Because if Brody Culver killed my mother—if he tried to kill me—then I’m going to lose Cole. And Willa. There’s no way around that.

Lex puts his arm around me, and I rest my head against the solidness of his shoulder.

I look up and see the moon gazing down at us from a vast dark sea, but there aren’t any stars tonight. Not a single one is shining. The sky is an infinite coal-colored plain.

It’s like someone stole them.

Or scared them away.

So I look up at the empty sky and make a wish on the blackness.

ACT III: SCENE 1

I spend the next few days going through the motions.

Breakfast. Class. Lunch.

Work. Dinner. Midnight Music.

I’m avoiding Cole as much as I can. Getting down to the barn just barely in time for rehearsal. Always with Val or Lex. Never alone.

But then he touches me during a scene. Or leans in close to whisper a line. I feel his breath on my cheek. And I’m lost again.

During every free moment, I’m studying my mother’s notebook. Pouring over her scribbles and doodles. Looking for another clue. Something that will tell me what went wrong. How we ended up at the top of that cliff that dark night, with Cole and Brody Culver.

How the two of us ended up in the water.

But I know I only have half that story. Because that first notebook is still out there somewhere.

I make it through Thursday and Friday somehow, even when Glory sends me upstairs with a delivery for Brody. My legs feel weak on the stairs, and I sigh in relief when he isn’t in his office. I leave the package on his desk and give myself a moment to look at that picture. My mother on the sea porch steps. Her hand on Brody Culver’s arm. Laughing. Those gold sandals and pink toes. I close my eyes and try to put myself back there. Under the sea porch picnic table. I hear my mother’s voice again.

I want everything out in the open!

I’m listening for more bits of conversation, but all I hear are angry voices. It’s too muffled. So I head back downstairs to Glory, who spends the afternoon sneaking worried glances in my direction.

Then it’s Saturday. All day in rehearsal with Cole watching me. Something dark has settled behind those fog-gray eyes of his.

He knows I’m hiding from him.

On Sunday, our day off, I’m sitting in the cafeteria with Val and Lex and Jude when Willa sticks her head in the door. She motions for me, so I leave my tray on the table and go to see what she wants. We step out into the hall.