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Chapter 1

Rowan, Kestrel, and Jade," Mary-Lynnette said as she and Mark passed the old Victorian farmhouse

"Huh?"

"Rowan And Kestrel And Jade The na in" Mary-Lynnette tilted herhead toward the farmhouse-her hands were full of lawn chair "They're Mrs Burdock's nieces Don't you re to live with her?"

"Vaguely," Mark said, readjusting the weight of the telescope he was carrying as they trudged up the manzanita-covered hill He spoke shortly, which Mary-Lynnette knewshy

"They're pretty nairls, because Mrs Burdock said so"

"Mrs Burdock is crazy"

"She's just eccentric And yesterday she told meher nieces are all beautiful I , but she was pretty definite Each one of theeous, each one a completely different type"

"So they should be going to California," Mark saidin an alueWhere do you want this thing?" he added as they reached the top of the hill

"Right here" Mary-Lynnette put the lawn chairdown She scraped some dirt aith her foot so the telescope would sit evenly Then she said casually, "You know, I thought o over there tomorrow and introduce ourselves-sort of welcome them, you know"

"Will you cut itout?"Mark said tersely "I can organize irl I don't need help"

"Okay, okay You don't need help Be careful withthat focuser tube-"

"And besides, what are we going to say?" Mark said, on a roll now "'Welco ever happens Where there are more coyotes than people Where if you really want sohtat the Gold Creek Bar'"

"Okay Okay" Mary-Lynnette sighed She-looked at her younger brother, who just at the moment was illuminated by the last rays of sunset To see him now, you'd think he'd never been sick a day in hislife

His hair was as dark and shiny as Mary Lynnette's, his eyes were as blue and clear and snapping He had the salow of color in his cheeks

But when he'd been a baby, he'd been thin andscrawny and every breath had been a challengeHis asthma had been so bad he'd spentto stay alive

Mary-Lynnette, a year and a half older, had won dered every day if her baby brother would ever come home

It had changed hi alone in that tent whereeven their mother couldn't touch hi on to theirmother's aro out for sports like the other kids That was all a long tih school this year-but he was still shy And when he got defensive, he bit people's heads off

Mary-Lynnette wished one of the new girls would be right for hiive hie it somehow

"What are you thinking about?" Mark asked suspiciously

Mary-Lynnette realized he was staring at her

"About how the seeing's going to be really good tonight," she said blandly "August's the best ; the air's so warm and still Hey,there's the first star-you can make a wish"

She pointed to a bright point of light above the southern horizon It worked; Mark was distracted and looked, too

Mary-Lynnette stared at the back of his dark headIf it would do any good, I'd wish for roht I'd wish it for myself, too-but ould be the point? There's nobody around here to be romantic with

None of the guys at school--except maybe JeremyLovett-understood why she was interested in as tronomy, or what she felt about the stars Most ofthe tiue ache in her chest A longing toshare If she hadwished, it would have been for that, for soht with

Oh, well It didn't help to dwell on it And besides,although she didn't want to tell Mark, what they ishing on was the planet Jupiter, and not a star at all

Mark shook his head as he trah buckbrush and poison hemlock

He should have apologized to Mary-Lynnette beforeleaving-he didn't like being nasty to her In fact, she was the one person he usually tried to be decent to

But as she always trying to fix hi on stars And Mark hadn't reallya wish, which I'm not because it's hokey and stupid, it would be for some excitement around here

Soht-and felt an innershiver as he hiked downhill in the gathering darkness

Jade stared at the steady, brilliant point of lightabove the southern horizon It was a planet, she knew

For the last two nights she'd seen it ht that must be itson stars, but this planet seemed like a friend-a traveler, just like her As Jade watched it tonight, she felt a sort of concentration of hope rise inside her Almost awish

Jade had to adht air was too quiet; there wasn't the faintest sound of a car co to be very, very hungry

Jade turned to look at her sisters

"Well, where is she?"

"I don't know," Rowan said in her entle voice "Be patient"

"Well, maybe we should scan for her

"No," Rowan said "Absolutely not Remember e decided"

"She's probably forgotten ere co senile"

"Don't saythings like that It's not polite," Rowan said, still gentle, but through her teeth

Roas always gentle when she could eit She was nineteen, tall, slim, and stately She had cinnamon-brown eyes and warm brown hair that cascaded down her back in waves

Kestrel was seventeen and had hair the color of old gold sweeping back fros Her eyes were aentle

Jade was the youngest, just turned sixteen, and she didn't look like either of her sisters She had white-blond hair that she used as a veil to hide behind, and green eyes People said she looked serene, but she almost never felt serene Usually she was either madly excited or madly anxious and confused

Right noas anxious She orried about her battered, half-century-old Morocco leather suitcase She couldn't hear a thing from inside it

00 "Hey, why don't you two go down the road a little way and see if she's co?"

Her sisters looked back at her There were few things that Rowan and Kestrel agreed on, but Jade was one of theainst her

"Nohat?" Kestrel said, her teeth showing just briefly