CHAPTER ONE

It was all Toby's fault.

That's what Claire thought to herself, stumbling out of a downtown bar in a fit of giggles with her friends when she should have been working on a mock report that was due in less than a week. Except, she was actually having a good time, which was Toby's real plan all along.

It had been months since they'd all hung out together for the sole sake of hanging out. No birthdays or semi-formal events or performances, just an evening where they could sit and chat and drink with each other as company and reminisce about simpler times. The only people Claire had actually spent time with recently were other students in her class that she had been grouped with for various projects.

But, tonight was a nice change of pace.

The night air was crisp and smelled of autumn. Leaves crunched under the group's stumbling feet as they walked across the street from the bar to the small park at the center of downtown.

As a cool breeze kissed the skin of her cheeks, Claire heard Eli ramble on and on about the probability of extraterrestrial life in space, clinging on to his boyfriend's arm as they walked. Steve was watching him with wide eyes, soaking in all the information he would most definitely forget by the next morning,

Mary had attached herself to Claire, giggling and stumbling and the messiest drunk of all of them. Claire thought it was miraculous that Mary hadn't fallen and eaten asphalt yet.

Darci and Toby walked a bit behind the rest of them, swinging their clasped hands in between them as they did. They were going on five years of their relationship, and Claire most definitely knew marriage was imminent, the only question was when Toby would finally pop the question.

Claire wasn't paying much attention to what Eli said that sent Mary and Darci into a fresh fit of giggles before they plopped themselves down on one of the park benches. She followed suit and sat down next to them on the grass, which was a bit damp, but she didn't really mind given how drunk she was. Steve and Eli squeezed onto the bench along with Mary and Darci, and Toby had sat on the ground next to Claire and leaned back against Darci's legs. When Claire's syrupy mind finally caught on to the conversation again, it was as Darci asked, "Anyone else think aliens exist?"

Mary snorted loudly. "Seriously?"

At Darci's nod, Mary waved her hand dismissively. "That's a stupid question. Of course they don't."

"The evidence proves otherwise!" Eli interjected loudly from his spot under Steve's arm.

"No it doesn't, you nerd!"

"Actually," it was Toby that interrupted their inevitable bickering with a thoughtful look on his face. "Eli's right about that."

"Wait, what?" Mary's head swung around so quickly that Claire thought she'd give herself whiplash. "Really?"

By this point, Claire was fully intrigued.

"Yeah, he's right," Toby continued. "I had to take an astronomy class last semester—I don't know why though, honestly. I thought my geology classes already covered my earth science gen. ed. requirement, but whatever—and we basically learned that our own solar system is just one of the many in our own galaxy. And our galaxy is just one of the thousands of galaxies that make up our universe-"

"Our known universe!" Eli corrected, holding up a pointed finger.

"Our known universe, thank you Eli," Toby repeated. "Basically, there are thousands of other galaxies and each of those has a chance at having a planet or two that's suitable for organic life."

Claire hummed in agreement, craning her neck to squint up at the night sky as if she'd be able to see one of those possible planets among the sparse amount of stars against the blueish black of the night sky. Only a few of the brightest stars were visible, though. Light pollution in Arcadia wasn't the worst, but it still made clear, starry nights a rarity. Following her lead, the rest of her friends looked up as well.

"So aliens exist… because science says so?" Marry asked, squinting up in speculation.

Toby nodded and shrugged. "Possibly."

"Probably." Eli stated, fixing his glasses as he too stared up at the stars.

The group of them spent a good while gazing up at the night sky, enjoying each other's company and basking in the buzzed afterglow of their night out. There was a quiet contentment in knowing that throughout the years that had passed since they had all met in high school, they'd always find themselves on the same bench, in the same park, surrounded by the same buildings, looking up at the same sky.

Though recently, Claire was starting to feel otherwise. She loved her friends, but her life of school and work and an overbearing mother had made for a monotonous and stressful entrance to her twenties. Soon, she'd be starting her last semester before graduating from the local university and then starting the cycle all over again at grad school. Only this time she'll be in a different city, alone without her friends to get drunk with at the bar during Thursday night trivia.

Claire had hesitated to tell her friends this. That she had to leave Arcadia or she'd go insane from how routine everything felt if not having gone insane from her mother's expectations first. It had been a miracle that councilwoman Ophelia Nuñez let her daughter double major instead of forcing her to focus solely on sociology or political science. In the end, Claire's stubbornness had won out. It was her life, not her mother's or anyone else's, and she'd do with it what she pleased.

So, she decided to major in theater. Decided to take on playing the bass and joined a band as a fun way to let off steam. Only now she was stressed about her cast-mates' lack of preparation for their upcoming production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and her band was starting to feel more like a chore than hobby; with her bandmates wanting to take the band more seriously than Claire had initially intended to. Darci was the only one Claire had told about the possibility of her leaving after graduation, to an extent. She didn't know where yet, but she knew she had to find a life more adventurous than this.

But right now, happy and tipsy and gazing fondly at her friends, Claire figured she could wait for another time to break the news to them.

But now, happy and tipsy and gazing fondly at her friends Claire figured she could wait for another time, a better time, to break the news to them.

The comfortable silence was broken when Mary let out a gasp, clapping her hands together like a giddy toddler. "Oh! We should all make wishes on the stars!"

Everyone animatedly spoke of what they wished for, but Claire stayed silent and continued to stare up at the stars. And there in the distance, she saw it.

Bright and brilliant, arching across the black of night, was a falling star.

The others took notice, too. Jumping up, pointing, laughing like kids and saying even more of their wishes aloud.

But Claire continued to gaze at the spot where the star had vanished, and she made a silent wish. One to keep for herself. A wish for something more.

Some miles away at the heart of the Arcadia Oaks Forest lay a crater in the ground. The brave few fauna that had scurried away and hid during the impact of whatever fell from the sky were returning to investigate. In the crater, lying on his back and sleeping peacefully, was a young man with pale skin and dark, jet black hair. His name was Atlas.

When Atlas finally came to, he was disoriented and surrounded by trees. And his back was pressed uncomfortably against something hard. He sat up groggily, reaching back with his hand to feel for whatever made his back ache. His hand ran over the cold and jagged surface of… a rock?

Atlas gasped, bright blue eyes blown wide, and finally took a better look at his surroundings. The rock, the trees, the tiny animals staring at him with hesitant curiosity.

He looked up.

Far above him, distant and shining against the black of night, were stars. Stars so dim he could only make out a fraction of them.

He was on Earth. Atlas was on Earth.