^“Cassy, where are you?” Everly’s voice shouts throughout the house. I move away from my place near the window in the kitchen as she bangs the door open. I smile when I see her head of blonde swirls as she slams into the room. Everly is the very meaning of happiness. She has a row of freckles on her nose and cheeks, bright sea-blue eyes, and is a little shorter than I am.

“That door is always getting stuck,” she huffs and straightens up. Everly is just as thin as me, but hers isn’t by choice, and I hate that. No matter what life throws at her, she is always happy. I don’t know why I can’t be more like her. She walks straight over to me and throws her arms around me.

“You look sad, why?” she asks as she leans back, her hands on my shoulders.

“Another argument with my father. He’s going away tonight,” I say, not wanting to tell her that he killed a family. I’m sure she will hear about it soon enough. Everly believes my father is a monster, and she isn’t wrong, not in my eyes. The names of the people he has killed to keep my secret run through my mind. I know he never offers them a deal to save themselves. I’m sure some of them would have sworn not to say anything about me to save themselves and their families. Or got on a boat and left the island. My father could have made them leave.

“Ah, don’t take it to heart,” she waves a hand at me. Everly has on a dirty-white, long tunic, tied in the middle with a belt. She works in the fields just outside of town, where most of the food is grown. Everly tells me stories of the handsome men she works with, and they are all I ever seem to hear from her recently. I understand it. Well, the idea of love and attraction. I just have never had the chance to feel that way about a man. Turning eighteen yesterday didn’t change those thoughts.

“I know, Ev,” I say, and she grins. I pick up an apple from the side that I was going to eat and hand it to her. She doesn’t say anything but takes it with a nod. She can’t refuse food when she doesn’t know where the next meal comes from, and she has to work all day. Apples are rare, even for my father, but we have our own tree in the gardens.

“Was my mother alright with you today?” Everly asks me around a bite of the apple.

“Same stuff, another day,” I say and go back to my window. The view of the town is slightly different from here. It’s sundown now, the two moons slowly appearing in the sky. The sky is lit up different shades of orange, with little bits of pink wiped across it. I want to say it’s my favourite part of the day, but it’s not. I prefer the night, when the bright stars come out.

“I have an idea,” Everly suddenly says, and I glance back to her. Everly’s ideas are rarely safe and always involve sneaking me out of here. She doesn’t believe I have to hide, and she doesn’t realise how many people have been killed because they saw me. When we were seven, she came up with the idea to climb the nearest wall and see the sea at night. We did and a couple saw us, they told people around the town the next day about these two strange girls. My father killed them for that, even if they didn’t see, or know about, my mark. I found out because Miss Drone shouted at my father, and I heard the whole thing. They were close friends of Miss Drone’s. It didn’t matter in the end, because my father simply offered to kill her and Everly if she wanted to say anything. I’m glad Miss Drone walked away.

“I am not leaving the house and putting that stuff on,” I say, pulling my thoughts back to Everly and her foolish ideas. My father brought me some thick paste that covers my mark and blends in with my skin. I use it sometimes when I leave the house at night to go into the gardens. There isn’t a lot of it, so I have to be careful in case there’s a time when I will actually need it.

“You are, because we are going to a party,” Everly says, a massive smile on her face.

“A party? Have you gone mad?” I ask her, and she shakes her head, her curls flying everywhere. Everly’s hair is out of control most of the time–like her personality.

“No, I have not. We will go tomorrow night,” she says and takes a last bite of the apple.

“What if it rains? That stuff isn’t water proof,” I tell her, and she chuckles.

“It doesn’t rain anymore, you know that,” she says, and I know she’s right, I’m being silly to think it might rain. There hasn’t been any rain for four months now, and there isn’t a dark cloud to be seen in the sky. The farmers are now using sea water to feed the plants, and it’s killing them slowly. No rain has also caused our water supplies to get low. My father says we need a few storms soon or something drastic will have to be done. I dread to know what that might be.

“It might,” I shrug a shoulder, not meeting her eyes.

“And, the whole village would be staring at the sky, not you, Cass. Plus, we will go at night, so no one will see you,” she says with a grin. I mentally sigh and look over at her. I know she won’t give up, and it’s only one night.

“I don’t know–” I get out, and she cuts me off with a wave of her hand.

“You will, and you can meet some people. Maybe some men,” she winks, and I laugh. If only meeting a man would be the worst thing that could happen to me, but I know it is not in my future. Any man would take one look at my mark and run the other way, as fast as they could if they were smart. I’m guessing if I had children, they would be changed like me, but it’s only a guess. I would never risk having children or falling in love. The result would only be death, as death chases me for my mark.

“No, I don’t think so, Ev. I’ll live with your stories of handsome strangers and what I read in my books,” I say, and she laughs loudly.

“Reading is not the same as living, Cass, and you need to live,” she says and throws the apple core into a bin as I think over her words. Who knows how long it could be until my father goes away again?

It’s only one night and one party. I can talk to some people and have enough memories to keep me going for a while. It’s difficult to be locked in this house all the time, talking to only three people, and having only the stars for company at night. I’m eighteen and tired of living a life being hidden. One night would help that, just one night.

A night to give me something to dream about other than the stars.