrets locked_

_ The letter takes flight_

“It’s not what it seems…” I whisper. “What’s not?!” After thinking about what it could possibly mean, I decide my only hope is getting to the classroom early Tommorow to check for any clues there.

✨✨✨

I wake up bright and early, immediately rushing myself to get going. After I sling my bag over my shoulder and shove a peice of toast down my throat, I hurry out the door.

Soon I arrive at school and find the classroom empty, just as I had expected. I set my bag down and think, what’s not what it seems? I can’t think of the answer and decide to move onto the next clue.

“The true light, the true light,” I say to myself as I pace back and forth. I catch something out of the corner of my eye and run over to it. I turn the lamp on and it shines brightly on my face. Unfortunately, the lamp isn’t the answer.

I think again and immediately go over to the window. “The true light!” I exclaim. I open the blinds and see the sun pouring into the room. “But what does it mean?” I look at the sunlight lighting up the room and follow the beam. It leads to the door of the classroom.

“No secrets locked!” I exclaim. There is a series of three locks on the door, but only two of the dilapidated locks actually work. I continue eyeing the sunbeam, which is leading into the keyhole on the middle lock.

“A key, a key, I need a key.” I say. It’s my only lead. I think of the last line, “The letter takes flight.” With a loud gasp, I run over to the airplane hanging from the ceiling. It was always hanging there, just over her desk. I reach out to grab it, but my hand comes just short of touching it.

I run to the other side of the desk, to the chair. I stand up on it and look inside the airplane. Sure enough, there’s a key inside. As fast as I possibly can, I grab the key and shove it in the keyhole.

_Click, click, CLICK_

The sound doesn’t come from the keyhole, but from the chest. I’m startled, “How..?” I ignore my own question and slowly approach the chest. Students would start arriving any minute now, I have to be quick. I open the chest and see a thin slit of paper.

_Congratulations, you succeeded. I guess that means you get what’s in here, huh? Sadly, that’s just this paper. Oh, but what it says is of high intellectual value. You see, I am not a teacher. I am not even a human. I am from the exoplanet called by you Kepler-186f. I have been sent here to recruit the student who seems to be the most prudent and astute to our planet. You will be given a job to help unlock codes and discover the secrets of our planet that even we do not yet know._

_ _