Back When Stars Come Out
Chapters (51)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Content Warning
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Chapter Nineteen
  25. Chapter Twenty
  26. Chapter Twenty-One
  27. Chapter Twenty-Two
  28. Chapter Twenty-Three
  29. Chapter Twenty-Four
  30. Chapter Twenty-Five
  31. Chapter Twenty-Six
  32. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  33. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  34. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  35. Chapter Thirty
  36. Chapter Thirty-One
  37. Chapter Thirty-Two
  38. Chapter Thirty-Three
  39. Chapter Thirty-Four
  40. Chapter Thirty-Five
  41. Chapter Thirty-Six
  42. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  43. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  44. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  45. Chapter Forty
  46. Chapter Forty-One
  47. Chapter Forty-Two
  48. Chapter Forty-Three
  49. Chapter Forty-Four
  50. About the Author
  51. Back Cover

Someone crashes into my shoulder and I stumble, catching myself on the arm of a chair. Two girls pass and turn to glare at me. What’s your problem? I want to ask, but someone’s calling my name.

“Anora!”

I turn my head to find Thane standing, waving me to him.

As I approach, he says, “Jesus Christ, you’re out of it today. I’ve been calling your name—” He pauses and looks at me—really looks at me. “You look awful.”

“Thanks,” I say mildly, taking a seat beside him. I know from the quick glance I had in the mirror this morning that I don’t look my best: my eyes are sunk in a pool of purple-black. I rub them with the palms of my hands and am surprised when Thane pulls my hand away from my eyes.

“Don’t do that.”

“I didn’t sleep much.”

I explain what happened, including my trip to the Compound, the claw, my trial before the Order, and my new training instructor. I leave out that Roth has taken my poppa’s coin. It doesn’t seem relevant.

Thane frowns and doesn’t say anything, so I do.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were one of the last people to see Lily alive?”

“It wasn’t necessary,” he says and then looks at me. “I didn’t kill her.”

Mr. Rivera takes the stage, microphone screeching as he adjusts his hold, quieting the auditorium.

“As I am sure you all know, we lost one of our own earlier this week.” He clears his throat into the microphone. “Lily Martin is no longer with us, and we will be holding a vigil in her honor this evening. Over the next few weeks, you will see an increase in security on campus. Any who wish may have access to crisis counseling. We will take this time to go over safety procedures, rules, and regulations regarding various locations around school…”

As Mr. Rivera drones on, I notice phones illuminating like lighters across the entire auditorium. Students turn their heads to whisper to one another and twist to search the crowd. Something’s just been posted to Roundtable. Call me paranoid, but I can’t help thinking it has to do with me.

When one person finds me, others do too, and it isn’t long before everyone’s attention is fixated on me.

What is on that stupid app?

If I had my phone, I would download it just to check. I lean toward Thane.

“Do you have access—?”

Even as I ask, he’s opening Roundtable on his phone.

The first headline is: Anora Silby moved to Oklahoma because she killed someone.

A horrible high-pitched sound fills my ears, and my stomach feels sick. Who posted this? There are four people who know my identity. One is sitting beside me, one is in the infirmary, and the other two are Natalie and Shy.