For Darkness Shows the Stars

of the pavilions. Her eyes narrowed. There, behind the sun-carts, hidden from the others by a flap of the tents, stood Andromeda Phoenix. Elliot did not have superhuman eyes. She could not see like Kai; she could not hear like Donovan. But it was impossible to mistake.
    Andromeda was sobbing.

E IGHT Y EARS A GO
     
    Dear Kai,
    My mother and I are going to my grandfather’s house today. They are going to turn on the windcatcher. If you don’t have work to do, would you like to come and see it?
    Your friend,
    Elliot
        
     
    Dear Elliot,
    I have to work with my da, but I’m jealous. I’ve heard about the windcatcher. Is it true that’s all the Boatwright uses to power his tractor? I imagine it smells a lot better than ours.
    Though I guess that depends on the type of wind.
    Your friend,
    Kai
        
     
    Dear Kai,
    Very funny.
    The windcatcher was amazing. I asked my mother why we don’t use one on the North estate, and she told me it was because it only works near the cliffs. But there is shoreline on the North estate.
    After we watched it for a little while, we visited my grandfather. He is sick, but he’s still a lot of fun. He let me play with his big old compass. I can’t believe people used to use it to find their way. You know you can fool it with nothing but a magnet? He showed me how to make the arrow point in any direction I want with a magnet. It’s so easy to make it wrong, it’s a wonder people ever trusted it.
    Your friend,
    Elliot
        
     
    Dear Elliot,
    You saw the windcatcher and played with a compass? Now I’m really jealous.
    I think your mother is right. I have heard the windcatchers don’t work everywhere. But there are other things that work. I have heard in the south, when it’s sunny all day long in the summer, they have lamps that capture the sunlight and glow all night. I would love to have one. It would mean I didn’t have to hoard candle stubs and I could read my books whenever I wanted.
    And don’t worry about the compass. That’s not all they used. They also used the stars, and no magnet makes them move.
    Your friend,
    Kai

Thirty-six
     
    KAI FOLLOWED HER GAZE and he frowned.
    “What’s wrong with her?” Elliot asked. She recalled Andromeda’s frozen expression earlier and remembered the reason she’d left her home estate. She’d never heard the name of the place, though. Had the Norths invited Andromeda’s old lord and lady to their party?
    “I don’t know.” Kai looked at her. “I should go and check on her.”
    “Yes.” Elliot figured she should stay back—the Post girl had never liked her, and she doubted Andromeda wanted her company when she looked so . . . vulnerable.
    Vulnerable had never before been a word Elliot would have used to describe Andromeda, but she also couldn’t imagine her crying, either. Even if the Post girl’s Luddite father was here, Elliot couldn’t imagine Andromeda crying. Using her superhuman aim to lob a drink at him from across the pavilion, maybe. But nothing like this.
    “But I don’t want to walk away from you without finishing our conversation. There are things I need to make you understand.”
    What more was there to say? His whole life was a monument of mockery to Luddite society, and Elliot couldn’t even hold it against him. He hated being here and couldn’t wait to get away, and she couldn’t blame him for that, either. She didn’t need to listen to him detail his plans for a future with Olivia once the younger girl’s brain was put right. She didn’t need to hear him gloat about how all his dreams—the ones they’d once created together—were about to come true. Envy hurt exponentially more than heartbreak because your soul was torn in two, half soaring with happiness for another person, half mired in a well of self-pity and pain.
    If she spent any more time with Kai, he’d see it written all over her. He’d perceived everything else about her. She couldn’t let him know this. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I have no intention of spilling your secrets. Any of them.” And she wouldn’t spill her own, either.
    Kai held her gaze for a long moment and Elliot thought he was going to speak, but at last he went after Andromeda.
    A cheer shot up from the pavilions and Elliot heard the announcement.
    “The winner is Tatiana North, on her Innovation mount, Pyrois!”
    She hadn’t expected anything less.
    BECAUSE OF THE PRESENCE of the Luddites at the house party, it was easy to expedite