“You’ll know when you see it,” he said enigmatically. “And just before the end, the northern lights will cover the world.”

That evening, I searched the news for evidence of the looming correction. A moderate earthquake in Japan. Unusually high tides in the southern hemisphere. Increased volcanic activity in Hawaii and along the Pacific Rim. None of these things were smoking guns, and for all I knew it was coincidental. But what if it wasn’t? What if it was gravitational disruption from that distant black hole, which was only distant when measured by puny human standards?

I caught Hunter peering in my door, glancing at my laptop over my shoulder.

“So you’re doing that, too?” he asked.

“Doing what?”

“Checking out stuff happening around the world,” he said. “I don’t know why, but I’ve been feeling like . . . I don’t know . . . like I need to pay attention, you know?”

I tried to downplay it. “We should always pay attention to things going on out there,” I told him.

“Yeah, I know. But I keep getting bad feelings. Terrible feelings. They keep me awake at night. They make it hard to do anything. I know something awful is going to happen, and I can’t make the feeling go away.” He sat down on my bed. “I know you said that I shouldn’t worry, but I can’t stop. I think maybe there’s something wrong with me.”

I didn’t want to dismiss what he was feeling, but I couldn’t let him go on thinking it was his problem.

“Hunter, the feeling is real, and it’s not just you,” I told him. “Don’t ever think you need to bear it alone. I promise I will always be here for you.”

He took a deep breath and dredged up a smile for me. “Thanks, Ashley. You’re a good sister,” he said. “I’ll always be here for you, too.”

I gave him a hug. In previous worlds I never had. Brothers don’t hug much. Even though he was three years younger, he was taller than me here. But it wasn’t just that. He was leaner, too, with muscles that were more defined. Then I remembered that in this world, he was being groomed to be a quarterback—they even started him a year late in school so he’d be bigger by the time he hit high school. Because he was the only boy in the family, Dad’s focus had been entirely on Hunter when it came to football. And to keep Dad’s attention, Hunter had to excel.

He got up and turned to go, but before he left, I stopped him. “Hunter . . . someday, you’re going to be the best quarterback this town has ever seen.”

He smiled again. This time he didn’t have to reach for it. “I already am,” he said. “They just don’t know it yet.”