Chapter 1

I chased after Elias Voss for five years.

I stood outside the test flight base for eight hours, waiting for him in 5°F weather.

Instead, I saw him gently wrap a scarf around another woman, only to turn around and call me a clingy stalker.

I smiled and slipped the lucky charm, crafted over half a year after forty-seven failed attempts, into my pocket, then signed the lifetime contract for the Stellar Survey Initiative.

From that moment on, Elowen Hale vanished from the world.

Eight years later, at the Winedash Launch Complex, he looked at me, wearing a white lab coat and surrounded by flowers, his eyes rimmed with red as he pleaded for me to return.

I pointed at the rocket soaring into the sky. "Captain Voss, my journey has always been toward the stars and the sea, not you."

*****

The northwest wind sliced at my face like a knife.

I stood outside the test flight base, gripping the lucky charm tight in my hand.

I'd already been waiting for eight hours.

At 5°F, my toes had lost all feeling long ago.

The young guard at the gate came out for the third time to persuade me. "Ms. Hale, Captain Voss's test flight mission ended hours ago. Why don't you head back?"

"I'll wait a bit longer," I replied with a smile, shaking my head and gripping the lucky charm tighter.

This lucky charm wasn't woven from regular thread.

The outside was tough aramid fiber, and inside, micro-level flexible conductive threads were woven in.

It could block electromagnetic interference and keep broadcasting its location in high-radiation environments.

I spent more than half a year on it, failed forty-seven times, and finally got one right.

Elias's test flights were becoming increasingly dangerous, and I was terrified he might not make it back safely.

I'd arrived eight hours ago.

It wasn't fully dark yet, and the base's searchlights cast a long shadow behind him.

He walked out of the gate in his flight jacket, and before I could say anything, he got into a black SUV without looking my way.

He didn't spare me a glance.

I refused to give up, so I called him.

He didn't answer.

I sent him a message and got nothing back.

Maybe he was wiped out, got another flight tomorrow, didn't want anyone bothering him.

So I kept waiting, hoping he'd finish up, stop being so annoyed with me, and then I could hand him the lucky charm and go.

So I kept waiting. The sky went completely dark, streetlights blinked on and off, and cars coming and going from the base grew fewer and fewer.

As it neared midnight, a black SUV came rolling in from the distance, its headlights so bright I had to squint.

The car stopped right in front of me.

The passenger door swung open, and a woman stepped out first. It was Wren Mercer.

She was wearing a white down jacket, her face lit up with a shy, bashful smile.

She turned to the driver's seat and said, "Elias, thanks for the ride today."

Elias got out of the driver's seat, walked around the front of the car, and came over to her.

He took off his scarf and wrapped it around her neck, like he'd done it a thousand times before.

Then he looked up and saw me. His eyes were annoyed and cold.

There was not a flicker of surprise, as if seeing me here was another day.

It was so normal that all he had for me was impatience.

"Elowen, that's enough," Elias said, his voice colder than the night wind. "Quit stalking me and stop bothering me."

Wren ducked behind him and whispered, "Elowen, don't misunderstand. Elias was dropping me off, that's all."

I didn't glance at her; my eyes stayed locked on Elias. "I'm not waiting for you anymore."

"You always say that," Elias sneered, grabbing Wren's wrist. "Come on, I'll take you home."

The car roared to life, and the exhaust blew right in my face, leaving me standing there, feeling more alone.

The black shape of the SUV melted into the night, leaving nothing but cold behind.

I looked down at the lucky charm in my hand, and suddenly, I felt like a fool holding it.

But maybe it wasn't foolishness after all.

I carefully tucked the lucky charm into the inside pocket of my down jacket.

Then I pulled out my phone and scrolled to Samuel Finch's number.

It was one in the morning, and I figured he wouldn't pick up.

But the call went through after one ring, like he'd been waiting for me to call.

"Mr. Finch, I've made up my mind," I said. "I'll sign the agreement for the Stellar Survey Initiative."

There was a brief silence on the other end.

Then Samuel's voice came through, barely holding back his excitement. "Elowen, are you sure? Once you sign, there's no turning back, minimum eight years, maybe for life."

"I'm sure," I said, and hung up. I tilted my head back, staring up at the night sky.

The stars out here in the desert were so bright it was almost blinding, a thousand times more beautiful than anything you'd see in the city.

I remembered what my dad told me before he left.

He said, "Elowen, there are so many secrets out there in the sky, waiting for us to discover. Always be someone who gazes at the stars."

I wiped my face, not sure if the wetness was from the wind or something else. Then I turned and walked away, never looking back.