Chapter 41

Look, that's Scorpius. The one right there at the end of ...

There were a billion stars sprinkling all the way down to the treetops that surrounded us. Frogs the size of small dogs croaked at the shore, and fireflies flickered in the black hollows of the forest.

And over there. That one is Cassiopeia, the queen.

Kara, Jenna, and I lay on a blanket outside Kara's parents' summer cottage, staring into the night sky. It was the end of summer vacation, and it was a dream world. Kara was on one side of me, and Jenna, on the other, and the blinking black sky was so close it felt like I could reach out and scoop the stars into my hand.

Delphinus, the dolphin ...

Ursa Major, the Great Bear ...

And then a blazing trail would split the sky with light and we would shout in awe, but just as quickly we fell into silence, like we were before some celestial altar witnessing an event that was almost holy.

Make a wish ...

I couldn't think of anything more to wish for than what I had right then. Two full days and one night alone in the woods with Kara and Jenna. Each of them had claimed they were staying the night at the other's house so they could slip away. My parents were away for the weekend, and my sister couldn't have been happier to have me out of the house--no questions asked. We had all taken courses over the summer, so our vacation was short. We were making the most of what was left of it.

Look. The Northern Cross.

And that one's the North Star, the brightest star in the sky....

Jenna reached over and held one of my hands, Kara held the other, and I felt like the universe was holding us all.

For that night, maybe just for that magic moment, it all seemed to make so much sense, like the thousand puzzle pieces of my life were all in place and I knew the How and Why of all things. It was one of those moments that I was sure would stay impressed on me forever because it was real and true. It was as tangible as the blanket beneath me. I felt like I had touched something, something as big as the universe, and it had touched me back.

I didn't know that even a big moment like that could be snuffed out in a matter of days by packing to go home, by the wrong teacher on the wrong school schedule, by my brother stealing sixty dollars from my wallet, or by my uncle getting his brains blown out at a traffic stop.

But all that just made Kara and Jenna brighter stars in my sky. I had no way of knowing that, in a matter of weeks, even those stars would be snuffed out.