Scott Westerfeld Read online

  Jessica started. “Good morning, Mom. Want my toast? I can make some more.”

  “Sure, Jess. Thanks.”

  “Looking good, Mom.”

  “Thanks.” Her mother smiled, smoothing the lapel of her new suit with one hand as she took the toast from Jessica. She sat down at the table.

  “Wow, you’re allowed to eat breakfast with us?” Beth asked. “I thought Aerospace Oklahoma frowned on family time.”

  “Hush, Beth. I have something to say to your sister.”

  “Uh-oh. From the toaster into the frying pan.”

  “Beth.”

  Beth stuffed toast into her mouth, shutting herself up. Jessica pushed down the toaster lever slowly, her mind racing. She turned and sat down across from her mom, trying to think of what could have given her away. They had left nothing to chance. She always left after the blue time started—it took Jonathan a few minutes to get here from his house, anyway—and was back in bed before it ended. Maybe Mom had found a dirty shoe, or an open window, or taken fingerprints from the tops of buildings downtown….

  Beth. Jessica glared at her little sister. She must have told Mom and Dad about Jessica being dressed on Friday night. Beth blinked innocently.

  “Your father and I have been talking about your punishment this morning.”

  “He’s awake already?” Beth asked.

  “Beth—,” Mom started, then paused. “Actually he was awake early, but he went straight back to sleep. We were both tossing and turning a lot last night. And we both agreed that we should have thought about your punishment a little longer before we decided on anything.”

  Jessica looked at her mother warily. “Does this mean worse punishment or less?”

  “Yeah,” Beth said. “Are you guys caving?”

  “We’re thinking that you’re new to this town, and you probably feel a need to be accepted. What you did was wrong, Jess, but you weren’t trying to hurt anyone.”

  “You are caving!”

  “Beth, go get ready for school.”

  Beth didn’t move, just sat there with her mouth wide open. Jessica couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. Dad was always the one who gave in, or tried to, but Mom always stopped him, explaining that any punishment open to negotiation was meaningless, which was something they apparently taught you in engineering school.

  “We’re also thinking that you need to make new friends now. You need stability and support. Keeping you locked up in your room isn’t healthy. It could lead to more trouble later on.”

  “So, what’s the deal? I’m not grounded?”

  “You’re still grounded, but you can go out to visit friends one night a week. As long as we know exactly where you are at all times.”

  Beth made a noise that was only half stifled by toast. Mom reached across the table and held Jessica’s hand. “We want you to have friends, Jessica. We just want them to be the right friends and to make sure you’re safe.”

  “Okay, Mom.”

  “Anyway, I’m late. I’ll see you both tonight. Don’t be late for school.”

  After she had left, Beth took the untouched toast from her mother’s plate and started to butter it, shaking her head.

  “I’m remembering this conversation next time I get in trouble. You got Mom to redefine grounding in a whole new way. Nice work, Jessica.”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  “‘Have some toast, Mom.’ ‘Nice suit, Mom,’” Beth mimicked. “I’m surprised you didn’t make her an omelette.”

  Jessica blinked, partly awestruck by what had just happened and partly confused by her own reaction. She’d been happy before her reprieve, but now she wasn’t so sure. A trickle of nerves had started in her stomach. Flying to safety with Jonathan every night had been wonderful, like a dream. But now she had no excuse to delay Rex’s plan, no good reason to put off going to the snake pit. She would have to face the darklings head-on.

  “I’m not sure, Beth. I don’t think it was the toast.”

  “Yeah, I bet Dad caved. He’s cracking up.”

  Jess shook her head. “I don’t know. Mom seemed pretty intense about it, like she’s thought about it a lot.” She turned toward Beth. “But thanks for not mentioning that…walk I took Friday night.”

  “Your secret is safe with me.” Beth smiled. “Until I find out what your secret is, that is. Then you’re dead.”

  Jessica reached out and squeezed her sister’s hand. “I love you, Beth.”

  “Ewww, no fair! Mom being all flaky is bad enough.”

  Jessica frowned. “Maybe I just scared them, sneaking out like that.”

  “Maybe,” Beth said, and shoved the last piece of bread into her mouth. “The whole thing’s scaring me.”

  Later that morning, the library was dead quiet.

  Jessica and Jonathan had been the big gossip for a couple of days, but the story was getting old. Now that it was the second week of school, work was starting to pile up. Everyone was actually using study period for studying. Even Constanza was reading what looked suspiciously like a history book.

  Jessica was buried in her physics textbook. The last few nights Jonathan had been helping her with the basics while they were together in the secret hour, and she was really starting to understand the equal and opposite reaction business. Bounding around mostly weightless every night had made the laws of motion much more interesting, and having to run for her own life had given her a very real appreciation of inertia. But all the formulas were still giving her trouble, so she’d decided to get some help from Dess.

  It took most of the period for Jessica to get up the nerve to tell Dess what had happened at breakfast.

  “So, you know the whole snake pit expedition?”

  “Yeah, we’re still working on it. Rex and I are trying to come up with a way to get you out there safely,” Dess said. “Anyway, it sounds like you’re having fun avoiding the baddies.”

  “That’s true.” Jessica smiled. The ever present danger made her secret hours with Jonathan much more exciting than regular hanging out would be. “But I’ve got news, Dess. I found out at breakfast that I’m not grounded anymore.”

  “Really? That’s great.”

  “Yeah, I guess so. It was kind of weird, though. My parents were totally ready to lock me up for good. Then this morning my mom gives me this whole speech about making new friends.”

  Dess shrugged. “That happens. My parents do it all the time. Last spring, the first time I got busted with Rex and Melissa for breaking curfew, they said they were going to send me off to psycho camp once school was out.”

  “Where?”

  “It’s like a summer camp for juvenile delinquents. Run by the state and very jail-like. My dad works on oil rigs, and he’s a big believer in hard work to purify the soul. But a couple of days after the bust they completely changed their minds. Since then they’ve been pretty cool. They’ve even started to like Rex and Melissa.”

  “Well, my parents weren’t going to send me away, I don’t think. But it was still weird to see Mom backing off like that.” Jessica sighed, rubbing her hands nervously. “So I guess we should try to do that snake pit thing.”

  “The sooner the better,” Dess said. “Once we know what your talent is, we can figure out why the darklings are so scared of you. Constanza’s party is a perfect opportunity.”

  “I don’t know,” Jessica said. “Mom didn’t say anything about late night parties.”

  Dess leaned closer. “It’s the surest way to get you out there before midnight. We have to untangle ourselves from Rex’s dad and my parents. We might have to fight our way out to the snake pit. With you along, that would get hairy. It’s not that we don’t like you, Jess. But you do attract a bad element.”

  “Oh, right,” Jessica said glumly. “Jessica Day, disaster magnet.”

  “The darklings have been getting worse every night, especially out in the badlands. It’s not like downtown.”

  “But once the party freezes, I’ll
be alone out there.”

  “You’ll practically be at the snake pit. It’s right in the middle of the Bottom,” Dess said. “Just take a walk five minutes before midnight, and you’ll be inside my defenses. Melissa can drive me and Rex to the edge of the Bottom. We’ll walk from there. Without you along, we won’t get swarmed by darklings if we’re late.”

  Jessica gulped. The thought of making her way to the infamous snake pit, all alone at midnight, didn’t make her very happy. “We’ll really be safe there?”

  Dess nodded. “Absolutely. I’ve been working on protection all week. I’ve got a ton of metal ready to go. Rex and I can set it up after school tomorrow. The darklings won’t be able to get within a hundred yards of the snake pit.”

  “Really?”

  “We’ll be perfectly safe. Of course, remember to watch out before midnight.”

  “For what?”

  “The snakes.”

  Jessica blinked.

  “You know,” Dess said patiently, “in the snake pit.”

  “Oh. I thought maybe ‘snake pit’ was just a colorful nickname, not to be taken literally.”

  “Well, don’t let the name fool you,” Dess said. “It’s more of a sinkhole than a pit. A sinkhole full of snakes.”

  “Great, I’ll keep that in mind.” Jessica shivered, remembering the slithers that second night. The idea of real snakes didn’t make her much happier. “But maybe this party thing isn’t going to happen. I don’t even know if I’m still invited.”

  Dess looked across the library at the older girls’ table. “There’s only one way to find out.”

  A couple of Constanza’s friends looked up when Jessica came over. She still drew some stares, especially in the lunchroom with Jonathan. Jessica ignored them and knelt next to Constanza.

  “About the party this Friday?” she whispered.

  Constanza looked down at her. “Yeah?”

  “I kind of got, um, ungrounded.”

  “Really?” Constanza smiled broadly. “Wow. The police bring you home and you’re partying a week later. Not too bad, Jess Shady.”

  “I guess not. So how about that party at Rustle’s Bottom? I mean, I know you’re probably—”

  “Great.”

  “I mean, if there’s already too many—”

  “Sure. Come along.”

  Jessica swallowed. “I don’t really know how to get there. And it’s probably too far—”

  “I’ll drive you. You can sleep over. That way your parents won’t be freaking when we get home super-late.”

  “Oh,” Jessica said, “good idea.” Excuses and bailout lines were still rolling around in her head, but Constanza’s beaming smile silenced them all.

  “Come home with me tomorrow from school? We’ll have a great time.”

  “Cool,” Jessica managed.

  “I can’t wait for you to meet some of the guys at this party. I know you like that Jonathan guy, but trust me, Broken Arrow men are much more fun than the boys from Bixby. Much more mature. You’re going to have the night of your life, Jess.”

  21

  12:00 A.M.

  PEGASUS

  Jessica was scared. Jonathan could feel it.

  They had made it up to Pegasus in record time, shooting down Division like a stone skipping on water, then gaining altitude from rooftop to rooftop, making a giant obstacle course out of the Bixby skyline. The Mobil Building was the tallest in town, and now they were high atop the winged horse with the darkened city spread out below them.

  But Jess had seemed anxious the whole way. She kept looking over her shoulder, not trusting in their speed to keep them safe. Even up here, her green eyes still scanned the horizon. The muscles in her hand were tight, and the connection that Jonathan usually felt when they flew together was missing.

  “Are you okay?”

  “What?”

  “You seem nervous.”

  She shrugged.

  He smiled. “Like maybe you’re worried about being seen with me.”

  Jess laughed, looking out over the dark, empty city. “Yeah, if any slithers tell my mom about us, I’m dead.” She paused, then blurted, “Anyway, you’re the one who’s all antitouching during daylight.”

  Jonathan blinked. “Really?”

  “Yeah.” Jessica looked away. “I mean, it’s no big deal, but it’s not like you ever put your arm around me or grab my hand.”

  “We hold hands all the time!”

  “At midnight we do. In school you get all anxious about it.”

  He frowned, annoyed and wondering if it was true. “Well, we’ve got to rest sometime. Or we’ll wind up with Nintendo wrist.”

  Jess pulled away her flying hand and flexed it. “I guess so.”

  Jonathan gently took it back and started to massage the tendons. He felt her muscles begin to relax. “So what are you really nervous about?”

  Her gaze swept the skyline. “How safe do you think we are up here?”

  “We’re in the middle of town, sitting on ten tons of clean steel. Mobil Building has thirteen letters in it. And we can fly if we need to. Pretty safe, I’d say.”

  Jess ran a finger along the rusty strut they were perched on. “How do you know this steel’s clean? It’s been here a long time, looks like.”

  “I asked Dess if Rex could take a look with his glasses off. When Pegasus is lit, you can see it from all over Bixby, you know. He said the horse doesn’t show a bit of Focus. It’s clean.”

  She smiled at him. “Thanks for doing that.”

  He shrugged. “Rex can be a pain, but the guy’s good for some things.” He concentrated on rubbing her hand.

  Jonathan hadn’t told Jess, but over the last week he had spotted a few slithers at the edges of downtown, daring to come closer to the tall steel buildings than he’d ever seen before. They were tentative, slithering across the low warehouses on the fringes, blurring them into the midnight world, laying claim to them. Since Jess had come to town, the midnight creatures were pushing their way in, a little closer every night. It might take months, but Jonathan had grown certain that eventually there wouldn’t be any clean places left in Bixby. The slithers and their darkling masters would be able to claim even Pegasus.

  Where would he and Jess go then?

  “But we can’t sit on top of this sign forever, Jonathan.”

  He looked up at her, wondering how she knew what he was thinking. He dreaded that Jess’s mysterious talent might have something to do with mind casting. He hoped not. Jonathan had no idea how Rex could stand to hang out with Melissa. He shivered. No privacy, not even in your brain.

  “We’re safe for now, Jess. And maybe once you get ungrounded—”

  “I got ungrounded today,” she said.

  “That’s great! Why didn’t you tell me?” he said. Then he saw her expression. “Jess, why isn’t that great?”

  “Well, because now I’m allowed to go to that party tomorrow night, out at Rustle’s Bottom.”

  “Oh, the snake pit.” Jess had told him about Rex’s master plan a few days ago. The idea had sounded dangerous enough when it was way off in the future. Now that it was twenty-four hours away…

  “You know that’s out in the badlands.”

  “They kind of mentioned that. But Rex says it’s the only way to find out what I am,” Jessica said. “Dess can make it safe out there, and Rex says my talent could be important or maybe something I can protect myself with. In the museum he told me there’s lots of kick-ass talents.”

  “If Rex told you to jump off a cliff—,” he started.

  “Jonathan,” she said, laughing, “that would be you telling me to jump off a cliff.”

  Jonathan smiled. “Probably. But I’d jump with you.”

  She pulled him closer. “I’ve got to do something, Jonathan. I can’t spend the rest of my life sitting up here.”

  “I know.” He sighed. “So you’ve got to do what Rex says. He’s the only one of us who’s got the manual for midnight, after all.
”

  Jess looked into his eyes. “That’s why you don’t like him, isn’t it? Because he can read the lore and you can’t.”

  Jonathan frowned at her. “It’s more complicated than that.” He swallowed, wondering how much he should say. “You don’t know Rex and Melissa as well as I do. Let’s just say I don’t trust Rex. I don’t think he tells everything he knows, even to Melissa.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “To keep control of the whole thing. If everyone else knows what he knows, being a seer doesn’t give him any power.”

  “Rex withhold information? Come on, Jonathan. Last weekend at the museum he told me stuff about the blue time for, like, six hours. I had to tell him to stop or my head was going to explode.”

  “Six hours, and he didn’t tell you about me.”

  Jessica blinked. “Oh, right. He did kind of forget to mention you.”

  Jonathan smiled sourly. “He wanted you to be one of his midnighters.”

  She sighed and looked out again. He followed her gaze past the city to the horizon. From up here they could see all the way to the edge of Bixby, where dark clusters of houses faded away into the badlands. The low flat plains shone with dark moonlight, and the mountains beyond were black silhouettes against the stars.

  “So what do I do?” she said softly.

  “I guess you don’t have a choice. You’ve got to do what Rex says.” Jonathan sighed. “Sometimes I think the whole midnighter thing is rigged.”

  “Rigged?”

  “Yeah. It’s a setup. We’ve all got our own talents. Rex reads lore, I fly, Melissa casts, Dess does the math. You must do something. So we wind up all dependent on each other, like we’re supposed to fit together into a team.”

  Jess squeezed his hand. “Jonathan, what’s so bad about that?”

  He scowled. “I didn’t ask to be on a team. I don’t even know who put the team together.”

  “Maybe fate put us together.”

  “I didn’t ask to be on fate’s team either.” He pulled his hand away. “It all seems totally rigged, like we’re stuck with each other.”

  Jess shook her head. “Jonathan, that’s not rigged. That’s just life.”