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12:00 AM-

Long Midnight

LIGHTNING

They bounded down the railroad tracks, following the rip It stretched out before them, a red arrow pointed at the heart of Bixby

"Can wethe way for us, knocking down the frozen rain as it goes But watch out e get ahead of it Water sucks"

"Jonathan!"

A man stood on the tracks ahead of the an expression of disbelief They took an extra-high jump so as not to hit him, and his pale face lifted to watch them pass overhead

"Okay, that eird," Jessica said

"There arecrowded And not just with humans"

As they neared Bixby, houses beca around, first alone or in twos and threes, then in crowds gathered on the street Some of them stared up in wonder at Jessica and Jonathan, but many didn&039;t even notice as they soared overhead, too dazzled by the blue-red world around theht?" she said "Can we really stop this?"

"If he isn&039;t,trouble They&039;re just standing here, right in the s aren&039;t here yet"

He pointed ahead "Some of them are"

Before the tendrils It hovered over a sathered in the backyard of a house, whatlate Everyone was in costuhost all standing al had a tendril wrapped around each of the, as if each was trapped in their own silent, private horrors

"My God, should we stop?"

"No time," Jessica said They had to halt this invasion All of it, everywhere, not just in this one backyard "But slon a little"

She pulled a flare fro the top off Then she banged it against the friction pad clenched between her teeth, sparks flying into her face, the first hiss of the flare burning her eyebrows before she could whip it away

At the top of their next bounce she threw the flare down into theacross the blue ti to slip from the costumed people

Jessica looked over her shoulder as they fleard and saw that the crowd had sprung to life and were pulling at the thing&039;s ar to rip it apart

"There&039;s more," Jonathan said softly

Ahead of thes were stretched across the railroad tracks, like hovering spiderwebs

"Go around them?" he asked

"They move too fast" Jessica pulled out another flare, then realized that it was the last one she was carrying "Crap"

She yanked off its top with her teeth,her face this time She thrust it out before them as they soared into the joined webs of tendrils

At the touch of the flas screas, her arhorror that she hadJenks defenseless, her sister doos had opened up the blue time because of her, because they hated Jessica Day so much

The end of the world it&039;s allof Jonathan&039;s hand in hers kept her fro He wouldn&039;t abandon her, she knew But they rapped around Jonathan as well; she had to fight

Jessica gritted her teeth and slashed with the flare, carving into theherself free

One by one, the fears fell away

Then the feeling vanished, and she was filled eightlessness again The tracks reared up, and she reflexively took another bounding step She glanced backward; the two darklings lay in a s on the tracks

"No!" Jonathan yelled, his hand wrenching hers

"Ow! What&039;s wrong?" she cried

"Huh?" He looked at her, duht ht" He stared at their joined hands

"Oh" Jessica&039;s eyes widened "Is that your worst night me?"

He blinked "Of course But"

Jessica felt a smile spread across her face "That is so sweet!"

They landed and launched the red boundary rising up before them "What the - ?"

"It&039;s the front end of the rip," he cried "Get ready!"

Jessica started to answer, but a wall of water struck her in the face

She&039;d never flown through frozen rain before Her first tiht shower, a h a sprinkler in su thea fire hose trained on her

The water soaked her already damp clothes, filled her mouth so she could hardly speak or breathe, and reduced their path to a blur before the like an angry snake She could hardly see the ground rushing up at thean to spin

"Stop! I can&039;t see anything!" she shouted into the wall of rain

"Can&039;t stop for long - the rip&039;s too close"

Jessica looked backward, which shielded her vision fro across Bixby,back to face the deluge, she found she could finally h slitted eyes Jessica saw that they were entering don On their next ju, then ju in Bixby waited, a huge and winged shape glittering at its suasus?"

"Wow" She had seen the giant horse fro finger of lightning reached down froht fila to a halt across wet black tar Her soaked sneakers stuh a clutter of small shapes

"Yo! Watch the fireworks!"

Jessica wiped water from her eyes "Oh Sorry, Dess"

"Where&039;s Rex and Melissa?"

"Long story," Jonathan said "We&039;re on our way up there" He pointed at the lightning-sheathed Pegasus sign

"What the hell for?"