Page 19 (1/2)

19

11:49 PM

MINDCASTER

"Whizzway&039;stown?"

Melissa took one hand off the wheel and pointed to her right, toward the greathu with slow and vapid dreaht about Bixby was that people went to bed early On a Wednesday night the mind noise started to fade about ten, and by eleven-thirty the feaking thoughts were

Rex grunted, spreading out the ht between his teeth It had been his idea to take the car tonight

"I kno to get there," Melissa coet onto Division We&039;ve only got ten esstopped," he hed

At sixteen in Oklaho to and from school (And work, in the unlikely event that she ever found a job that wouldn&039;t drive her insane) It was also after eleven o&039;clock, so Rex was being ultracautious and guiding her through the back roads He didn&039;t want to meet any police, in case Sheriff St Claire had decided to launch some sort of curfew crackdown

Jonathan&039;s trip to jail had spooked Rex In a way, Clancy St Claire scared hiht hour When it came to fat, nasty sheriffs, there was no lore to turn to

Jonathan&039;s weekend disappearance had been alar for Melissa too, but for different reasons All Sunday&039;s secret hour she&039;d been casting on her roof,activity but partly wondering why Jonathan had never appeared Nor across the landscape He was easy to spot, faster than anything else in the

His absence had worried her ht When she found out on Mondaythat he&039;d only been in jail, surrounded by opaque steel, it had been a relief Rex etting busted

She sht even have done Jonathan soood He&039;d tasted a little ht"

Melissa turned right

She was starting to recognize the neighborhood "Okay, we&039;re not far I&039;ll park soreement

"Ow! Blind ht froan to fold the map

Now that they were al their bikes in the blue ti, but they would be exposed to whatever the darklings threw at them Without a stack of Dess-quality weapons it wouldn&039;t have been safe, and this was one trip she and Rex wanted to keep secret

They had never told Dess all of the lore aboutIt would be hard for anyone else to understand theDess alalked around thinking she&039;d been left out, never appreciating how much easier she&039;d had it Back when it had been just Rex and Melissa, they&039;d had to learn the rules of ht the hard way Those years hadn&039;t been all fun and gaht her ht her old Ford to a stop a block or so away and pulled up her right sleeve to check her watch Three loved hands "You&039;re looking very coirl&039;s naain?"

"Constanza Grayfoot You haven&039;t heard of her?"

Melissa sighed, shaking her head Even Rex didn&039;t completely understand how unbearable school was for her Melissa didn&039;t know the na wheel

"Anyway, her naet the general idea across Clear the way, and it&039;ll happen by itself"

"No probleain, cal ht TV But sweet relief was coet both of them in sync We don&039;t want to otiations"

"Rex, it&039;s going to be easy Just show e from him Rex hated when she used that word "Sorry," she said sarcastically "Just show et it done"

Rex turned away fro off unhappy vibes

She sighed and reached out to stroke one of his hands He looked down in surprise, then reloves He sht a taste of his old bitterness He shared every thought with her, along with terrible secrets and a hidden world, but they would never touch

"Rex, really, this is si"

"You always say that"

"The blue time is a breeze, Rex It&039;s the rest of reality that&039;s hard"

He turned to her, reached across, his fingertips stopping just inches fro I&039;ll ever do eight years ago"

He laughed "So you always tellRex the first ti as she could remember, since before she could talk When the blue ti noise would finally stop, only a single voice would remain A lone taste out there in the suddenly einary friend The idea that he was a real person had taken years to form, another year to act on Finally she had run the ht years old and wearing paja it was a drea real

It had been a close call, she realized now Much longer alone and she would have gone crazy

Melissa tried to settle herdeep breaths, she waited for the htht terrors would finally be

Silenced

"Oh, yeah," she said "That&039;s the stuff"

She could taste Rex&039;s shts were open to her now His relief that they were safely in the blue tiriet this job done She could even taste the tiny, well-nibbled corner of guilt he felt for going to this extreme

"Don&039;t worry, Rex What they don&039;t knoon&039;t hurt &039;em"

"Just telltoo hard"

"You&039;ll be the first to know"

They got out of the car, Melissa perfor around yet, but it was early No creature that lived in the blue tiht this far into town