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11:58 PM

FLYING LESSON

"Well, as of now this plan officially sucks," Melissa said "No way is Jonathan getting here before roaned, huddling in her coat against the chill wind "I told Rex I wasn&039;t afraid to"

"It&039;s not your fault, Jess," Melissa said "Rex didn&039;t want all five of us in Broken Arrow You heard hi about a Grayfoot trap catching thehters It seeured I orried about getting busted for curfew violation," she said "And was trying not to hed So now they were stuck here at a cold, windy roadside picnic stop just outside the county line, sitting on their butts Next ti to announce to Rex that she was the new, non-weenie Jessica, unafraid of official, parental, or even sisterly punishment

"No, Jess I happen to knoasn&039;t you he was trying to protect"

"What do you mean?"

"It wasin the cold "The thought of driving fast givesif she was kidding Of course, flying through a windshield at eighty ht ht not be here yet because they really did get busted by the cops," Melissa continued "In which case, we&039;re both lucky we didn&039;t go along"

Jessica sighed "That&039;s a lovely thought" Jonathan wasn&039;t a big fan of spending the secret hour trapped in a jail cell, bouncing off the walls

"Just trying toarrested"

"I suppose so"

"I h-speed car chases involved," Melissa continued

"Jeez, Melissa Who elected you Miss Sunshine?"

"I&039; is all" The mindcaster looked at her watch "Anye&039;ll know for sure in five, four, three"

The secret hour struck, spilling toward them across the desert floor like a sudden tide of blue ink The picnic table shuddered beneath thehostly pale above

"Yeah, that&039;s the stuff" Melissa sighed, tipping her head back to sniff the air A few moments passed, then a faint smile broke across her face "You can relax Everyone&039;s okay"

Jessica breathed a sigh of relief, glad that Melissa was here When Rex had put the final touches on his plan, she&039;d been nervous about spending a whole hour in the middle of nowhere with Melissa But actually, it hadn&039;t turned out so bad Melissa wasn&039;t the bitchy snob she used to be

The lare "Gee, thanks, Jess"

"Oops Sorry" Jessica rehts, especially now that h," she sputtered "You are much nicer these days"

"Whatever" Melissa looked skyward again, closing her eyes "Okay They&039;re all together, way out in the desert for soot screwed up - tastes like Rex and Flyboy have been arguing"

"Funny, but I could have guessed that last part"

Melissa s hurry" She frowned "Things are waking up out there"

Jessica drew her flashlight, whose new na to be all right?"

"If we get out there before anything big jumps on them"

"We?"

One of Melissa&039;s eyes opened a slit "As in me, Flyboy, and you"

Jessica realized it was pointless to hide her dis with us"

"You got it, Jess I don&039;t want to, but the whole point of this plan is for ie to have a little face ti to walk" Melissa spread her hands "Look, don&039;t worry about it, Jessica I&039; to spew ht?"

"I didn&039;t say you were"

"You thought about it Don&039;t tellabout a dentist appointment"

Jessica shook her head "It&039;s just that Jonathan told me - "

"I knohat he told you, Jessica I can taste the way he pities ot that? And theme, the more I know it And frankly, I really don&039;t want to know about it anyive it a rest!"

Melissa&039;s voice broke on the last words, the awful sound disappearing into the flat, echoless desert She sighed then, shaking her head

"I&039;an

"Yeah, well" Melissa waved her silent "I&039;ht e"

Jessica sed, a dozen apologies tuh her brain But of course, Melissa wouldn&039;t want to hear any of the to banish all excuses and regrets and pity fro - i into her at Jonathan&039;s touch, the rolling quilt of Bixby&039;s streets fro the below

The iument, and on an impulse Jessica reached out and touched Melissa&039;s wrist lightly

Melissa didn&039;t respond at first, but she didn&039;t pull away Jessica could feel the struggle in her not to flinch fro reflexes trained by years of isolation And then the connection took hold

Ies and emotions spilled fro at top speed across the badlands, scrub and sand and salt all reduced to a blur - and Melissa drew in a breath, amazed by the visions shared between thehter who had never touched the mindcaster before It wasn&039;t like Jonathan had said; there was nothing twisted and pitiable about Melissa&039;s h her eyes the blue world was suffused with a stately calm And under that an old sadness, and worry about Rex

After a long " she said softly

Jessica s down at her hand as if Jessica had soet there fast Rex needs us"

"Is he scared?"

Melissa&039;s head tilted, like that of a dog listening to a far-off sound "Not really He&039;s not afraid of darklings anymore"

Jessica frowned "Shouldn&039;t he be?"

The uess we&039;ll find that out soon enough"

Jonathan ca across frozen water His flying shield flashed, warding off a pair of fast slithers ere buzzing around hihtenment

"Don&039;t You&039;ll blind hi Jonathan would probably rather deal with the slithers himself anyway Why ruin his fun?

"I knohat youall this way tooif their brief physical connection had hts permanently easier to read

But Melissa shook her head "It&039;s pretty obvious, Jess I used to hate daylight too, you know? But I never loved ht as aze back out to the horizon One of the slithers had glanced off Jonathan&039;s shield, blue sparks arcing across the sky as it fell, and the other turned and fled Jonathan bounded to a halt a few yards away, raising a cloud of pale blue dust that froze in ic

"Colad to see that he didn&039;t flinch as Melissa grasped his hand, just looked at her, and said, "Do you kno this works?"

"Yeah, Jessica just taught me"

A look of surprise crossed Jonathan&039;s face, and he shot a glance at Jessica She could only shrug She hadn&039;t thought about it that way, but all the techniques of flying were recorded in well-used grooves in herhours at Jonathan&039;s side Even those nights they didn&039;t fly together, she drearavity when she was supposed to be doing physics homework