The Secret Hour

Melissa’s face went blank, almost as lifeless as Beth or the woman driving the car. Jessica rolled her eyes. Melissa was calling her different?

“But right now we should get you home,” Rex said, glancing up at the sky. “There’s only about five minutes left.”

Jessica started to speak, a million questions on her tongue. But she just sighed. Nothing was getting explained. Everything these people said confused her more.

“Fine.” As she said the word, Jessica realized how good home sounded. The panther must still be around somewhere.

Rex and Melissa pushed their bikes, walking next to Jessica. Dess rode in slow circles around them, like a bored kid forced to travel too slowly.

“Tomorrow we’ll have time to tell you more,” Rex said. “Meet us at the Clovis Museum? Noon?”

“Um.” Jessica thought about her plans to unpack tomorrow. To finally get her life under control. Of course, it didn’t look as if it were going to be that simple anymore. “Yeah, sure. Where’s that?”

“It’s close to the main library. Just follow Division.” Rex pointed toward downtown. “Meet us downstairs.”

“Okay.”

“And don’t worry, Jessica. We’ll figure out what happened tonight. We’ll make sure you’re safe here.”

Jess looked into Rex’s eyes, seeing the concern there. He seemed confident that he could figure out whatever had gone wrong. Or maybe he was just trying to make her feel better. It was strange. Even though nothing he said made sense, Rex managed to sound as if he knew what he was talking about. Here in the blue time he stood straighter and the thick glasses didn’t hide his calm, serious eyes. The guy seemed like much less of a loser than he did in the daylight.

“So, you don’t really need those glasses, do you? It’s an act, like Clark Kent?”

“Afraid not. In daylight I’m blind as a bat. But here in the blue time I can see perfectly. Better than perfectly.”

“That must be nice.”

“Yeah. It’s great. And I can see more than…” He paused. “We’ll explain it all tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Jessica looked at the three of them. Dess circling happily on her bike, Rex’s eyes clear and confident, Melissa silent, but without her usual headphones and pained expression. They all seemed to actually like this midnight time.

Of course, why wouldn’t they? It didn’t seem like their lives were going so great during the “daylight” hours. Here there was no one to push them around or notice how weird they were. For this one hour a day the whole world was their private clubhouse.

And now she was in the club. Great.

They took Jessica right to her door. She realized that the light was slowly changing. The dark moon had almost set, now mostly hidden behind the houses across the street.

“So how are you guys getting home?” she asked.

“The usual way. During regular time,” Rex said, mounting his bike and reaching into his shirt pocket. He pulled out his glasses.

Jessica looked around, her eyes searching for any sign of the panther. “And you’re sure this blue thing is almost over?”

“Happens every night, as regular as sundown,” Rex said.

Jessica realized that they must be miles from home. “What about the curfew? I mean, everyone’s going to wake back up, right? What if the police see you?”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “We’ve been dealing with curfew for years. Don’t worry about us.”

“But we should get going,” Rex said. “You’ll be okay here, Jessica. And it’ll all make more sense in the morning.” He pedaled down the walk and into the street. “See you at noon.”

Dess’s bike rattled across the lawn. “See you in 43,200 seconds, Jess,” she called as she passed. “And wear shoes next time!” She laughed and pedaled to catch up with Rex. Jessica looked down at her bare feet and had to smile.

Melissa stayed a moment longer, her eyes narrowing.

“You don’t belong,” she said softly, her voice almost a whisper. “That’s why the darkling wanted to kill you.”

Jessica opened her mouth, then shrugged.

“I didn’t ask to be a midnighter,” she said.

“Maybe you’re not,” Melissa said. “Not a real one, anyway. Something about you is so… 11:59. You don’t belong.”

She turned and rode away without waiting for an answer.

Jessica shuddered. “Great, the biggest weirdo in the weirdo club says I don’t belong.”

She turned and went into the house. Even in the strange light of the dark moon it seemed welcoming as it never had before. Just like home.

But Jessica sighed as she walked down the hall toward her room. Melissa’s words were still with her. The darkling hadn’t seemed like a wild animal to her—more like something that hated her with all its heart. The slither had led her into a trap because it wanted her dead.

“Maybe Melissa’s right.”

This blue time didn’t feel like a place she was meant to be. The alien light pulsed from every corner of the house, haunting and wrong. Her eyes stung from an hour of it, as if she were about to cry.

“Maybe I don’t belong here.”

Jessica paused at Beth’s door. Her white shape was still there, unmoving, sprawled on the bed in its anxious pose.

She went in and sat next to her sister, forcing herself to look, to wait for the end of midnight. She had to know that Beth wasn’t dead. If Rex had been telling the truth, she was only stuck for a moment in time.

Jessica pulled the sheet up around her sister’s neck and reached out to touch the motionless cheek, shuddering as her fingers met its cool surface.

The moment ended.

The boxes and corners faded back into darkness, no longer lit by their own light. Dim streetlights slanted in through the windows, making zigzag shadows on the cluttered floor. The world felt right again.

Beth’s cheek grew warm, and a muscle in it flicked under Jessica’s hand.

Her eyes opened gummily.

“Jessica? What are you doing in here?”

Jessica pulled her hand away, suddenly remembering that an awake Beth could be just as scary as a frozen one.

“Hey, I, um, wanted to say something.”

“What? I’m asleep, Jessica.”

“I just had to say that I’m sorry for avoiding you. I mean, I know it’s tough here,” Jessica said. “But… I’m on your side, okay?”

“Oh, Jessica,” Beth said, twisting away and winding herself further into the tangle of sheets. Then she turned her head to stare accusingly. “Did Mom tell you to do this? That is so lame.”

“No. Of course not. I just wanted—”

“To be Miss Mature. To show how you’ve got time for me even though you’re Miss Popular here. Whatever. Thanks for the pep talk, Jess. Maybe some sleep now?”

Jessica started to reply but stopped herself and then had to stifle a smile instead. Beth was back to normal. She had defrosted from the blue time without any visible damage.

“Sleep tight,” Jessica said, crossing to the door.

“Yeah, no bedbugs and all that.” Beth rolled over grumpily, pulling the sheet over her head.

Jessica closed the door. As she stood all alone in the hall, her sister’s last words rattled around in her head. “Don’t let the bedbugs bite,” she whispered.

She went to her own room and closed the door tightly, suddenly feeling as if the blue time hadn’t really ended. The light was back to normal, and the sound of the constant Oklahoma wind had returned, but everything looked different to her now. The world Jessica had known—the world of night and day, of certainty and reason—had been completely erased.

In another twenty-four hours the blue time would come again. If Rex had been telling the truth, it would come every night.

Jessica Day lay down in her bed and pulled the covers up all the way to her nose. She tried to go to sleep, but with her eyes shut, Jess felt as if something else were in the room. She sat up and peered into every corner, making sure again and again that no unfamiliar shapes lurked there.