In this slow-burning, atmospheric romance (Publishers Weekly) from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Long Live the Pumpkin Queen, an illness cursing the land forces a teen girl astronomer to venture across the wilderness in search of the stars message that will, hopefully, save them all.
When all is lost, look to the stars.
Vega has lived in the valley her whole lifeforbidden by her mother to leave the safety of its borders because of the unknown threats waiting for her in the wilds beyond. But when Vega sees an omen in the skyone she cannot ignoreshe is forced to leave the protective boundaries of the valley for the first time. Yet the outside world is much more terrifying than Vega could have ever imagined. People are gravely sickthey lose their eyesight and their hearing, just before they lose their lives.
But Vega has a secret: she is the Last Astronomera title carried from generation to generationand she is the only one who understands the knowledge of the stars. Knowledge that could hold the key to a cure. So when locals spot the tattoo on Vegas neck in the shape of a constellationthe mark of an astronomerchaos erupts. Fearing for her life, Vega is rescued by a girl named Cricket who leads her to Noah, a boy marked by his own mysterious tattoos.
On the run from the men hunting her, Vega sets out across the plains with Cricket and Noah, in search of a fabled cure kept secret by the astronomers. But as the line between friends and protectors begins to blur, Vega must decide whether to safeguard the sacred knowledge of the astronomers
or if she will risk everything to try to save them all.
