‘The constellation is Perseus,’ he said. ‘And that bright star is called Mirfak.’
‘It’s beautiful.’
‘It is beautiful. But there’s another star in Perseus I want to show you.’
Ryan moved my hand slightly. ‘Algol. The demon star. It’s also known as the evil eye.’
‘Why?’
‘Algol looks like a single star, but actually it’s a triple star system. One of the stars is small. But two of the stars regularly eclipse each other, affecting the brightness of the star to the naked eye. It’s almost as if the star makes a slow wink. If you watch it over a period of three days, you’ll see its brightness wax and wane.’
‘That’s cool,’ I said.
‘Isn’t it? But you know what’s really cool about it?’
I shook my head.
‘Algol has a planetary system. Five planets orbit the three stars.’ He paused. ‘Three are gas giants. One is too close to the main star for life to exist. But one of those planets is in the habitable zone. That planet is called Eden.’
Gazing out across the black sky at this brilliant, white star twinkling brightly above me, I considered how incredible it was that this star had a planet orbiting it; a planet that sustained life. Human life. Earth life. I knew about it before Connor discovered it.
‘You need to forget that now,’ Ryan whispered in my ear, his breath warm against my neck.
Goosebumps prickled my skin. The night air was cold and I hadn’t brought a jacket, but I didn’t care. Ryan had just told me that he was born on a different planet and told me where in the sky that planet was. And I was the only person from my timeline to know this. He shouldn’t have told me. But he trusted me.
And I trusted him.
The curtains to the front room were shut, but I could tell from the blue flicker that Miranda was watching the television. She would be alone, waiting for me to come inside and tell her about my day while helping her finish the crossword. The enormous gulf between her life and the one I was beginning lay there between us, between the world inside the house, where everything followed the laws of physics as we understood them, and the one outside, where stars were really suns to other planets and people could travel through time.
‘I’ll call you,’ he said.
I nodded and opened the door. I turned just as Ryan closed the gate.
‘Goodnight, alien boy,’ I said.
‘Night, Earthling,’ he said, laughing, and then he was walking back to his car.
Chapter 12
Dust motes floated in a shaft of sunlight. Outside, the sun blazed. The invigilators had opened the windows as far as they could, but the room was still stifling.
Physics. The last exam. The clock at the front of the hall read ten minutes to twelve. Ten minutes. Ten minutes until we were all told to put our pens down. Ten minutes until the end of exams. I should have been checking through my answers to make sure I hadn’t made any silly errors, but I couldn’t concentrate any longer.
All around me, heads were bent over the question papers. Ryan’s seat remained empty. Although he had gone through the motions of sitting the exams over the past three weeks, he had decided to skip this one so he could help Ben and Cassie prepare for their departure in two days’ time, after the leavers’ ball. I wondered what sort of preparations you had to make for travelling through time. Was it complicated or dangerous like the old shuttle missions to the International Space Station or was it a more mundane journey, like a train ride to Plymouth?
‘Pens down,’ said the invigilator.
The sun beat down on us as we ambled towards the gate. Matt and Connor removed their ties and began whipping each other with them, laughing and saying that they would never ever wear a tie again for the rest of their lives.
Ryan was leaning against the gate, dressed in a white T-shirt and khaki shorts, a pair of very dark sunglasses hiding his eyes.
‘Did I miss anything interesting?’
‘Hell yeah,’ said Matt. ‘That was officially the most fun I’ve ever had in school.’
Students were spilling out of the school gates, laughing and yelling, tying their ties around their foreheads like thin bandannas.
‘Everyone’s going to the park,’ said Chloe Mason, walking over to Ryan.
She had unbuttoned her school shirt halfway, exposing just the edge of her hot-pink bra. ‘I hope you’re coming. I have a going-away present for you.’ She swaggered back to her group of friends, laughing and spiralling her tie above her head like a lasso.
‘What’s the plan then?’ asked Ryan.
‘Looks like we’re going to the park,’ said Connor.
Ryan groaned. ‘Really?’
‘What’s the matter, Westland?’ asked Connor. ‘Scared?’
Ryan laughed. ‘Terrified.’
Ryan’s car was discreetly parked a couple of streets away from school. He opened the passenger door for me and told the others to squeeze in together in the back.
Connor pulled a face. ‘Why don’t we walk? It’s not far.’
‘I picked up the booze you wanted,’ said Ryan. ‘It’s in the boot. It’ll be easier if we take the car.’
‘Come on, Connor,’ said Megan. ‘It’s only a five-minute drive.’
Connor said nothing, but he got in the back of the car.
Ryan pulled away from the kerb and on to the street that led across town to Perran Park. I turned around. Amy was half sitting on Matt’s lap, his hands resting on her thighs. With four of them in the back seat, it was inevitable that they would be squashed together. But Connor’s arm was resting along the back of the seat, behind Megan’s shoulders, and his body was angled close towards hers. He was laughing at something she had just said. Ryan took a corner sharply and Megan rolled against Connor, resting her head on his shoulder.
‘Sorry,’ she giggled.
‘Don’t be,’ he said with a smile.
I turned away, whatever it was I’d been about to say forgotten. Until now I’d assumed that Connor had asked Megan to the ball because I’d said no, or even as a way to try and make me jealous. Could it be that he really did like her?
Even before we entered the gates to the park, we could hear squeals and laughter and the babble of voices. Over in the bandstand, two boys and a girl were drumming on overturned buckets while another boy strummed on his guitar. The whole park had the feel of an impromptu party.
‘Let’s sit by the fountain,’ I said, imagining the cool spray on my hot, sticky skin.
We found a shady spot beneath a thicket of trees, close to the fountain. I lay back on the grass, my face in the shade of a gnarled apple tree, my legs and body in the warmth of the sun. I kicked off my school shoes. The lightest spray from the fountain reached my shins and feet.
Ryan lay beside me. ‘I think apple trees are my favourite tree in the whole world,’ he said.
‘Why’s that?’
‘I like their shape. The blossom in the spring. The apples in the autumn. The smell of their fruit. They’re perfect.’
‘You’re really into trees and plants,’ I said with a laugh.
‘You know why.’
‘What are you drinking, Eden?’ Megan asked.
