Page 30 (1/2)

30

12:00 AM

TALENT

The white light swept across the crater floor, reducing the spiders to ash in its wake Shrill, horrible cries rose up fro at once The tide of hairy bodies turned aiftly, pouring back up the snake pit&039;s sloped walls Jessica pointed the flashlight into the air, and the slithers that crossed its path burst into flaht straight up to search for the darkling over their heads, but the creature had disappeared into the distance, howling

A last few spiders craitlessly around the s bodies of their fellows, and she burned theht see in its true colors The beam drove the blue from the landscape, returned the reds and browns of the desert, and turned the charred bodies of slithers and spiders a dull gray

Even the , washed out and emptied of its menace

As the attackers retreated fro calls of slithers and the shrieks of the spider ars could be heard, screams of pain and defeat in the distance

"Turn that thing off!" Dess complained

Jessica started when she saw her friends&039; eyes flashing angry purple in the light Dess cowered behind her hands Jonathan, Melissa, and Rex had all covered their eyes, their faces twisted in pain

Only Jessica could stand the light

She pointed the flashlight to the ground, then switched it off

"Sorry"

One by one, blinking painfully, they dropped their hands

"That&039;s okay," said Rex

"Yeah Don&039;t worry about it," Jonathan said

"Call it even" Dess laughed, rubbing her eyes "Not being spider food kind of "

"Speak for yourself," Melissa said, rubbing her te with mine"

"You really can do it," Rex said softly "You brought technology into the secret hour"

Jessica&039;s head spun Her vision still danced with the colors revealed in the white light, the afteriht see in her hand

"Fire on tap," Dess said "You&039;re a darkling&039;s worst night into the sky "That&039;s true They are not happy about this Not happy at all"

Jessica looked at her, then down at the flashlight in her hand "Yeah, but what are they going to do about it?"

Dess laughed "You said it"

Jonathan put his hand on her shoulder "It&039;s true You&039;re the flaer This means you&039;re safe now, Jessica"

She nodded The flashlight in her hand seeed through her, larger andshe had experienced before She had felt like the conduit of soh her into

"Safe," she er than that, and scarier, too

"You know, Jessica, it&039;s probably not just flashlights," Dess said "I wonder what your limits are I mean, maybe you can use a ca at Rex

"There&039;s no way of knowing," he said, "except to try I uess"

"Hey, just a flash attachment would kick butt"

"Or walkie-talkies!"

"What about a car engine?"

"No way"

The group fell into silence Rex shook his head, dazed and happy, then looked up at the setting ure this out tooing St Claire&039;s boys are on the lookout for me these days Do you want hed She wanted to fly, to leave the horrible things she&039;d seen tonight behind on the ground But she shook her head

"I have to get back to the party Constanza will flip if I just disappear into thin air"

"Okay See you tomorrow?"

"Definitely"

Jonathan bent forward to kiss her, and gravity left her body at the touch of his lips As he pulled away, her feet settled back onto the ground, but her stomach still danced inside her

"To out of the snake pit Another bound took hih into the air, then he disappeared into distance and darkness

"We&039;d better gettoo," Rex said

"Sure," Jessica answered "I&039;ll be okay"

"You look better than okay" Dess laughed "Wipe that smile off your face, Jessica Day"

Jessica felt herself blushing and pulled her jacket tighter

"Do you know the way back to the party?" Melissa asked quietly