Willa is lying facedown at the edge of the water. Near the jetty. Her long, dark hair floats out around her.

And I think at first that she’s moving, but then I realize it’s just the rhythm of the waves. It looks like breathing.

Cole is on his back not far from his mother.

The water brought them home together, and for a second I’m jealous. Because it didn’t do that for my mother and me.

I drop to my knees in the cold water. I’m cradling Cole’s head in my lap. Sobbing.

I brush the beautiful dark hair out of his eyes.

“Av?” It’s Lex. He’s standing on the beach behind me. Bent over. Hands on his knees. He’s breathing hard. Val and Jude are running down the beach toward us. They came for me. The three of them. To make sure I was okay. And the sound of Lex’s voice—confused and scared and so full of love—is enough to finish me off. This is more than I can survive.

The loss is too deep.

I take one more look at Cole’s face. I lean down and press my lips against his. I don’t want him to be cold.

But then his eyelids flutter open. He coughs up seawater and I choke out his name. The fog lifts, and the two of us are breathing together. We’re alive. The rush of relief when Cole reaches up to touch my hair with a trembling hand is all the proof I need.

Now. In this moment. We’re alive. Both of us.

The sea can’t have us. Not tonight.

Cole pulls me to his chest. I feel the pounding of his heart against my own.

“I never saw this part,” he says. I wipe the water from his eyes, and he almost smiles. “You and me. At the end of it all.”

“This is the only part that matters,” I tell him. “This is real. You and me. Always. The rest of it is smoke and mirrors.”

And—

EPILOGUE

I was five years old the night stars fell from the sky. They tore loose somehow and came down like rain. I remember the heavy, dull sound of them hitting the water.

Plop.

Plop. Plop.

Plop.

I’m watching—waiting for them to do that act again—but tonight they stay pinned to the vast blackness above us. Where they’re supposed to be. Which is more than I can say for us, because we’re supposed to be in our cabins. Curfew was like an hour ago.

But here we are on the beach.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First, I want to give a shout out to my mom, Anna Myers, and my sister, Anna-Maria Lane, who have been the most constant and solid forces in my life. There’s no way I could ever thank you enough.