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Rex&039;s eyes flashed as he searched for signs
"You should see this, Melissa They&039;ve been creeping around everywhere More every night"
"Good thing Jessica doesn&039;t stay home much"
Rex&039;s annoyance sizzled in the air, the predictable result of even the vaguest reference to Jonathan Martinez At least it wasn&039;t jealousy, which she tasted enough of at Bixby High Just Rex&039;s wounded seer&039;s pride that he didn&039;t control everything in the secret hour
A uy&039;s finally good for soh a backyard and then hid themselves in so?"
Melissa cast herself deeper into the night, and flavors caht there, waiting expectantly in her roo on toys The slithers were stirring at the edges of Bixby,fro presence
"On his way"
They settled deeper into the bushes
A few minutes later Jonathan landed
It had been a year since she&039;d seen hirace now as his body corkscrewed doard to land softly on one foot, soundless and in slow ht not ever fly with Jonathan, but at least Melissa could taste his ht
Next to her Rex allowed himself a moment of quiet amazement
"Hey!" Jonathan called into Jessica&039;s room
"Hey, yourself" Jessica crawled out her , ran to him, took both his hands
Melissa couldn&039;t hear what they said then, but she could taste what passed between theht: Jessica vanilla The two spoke quietly, so focused on each other that a darkling could have easily flon and taken them both After a solid minute on the lawn they half turned to face the sa hands, they bent their knees and jule creature
Two seconds later they were gone over the trees
"Cute couple," Melissa said, pulling herself out of the bush
As they crossed the street, Rex glanced nervously skyward
"Relax, they&039;re halfway to don" The last two nights Melissa had felt them close to the center of Bixby, probably up on the tall buildings down there, well away fro country and with a clear view in every direction Jessica was a lot safer with Jonathan than at home, even Rex had to admit
The front door was locked
"Damn city folk," Melissa said They crossed to Jessica&039;s open
"You&039;re in an awfully good h the , tasting leftover Jessica thoughts in the room She extended a hand to help Rex pull himself up and saw hiloves
"I&039;ood mood in the blue tiet to do soave off a sharp flavor of anxiety
She sighed "Don&039;t worry, I promise not to have too much fun"
"Just don&039;t start to enjoy it too much The lore is full of - "
"Stuff that boresof which" Melissa looked disdainfully around Jessica&039;s rooht"
Rex frowned "She&039;s not that bad Why do you hate her so much?"
"I don&039;t hate her, Rex She&039;s just she&039;s nothing in particular I think she got switched at birth with a real &039;s so easy for her"
"I wouldn&039;t say that"
They went through the door and faced a long hallway Melissa pushed open the first door on her left
"Smells like little sister"
"You can taste that?"
"I can see it" Melissa gestured at the floor It was cluttered with skirts, jeans, shirts, crumpled papers, and school-books Talls were covered with boy-band posters, and on the bed a s a stuffed anihed "Your psychic powers never cease to amaze me"
They closed the door and headed farther into the house There was a bathrooht, and the hallway opened on one side onto a living room At the far end of the hall was one ," said Melissa as she pushed it open
Jessica&039;s parents lay there, frozen while asleep
Melissa looked at them, pale and defenseless Like all stiffs, they didn&039;t seem quite human, more like department-store mannequins that someone had tried really hard to make realistic but had mistakenly taken a left turn at creepy
Rex was poking around the roo boxes near the closet Like the other hters, he was a little bit freaked out by stiffs
Melissa didn&039;t h they were, this was the only ti She pulled off her gloves
"I think we&039;ll start with Mom"