Sky Meridian's Arc

Chapter 5 of 6

Sky turned the panel under the fading light again. The glitter shone in hard patches, bright in some spots and dull in others. She tilted it every way she knew. Nothing smoothed the sparkle. She had made the glitter hold. Now she could not make it shine even, and the contest lamps would show every messy patch. A knock came at the patio gate. Her fashion mentor, Celeste, let herself in. Sky had learned to sew from her, and Celeste still dropped by to check her work. Celeste wore a bright coat and gold earrings, and she moved straight to the table without asking. She lifted one panel and held it to the light. Her thumb traced the uneven shine. "You rushed the scatter," Celeste said. "You threw the glitter by hand. Big flakes here, thin dust there. That's why the light breaks up." She set the panel down. "The gel was smart. The scatter was lazy." Sky felt her face go hot. "So it's ruined." "No. You fix the scatter." Celeste picked up a dry, soft brush from Sky's tools. "The gel is still tacky under the top layer. Brush the loose flakes off. Spread the ones that stuck into an even coat. Even glitter, even shine." Sky took the brush. She tested it on one corner. She swept it in slow, flat strokes across the glitter. Loose flakes lifted and drifted onto the table. The heavy clumps thinned out. Where the glitter had piled thick, it now lay smooth. She tilted the corner to the light. The shine held steady across the whole patch. "There," Celeste said. "Feel that?" Sky worked down the panel, then reached for the next. She brushed each one the same way, slow and flat, edge to edge. Her cat batted at the fallen flakes on the ground. Celeste stayed and watched, saying little, fixing Sky's angle once with a light touch on her wrist. By dark, every panel lay brushed and smooth. Sky lined them up and held her phone light close, then far. The sparkle stayed even. No hard patches. No dull gaps. The glitter shone like one clean sheet across all the colors. "Now it looks like a contest piece," Celeste said. She pulled her coat tight and moved toward the gate. "You have the panels. That's the easy part done." She stopped with her hand on the latch. "You still have to sew them into an outfit. And judging is in two days." The gate clicked shut behind her. Sky looked at the row of panels, flat and separate on the table. Every piece shone right. But not one of them was joined to another. She had eight loose panels and a dress to build, and two days to turn cloth into something a person could wear.