"It's okay, Skye," said Asher quietly, putting his hand on my back. "We'll leave."

"No!" I shouted, turning to Aunt Jo. "Why are you doing this? You would never kick out Cassie and Dan."

"I don't know these new friends of yours," she said. "Why have I never met them before?"

"They're . . . new in school," I said, glancing at Gideon and Ardith. "They're friends of Asher's." Aunt Jo met Asher's eyes. Something passed between thema"so quickly I wondered if I'd imagined it.

"Leave," she said, her voice like cold steel.

Asher bent in to kiss my cheek. "I'll be here," he whispered. "Outside. Around. All night, okay? If you need me."

"Thank you," I whispered back. I wanted to squeeze his hand, but Aunt Jo was watching me in a seriously unsettling way.

Asher nodded once, politely, to Aunt Jo as he left the deck. Ardith and Gideon followed him.

I stood up, too, facing her and crossing my arms.

"I don't understand what I did," I said, totally aware of the fact that I sounded like a little kid. "Why do you hate me all of a sudden?"

"Hate you?" Her eyes softened, and she looked so tired suddenly. "I don't hate you."

"Then why are you being so mean to me? What did I do? I said I was sorry about leaving. But you can't stop me from leaving again, Aunt Jo. I'll be eighteen in less than a year, and I'm going to go to college soon, or . . ." I trailed off, wondering, for the first time, if college was still possible for me. What if my powers got stronger? What if war really was coming again?

What if I don't make it to eighteen?

I shook off the thought. "I'm not a kid anymore," I continued. "You can't keep treating me like I'm still that six-year-old you have to take care of. I can take care of myself. I basically did all winter while you were gone."

"I know you can," she said quietly. A breeze blew between us, and I noticed that there were more gray wisps in her blond hair than there used to be. "Can you blame me for wanting to protect you? For wanting to keep you safe?"

"I'm trying to protect myself, too!" The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them. She looked at me curiously. "I mean, junior year is . . . really tough and . . ." I paused. "I have to look out for myself, because no one's going to do it for me."

"Your new friends," Aunt Jo said suddenly. "How well do you really know them?"

She looked at me pointedly, and I felt a fist clench around my heart. Did she know something that I didn't?

"Very well," I said. "I feel like . . . I can be myself around them." I eyed her.

"And do you feel like you can'ta"be yourselfa"around Dan and Cassie?" She paused. "Or Ian?"

Were we talking about the same thing? I hesitated for a moment, trying to think of how to explain it to her.

"I love my friends," I said, choosing my words carefully. "But sometimes I feel like . . . I'm growing into a different person. Someone they might not understand."

Aunt Jo sighed quietly and sat down on the arm of a chair. I sat down across from her. Something in me was stirring in a way it hadn't in a long time. I felt raw and vulnerable, after trying for so long to close myself off from everyone I loved, to protect thema"and myself. Suddenly all I wanted was for someone to tell me what to do. I was so tired, so completely exhausted, from trying to figure it out all on my own. What if every decision I'd made so far had been the wrong one? All I wanted right then was for Aunt Jo to take me in her arms and tell me everything would be okay. And I wanted so desperately to believe her.

"We all grow up," Aunt Jo said, looking into my eyes. "It's a part of life. But it doesn't mean you have to grow into a different person. Just wiser and stronger."

I fought back the tears that were pricking behind my eyes.

"It's harder than I thought," I said.

"I know, Skye." She wrapped her arms around me. "I wish I could make it easier for you. You have no idea how much I wish . . ." She left her sentence hanging there in the cold night air.

We all grow up. But why did it have to feel like leaving everything and everyone I loved behind?

Later I crawled into bed with the little black notebook. I thumbed through the pages as if this time I might find another clue, something to connect me to this nameless person who, at one time, had been in the same place as me. I longed for some little tidbita"anything, reallya"to guide me. To help me stay sane in all this chaos.

I flipped over onto my stomach and stared at the handwriting on the first page. The letters looped together in a loose script, swooping across the page like they were flying. The way an angel might fly. The way I might fly, one day.

I sat up straight in bed, my heart pounding. I realized where I knew this handwriting from.

It was mine.

Chapter 16.

My heart was racing as if I'd just flown down a mountain. Was I delusional? How could I have written this? I'd been unconscious almost the whole time we'd been at the cabin, and I would have remembered writing it when I was awake. I briefly entertained the idea that I'd written it in my sleep, during a particularly vivid dream. Except all of my dreams had been about dying.

No. I was just exhausteda"mentally, physically. Skiing again had taken a lot out of me. Fighting off Gideon's mental manipulation had messed with my mind. When I thought about the sheer weight of everything, I couldn't keep my eyes open.

I was looking for connections where there weren't any. That was all.

I got up and buried the notebook in my bottom drawer under a mountain of socks. If it was out of sight, I wouldn't have to think about it anymore. It didn't exist. I crawled back into bed and turned off the lamp. Soon I was drifting off, letting every thought, every fear, every hint about my past and clue to my future slip away into the night.

When I walked into the kitchen the next morning, the smell of chocolate and bananas beckoned.

"Wow," I said as Aunt Jo flipped pancakes at the stove. I walked over to the coffeemaker and poured myself a steaming mug. "Did I do something right today to deserve this? It's only seven thirty."

She placed a stack of banana chocolate-chip pancakes on a blue-and-white floral plate and set it hesitantly on the kitchen table. I put the milk back in the fridge and turned to face her, raising my eyebrows.

"I'm sorry I've been so hard on you," she said, fidgeting with her own mug of coffee as we sat down. "I was scared, too, okay? You are growing up and . . ." She stopped. "Oh god, this is so hard for me to admit, but you're not going to live here with me forever. And it'll just be a little lonely when you're gone, that's all." She sighed. "You've always been one to follow your own star, Skye. Just make sure to pick a good one to guide you."

I stared down at my pancakes and took a thoughtful bite. How was I supposed to know which star was the best one to follow?

"Do you want to have your friends over for dinner tonight?" Aunt Jo asked. "Cassie, Dan, Ian?" She took a deep breath. "Asher, if it means that much to you?"

"Really?" I said through a mouthful of pancake, perking up.

"Yeah, why not." She smiled back. "I need to properly meet Asher. He's your boyfriend, isn't he?" She kicked me under the table.

I grinned. "What gave it away?"

"He can't take his eyes off you. I don't know what you've done to that boy, but that's the kind of look that's hard to erase from someone's eyes, once it's there."

I felt something expand in my heart.

"Yeah, well, you know," I muttered, trying not to let my burning cheeks give too much away.

Aunt Jo smiled and cocked her head. "I know what that feels like," she said. "But just make sure you don't pick your star because it's the star he's chosen. Be your own person."

"Jeez, Aunt Jo. Seriously."

"I'm just saying!"

"Okay," I said, swallowing my last mouthful of banana chocolate-chip mushiness and standing up. "If you're done with the lecture, I have to get to school."

"Listen to me, Skye. I know what I'm talking about!"

I kissed the top of her head.

"Love you, crazy," I said.

"Yeah, yeah." She grinned. "Get to class."

I hesitated in the door to homeroom. Cassie sat in her usual seat by the window, her blue cast sticking out into the aisle so that people had to go out of their way to walk around her. I wished my old seat hadn't been given up when I'd been out. With a sigh, I turned to the back of the rooma"and stopped short. Asher was leaning over my empty seat, talking heatedly with Devin.

I couldn't suppress the creepy feeling that they were talking about me. Devin remained stiff in his seat. He said something in a low tone, and it seemed to enrage Asher, who leaned forward and gestured heatedly. The animosity between the two of them was so electric that I could feel it all the way across the room.

My presence must have been palpable, because Asher looked up right then and spotted me, guilt flashing across his face. Devin turned, too, and when he saw me, he dropped his gaze to his desk. I didn't want to get between them again, but I had no choice. Asher sat down, and slowly I walked down the aisle and slid into my seat, aware that Devin was watching me again out of the corner of his eye. I didn't look at him, but glanced over at Asher instead. He looked away. His foot was tapping loudly against the floor.

"Hey," I whispered, putting my hand on his arm. He was so angry that he was shaking under my touch. "Hey," I said again. "Calm down."

He muttered something I couldn't hear.

"Asher," I said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said, his voice a storm in the blackest night.

"Is now a bad time to ask if you want to come to dinner tonight?" I asked. "Special request from Aunt Jo."

His resolve faltered, and he looked at me questioningly. "Really?"

"Yeah." I gave him a small, persuasive smile. "Will you come?" His foot kept tapping a constant rhythm in the background.

"Yeah," he said. The worry line dissolved from his forehead. He took my hand tightly in his and lifted his dark eyes to meet mine. "I'd love to."

I felt a swell of happiness, had a brief vision of Asher and Aunt Jo and all my friends getting along in one big wonderful, happy family. But Asher's foot tapping continued, and a dark, uneasy feeling edged out my joy. What had they been talking about?

At lunch, Cassie had that gleam in her eye.

"Uh-oh," I said, sliding in across from her. "I've seen that look before."

Cass glanced behind her, pretending I might have been talking to someone else with a gleam in her eye. She looked back at me and pointed at herself, mouthing, "Who, me?"

"Yes, you, Crazypants. What's going on?"

"I was just thinking I'm so effing bored," she said. "I hate this stupid cast. I can't do anything fun. I miss the Mysterious Ellipses. We haven't had a gig in weeks. Plus," she added, "it's been forever since we had a rager. The last one was the party at your house. I want some drama!"

I raised an eyebrow. I knew what was coming.

"No way," I said. "I can't host it this time. I'm on dangerous ground with Aunt Jo as it is."

"Fine." She sighed. "Well, at any rate, I'm going to talk to Ian today."

"Talk to me about what?" Ian asked, plopping down next to Cassie and ripping into a huge slice of pizza. "I can't give you guys any more free cupcakes," he said through a huge mouthful of cheese and sauce. "My boss said he's gonna fire me for real."

"If you haven't been fired yet, it's never going to happen," Cassie said, brushing him off. "Cupcakes are child's play. I have a real favor to ask you."

Ian rolled his eyes and glanced at me, but what Ellie had told me he'd said was still eating away at me. I couldn't make eye contact with him.

"Okay." He turned to Cassie. "What's the favor? I'm not agreeing to anything without hearing what it is first."

"Will you book the ME at the Bean?" she asked, fluttering her eyes.

"I'm sorry, the ME? Is that what you're calling yourself now?"

"The Mysterious Ellipses," she said with a pout.

"Can you really perform in that thing?" he asked, looking dubiously at her cast.

"Well, that's the favor. I was thinking maybe you could, like, ramp-ify the stage."

Ian laughed. "Oh my god, Cassie."

"Pleeeease?" More eyelash fluttering ensued.

He shook his head. "Okay, fine, I'll ask. But I can't make any promises."

"Well, I'm looking forward to a potentially legendary ME performance this weekend," I said as I got up. Ian opened his mouth to say something else, but I bused my tray and walked out into the hallway, eager to get away from him.

"Skye! Hey!" He came running up behind me. I stopped and looked at him, one hand on my hip. "What's your deal?" he asked.

"So you're hooking up with Ellie?" My voice came out angrier than I'd meant it to. Weirdly, I felt my face growing hot. I couldn't possibly have been jealousa"it was Ian!a"but still. She was my archnemesis. And he liked me!

"Um." He turned red. "Just once. Well, twice. But it didn't . . . I mean, I don't . . . like her or anything."

"Oh, that's great Ian. That's real mature."

"Wait, what's the problem? You turned me down, remember? We're not together, so what does it matter?"

"Well, it matters when you talk shit about me behind my back!"