The kids all looked at one another, picking up on a certain wild look in each other's eyes, before responding with a resounding, “Yeah!” 

“Then let’s go home,” she said, grabbing Tei by the hand. “The shower moves east, so even if it catches us we can extend the period of exposure by moving in the same direction.”

The rest of them didn’t need any further convincing. They clambered onto the back of the truck and then they were off, swerving past other vehicles who had missed the memo that the roads weren’t safe that night. And as the pickup darted on the freeway, with the wind howling in their ears, Yuè couldn’t help joining the chaos with her cackle of a laugh, “Let’s do this!”

Things weren’t any better on the freeway. Motorists drove with hands pressed to the horn, struggling to cooperate with one another as all pretense of order faded away. Arashi was no exception, swerving through tight lanes in her clunky pickup like a street racer fleeing the authorities. As she drove, the kids in the back hollered at the scene unfolding around them, eyes set on the deluge of oncoming meteors.

 There was a flash of bright white, followed by a flare of red and a streak of green. A violet meteor flew overhead, crashing somewhere in the neighborhood beside them. From the aurora to the ground, the colors were always moving, constantly changing, but never ending. With every boom and flash of luminance, more cries echoed through the streets. A car accident had blocked off the road ahead and without hesitation, Arashi swerved onto an off-ramp and drove on. Nellie snuck a glance as they passed and saw that the driver of the car had been thrown from her seat and was now lying face down on the pavement, her hair a soft, pearly white color. But it was only a glance. The scene fell back into the night as the truck jolted off the highway and cruised east, out of downtown Comet Hill. 

“Look!” Max cried over the wind, “They don’t leave an impact!”

Nellie followed his gaze and saw a green meteor hurtling towards an electrical tower in the distance. It phased through the metal structure and disappeared into the ground without leaving a trace. Then a yellow meteor whizzed by and struck an office building near the freeway. Its shockwave was deafening, resonating like a clap of thunder, though the building itself remained intact. The meteors it seemed were immaterial, made of nothing but musae energy, and struck only living beings.

They sped through the suburbs, up and down gentle hills, headed for the outskirts of town where the Sorairos lived. Meteora remained on their tail, relentless, falling faster and faster; an avalanche of color desperate to shroud them in its divine radiance. Gone was the quiet, starry night they had witnessed at the fair. Out in the hills, with a full view of the cosmos, Nellie could see how unfathomable and massive the shower truly was. There was no escaping that behemoth of a storm. Nellie’s mind flashed back to the truck driver and the pearly haired woman on the freeway. Shrugging Raul’s hand off her shoulder, she stood up in the bed of the truck and craned her neck to get as close to the open driver’s seat window as she could.

“Arashi!”

No response over the howl of the wind. Nellie shook her head and snuck a glance back. The meteor shower was right up on them, a torrential maw of color stretching up to the sky. 

She tried again, “Arashi!” 

Arashi gave a double-take over her shoulder before Nellie continued crying over the wind. Was the Tennkā woman not scared that she too would be struck? “You have to stop!” 

 Arashi shook her head, “Nel, I–!”

A white meteor whizzed by above them and struck the road ahead. Arashi screamed, blinded, as the truck swerved on the lonely hill. 

Nellie yelped, falling back into the bed. 

The truck had reached the top of the foothill, though Arashi still hadn’t regained control, swerving as endless meteors darted past them. Blues and violets; reds, yellows, blacks, and greens. They whizzed by like cannonballs, each one exploding into a burst of color and a shockwave that echoed across the hills. It was impossible to focus on any one meteor or anticipate its path before it was already soaring past and colliding with the ground in a flash. 

Suddenly, as the Sorairosʼ home came into view, a burst of green engulfed the truck. Nellie screamed but her voice was drowned amidst the chaos around her. Arashi was once again blinded by the intense flash of light, and skid off the road, tires squealing. Metal and wood crunched as the truck jerked to a sudden halt. Nellie was weightless for an instant, and found herself rolling in the grass, away from the pickup. 

The truck was all but totaled. They’d collided with a small tree and the impact had flung them all from the bed of the pickup. Nellie’s head rang as she rose to her feet. She caught sight of Yuève on her back, panting, and Raul on all fours spitting into the grass. Max however was next to the tree, face down with a green light engulfing him. Records equated a meteor strike to an out-of-body experience. When hit, the body immediately crumpled and fell unconscious but when they woke, musae could still recall the pain of the impact. The meteors may be intangible, phasing through anything that wasn’t human, but the transformation they caused was just as grueling as having a rock from outer space crash into you. 

Arashi jumped out of the vehicle, screaming with worry as she ran towards Max. His hair was a deep green, almost camouflaged against the grass. Tei got out of the truck next and gulped, regarding his brother. Nellie made her way towards them, but stopped when she saw Yuève with her eyes up to the sky, chasing after the meteors like a cat pouncing after the light from a laser pointer. 

The heart of the storm was on them.

Nellie met Yuève in an embrace on the open road, the two of them cheering with glee as the heavens above fell into rainbows all around them. There was no escaping it. The meteors were so close now that Nellie could see that each one was no bigger than the dodgeballs she’d played with so long ago. She saw a red meteor falling less than a mile from her and she pictured herself holding flames in her hands. Looking behind her, she saw a yellow one fly into the city causing her to imagine lightning crackling all around her. A black one streaked the sky miles above her and she saw herself in the shadows using the oily powers she herself would be casting. It was too much to hold in, she tried to see it all, glimpsing every meteor fall as she spun in three-sixties to watch from every angle, laughing while doing so. 

A blue light flooded the hillside in that same moment. Nellie whirled to find its source, sensing Yuè beside her, but when the glow disappeared her curly haired friend was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t until she heard Tei’s cry that she found her, flung backwards behind the trees, with a cerulean stone radiating from her chest. 

Nellie felt her stomach twist, the smile gone from her face. She wanted to check on her friends and confirm that they were indeed okay, but the shower hadn’t ceased. She still had a chance. 

She tore her eyes from the newly born musae and caught sight of Raul standing atop the cabin of the truck. His eyes were trained on the aurora, a canvas of color that flared through the hillside and silhouetted their figures in its unceasing radiance. When another comet streaked by he turned and locked his gleaming eyes with Nellie's, stretching a hand out to invite her onto the truck.

“It’s incredible,” he said. “More beautiful than I could’ve ever imagined.”

But in the same moment that Nellie meant to take his hand, Raul straightened, standing upright all of the sudden and offered her a smile instead. It was that same carefree smile that she loved, the one that filled her with confidence, and put her doubts at bay. His face filled with a bright tungsten light and a thunderous BOOOM! echoed through the rural hillside.

Nellie shielded her eyes from the light, but when she peered again after the blast, he was gone. She bolted around the truck, running to where he would’ve fallen and saw that Arashi was there, holding her son in her arms. 

The Tennkā woman cast the freckled girl a gentle look. “Is Yuè alright?”

“Yeah,” Nellie nodded, meaning to kneel down beside them. “She got Water.”

“Then go,” Arashi said, pointing with her chin at the roiling meteor storm. “It’s your turn now.” 

Nellie grinned in response and leapt to her feet. A shadowy meteor whizzed by as she looked towards the sky again, followed by a violet one hurtling past the hillside and over the Sorairo’s home. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her dress flying in the wind. 

Before she knew it, she was racing down the street, following any meteor that dared draw close. Nellie was all but galloping down the hill, feet falling faster than she could place them, when the area around her became shrouded by a brilliant, white aura. Nellie spun, catching sight of the streaking star, but her feet must've caught on something in the grass because without warning, the ground disappeared beneath her.

She crashed hard, tumbling down the hill, as the white light grew brighter and brighter. When she came to a stop however, the hillside was dark, swallowed by the night once again. Nellie righted herself, fighting the tears in her eyes, telling herself that it was only pain. That it would be temporary.

But she didn’t get up. She sat there scuffed and bruised, watching Meteora crawl further east, showering the rest of Mach with its powers and glory. She sat there thinking of her friends as they unconsciously transformed, thinking of the man she’d saved from drowning. She sat there at the bottom of the hill forcing herself to smile after having experienced the once in a lifetime event. She sat there wishing, and waiting. . .