“The answer might be waiting for you right here, all around us,” Melissa said. “But this eclipse is ending soon.”
Dess took a slow breath, realizing that she had the choice of facing the mindcaster’s touch or of going along with Rex’s dire calculations. She could either open her mind now or watch the slaughter.
It wasn’t fair, having to save thousands of people. Not fair at all.
“Make it quick,” she said through gritted teeth, and held out her hand.
Melissa closed her eyes.
At the first contact of their fingers something massive and dark came into Dess. Images swept through her, a wire frame of the earth, red fire spreading along its lines of longitude and latitude. She saw the days between now and Samhain midnight, a steady beat of eclipses until the blue time shattered, the rip streaking across the earth for thousands of miles. She saw how long it would last, twenty-five hours of frozen time—humans within struggling to survive while everyone outside stood frozen and unaware.
Then she saw the rip’s true shape… and the beginnings of a solution.
Dess pulled her hand away from Melissa’s touch, realizing that she was hearing a sound in the distance. It was a soft spattering noise, like a light rain on a steel roof.
She turned away without a word and walked down the tracks to where the Cadillac had roared up onto the embankment. At the glowing-red edge of the rip, a dark curtain of something was falling lightly through the air.
Dess held out an open palm….
Dust gradually collected on her skin. Then a hard ping came from the metal rail next to her—the fallen piece of gravel skittered across the tracks.
She stepped back a few yards and looked up, her eyes making out a smudge against the dark moon. Like the arrested bottle rocket, the dirt and gravel churned up by the huge pink car still hung overhead, suspended in frozen time. But carved into the dust cloud was a long, oval shape….
Dess nodded; suddenly it all made perfect sense. The Cadillac’s tires had put a lot of debris into the air just as the eclipse had arrived, flash-freezing it up there until normal time started again. But the dust inside the rip had swirled down to the ground, falling in regular gravity. So now Dess could see the whole thing in three dimensions. Its blimplike shape had been cut into the cloud, like a long, oval space carved into a mountain.
But why was the dust still raining down?
Dess walked back to the edge, put her palm out again, and found that now the dirt was falling a bit farther along the tracks.
Of course… The rip was growing, tearing the blue time in half. And as its edges traveled outward, more of the suspended dust fell to earth.
Dess looked up, her heart beating harder. She was actually watching the rip expand. She peered into the vague blur of suspended dust, trying to see its exact dimensions and cursing the dim blue light. If Rex was going to perform dramatic experiments, why hadn’t he released a cloud of Ping-Pong balls right before the eclipse so they could see what was really going on? Then Dess could calculate how fast the tear in the blue time was spreading and in exactly what direction.
She scrambled down the embankment to the longer edge of the rip and put out her hand. Hardly any dust was falling here.
“Dess?” Rex called.
“Hang on.” She climbed back up to the tracks. Yes, the rip was spreading much faster at the oval’s narrow end.
She ran by the four of them, all the way past the Cadillac to the other end of the rip. Glancing up, she got an eyeful of dirt. The dust fall was harder here too. But why would it follow the direction of the railroad tracks?
She closed her eyes, letting the knowledge that Melissa had given her take shape.
“Of course,” she said aloud.
“Of course what?” Rex called.
Dess waved him silent. She could see it now—so obvious that she wanted to thump herself on the head for not realizing it before. Until now she had imagined the rip expanding like the universe—a great big bubble, a sphere. But what if it were long and narrow instead?
The rip was heading in two directions, stretching along a single axis, just like a real tear in a piece of fabric. But what was at either end?
Dess visualized the map of the county she carried in her head and instantly knew exactly what was going on and why this godforsaken spot lay right in the middle of the rip. Jenks was halfway to nowhere, precisely poised between the center of town and the deepest desert.
The blue time was opening up long and straight, like some sort of darkling highway, a conduit between predators and prey. It was reaching west out into the mountains, where the oldest minds lived, the ones who hadn’t had a decent meal in thousands of years. And at the same moment the rip was traveling east, directly toward the populated center of downtown Bixby.
“Dess?” Rex said, frustration creeping into his voice.
She still didn’t answer. If he wanted to get all scary, let him.
Her eyes closed, Dess let her mind follow the direction of the tracks, recalling the images of wire frame globes that Melissa had given her.
What if the rip just kept growing year after year, shooting across the country like a lit fuse every Halloween?
It was tearing along Bixby’s ill-fated latitude: 36 degrees. That line led east through Broken Arrow, which was why the Grayfoots were evacuating. Then it whipped through a lot of small and medium towns after that… until eventually reaching Nashville, which sat at exactly 36.10 degrees. From there, it would go on to swallow Charlotte, North Carolina, at 35.14. Westward, the rip would cruise straight through downtown Las Vegas, which was centered at exactly 36.11. And it would pass a hundred miles north of Grandpa Grayfoot’s new digs in LA.
“Dess?” Rex called. “What is it?”
“We might be able to save more people than you think, Rex. Or at least delay the darklings long enough to get Bixby organized.”
He walked over, his violet eyes flashing, a smile on his face. Suddenly Dess knew he’d planned the whole thing to work this way—Dess too tired from getting up so early to resist Melissa touching her.
Well, it had worked.
“How do we do it?” he said.
“We need to build two big bonfires—or better yet, fireworks displays. The one out here will bottle them up for as long as we can.”
“Bottle them up?”
“Yeah. The rip will open up long and narrow, Rex, like a road. It leads right through here, straight from the mountains to downtown. If we stop them in Jenks for a while, make them go around us, we may have time to organize people back in Bixby.”
As Rex’s eyes followed the path of the tracks back toward the mountains, a thoughtful look crossed his face, as if he was accessing the numberless darkling math stored in his mind. “Yeah. You could be right.”
The world shuddered then—the dark moon falling like a rock, the red-tinged blue time fading—and the cold wrapped itself around Dess, driving its way into her bones. She shivered with excitement.
They had a way to stop the darklings… for a while, at least. Maybe they could give the people of Bixby time to understand what was going on and a fighting chance to survive their night in hell. Maybe thousands didn’t have to die.
Above Dess’s head the bottle rocket was suddenly released from frozen time. It shot farther into the sky, where it exploded with a tiny bang.
23
12:00 A.M.
SLUMBER PARTY
Noises came from inside the hardware store, the clattering of falling metal and a million small things spilling.
“Jesus, Flyboy,” Dess yelled in through the window. “It’s good you’re not a real burglar.”
“Never said I was,” he shouted back. Another crash erupted.
Even though it was the blue time, Jessica flinched a little at all the ruckus. It felt like they should at least try to be quiet, given that they were breaking and entering.
Again.
“Found them!” Jonathan’s voice came.
&nbs
p; She and Dess walked around the corner to the front of the store. Through the glass doors she saw Jonathan trying the keys from a big ring, one by one.
“Should have just climbed through the window,” Dess muttered as the process stretched out.
“Some of the stuff on your list is too heavy,” Jessica said, stifling a yawn and happy to be going in through the door. She could hardly keep her eyes open, and she still had to get back to Constanza’s tonight.
Since Rex’s demonstration out in Jenks, the five of them had spent every midnight gathering the materials they needed to bring the darkling invasion to a halt. Mostly that meant breaking into every store in town that sold fireworks and making off with the stock. The nightly burglaries in the blue time were getting tiring. And obvious too—the Bixby Register had run a story about the unknown vandals collecting a dangerous cache of fireworks. According to the article, the sheriff’s office had actually figured out it was a bunch of kids planning something big for Halloween.
Of course, no one had a clue how big.
Tonight Rex and Melissa were knocking over the last fireworks stall in town while the other three picked up a few items from Bixby Hardware and Keys, after which, hopefully, Rex would let them get a few nights’ rest. Halloween was only six days away.
Jessica scowled at the big paper skeleton taped to the glass door, swinging lightly from Jonathan’s attempts with the keys. There were decorations up everywhere in school, orange and black bunting running down the hallways, pumpkin faces glowering at Jessica from the cafeteria walls. Every time she saw a witch or black cat on a classroom door, it reminded her of what was coming.
“Come on!” Dess said, just as the lock clicked.
“Ladies,” Jonathan said, opening the door with a bow.
“Good, let’s hurry,” Jessica said, walking in among the rows of tools and appliances and paint cans. “Constanza thinks I’m in the bathroom.”
Jonathan snorted. “That would psych her out, wouldn’t it? If you just disappeared in there?”
“Yeah, very funny,” Jessica said tiredly as Jonathan began to gather up a big plastic tarp.
On Monday morning, the day after tomorrow, Constanza was flying to LA. Supposedly it was only for a week. But as she mentioned to Jessica at least once every day, she might never set foot in Bixby High again.
Tonight could be the last time Jessica would ever see her.
Jessica pulled her coat tighter, wondering how many more people she would lose in the next week.
“Hey, check this out,” Dess said.
Jessica turned. “An empty paint can?”
“Formerly a lowly paint can.” Dess swung it by its wire handle. “But in its new incarnation, it will be a major explosive device.”
Jessica swallowed. Some of the stuff Rex was planning was on the edge of crazy. But there was no backing out now.
She pulled Dess’s list from her pocket and started walking among the blue-lit shelves, searching for nails and wires and metal tools—sufficient fresh, clean steel to make a hundred weapons.
Jessica wondered if it would be enough.
A half hour later Jonathan tapped her on the back.
“Come on.” He offered his hand. “We should leave soon if I’m going to get back here in time.”
“Thought you said it would be funny if I just disappeared.”
“Sorry.” He touched her hand softly, midnight gravity shivering through her body for a moment. “You could have stayed there. Dess and I could have done this on our own.”
“Glad to help.” She shrugged. “Slumber parties aren’t much fun when your host is a stiff.” Jessica looked into his eyes. “Plus I hate midnights when I don’t get to fly.”
He held out his hand, smiling. “Let’s fly, then.”
“Okay.” She took it, feeling the connection take hold, her body light as the air. “See you tomorrow, Dess.”
Dess looked up from the open front door, where she was piling the stolen merchandise. “Sure, Jess. And Flyboy? If you don’t get back before midnight, I’m leaving all this stuff in your car with a big note to the sheriff.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”
They flew toward Constanza’s, shooting down an empty stretch of highway to the colony of large houses on a circular road. Jonathan jumped with Jessica up to the roof, just outside the open window of the second-floor bathroom.
Jessica glanced at her watch; Jonathan still had plenty of time to make it back to the store before midnight ended. “Thanks for the lift.”
“Listen, I know you needed to see Constanza tonight.” He stood. “Seeing as how she’s your only normal friend and everything.”
Jessica looked up at him, wondering if he was being sarcastic.
“I mean it, Jess. It’s okay to need somebody who’s not a midnighter.” He swallowed, looking uncomfortable. “And I’m sorry I never made friends with her.”
“Thanks.” Jessica sighed. “After what’s coming, she won’t be back, will she?”
“Yeah, I guess. But at least she’ll be safe in Los Angeles.”
“Sure.” She sighed again. “I just hate goodbyes.” Before she’d moved to Bixby, the last three months in Chicago had been nothing but farewells. And now she seemed to be losing everything again.
“Well, I’m not going anywhere,” Jonathan said. “You can count on that.”
Inside, Jessica changed back into her pajamas, waiting for midnight to end. When the blue light faded, the house shuddering to life around her, she flushed the toilet and stepped out into the upstairs hallway.
“So, as I was saying,” Constanza began as Jessica opened her door. “This shirt can be retired, right?”
Jessica looked at the black pullover with red shoulder pads. “Yeah. Way too eighties.”
“Eww.” Constanza threw the shirt into the discard pile, then turned to the three giant suitcases that lay open on the floor. They were packed crushingly full of dresses, shirts, skirts, and what seemed like dozens of shoes.
“Won’t your parents be suspicious? I mean, you’re supposedly only going for a week.”
Constanza snorted. “I always pack this much for a week. You wouldn’t believe all the great stuff I’m leaving behind. But I think that’s it.”
“So… we’re done?” Jessica said hopefully. They’d been packing pretty much all day.
“Done for tonight.” Constanza stood up, surveying the wreckage of her room. “Thanks so much for helping me, Jess. I hate packing.” She looked longingly into her huge closets. “All these clothes crying out to me. So many left behind.”
Jessica felt herself smiling. The whole last week had been spent preparing for a battle that seemed unwinnable. It felt good to have accomplished something concrete, even as minor as packing Constanza’s bags. And it was a relief to make a few choices that nobody’s life depended on.
“Glad I could help you. It was fun, if exhausting.”
“Ernesto said he was going to help, but he’s long gone.”
Jessica frowned. “None of your cousins are still around, are they?”
“No. And even if they were, Grandpa’s being extra insane about anybody setting foot in Bixby before the move.”
Jessica nodded. This close to Samhain, only Constanza’s unlucky parents would still be here. Their house was on the opposite side of Bixby from Jenks but still in the path of the rip. If the darklings broke through, her folks would be in serious danger.
“Isn’t it going to be weird?” she said. “Not seeing your parents… as much?”
Constanza shrugged. “I’m almost seventeen. I figure I’d be out of their house soon anyway. At least this way they’ll be able to see me on TV.”
Jessica had to smile.
“But you know, leaving them behind doesn’t really make me sad,” Constanza continued. “They’ll always be around, one way or another. It’s more my friends I’m going to miss. You especially.”
“Me? Especially?”
“Of course, sil
ly. I mean, sometimes I feel like I’ve hardly gotten a chance to know you. It’s only been what? Two months since school started?”
“I suppose so,” Jessica said quietly. It felt like years sometimes, but she’d only arrived in Bixby in late August. She sat next to one of the suitcases, staring at the profusion of clothes and shoes inside. “Two months can seem like a long time, I guess.”
“That’s so true.” Constanza leaned closer. “In fact, my theory is that two months in friendship time is actually longer than a year, you know?”
“Um… not exactly.”
Constanza bent and picked up a stack of shirts that hadn’t made the cut. She took them to one of the room’s huge, now half-empty closets. “Listen, Jess, I know you’re all sad about me leaving. You’ve been moping around ever since I told you about LA. But sometimes these short friendships are totally the best.”
Jessica raised an eyebrow. “They are?”
Constanza slid the shirts back onto hangers thoughtfully, one by one. “Sure! Didn’t you ever have a best friend at summer camp or something? You make friends quick, and you know you’re only together until the end of summer, so it’s super intense?”
Jessica nodded. “Yeah, I guess I know what you mean.”
Constanza reached over to brush a lock of Jessica’s hair out of her face. “But those are always the people you remember for the rest of your life. At least I do. Even though I usually forget to write to them or whatever.”
Jessica swallowed, a lump rising in her throat. She couldn’t believe that tears had sneaked up on her and knew she’d feel like a total dork if she cried. She tried to focus her mind on Jonathan’s words: Constanza was one of the lucky ones. She wouldn’t be here for Bixby’s big Halloween surprise.
Constanza sighed. “Maybe it’s because when friendships end like this, instead of growing apart, you get ripped apart. So you never get to the phase where you don’t like each other anymore.”
Jessica blinked, and one tear traveled down her cheek.
Constanza reached out with an elegant finger and softly brushed it away.
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