Page 56 of Stardusted

It wasn’t just familiar. It wasthepattern. The one I’d woken up with in my head. My stomach dropped.

A rectangle. Off-kilter. Crooked.

My palm tingled.

“Lisa.” I turned with a half-formed, apologetic smile. “Sorry to interrupt. But…do you know what constellation that is?”

She followed my gaze, forehead furrowing. “No. I have no idea. That was all your brother.”

“Equuleus,” said a voice from the doorway.

Dustin. Rain had plastered his hair to his head and soaked through his gray, oil-stained shop coveralls, but that didn’t stop him from wrapping Lisa in a soggy bear hug and kissing her shoulder.

“You’re soaked!” Lisa squealed. “You’re tracking water everywhere!”

“I’m cleaning the carpets tomorrow.” He gave her his usual dopey grin, then turned to me. “And yeah, Rae. That one’s Equuleus. Why? Want me to come do your room, too?”

“Equuleus,” I repeated, the word sticking in my throat. I studied it again.

I’d never heard of it. I’d never even read the word in any textbook. I’d have no clue where to find it in the night sky.

But I’d seen that exact pattern. Burned behind my eyelids. An echo of a dream.

Why was I dreaming about constellations I didn’t know?

A nagging voice reminded me I’d been run off the road by a UFO and chased by alien robots in the last week. It didn’t take a rocket scientist—or a flying saucer one—to figure out the connection. It had to be related.

Maybe it’d been in my subconscious.

Maybe it hadn’t.

I fought the urge to look at my hand.

Oblivious to my existential crisis, Dustin slung an arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Yeah, it’s a horse’s head. You know, like equine.”

“Latin for horse,” I muttered, still staring at the constellation. I could feel my brother’s eyes on me, but I couldn’t seem to look away.

“You all right over there?” he asked. “Mom told me you almost got blown up at school yesterday.”

“Almost gotwhat?” Lisa cried.

I sighed and turned around just in time to see her smack Dustin’s arm.

“You didn’t tell me that!” she said, spinning toward me with surprising grace for someone that pregnant. Her brows pinched tight over her dark eyes. “What happened? Are you okay?”

An alien infiltration happened.

“I’m fine. Seriously,” I said quickly, curling my fingertips to contain the itch in my right hand. “I wasn’t hurt at all. Last I heard, the school still isn’t sure what caused the explosion. Something about the solar flare.” The lie tasted bitter. I shrugged, aiming for nonchalance. “I got knocked out, but the EMT checked me out. I’ve been fine since.”

No need to mention the full-blown meltdown I’d had last night. The wine. The bruises. The dream hallucinations.

I mean, Iwasfeeling better. Mostly.

Lisa moved closer and searched my face, still looking unconvinced, so I added, “I even stayed home from work yesterday and took it easy.”

She opened her mouth, but my brother cut her off. “Oh, no,” he said, circling Lisa to grab my shoulders and peer into my face. His hazel eyes—so much like mine, like Dad’s—sparkled with mock concern. “Youcalled off work? What is this,Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Were you abducted by those aliens everyone says are taking over?”

I almost choked. My eyes bugged, but I caught myself and forced a laugh, shoving him off with more force than necessary. Because he was my big brother and we used to wrestle daily, he just laughed.