“Right.” Asad draws out the vowel until my cheeks get hot and my nerves go haywire again. I take another glance toward the room full of people. Am I really doing this?

“Tell me the truth: This is crazy, right? Getting up on this stage, playing the part of a beautiful fairy.”

Asad lifts the headset off his ear and pushes it back on his head, but I hear the person on the other end going off about a burned-out light bulb backstage.

“Life is not a musical, Ava, but it is your life. No one can cast you in a role unless you let them.” He catches my eyes with his. “So what part do you want to play?”

In the audience, Cora chatters to Glenn as she rechecks all her camera equipment.

“It’s not like I can back out now. Cora is so excited. And Tony has worked—”

Asad snaps the curtain shut.

“Forget them. What do you want?”

His eyes reflect me as I consider this question. In his black irises, I see the shape of me—not the scars—just me. What do I want? And even though part of me wants to run from this, the real answer bubbles up in me strong and sure.

“I want to sing.”

Asad adjusts his headpiece back in place.

“So what are we still talking about?” Then, like he’s just remembered he’s holding it, he holds up the box in his hand. “I almost forgot, this is from Piper.”

I tug the pink ribbon to release the lid, and pull a light brown wig from the bottom of the box. Underneath, a note:

This one seems a little more you. Break a leg tonight. (Not a spine.)

“She was here?” I ask. “Is she coming back?”

He shrugs. “Dropped it off earlier on her way to get her head shrunk. Her words, not mine.” The earpiece voice rises as Asad puts the set back on his ear. He points two fingers to his eyes, and then turns his fingertips toward me. “Remember, it’s just you on the stage and me in the booth, making lighting magic. Forget all these other people.”

In the mirror backstage, I swap out my pink hair for the new wig. The strands are almost the color mine used to be, coming to a slight curl right above my star scar. In the glass, a girl with a bulbous nose, no ear and countless scars, but her eyes are a familiar blue.

As the houselights start to dim, I peek out one more time, trying to memorize where Cora and Glenn are in the cavernous space.

The last thing I see before the lights go out is the empty chair beside them.