by Wendy Mass
I slip my hand in Ally’s. She turns, and besides the tears running down her cheeks and the look of awe in her eyes, I can see surprise and relief when she realizes it’s me.
“Hey,” I say, squeezing her hand.
Thankfully, she squeezes back. “Where’ve you been?”
“Long story.”
“You’ll have to tell it to me sometime. Some other time.”
We laugh.
So we stand there, part of a crowd a thousand people strong, beaming up at the sky with wonder. I know with a sudden certainty that wherever I am in the future—up in my treehouse, alone in the school cafeteria, or trying to figure out what my teachers are talking about, a part of me will always be right here, right now, with that giant eye in the sky shining down on me, telling me it’s going to be all right.
ALLY
Epilogue
As we stand hand in hand, it takes me a second to realize Jack has tears streaming down his face, and a second more to realize I do too.
“Mr. Silver’s back!” I shout over the screaming of the crowd.
“I know!” he shouts back.
“And our planet! We found —”
He laughs. “I know! Now look at the sky, not me!”
I laugh too. This is all so surreal. Kenny runs up and thrusts the binoculars at me. He’s already taken the filters off. “Look at the prominences!”
With one more squeeze Jack lets my hand go. I point the binoculars at the sky. Small pink streamers loop out from the darkened sun, one after another, and disappear. It’s so crazy to think the sun shoots those out all day long and we never see them. What beauty is hidden from us! I hand the binoculars to Jack and hear his sharp intake of breath as another one shoots out from behind the moon.
I finally remember to look for the stars and am surprised that I can recognize them. Normally I wouldn’t be able to see these stars until winter, but now everything is reversed. It’s Orion! I can’t believe it!!! There’s Sirius and Betelgeuse! Rigel and Capella! And there’s Mercury and Mars and Venus, higher in the sky than they ever are at night.
I scream out the names of the stars and the planets and point wildly at them until everyone around me is laughing. I’m filled with warmth and gratitude for this new group of friends. All my visions of what this day would be like never included anyone other than my family and Ryan’s. I always thought the only friends I’d be able to share it with would be Glenn, Eta, and Peggy. I never expected to have new friends on the same planet as me.
I don’t notice Dad is gone until his voice comes over the speaker. “Everyone enjoying the eclipse?”
The hollers and hoots and screams are the loud-est yet.
“As soon as I count to five, time to cover your eyes and equipment again.”
The crowd boos.
“Remember, everything you saw is going to happen again, in reverse order. Hang on!”
I try to collect myself and focus. Kenny and Melanie gather around the white sheet they put down, trying to see the elusive shadow bands. But if I want to see the moon’s shadow this time, I’ll have to remain alert. Dad counts down, and as soon as he gets to one, I throw on my glasses. The diamond ring returns, followed in quick succession by Baily’s Beads. I feel an inexplicable loss as the light of that single beam shining through a crevice on the moon erases the corona from view. My brain freezes again as I try to burn the image of that billowing circle of light into my memory. That was both the shortest and longest three minutes of my life.
And I forgot to take a single picture.
Before I can berate myself too much, for the second time today someone puts their hand in mine. This time there’s a sense of urgency. I tear my eyes away from the sky and turn to see Bree tugging on me.
“Now!” she cries. Suddenly a wall of darkness races toward us at a speed I never would have thought possible. It hits us straight on, rushes past, and leaves me breathless and blinking. Bree and Jack and I whirl around in time to see it speed over the crowd and out to the eastern horizon.
And as the shadow of the moon carries the darkness away, it takes something from me too. It leaves me lighter and freer and for the first time since I found out about our move, I truly feel like myself again. Everyone around me is bubbling over with joy. Bree’s blue eyes are brighter than I’ve ever seen them. She looks lit from within. Oddly, she’s now wearing a red scarf around her neck. It looks very nice on her.
Jack is wiping at his eyes and trying to hide it.
We mull around our little corner of the field for a while, babbling and gushing to each other about the eclipse. Then Bree says, “We’re going to see Mr. Silver. Come with us?”
I shake my head. “I’ll meet up with you at dinner. I’ve gotta pack. Some girl is moving into my room.”
Bree laughs. Jack says, “Are you sure?”
I nod. Jack squeezes my hand one last time and then he, Bree, Ryan, and Melanie run off into the crowd.
“Um, Astrodork,” Kenny says. “You still have your glasses on!”
My hand instinctively reaches up and feels them on the bridge of my nose. “Yeah, well the eclipse is still going on, you know.” It’s true. The moon is still covering about a quarter of the sun.
“You’re right,” Kenny says. He pulls his out of his back pocket and slips them on. Mom and Dad do the same. Without a word, we sit down on the white sheet Kenny had spread out earlier. As the sea of people pack up their equipment and head back to the campground, we sit there and watch until the very last nick of the sun is gone.
“Well,” Dad says, clearing his throat. “That sure was something.”
“When’s the next one?” I ask, half joking, half not.
Mom and Dad laugh, but Kenny rattles off the dates of the next six eclipses. I have no doubt this won’t be the last one we see.
“We can come back here sometimes, right?” Kenny asks. “I mean, to visit?”
“Absolutely!” Dad says. “The Holdens have already asked us to run the Star Party next summer.”
“Really?” Kenny and I say together, beaming at each other.
Mom and Dad nod. “We thought that would make you happy,” Mom says. “We have to finish cleaning up here, but you guys are free to go.”
I quickly throw my stuff into my backpack and say goodbye. I run all the way back to the house and up the stairs. Just as I suspected, my room does look different, post-eclipse. It looks smaller, like it can’t contain me anymore.
After all, I’ve got a whole world to see.
BREE
Epilogue
Chocolate (egg)Claire,
i miss you too!!!!!!!! i wish you could have been here for the eclipse two days ago. I really can’t describe it except to say it was really different from what I thought it would be. I tried to describe it to this one lady named Bellana who is very nice but “fashion-sense challenged,” but i don’t think I did too good a job. My mom took a lot of pictures and Mel just printed them out so I’ll stick one in this package and you can see, and hopefully someday we’ll see one together? they have cruises where you can see it from the ocean. how fab would THAT be? I’m sending you this commemorative key chain even though you only have one key. i’m soooo sorry I won’t be able to take the class with you, i’m sure you’re learning a ton and you’ll be scouted at the mall for sure and you’ll have to tell me all about it. i’m also sending your Book back because now that you’re in the class you might really need it and I have a lot of pictures of us in my own Book so I won’t forget you, I promise.
I hope you can come visit me up here soon. it’s different, too, from what i thought i guess. I’m still really scared, but not as much and there are things I sort of like, like you know that red nail polish on my toes from your party? it finally started to chip and I just let it, even though I had some red nail polish I could have used! but I bet it still looks better than lara’s freak toe! :o)
xoxoxoxoxo,
Beach Baby Bree (who is currently very far from a beach, but t
here’s a hot spring that looks sort of like a hot tub if you squint)
p.s. I finally did this thing today where you walk through these circles and there’s like, a crystal thing in the middle on a tree stump with a dinosaur or a dragon or something, I can never tell the difference, and I’m not describing it very well, but I wanted to tell someone and I couldn’t tell anyone here b/c they’d think it was weird that I couldn’t do it before. Anyway, I’ll show you when you come visit—you better come visit!
I print out the letter, and stick it along with the key chain and the Book into the thick mailing envelope Ally’s mother gave me. I carefully climb over the piles of our boxes and suitcases that are now repacked and ready to be moved to our new house in a few days. Melanie is out on the porch. She’s lying on her belly, propped up on her elbows, carefully examining a bunch of photographs spread out in front of her. I go out and sit cross-legged next to her. I hadn’t even thought to bring my camera with me to the eclipse. I’ve only ever used it to take pictures for my Book. I hadn’t even noticed Mom taking these.
“You’ll like this one,” Mel says, lifting one up and handing it to me. “You look really good in it.”
She’s right, I do. My eyes are bright, my hair has come lose from its ribbon, and Stella’s scarf is waving around my neck. But that’s not what I see when I look at the picture. I see three unlikely friends holding hands. And Ryan, Kenny, and Melanie are standing behind us, rapt.
And in the sky above us, I see a miracle.
“Can you make more copies for me? Maybe a little bigger?”
She reaches over to her bag and pulls out some larger sheets of photo paper. “I already did.”
I want to hug her, and even though it’s not the middle of the night, and she’s not having a night terror, I do it anyway. Then I tuck Claire’s package under my arm and carefully pick up two of the enlargements. My first stop is Jack’s cabin, down the road. We haven’t really had a chance to be alone since the eclipse, and I’ve been meaning to ask him something.
His screen door’s open, and I can see him sitting cross-legged on his bed. I knock and he jumps a little, sending a little piece of charcoal flying through the air. He quickly closes what I take to be a drawing pad and tosses it on the floor.
“Sorry to scare you,” I tell him, opening the door.
“That’s okay,” he says. “What’s up?”
I see his sneakers and running shorts on the floor. “Hey, maybe tomorrow I can run with you guys?” My words surprise me.
“I’m not very good,” he says. “Ryan’s much faster.”
“That’s okay. I’m just starting out myself.”
He glances self-consciously at his art book, and it reminds me of what I saw at the Art House.
“I saw your painting. The one of all of us in the shed?”
He reddens.
“It’s really good. You’re lucky you can do that. I don’t have any kind of talent.” I would have thought this would be hard for me to admit, but surprisingly it isn’t.
“Sure you do.”
“Yeah, if knowing which top matches which skirt is a talent.”
He shakes his head. “You see things sometimes. Things other people don’t. And you’re not afraid to call it like you see it.”
I size him up. “You know, you’ve really changed since you’ve been here.”
“I know,” he says offhandedly.
“I’m glad you decided to come to the eclipse.”
“Me too. I can’t believe I almost didn’t.”
“I have something for you,” I say, holding out the picture.
He takes it and looks at it for a long time.
“I have one for Ally, too.”
“Would you mind if I gave it to her?” he asks quietly.
“I’ll make a deal with you,” I say, sitting down on the empty bed across from him. “I’ll give you the picture for Ally, if you do something for me.”
“What do you want me to do?”
I take a deep breath. “I want you to teach me how to fly.”
JACK
Epilogue
The bus leaves in two hours. Stella said she’d save our seats in the back. The ride home sure will be different from the ride here. I look around the cabin that had been my home for the last two weeks, except for the night we all slept in the shed. I bet my treehouse is going to feel small now. The cabin looks strange without clothes and stuff everywhere. I toss my pile of books onto the bed when the piece of paper I was using as a bookmark falls out. I recognize it as one of the eclipse articles Mike had given me when I left. On the same page is a short sidebar I hadn’t noticed before, called The Death of Our Sun and the Beginning of Our Immortality. I start to tuck it back in the book, but with a title like that I have no choice but to read it.
The article says how in a few billion years the sun will have used up all the hydrogen inside it and will swell up, absorbing the planet Mercury and making life on Earth uninhabitable. Then the sun will shrink until it’s really small. And then a few billion years after that, it will eject gusts of matter from all around it, including what’s left of the earth and the atoms of everyone who has ever lived there. The atoms will be sent out into the farthest reaches of space to become parts of other stars and planets and creatures.
I think of something Ally said one of my first few night’s here. It was during her nightly lecture. She said that the atoms in our bodies came from stars that exploded. I guess what comes around, goes around. I tuck the article back into the book. For some reason, knowing that my atoms are going to one day arrive at the other end of the universe is kind of comforting.
The screen door bangs open. Team Exo has come to say goodbye.
“Gonna keep working out, right?” Ryan says. “I expect to see you here next year ready to beat me in a race.”
I promise him I’ll keep working out, but not to plan on me beating him in anything. Kenny and Melanie make me swear that if I’m falling behind in school to contact them for help. I’m not even embarrassed that they’re just kids. I’ve stopped thinking of them that way. The three of them leave, and it’s just me, Bree, and Ally. We stand around looking at each other and at the near-empty cabin. Finally Bree asks, “So what do you guys know about space junk?”
“Space junk?” Ally repeats.
“Yeah, you know, all that stuff zooming around in space. It’s a big threat, you know, to astronauts and satellites and lots of things.”
“I know what it is,” Ally says with a smile. “I just don’t think I’ve ever heard you ask about anything, well, scientific.”
I wait to see if that’s going to tick Bree off, but she just says, “I’m going to have a lot of time on my hands soon. Might as well fill it up.”
I put up my hands. “Don’t look at me.”
“My dad has some information on it,” Ally says. “I’m sure he’ll give it to you.”
“Cool.” And then, because she’s Bree, she knows when to make an exit. “So Jack-in-the-box, keep it real. I hope we’ll see you next summer for the Star Party. That is, if I make it a whole year around here without going stark raving mad.”
“You’ll make it,” I assure her. “And I’m going to be here, even if I have to fail another class to do it.”
She gives me a quick hug goodbye, just long enough to whisper in my ear, “Keep flying.”
“You too,” I whisper back. I’m glad Bree wanted to learn about the whole lucid dreaming thing. I think it will prove her inner life is bigger than she thought. My own goal is to do the opposite—to make my outer life as big as my inner one.
Bree turns at the door and calls to Ally, “Dinner at six?”
“You bet.”
“Remember, tonight’s music and television. Tomorrow is movies and fashion.”
“I remember,” Ally says.
The door closes behind Bree.
“She’s teaching me the ways of the world,” Ally explains. “She lent me her iPod and is testing me on it t
onight. Testing me!”
“I have something for you too,” I tell her, and reach over to my dresser. I hand her the picture on top. “No testing involved.”
“Wow,” Ally says, gazing down at the picture in her hand and then up at me. “You drew this? It must have taken forever.”
“It didn’t take that long.” Actually it did, but I didn’t mind. I don’t tell her that I was so engrossed in making it that I almost missed the eclipse.
“That’s me, right?”
I laugh. “Yes, that’s you. Can’t you tell?”
“I figured it was me, but how many times does a girl see herself standing on top of a comet in outer space?”
“What other girls do you know who could be riding on a comet?”
“None,” she admits.
“And how many do you know who would be wearing a meteorite around her neck with the words Alpha Girl on their superhero outfits?”
“Again, none.”
“Well there you have it, then. It must be you.”
She runs her hand over it and I cringe a little, hoping the pencil doesn’t smear. I’m going to have to get used to showing other people my stuff. After Bree told me she’d seen what I drew in the Art House, she made me promise to join the art club at school. She still scares me a little, and somehow she’ll know if I don’t do it.
“No one’s ever done anything like this for me. I’m going to frame it and hang it up as soon as we get settled.” She pauses for a few seconds and then says, “Jack, do you ever . . . do you ever worry you’ll forget? About the eclipse?”
I shake my head.
She smiles. “Me neither.”
“It seemed like it lasted a lifetime. But also like no time at all.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” she says.
“But if the memory does start to fade, you can always look at this.” I whip out the photograph from Bree and hand it to her. Her eyes glisten as she looks up at me.
She holds it close to her chest and the gravity of her situation hits me fully for the first time. She’s completely walking into the unknown and leaving behind everything she loves. But not everyone. Seeing the way she and Kenny are together has made me wonder if there’s hope for me and Mike.
