The starlight seemed to motivate me. It gave me strength to fight back.

Then again, it also had something to do with my own abilities. I wasn't the best swimmer and tennis player on my girls' team at school for nothing.

I raised a knee and jabbed Amber in the shin. She yelped and let go of me. Then I jerked my arm up and hit Caroline in the face while she was still holding onto it. She let out a howl and stumbled backwards, raising her hands to her face. My own arm throbbed as I set off through the field, my heart racing as fast as my feet as I ran back to the cabin through the silent, brightly glistening night.

As soon as I ran in, Natalie raised her head. She looked as distraught and panicked as I was, even though she hadn't even left her bed. I wondered if she knew what they had been planning to do. But I definitely wasn't going to question her.

I managed to climb to the top of my bunk before flinging myself onto the bed. My heart raced as I fiddled with my bracelet so much it felt like it was about to tear off, and quickly moved to the other end of the bed so the moonlight wasn't shining right on me. I couldn't feel it as much as before, but I could still feel the traces of the stars rushing through my body.

To my surprise and relief, I managed to get to sleep quickly. Even before Amber and Caroline returned. Maybe it was because not as much of the moonlight was shining on me, but I didn't think that was the reason. Whatever it was, I wasn't complaining.

It wasn't a peaceful sleep, though. I kept dreaming that the girls had succeeded in forcing me to look up at the night sky, and then I had felt the stars begin to draw me upwards. I felt panic race through me, as real as if I was awake, as I stared up at the endless blanket of blackness that encompassed me. I woke up just as I was about to become a permanent residence of the wide, black sky.

"Adelaide, did you get any sleep last night? You look terrible."

I stared at Amber in disbelief. She stared at me with genuine concern, as if she didn't know she was the cause of my sleeplessness.

"Don't worry. It's always hard getting to sleep on the first few nights," Caroline added, running a comb through her tangled blonde curls as she stood in line for breakfast. "Must be the moonlight, right? Let me give you a tip: Try sleeping on the opposite end of the bed."

I was too shocked to tell her that I had. I stared at her and Amber, but they both looked completely nonchalant. There were no rings under their eyes, no yawns or anything to indicate excessive tiredness. But beyond that, they were acting as if everything was completely normal.

I decided to try speaking up. I couldn't let last night go. "Don't... don't you remember?" I asked, forgetting to place anything on my plate.

"Remember what?" Before I could reply, Amber placed a juice box and banana on my tray. "You almost forgot to take any breakfast. You really are tired."

"Last night—" I started. I couldn't care less about breakfast.

"Aren't you going to thank her, Adelaide?" Caroline asked, pouring milk into her cereal bowl. "You would've gotten nothing to eat if not for her."

They were doing it again. Speaking over me, trying to change the subject. Well, I wasn't going to let them this time. But I couldn't seem to get a word in as we headed to our seats. They sat next to each other in the middle of the table, with no room next to or across from them, talking loudly to each other. I had no choice but to find a different seat.

I turned desperately to Natalie. She had her gaze lowered, as if trying to avoid me. She hadn't said a word to me. But somehow, the sight of her comforted me. I knew that she, at least, knew something had happened last night.

"Natalie, be honest with me," I said. She jumped in such alarm that I almost felt bad for talking. "You know something about what happened last night, don't you?"

Natalie raised her head to me, her dark eyes filled with panic. "I... I don't know what you're talking about."

Before I could speak, she raced off through the crowd of kids in the cafeteria. "Hey, wait!" I called, starting to run after her. I bumped into someone on the way and tripped, landing on top of my tray and feeling juice soak through my shirt.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry!" I frantically apologized as I got to my feet, placing the crushed juice box on the tray. I relaxed when I saw who it was.

"David! I'm so glad to see you."

"I am as well." His face was pale, sticking out sharply to the dark bags under his eyes. I had a feeling he hadn't had a sleepful night either.

We found a place by the table to eat together. David shared some of his food with me, since I had so little on my tray – okay, I stole it from him.

"The boys wouldn't shut up all night," said David, glaring at me as I popped one of his pancakes into my mouth. "They stayed up, yelling and jumping from bunk to bunk."

"That's it?" I asked.

"Yeah," said David, rubbing his eyes. "And what do you mean, that's it? It was a nightmare. Actually, I would've preferred to have a nightmare than be awake through all that. It's a miracle I got any sleep at all."

"You were lucky," I assured, taking a sip of his can of soda. I didn't know why they served that for breakfast. "I had a far worse night."

"I don't think anything could be worse than that," David groaned. "Oh, and they also dared me to leave the cabin again."

That caught my attention. I dropped the soda right onto his pancakes, causing him to glare at me and drop one of the mushy bits of pancake into my hair. Usually, that would've been the beginning of a food fight, but I was too intrigued by what he had said.

"They did? Again?" I asked.

"And I said no again," said David. "It was only a few times, though. I'm surprised I remembered. Then they started trying to pull the most annoying all nighter ever."

"The girls dared me to leave my cabin at night as well," I admitted. David gaped.

"Them as well?" His eyes widened. "And you didn't like me, right?" He looked at me hopefully.

"No, I did, because I'm not a wimp like you," I said, trying to cover up the embarrassment I felt at leaving when I knew I shouldn't have.

David's face fell. "But you were saying I was smart for not doing that—"

"I just said it to cheer you up," I said, watching his face fall. "You are smart. But I'm tough enough to leave. If I didn't want to, I'd tell them."

"Did you leave at midnight?" David started shaking. "Like in that story?"

I rolled my eyes. "You don't really think that story is true, do you? If it was, I wouldn't be here. I'd be a star in the sky." Well, I had a feeling I had almost become one. I was starting to doubt myself that the story wasn't true.

I told him how I had wandered outside and felt the starlight, not the moonlight, washing over me like rays of sunlight. He gasped. "Just like in the story!"

I couldn't refute that, as much as I wanted to. When I recounted how the girls had tried to force me to look up at the sky, and how I had felt compelled away from it, he dropped his oatmeal spoon onto his lap.

"I know, I know," I admitted. "It sounds an awful lot like the story. Maybe it is true."

"You mean, you're admitting...?" he asked hopefully.

"Don't get your hopes up," I warned. "I'm not saying you're right. I just think there's something really weird going on."

"With both of our cabin mates, that's for sure," David agreed. "At least yours are friendly."

"Maybe there's some kind of disease that makes them go crazy late at night," I suggested.

"Maybe they're secretly werewolves," said David.

"Werewolves only come out at the full moon, genius," I retorted. "It was only the full moon yesterday."

"It can last longer," David pointed out. "The full moon can last for up to—"

"I didn't hear any sounds of fur growing or teeth chomping in the night, so I don't think so," I interrupted, rolling my eyes.

"I think I'd rather they were werewolves," admitted David.

"Well, tonight, don't leave your cabin," I warned. "No matter how much they tease or badger you. Just ignore them. Or better yet, try to go to sleep early."

"Even that's hard, with the moonlight in my bunk," said David. "I think they gave me the bunk with the most moonlight on purpose. But you're right. I'll try to do that."

After breakfast, we went to the lake again, except this time, we weren't swimming. We'd still be entering the water. There were huge, wooden canoes set up on the bank, catching mud on the undersides and bobbing in the shallow water. The wood glistened under the early morning sunlight.

"Awesome! Canoeing!" I rubbed my hands together. Amber looked relieved that she wouldn't have to get too wet, and so did David.

We were assigned to canoes with our cabin. I was surprised to see how few kids there were at camp. There were only four canoes, plus an extra one for Celeste and Rachel. I had been secretly hoping I wouldn't get into a canoe with Amber and Caroline. It dimmed my excitement slightly as I settled into the damp, muddy canoe. Amber was trying to keep herself off the bottom while Caroline was teasing her for being stuck-up. Natalie still sat there, completely silent with her head resting in her hands.

I tried to talk to her. "Natalie?" I whispered. She didn't even move.

"Hey!" I heard Amber and Caroline cry. On instinct, I ducked as a piece of mud hurtled through the air. Amber wasn't so lucky. It hit her right on her golden hair.

Caroline covered her mouth with her hand to prevent herself from laughing while Amber squealed and shook her head frantically, getting mud all over the canoe and us. That lightened things up slightly. I couldn't help laughing as well. Amber stood up on the canoe and yelled threats at the boys laughing their heads off in the next canoe. She slipped and fell backwards, which only made them laugh even more.

"It's not funny!" she insisted, scowling as she brushed herself off.

"I agree. It's hilarious!" said Caroline between bouts of laughter.

I laughed as well. I felt some of my tension begin to leave. Natalie didn't, though. She looked as solemn as ever.

As we started rowing, I was expecting her not to take the oars, but to my surprise, she was the first one to. I took the second pair of oars. We were all supposed to take one oar each, but Amber and Caroline were too busy chatting. That was fine with me. I felt like I was doing most of the work. I rowed the canoe faster than most of the boys. If it was a race, we would be winning. I turned around and stuck my tongue out at the same boys who had laughed at Amber. They scowled.

My arms ached as the canoe powered smoothly through the clear lake. I didn't mind a bit as I watched it sail. I felt calm as I rocked along the glistening stream under the morning sunlight, hearing the frogs on the bank croak and watching the birds chirping in the trees surrounding the lake.

Natalie was stronger than I expected for how quiet she was. I was doing most of the work, but she wasn't putting zero effort in. I'd probably be a fair bit behind without her help.

"Good job on the canoeing," I told her. She didn't reply.

I needed to speak to her. Despite being calmed by the rowing, I couldn't forget the events of last night. I knew she knew something about it, and she hadn't tried to do something to me like Amber and Caroline, so I trusted her more.

"Natalie." I said her name so firmly that her head jolted up. I glanced at Amber and Caroline, and saw they were busy chatting as Amber tried to remove the last traces of mud from her shorts. "Tell me about what happened last night."

Her eyes widened, and she lowered her head again. "I..."

"I know you know something about it," I interrupted, a pleading tone in my voice as well as an insistent one. "About what Amber and Caroline tried to do to me." She didn't reply. "You know, don't you? Why they made me leave the cabin at midnight, and tried to get me to stay outside under the stars?"

"I... you don't want to know," Natalie muttered. She looked terribly guilty all of a sudden.

That confirmed my suspicions that she knew something, at least. "What don't I want to know?" I demanded. "Can you at least answer something for me?" I realized I wasn't getting anywhere with her.

"What?" she replied.

I felt ridiculous for asking, but I thought it might make her answer. "Is the story they tell at the campfire true?"

Natalie jolted her head back up again, almost dropping the oar she was holding. She didn't, to my relief. Her rowing slowed, and I had to pick up the pace, realizing I had slowed down as well while talking to her.

"It's..."

I jumped as I heard Amber and Caroline's voices increase in volume. They increased in emotion as well. They were loud and angry, clearly having an argument. Amber was yelling at Caroline, who was beginning to stand up on the canoe. I held onto the oars for dear life as it swayed dangerously forwards. Natalie didn't even react then. As they both stood up, I almost let go of the oars and almost hit Natalie with them. Then Caroline actually did that, with Amber.

She bent down to reach for her oar, and as she straightened up, she swung it upwards and hit Amber straight in the face. She squealed and wobbled from side to side, waving her arms frantically and trying to steady her legs. She stumbled backwards and fell straight into the water.