Chapter 3

The air in the planetarium had thickened, heavy with the scent of old velvet and the faint, metallic tang of the projectors warming up. We were still at the event location, the grand hall that served as the gateway to the cosmos above, but the crowd had thinned enough that the echoing footsteps of our own making sounded like a secret conversation. The domed ceiling was a masterpiece of glass and steel, currently dark as the night it mimicked, waiting for the light show to begin. I stood near the edge of the main exhibit, a model of the solar system suspended in the center, its brass planets catching the ambient glow of the emergency lights. I had taken off my coat during the reception, feeling too warm in the wool, but the sudden drop in temperature as the main lights dimmed had sent a shiver up my spine. I reached for the hanger on my arm, trying to shrug the heavy fabric back onto my shoulders, but my fingers were stiff from the cold and the nerves that had been prickling under my skin all evening. My jacket slipped, sliding off one shoulder, and I cursed softly under my