Every Soul a Star Read online

  Ally tells them all about the project and I like knowing that it’s because of me she’s so excited. “Do you want to help?” she asks them.

  “Sure!” Ryan says.

  “Count me out,” says Bree.

  Ryan looks at her and then says, “Sorry, I guess I’m out, then, too. Maybe I’ll catch you guys later.”

  “Oh,” Ally says. “Are you sure?”

  He nods firmly.

  “Okay,” she says, clearly disappointed. But her smile comes back quickly. “Have fun.”

  I didn’t think to put the box down while Ally was talking to them and by the time we get to the top of the hill I’m huffing and puffing and letting out the occasional wheeze.

  “You know,” Ally says, gesturing to the box, “we have carts for that sort of thing.”

  “That would have been good to know, Alpha Girl.”

  Kenny laughs. Ally stops walking. “How’d you know about that?”

  “Um, I heard one of the security guards call you it. Not that I know what it means.” I can hear myself rambling, but I can’t stop. “It just seemed like a cool super-hero name, you know, like the Adventures of Alpha Girl.”

  Ally reddens. “Can we talk about something else, please?” She looks off into the distance. “Like how about those dark clouds? What do we do if it rains?”

  Relieved that she’s letting me off the hook, I shake my head. “We have two nights to get the readings at specific times, and that’s it.”

  Ally looks at the clouds and frowns. Kenny and Melanie manage to get the cover off the telescope without breaking anything. It all looks more complicated in the daylight. Kenny starts pushing buttons and twisting knobs. Melanie flicks a switch and a small computer display lights up and beeps. She says something in technobabble and Kenny nods and technobabbles back. It sure sounds like they know what they’re doing. Hopefully they’re not bluffing through it like I would be.

  I point to the large blue shed a few yards away. “What’s that for?”

  “Storage, mostly,” Ally says, turning to look at it. “Sometimes people camp up here and leave things. We’ve found some strange stuff over the years. It all goes in the shed in case the people ever come back.”

  “Do a lot of people return each year?”

  She nods and is about to say something when her voice catches in her throat and she turns away. I know she’s thinking about leaving and how hard it will be.

  I know because I’m thinking the same thing.

  ALLY

  6

  I hold up the solar filter so everyone can see how I cut it. “Your piece should be three inches wide and long enough to reach your ears. Then you will punch a hole on each end and tie a piece of string through it. Make sure the two strands are long enough to tie in the back of your head. Any questions?”

  Hands wave in the air as scraps of the thin silvery-black sheets fly around the pavilion. Each table has a hole-puncher and scissors. At first I had been surprised so many people didn’t come prepared with their own glasses. Then I overheard someone say, “You mean it’s not dark the whole time?” and I realized most people haven’t been preparing for an eclipse for their entire lives like we have. The die-hard eclipse chasers have their own, of course, and many people ordered ahead for them—either the aluminized Mylar ones like we’re making now, or goggles with special welder’s glass. But for the rest, Dad was smart enough to order material for them to make their own. I had to explain to the group that the retina at the back of your eye doesn’t have any pain receptors. That means you won’t feel the damage that’s being done until it’s too late. As soon as I said the words “you can go blind,” people rushed up to get their glasses-making materials.

  “He stole mine!” one of the little red-haired twins yells.

  “No! He stole mine!” the other one wails. “Mooooom!!”

  Their mother waves them off. “Figure it out, boys.”

  I love leading the campers in activities like this. Giving the night sky lectures has been one of the only things keeping me from crawling into a hole. Well, that and my new friends. Although I’m not sure I would call Bree a friend, exactly. Sometimes she can be sort of nice, and sometimes she looks right through me. I think she doesn’t like me because I’m the one leaving. If anything, it should be the reverse.

  An elderly couple comes up to the front wearing their new glasses. “Is this right?”

  They look pretty funny. “Yup, looks great.”

  “Don’t want to get blind, ya know. Got new grandbabies at home.”

  I smile. “I promise, you won’t go blind. Just listen for the announcements about when to put them on, and when it’s safe to lower them, okay?”

  They nod. I walk around the pavilion making sure everyone has their questions answered. Kenny was supposed to help me, but it’s more important for him to be up with Jack. We were up there until it got dark last night, and now they’re doing a trial run. I can’t believe I’m actually going to see an exoplanet—even indirectly. Comets and asteroids are one thing (well, two!), but an exoplanet? I never even dreamed of it! And we’re going to chart it for a real astronomer, all the way in Hawaii! Jack said Mr. Silver told him the guy works at an observatory on the top of a volcano that’s, like, the highest spot in the world. Or in America. Something like that. And he needs OUR help!

  Thunder rumbles again, still many miles away. We might just make it before the rain comes. The first viewing is about eight hours from now.

  Someone tugs on my sleeve. I’m ready to assure the hundredth person that as long as they don’t look at the sun without the solar shade, they won’t go blind. When I turn around I’m surprised to see Ryan. I’ve only caught glimpses of him the past few days. He’s either jogging or hanging out with Bree. Part of me misses hanging out just the two of us, like in the old days, and part of me is glad we have other people to be with. I’ve put the non-hottie comment behind me. Maybe if I had wanted to be a hottie in the first place, it would have bothered me more.

  “Hey,” he says. “I know we haven’t seen too much of each other. I’m wondering, um, if you don’t mind, could I join you guys? For the planet thing?”

  I look up at him in surprise. “Sure! But what about Bree?”

  “All her boxes and stuff from home came. She’s pretty busy going through everything. She probably wouldn’t even notice.”

  “She must be happy that she can stop wearing my clothes now.”

  He shrugs. “I think she was getting used to them. She hasn’t complained in a day and a half.” He winks, then helps me pile up the extra solar filters. “So what’s the plan?”

  I stash the box of filters outside the kitchen door. “I sent an e-mail to the other members of Mr. Silver’s team asking for help. We can check if they wrote back yet.” I leave out the part where I didn’t write to the main guy in Hawaii because I was afraid he’d cancel the experiment if he knew it was a bunch of kids doing it.

  “Race you?” he teases.

  “No thanks, cheater.” I take one last look around to see if anyone needs help, and then we hurry over to Alien Central. The only e-mail we received told us we had recently won a million dollars and all we had to do was send a check for a thousand and then we could claim it. I hit delete.

  “You know, it’s already the middle of the night in Europe,” Ryan says. “They’re probably sleeping.”

  “Probably.” For a second it feels like old times, just me and Ryan, hanging out together like we used to. ”Do you want to watch the SETI screen for a while?”

  He nods. We pull up the chairs and watch the patterns dance across the screen. It’s almost like nothing’s changed. Except, of course, everything has.

  By eight o’clock, the rolling of the thunder is getting louder as the wind picks up. Almost all the members of Team Exo, which is what we’ve decided to call ourselves, are gathered on the hilltop. Jack and Kenny are happy that Ryan is here, which I knew they would be. Mom and Dad aren’t thrilled about us being up h