I slammed the photo book shut and left, abandoning Mom and Jade silent behind me. I went into my room and closed the door, not even opening it for Obi’s scratches.

“Abigail?” Mom asked an hour later, poking her head in. “You okay in there?”

No. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Why was I the only one who could see the truth? They all still had that prom night feeling, like Blair could magically go backward. That hope kept knocking on their doors. I had lit mine on fire. It was gone, as gone as those stars, as gone as my sister and her dreams.

Only I could bring them back. With Dr. Leo Lacamoire’s help.

That night, there was a knock on our front door. It was Simone, inviting me to Leo’s observatory. The stars were particularly bright tonight, she told my mom. They were really something.

I wanted to ask my dad along—he would have loved those telescopes. But Simone was giving me a Look, a we-have-something-to-discuss Look, and Dad was at the Green Lantern with Harrison anyway, so I hurried up to my room to grab Jade’s work sweatshirt.

As I was walking back downstairs, I peeked into Blair’s room. So much of her stuff was gone, tucked neatly into boxes that would be placed into storage. Mom was nothing if not organized. Some of the posters were gone; Princess Leia and Hermione Granger still stared down from her walls, but Misty Copeland had disappeared without a trace. So had her certificates from ballet summer intensives and a few newspaper articles about her dance company that Mom had framed. Everything she had worked so hard for now had to be hidden, tucked away where no one could find them.

Simone and I walked right past Eagle’s Nest.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Leo wants to set up a scope down by the shore, in this little cutout area. Zero lights. Also seems like a good place to go over the plan,” said Simone. “It really is a nice night.” She was right; it was so warm I really didn’t even need the sweatshirt. Once the sun had vanished, the intense heat had gone away, and we were left with the perfect temperature for a summer night. The stars were sprinkled around the sky, fireflies were sputtering across the lake, and you could hear the loons calling. It felt like we were in a postcard for northern Wisconsin.

We walked a little farther in silence.

“Ran into your mom earlier this afternoon at the hardware store,” said Simone.

“I thought you were afraid of being caught in the hardware store,” I said.

“I had to get some Sharpies. Leo’s very particular about his writing utensils. But anyway. I saw your mom buying paint. She said she was putting a new coat on your sister’s room.”

I froze. I hadn’t said a word about my sisters—either of them—to Leo or Simone. Maybe for once I didn’t want to be Blair McCourt’s little sister. Especially now, when everyone in town knew her as the girl who flipped out over a cupcake. Sophie and Lex had probably told every single one of our friends from school, even. Abby’s big sister lost her mind over dessert.