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12:01 AM

CURFEW

The police car crunched onto the roadside, gravel popping out from under its tires as it slid to a stop

Jonathan clutched Jessica&039;s hand and instinctively bent his knees to leap, seeing in his mind&039;s eye the precise jump that would take them safely over the car and onto the roof of the house across the street He could see the proper angle of landing and how the next leap would take theht Away to freedos crumpled under him, and Jonathan re ti ain He doubted he could even make a run for it For the next few minutes his body would feel like stone as it slowly readjusted to nor took effort in these horrible moments after the secret hour ended

A fa settled over him He was trapped here in normal time Trapped by the cops, by the Bixby curfew, by the suffocating, inescapable blanket that was gravity Stuck like an insect drowning in glue

All Jonathan could do was squeeze Jessica&039;s hand

The police car&039;s doors opened, and a spotlight popped on, ripping into his eyes He spun away, covering his face with his hands

"Think you can hide, Martinez?" a deep voice called, laughing "I recognize your pretty face"

Jonathan&039;s heart sank, but he tried tooff, St Claire We&039;re not going anywhere"

He heard the crunch of boots, then felt Sheriff Clancy St Claire&039;s hand fall onto his shoulder It felt like a hairy lu hiround had become

"Jonathan Martinez, you have never spoken truer words"

"Hey, Clancy, where do you suppose Martinez got hiirlfriend?" another voice called from the car

"Hmm Now, that is a puzzle" Then St Claire&039;s voice softened "Man alive! What happened to you, girl?"

Jonathan lare Jessica looked dazed and battered, her face deathly pale in the spotlight The knees of her jeans were stained with grass and blood, her hair wild fro

"I fell down," she said feebly

"You fell down? Sure, you did" Jonathan felt the sheriff&039;s hand tighten on his shoulder "I don&039;t believe I know you, honey"

"Jessica Day"

"And how old are you?"

"Fifteen"

"So, Jessica Day, I don&039;t suppose your parents knohere you are?"

The spotlight went dark, and Jonathan was blind for a moment in the sudden blackness He heard Jessica&039;s breath catch as she tried to think of a way around the question There was defeat in her voice when she finally answered

"No They think I&039;m home in bed"

"Well, honey, that&039;s probably where you should be"

They sat Jessica down in the back of the police car while St Claire talked on the radio for a while, waiting for more cops to arrive The police in Bixby always liked to do things in overwhel numbers

Jonathan wished he could talk to Jessica, even for a fewdeal, really The cops just took you hoh the procedure seven tiet any worse than that His dad would be grumpier than usual for a couple of days, but he&039;d told too ry at his son

"I&039;ve never been arrested, Dad, only detained and transported to parental custody" Those were the ic words Dad couldn&039;t say the sa, however, that Jessica had never taken a ride in a police car before She sat in the backseat with her head in her hands, forlorn and un over at hiround, unable to whisk her away They&039;d survived being chased by the three biggest darklings he&039;d ever seen, only to be caught by a doofus like St Claire He felt helpless And worse, he felt guilty, as if he&039;d dropped Jessica again Three tiht