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Jess felt a creeping cold in her shoulder The thing had struck for their interlocked hands It knew she couldn&039;t fly on her own

Another slither approached, but she swiped at it with the still sparking antenna, and it flapped away

One last juirders They landed hard on ago," Jonathan warned

Jessica gained her footing with only a second to spare Weight crashed back onto her, and she knelt, clinging to the beam

Jonathan pulled the necklace over his head, wrapping it around his fist

"Splendiferous," Jessica whispered to the steel

"If we can just hold out a few more - ," Jonathan started, but his voice choked off in confusion "What in the - "

The forest of steel around theht - white, not blue The world shifted into full color, the metal beams suddenly a dusty red Jessica&039;s face and hands turned pink, Jonathan&039;s light brown

Suddenly there were panicked shapes all around the into the building site, screeching and leaving a trail of sparks as they struck the white light, retreating back to the edge of the steel girders

The cloud of slithers regrouped and wrapped itself around the building, circling as if Jessica and Jonathan were caught in the eye of a tornado Wounded sounds carid of steel

Jessica could see three darklings together at the edge of the light, their silhouettes pulsing through horrible, half-glio

A lol ca and full of varied sounds, as if it were trying toBut it was no ernails on a chalkboard

Then the three darklings turned and fleay The flying slithers slowly gathered the back out toward the badlands

"The ," Jonathan said

Jessica nodded, unable to speak

"We&039;d better get down"

Of course, Jessica thought In a few minutes Jonathan wouldn&039;t be able to fly anymore They&039;d be stuck up here

She held out her hand, and he took it They juround The white light around theht of the secret hour

"What was that?" she said "What saved us?"

"I&039;ave it a thirteen-letter nah "The whole building?"

"I guess The part ere standing on, at least"

He shook his head "You can charge up a ring or a necklace, and Dess can do bigger stuff if it&039;s the right shape, but not a whole building Maybe this place is made of some kind of crazy new metal What does your mom do here?"

"Aircraft research"

"Hmm" Jonathan nodded "We should look into it That was totally cool" He looked up at the building over their heads "Wouldn&039;t mind some brass knuckles made of that stuff Oron Lots of steel in conjunction with ed This was another mystery for Rex, it sounded like

Then a terrible thought struck her

"How long do we have?" she asked

Jonathan glanced at the uess we&039;ll be walking hoet out of here"

"What?"

"They do classified defense work here, Jonathan," she said hurriedly "My erprinted twice There are security guards all over and a big fence all around"

"Great," he said, scanning the horizon He pointed and grabbed her hand "Bixby-side fence, now!"

She nodded "Three, two"

They ju back toward the city

It took several bounds just to carry theht of the fence It was at least thirty feet high

"Oh boy," Jonathan said

"What? We can clear that easy"

He sed, clenching her hand hard "I usually don&039;t ju a face full of gravity when you&039;re up high"

"Tell me about it," Jessica said

"Oh, yeah"

They neared the fence Jessica could see the coil of razor wire that capped it now, like a long, vicious Slinky stretched along its top The light was changing slowly, a bit of color co now," Jonathan said

Jessica sed If she were caught trespassing in here, they&039;d blame her mother The new job would be in the toaster

"Just one more jump," she cried "Go!"

They soared into the air and over the fence, clearing the razor wire by at least twenty feet

"Oh no," said Jonathan "I think that was maybe a little"

"Too hard?" she asked

They continued to sail upward

Thebehind the hills In the distance ahead the trees were turning green Jessica realized that it was like sunset, right on the edge of day and night, when the light moved from east to west across the planet Moonset and nor toward theood," Jonathan said

They soared helplessly farther into the sky

Jessica thought furiously They just needed so heavy

Then she realized They did have so heavy: her

"Give me your chain," she ordered

"What?"

"Do it!" she yelled

Jonathan unwound Obstructively from his fist She snatched it froh She held one end in her free hand "Grab the other end Tight"

He grabbed it

With her other hand, she let go of Jonathan

"Jess, no!"

She fell, yanking the chain taut and pulling Jonathan doard after her

"Jess!" His eyes were full of terror

In a few seconds they were falling fast enough, and she yanked on the chain to bring hirabbed for each other&039;s hands, and with the warhtlessness wrapped itself around Jessica again

Moround quickly, but with the soft pressure of ravity

Jonathan wrapped his ar

"I never dropped anyone before," he said quietly "And now I&039;ve dropped you twice in one night"

The grass below thereen They were at treetop level, and then their feet touched the ground lightly

Norht settled onto them a few seconds later

"Well, the third ti

They stood there, looking at each other

Finally they let go of each other&039;s hands

"Ouch," he said softly

Jessica giggled, rubbing her hand "Ouch is right"

Jonathan laughed out loud "You&039;ve got one hell of a grip, Jess My hand feels it got slay"

"Me?" she retorted, laughing too "My hand feels like a truck ran over it"

They were both still laughing when the police car pulled up