Scott Westerfeld

by The Secret Hour

  Dess noticed that Jess was rubbing her right hand, as if it was a bit sore. She knew from experience what that meant: things couldn’t have gone completely wrong.

  Dess put her questions aside. She could ask Jess in study period tomorrow, when Rex wasn’t around to go ballistic.

  “We went to a lore site last night,” he said.

  “It was a pretty hairy trip,” Dess said. “Darkling city out there.”

  “But we may have found out what’s going on.”

  Jessica looked up. “It’s all my fault, isn’t it?”

  Rex look surprised for a moment, then shrugged. “It’s not your fault, exactly.”

  “But it’s because of me. Those things didn’t used to bother you guys. Since I showed up, they’re everywhere. Right?”

  “That’s true,” Rex admitted. “The heavy darkling action could be related to you coming to Bixby. But only maybe.”

  “Maybe definitely,” Jessica said. “You had a private world, a secret time all your own, and I messed it all up.”

  “You didn’t mess it up. The darklings were already there, and we’ve tangled with them before,” Rex said. “But it’s possible you’ve got them scared.”

  “Scared?”

  Dess sat down next to Jessica. “Every midnighter has his or her own talent, Jessica.”

  “So I noticed. Everyone but me, that is.”

  Rex paced the room. “The lore says that darklings can taste it when new midnighters arrive in their territory, like Melissa can. They can feel our talents, and they know when someone new is a danger to them.”

  “Me, a danger to them?” Jessica laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding. So far, my major talent seems to be disaster magnet. A walking bad-luck charm.”

  “That’s because they’re scared,” Dess said. “They’re still animals, in a way—wild cats.”

  “And you’re stirring up their nest.”

  Dess rolled her eyes. “Cats don’t have nests, Rex.”

  “Well, you’re stirring up their…cathouse. But whatever your talent turns out to be, Jessica, it must be important. For us.”

  She looked up at him. “Are you sure?”

  “If they want you, we need you,” Dess said.

  “But they want me dead.”

  “That’s why we have to find out exactly what you are,” Rex said. “Will you help us do that?”

  Jessica looked at them both, then stared glumly out the window at the blue time. Dess saw the careful rows of thumbtacks lining each window and wondered what it would be like to be trapped in your room for the secret hour, with the whole world waiting empty for you outside.

  Jessica’s room had a crazed neatness to it, as if she’d been cleaning all day. As Dess had figured, her parents weren’t poor. Jessica had a real stereo and a ton of CDs. But the room hardly looked lived in at all. It felt like a lonely room.

  Jessica sighed before she answered. “Sure. What do I have to do?”

  Rex smiled. “We have to take you to a certain lore site during the secret hour. There are ways of reading your talent there, testing you to find out what you are.”

  “Okay, except what happens when the darklings butt in?”

  “They’ll try,” Dess said. “But I can set up defenses in advance, get everything ready in daylight. It’ll be totally safe by the time midnight rolls around. Safer than this room, at least.”

  Jessica looked around, clearly unhappy with the idea that her room wasn’t totally secure. “So the only problem is getting there,” she said.

  “We’ve got that covered too,” Rex said. “You can tell your parents that you’re spending the night with Dess. She lives out closer to the badlands. You can slip out and get there before—”

  “Forget it.”

  “Why?” Rex asked.

  “I can’t spend the night with anyone, not for the next month, anyway. I’m grounded. Very.”

  “Oh.” Rex looked as if he hadn’t expected anything so mundane to mess up his plans. “Well, if you slip out on your own, Melissa can pick you up and drive—”

  “No.” Jessica said the word without hesitation. “I’ve lied to my parents enough. I’ve snuck around enough. Forget it.”

  Rex opened his mouth, then closed it.

  Dess was dying to talk to Jessica away from Rex. What had happened last night? She wondered if Jess’s grounding had anything to do with Jonathan.

  “I mean,” Jessica continued, “I don’t mind going out in the secret hour, but I’m not leaving this house during regular time. If my parents found out, they’d be really upset. I don’t want to do that to them again.”

  “Do you want to wait a whole month?” Rex argued. “If they’re as scared as they seem, the darklings might try something really serious soon.”

  “How far away is this place?” Jessica asked.

  “Pretty far out,” Rex said. “Even from Dess’s, you can barely make it there and back in an hour on a bike.”

  “What about flying?”

  Rex’s jaw dropped, and then his eyes turned coldly toward Dess. She sighed and spread her hands with a little shrug. There was no hope of avoiding blame. Rex knew that Melissa would never have told Jonathan where Jess lived. For that matter, if Dess hadn’t blabbed, Jonathan might not even have guessed that there was a new midnighter in town. She tried to look sheepish.

  But inwardly Dess smiled. Occasionally Rex needed to be reminded that nobody had elected him seer.

  He gathered himself and turned back toward Jessica.

  “It’s too dangerous. You two alone, out in the badlands—you’d be flying right into a death trap.”

  “Yeah,” Jessica admitted, “it was pretty bad last night. And we barely went past the edge of town.”

  “You went past—?” Rex bristled again but kept himself in check. “We’ll think of something else,” he said. “Some way to get you there before midnight.”

  “Exactly where is this lore site, anyway?” Jessica asked.

  Dess watched Rex carefully and thought she saw a moment of pleasure as he answered, now that he had another reason for Jessica Day to be scared of midnight.

  “It’s called the snake pit.”

  18

  11:06 A.M.

  NOTORIOUS

  On Monday morning it didn’t take long to find out where Jonathan had spent the rest of the weekend. Jessica didn’t believe it at first—it sounded too much like a rumor to be the truth—but his empty desk and the stares in second-period physics said it all.

  It was true. He was in jail, and it was all her fault.

  There were a lot of versions circulating, but everyone seemed to know that Jonathan had been busted in the company of Jessica Day. She had gone from new girl to bad girl in record time. Most people seemed surprised to see Jessica here in school, as if they expected her to be rotting away in her own jail cell. She caused a stir everywhere she went, with everyone (except those few clueless teachers who were eternally immune to gossip) wanting to know what had happened.

  Thankfully, Constanza came to her rescue, shepherding Jessica between her morning classes and filling her in.

  “It’s like this: Someone’s aunt, or mother, works as a dispatcher, or deputy, in the sheriff’s department and was there on Saturday night when Jonathan was brought in. News travels fast in Bixby. What were you guys doing, anyway?”

  “Just walking.”

  Constanza nodded. “Breaking curfew. That’s what I figured. But some people are saying that you got busted for breaking into a car, or a drugstore, or both.”

  “None of the above. But why did they take me home and him to jail?”

  “Well, everyone knows—at least as of this morning—that Jonathan has been in trouble with the police before. Like a million times. His father has too. In fact, I heard that Jonathan, or his father, maybe, was wanted for armed robbery back in Philadelphia, or maybe manslaughter, which is why the two of them had to move here in the first place.”

  “Are you absolutely
sure about all this?”

  “Absolutely not. But you have to know what people are saying, Jessica.”

  “Yeah, of course. Sorry.”

  A few freshman girls were standing near Jessica’s locker, and Constanza shooed them away while Jess got her books for study hall. Jessica picked through her locker, feeling the stares of people passing by, trying to decide if she was more behind in trig or physics.

  She could still see Jonathan’s empty desk, the final confirmation that he hadn’t made it home that night. Jessica couldn’t believe how things kept getting worse. Everything that could have gone wrong, with the possible exception of being eaten, had.

  Jessica Day: darkling magnet, police magnet, shady character.

  She grabbed her trig book and slammed the locker closed.

  “I heard you two were kissing when the cops showed up,” Constanza said.

  “No, we weren’t.”

  “What, you were out there just to hold hands?”

  “No.” Jessica paused. “Well, actually, we were kind of holding hands.” She rubbed her wrist, which was still sore. Hanging on for dear life required muscles that normally didn’t get much exercise.

  “So you and Jonathan are an item?”

  Jessica felt her face heat up. “No. I don’t know. Maybe…” She barely knew Jonathan, but she’d never felt a connection with any guy the way she had with him Saturday night. Of course, after the way the night had ended…“Probably not, after what happened,” she finished.

  Constanza put her arm around Jess, leading her toward the library.

  “Me, I think that the curfew is a stupid law. I think I’m going to write an article about it for the school paper, maybe even the Register. ‘Young lovers busted for holding hands.’”

  “Just leave me out of it, please.”

  “I wouldn’t use your real name, of course.”

  Jessica had to laugh. “Great idea, Constanza. No one will ever figure it out. Just change my name to Jess Shady.”

  Constanza smiled. “Not bad. I like it.”

  They entered the library as the late bell rang. Ms. Thomas looked up from her computer.

  “Good morning,” she said, one eyebrow raised. She looked as if she expected a good session of gossip to animate today’s study period.

  “Morning,” Jessica said, then groaned inwardly as she saw the long table. The rest of Constanza’s crew were already settled in, ready to hear the scoop.

  She turned to Constanza and said, “I really have to study trig. What with my criminal career, I didn’t get anything done this weekend.”

  Constanza smiled. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that, Jess Shady. Sounds like you had fun. But don’t worry. You get your studying done and I’ll work on setting the record straight.”

  “Thanks, Constanza. I really appreciate it. But, um, which record are you going to use?”

  “How about a medium one? Hand holding but no kissing? And no previous criminal record?”

  “Well, thanks, I guess. Try not to make me sound too evil, though? I could be living here in Bixby for a while.”

  “Not a problem, Jess. A little drama wins more friends than boring. Which is not to say that you were…boring.”

  “Thanks.”

  “In fact, what are you doing this Friday?”

  “Being grounded.”

  “That’s too bad. Some friends of mine, of the senior persuasion, are having a party out at Rustle’s Bottom.”

  “Rustle’s what?” Jessica said.

  “It’s a dried-out lake bed. A good place to park a keg, you know? It’s over in Broken Arrow County, officially outside the dreaded curfew zone. I’m not sure if Jessica Day would have wanted to come, but Jess Shady would have a great time.”

  “Sorry. Both of us are grounded until October.”

  “Too bad. Anyway, see you at lunch.” Constanza hugged her. “And don’t worry, this story’s only prime-time news for a week, tops.”

  She swept back to the long table, and Jessica sank into the corner chair, grateful that Constanza would be filling in for her on the gossip circuit. At least someone was on her side.

  Jess realized that Dess was in her usual place across the table.

  “Oh, good. I was hoping you’d be here.”

  “I wouldn’t miss my favorite period,” Dess said.

  “What, the tutor-Jessica-in-trig period?” Jessica asked hopefully.

  Dess smiled. “Today, any tutoring will cost you.”

  Jessica groaned. “Not you too.”

  “Don’t worry, I don’t want to hear how you got busted. Your lame criminal record is uninteresting to me. All I want to know is, did you fly?”

  Jess glanced at the long table. Constanza had them all spellbound.

  She turned back to Dess and nodded.

  “Isn’t it excellent?” Dess said.

  A tiny and unexpected stab of annoyance went through Jessica. Almost jealousy. But of course Jonathan had taken at least one of the other midnighters flying. How else would he know how it worked? Still, flying had felt like a private thing between the two of them.

  “Yeah. It’s great.”

  “I thought you’d like it. That’s why I told Jonathan where you lived.”

  Jessica nodded and smiled at Dess. “I’m glad you did.”

  “Someone had to.”

  “You’re sort of not taking sides in this Rex and Jonathan thing, are you?”

  Dess sighed. “It’s kind of pointless, really. Rex is okay. I wouldn’t know half what I do without him. But he gets this seer-knows-best attitude sometimes. And Jonathan’s great, but he can be all ‘Freebird’, not that I blame him. The thing between them goes back to the beginning, more than two years ago.”

  “So all four of you have never worked together?”

  “For about two weeks. When Jonathan arrived, he was just starting to discover his power, his dream come true, when Rex and Melissa show up. Rex, of course, wants to spend every night checking out lore.”

  Jessica nodded. It must have been a lot easier for Rex to get out to his precious lore sites with Jonathan’s help. It still would be.

  “But Melissa and Jonathan never got along,” Dess added. “She’s never even flown with him.”

  “Really?”

  “She couldn’t stand it. She has this thing about…holding hands.”

  Jessica blinked. She’d been jealous of Dess a moment ago, but now she couldn’t help feeling sorry for Melissa. Flying with Jonathan was the best part of midnight.

  “So Melissa gets left out of all these trips to the badlands, Jonathan gets tired of being Rex’s personal flying chauffeur, and all hell breaks loose.”

  Jessica swallowed. “I guess I can see where there might be a personality conflict or two there.”

  “Everything’s been messed up since then, really.” Dess looked down at the floor. “Well, maybe it’s always been messed up.”

  “So, Dess, why didn’t you tell me about Jonathan if Rex wasn’t going to?”

  “I didn’t want to say anything in front of Rex. The mere thought of Jonathan makes him all snitty.”

  “You could have called me.”

  Dess shrugged, smiled. “I wanted it to be a surprise, maybe.”

  Jessica peered through the dark glasses and into Dess’s eyes and realized she was telling the truth. However weird she might seem, Dess had always been honest with her. She’d tried to make it clear from the beginning that things were going to be different here in Bixby. Of course, Dess had never been able to just come out and explain everything, but that wasn’t exactly her fault. Things had always been too complicated for that.

  Jessica smiled. Even though Saturday night had wound up horribly, she was glad that Dess had told Jonathan about her.

  “I guess it was pretty surprising. And yeah, excellent.” Jessica sighed. “Until a load of darklings showed up, courtesy of me. And five minutes after we gave them the slip, the police were there. He probably thinks I’m a walking disaster.”r />
  “Don’t worry too much about Jonathan, Jess. We’ve all been in the back of Clancy St. Claire’s car. It goes with the territory.”

  “Oh, that makes me feel much better. My parents are already pretty upset. If I get brought home by the cops again, I’m toast. Blackened, charred, lever-got-stuck-down toast.”

  “We’ll have to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Dess said.

  “So I’m afraid to ask, but do you guys have a plan yet? To get me out to the snake pit?”

  “Just can’t wait, can you?” Dess said, smiling. “We’re still working on that. It’s too bad you can’t go to that party at Rustle’s Bottom.”

  Jessica frowned. As much as she liked Constanza, it hadn’t sounded like her kind of party. “Why?”

  “The snake pit is the name for the deepest part of the Bottom. You’d be five minutes’ walk away. And I have a feeling this party’s going at least until midnight. Are you sure there’s no way to talk your parents into making an exception to this grounding thing?”

  “Very sure.”

  “Too bad.” Dess leaned back into her chair. “Well, on to more pleasant subjects.”

  “Like what, root canal surgery?”

  “No, like trigonometry.”

  After school Jessica waited for her father in front. Dad was picking her up until further notice, his theory being that she might end up lost and/or arrested on the way home. As the unemployed member of the family, he had nothing better to do than worry and overreact. Of course, he was going to be late from having to stop off at Bixby Junior High halfway across town. Beth wasn’t about to ride the bus if her crime-lord sister was getting chauffeured.

  Crowds of students spilled out of the high school, all of them taking one last look. Jessica was thrilled that everyone was getting another chance to gawk at the new bad girl in town. It might be a while before they could stare at her again. Like tomorrow morning.

  She glared back at a couple of freshman boys, and they flinched and ran to their waiting bus. One day into her grounding and public humiliation, Jessica Day had had enough.

  She hadn’t asked to be a midnighter, hadn’t tried to get into trouble. As far as she could tell, her big mistake had been not stopping to explain to the darklings that Bixby had a curfew. For the thousandth time that day she replayed in her mind the fantasy where the darklings had caught her and her shredded body was presented to her parents with a final note: