"WHEN THE WORLD AROUND YOU IS BURNING, LOOK AT THE STARS."
Transfer student Minni Lee has a premonition. Not all is right at Newhurst University. Between a hateful blog post and the strange death of campus mean girl, Somin, exists a tangled mystery...
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MIN DREAMT OF GLASS.
The sparkle of it on dim pavement, the crunch under the skidding wheels. Her mind reeled, white-knuckled grip sweaty on the steering wheel.
The night swallowed the road whole. Nothing was visible other than the thin yellow lines on the outskirts of Cape Freewell. Somewhere in the distance the ocean was roaring. Like it always did. Like it always will.
Those kinds of nights had been her favorite. Away from home, from her mother, with the moonlight gleaming overhead. Just her, the sea, and the long stretch of silence on the winding road in front of her. Until-
Her phone rang in the cupholder. She knew what it meant, who was on the other end of it. Her mom noticed her missing and would start screaming into the receiver.
There was nothing in the rear view mirror. Nothing on the sides of the rickety van. Only murky darkness beyond the windshield. It was late, no one was on the road but her. It would be okay. Right?
No.
Against her will, her hand moved to grab it finally. It had been the fifth call from home that night. Blue light bounced across the leather seats as the screen flickered with missed phone calls.
Stop.
A flicker darted from the tree line, a boy running across the street after a yellow beach ball. By the time her body was her own again, the car was already spinning out of control. She heard a mix of screams, all her own. Then, the crunch of glass.
Wake up, she screamed. Wake up.
Minni jerked her head up, every last bit of breath snatched from her chest. Her hand clutched her shirt as she tried to calm down. Eyes straining, she heard a voice through her sleepy daze.
The hazy world of memory faded gradually, replaced by broad shoulders, waves of dark choppy hair, and a paint-stained white tee. She focused intensely on a red splatter, blinking away the bloodstains in her mind.
The stranger cleared his throat awkwardly, lips tilting sidelong.
"What?" she murmured, voice thick with sleep. She lifted her head from the table and looked around with narrowed eyes. Tall, arched windows to her side doused bookshelves in sunlight. The second floor of the Haldre Library was nearly empty. It all came back slowly.
She had been perusing the pages of her statistics textbook before she inevitably fell asleep. Sleep was a rare opportunity these days and as much as she wanted to, she couldn't blame herself for taking it.
