I stare up at the sky, trying to imagine what alternate-reality Mason would be interested in, and I’m surprised when it appears almost immediately, the thought a dim glimmer in the distance. “I want to discover something in space that one else has. I don’t care how small or insignificant. But something new.”

I know how true it is the second I say it. Alternate-reality Mason would be an astronomer, but more than that, he’d be a discoverer.

Willow’s smile sends warmth tipping through me, and suddenly I’m the one talking way too fast. “Last year some researchers found something that might be the first planet we’ve seen outside of the Milky Way. It’s twenty-three million light-years away, and it looks like it’s orbiting two stars. It was a team of like ten people, and I couldn’t stop thinking about what it would have been like to be there. I mean, we’ve been discovering planets outside of the solar system—exoplanets—since the nineties, probably four hundred of them, but they were all in the Milky Way. There’s so much more out there, and we’re getting so much better at looking. Space is infinite, but when I think about how infinite it really is…” I’m getting carried away, my voice punched with enthusiasm, in the same way Willow’s was, and I quickly stop myself. “Sorry. I’m a nerd.”

She bumps her shoulder into mine. “I read your star log, remember? I already know you’re a nerd. And since when has being a nerd ever been bad?”

The reminder that she read my notebook feels like a tiny punch to the gut, but I manage to regain my footing. She isn’t weaponizing my notebook. In fact, she gets why it’s important to me, because she loves travel the way I love astronomy. Not everyone has something they love so much. Suddenly I’m filled with certainty, not about my mom or me, but about Willow. One day, not too far away, Willow will pack her bag, lace up her shoes, head out, and see all of it.

“You’ll do it. Curse or not, I know for a fact that you’ll travel the world.”

Her smile is brilliant now. “Really? How do you know?”

“It’s obvious. Planets orbit the sun, and Willows orbit the Earth.”

She’s beaming now, and I imagine that smile carrying her through crumbling castles and mountain villages and bright city streets. No matter where I try to picture her, she fits.

“I think you’ll accomplish your goal too.” She gestures to the sky. “You’ll find something new.”

It’s sweet she thinks that. She has no idea how different our lives are. I shrug. “Yeah, maybe.”

“No, really. You’re smart and persistent. Why wouldn’t you?”