Two hours in, Luna Waverly was still hunting for Kira. She held a warm drink she didn't want and scanned the bonfire crowd. Somewhere in that press of vacationers was her friend, and Luna meant to find her. Kira had drifted off after some guy twice before. Not tonight, Luna told herself. The party lights draped over her purple bikini glowed against the dark. She wore them so people could spot her. Right now they only made strangers wave and offer her cups. She pushed toward the fire where she'd last seen Kira. The crowd there was too thick. Shoulders and elbows blocked every line of sight. A sunburned man stepped in front of her and held out a beer. "You look thirsty," he said. She took it just to move past him. Then a woman pulled her into a dance circle. By the time Luna broke free, she'd lost the fire in the mass of bodies. Kira could be anywhere. Chasing through this crowd only cost her time. So Luna quit the crowd. She walked to the pier instead, where the planks glowed under hanging lanterns. Fewer people, cooler air, and a clear view of the whole beach. If she couldn't find Kira in the crush, maybe Kira could find her. Luna's lights were bright out here, a cluster of color in the dark. She sat on the edge and dug in the purple cooler beside her for something cold. She pried off a bottle cap and drank. Then she waited, watching the fire from a distance. It worked faster than she hoped. Bare feet slapped the planks behind her. "Oh my god, Luna, there you are, okay, I saw the lights and I was like, that's her, that has to be her." Kira dropped down beside her, pigtail ribbons crooked, a green ring pop stuck to her finger. Luna turned. Relief hit her, then a flare of anger. "I looked for you for two hours." "I know, I know, I'm sorry, so this guy wanted to show me the tide pools and then I couldn't find the bonfire again, it happens." Kira grinned like it was nothing. "Your lights, though. Saved me. Like a lighthouse." Luna let out a breath and shook her head. She handed Kira a cold bottle from the cooler. "Sit. Stay where I can see you." Kira sat. She popped the ring pop back in her mouth, then went still. "Okay so. Small thing. That guy? He had my phone. And my sandals. And, like, my whole bag, for the tide pool pictures." She winced. "I told him to meet me at the bonfire. Twenty minutes ago." Luna looked back at the fire, that wall of people she'd just escaped. Her phone, her friend's bag, a stranger with both, somewhere in the thick of it. She set her bottle down.

Luna stood up on the pier. The bonfire crowd looked worse than before. More vacationers had shown up while she waited. The mass of bodies had swollen against the fire. Somewhere in there sat a stranger with Kira's phone, sandals, and bag. Last time Luna pushed into that crush, she lost her line of sight in a minute. This time she couldn't lose Kira too. "Stay here," Luna said. Then she stopped. That was the mistake before. She'd told Kira to stay, and Kira had wandered anyway. Luna looked at her friend, at the crooked ribbons and the sticky ring pop. "No. Come with me. Hold my hand and don't let go." Kira grabbed on. "Okay, yeah, hand-holding, I can do that, I'm like really good at it, so which way, and what does the guy even look like again?" "You tell me. It's your guy." Luna pulled her toward the fire. The heat and noise closed in. A man in wild swim trunks danced into their path, arms up, grinning. He offered Kira a cup. She almost reached for it. Luna tightened her grip and pulled her past him. They pushed deeper. A woman tried to fold them into a dance circle. Luna shook her head and kept moving. Her lights glowed against the packed shoulders. Then she remembered what the lights did to strangers. She pulled one strand loose and held it high over her head. "Kira," Luna said. "Your guy saw these lights on me at the pier?" "No, but I told him about you, like, the girl covered in lights, he'll know, everybody knows." Luna kept the strand raised and turned in a slow circle. People stared. A few pointed. She let them. Near the log benches, a young man stood holding a green bag and a pair of sandals. He squinted at Luna's lights, then waved the sandals overhead. "Him," Kira said. "That's him, oh my god, he actually waited." Luna cut through the last of the crowd, Kira's hand still locked in hers. The man handed over the bag and sandals without a word and drifted back into the party. Kira hugged the bag to her chest and dug for her phone. "Got it," Kira said. "Battery's dead, but I got it." She laughed. "See? Easy." Luna let out a breath. They stood in the middle of the crush, and for once she wasn't looking for anyone. Then Kira's face changed. She stared at the phone screen, then held it up. "Okay, so, before it died?" Kira said. "My brother texted like forty times. Kai. He's here. He's DJing the stage tonight and he wants us backstage and he's kind of freaking out." Luna knew Kai. Kira's brother, blonde, always in neon trunks, a turtle keychain on his waistband. He didn't freak out over nothing. Luna looked past the fire toward the far stage lights. "Then we go," she said, and kept hold of Kira's hand.

The stage rose out of the crowd, huge and loud. Colored lights swung above the DJ booth. Kai stood behind the decks, headphones on one ear, blonde hair catching the neon. Kira waved both arms. "Kai! Hey, over here!" He didn't see her. His eyes stayed down on the mixer, deep in the beat. Luna pulled Kira toward the side of the stage. A guard stepped into their path. He was wide as a door. He raised one hand and pressed the other to an earbud. "Passes, please." "That's my brother up there," Kira said. "Kai. He literally texted us to come back, like forty times, so if you just ask him—" "No pass, no entry." The guard didn't move. Luna looked past him at Kai. He leaned into the music, both hands working. He wouldn't glance up for ten more minutes, maybe twenty. Waving was useless. Luna and Kira stepped back and looked at each other. Two hours of searching, and now a wall of muscle. Then Luna saw them. In front of the stage, a group danced with bright pool noodles, swinging them overhead. Every one of them wore a glowing pass on a chain around the neck. The passes lit up, neon letters flashing in the dark. "Kira," Luna said. "They all have passes. And noodles." Kira followed her look. "Oh. Oh, so the noodle people are backstage people?" A girl broke from the group, a pool noodle in each hand, sunglasses pushed up on her head. She spun past them, grinning. "You want in?" she called. "Get a noodle! Stand's right there!" She pointed with a bright pink foam tube, then danced off. Luna turned. A small wooden stand sat near the stage, strung with tiny lights. Stacked pool noodles filled the top in every color. A cardboard box beside it held more, packed tight and glowing under the strings. "Come on." Luna grabbed Kira's hand and cut to the stand. The woman behind it smiled. "Two," Luna said. "You dance up front, you get a pass," the woman said. She handed over two noodles, then two glowing chains. Neon letters spelled BACKSTAGE PASS, tiny string lights threaded through them. "House rule. Kai's rule, actually." Luna looped one chain over her head. It glowed against her party lights. She passed the other to Kira, who slid it on and shook her noodle. "Okay, this is the best problem we've had all night," Kira said. They walked back to the guard. Luna held up the glowing pass. He looked at it, checked his earbud, and stepped aside. "Go on," he said. They climbed the side steps. Up close, the booth roared. Kai looked up from the mixer. His face changed the second he saw Kira. He wasn't relieved. He looked scared. "You came," Kai said. He pulled off his headphones. "Okay. Bad news. We've got a real problem."