Touching Darkness

She left the closet door closed, unable to imagine a worse sight than a frozen prescream Beth face, deathly pale and furious. Arming herself with Explosiveness and Demonstration and pulling on her sneakers, Jessica unlocked and opened a window, swinging one leg across the sill.

Looking back at the room, she was momentarily proud of herself for resisting the temptation to tell secrets. She had done the adult thing and protected Beth from the truth. Maybe she would even apologize when her little sister emerged from the closet.

“See you in an hour, sweetie,” Jessica called, and dropped to the ground outside.

14

12:00 a.m.

ACARICIANDOTE

“There!” Jessica pointed with her free hand, the motion sending the two of them into a slow spin.

Jonathan looked down. “I can’t see Rex and Melissa anywhere.”

“Me either. Just the car. Kind of hard to miss it.”

Jonathan laughed. “Must take some kind of mindcaster voodoo, keeping an old piece of crap like that ru

He tugged her closer, taking her free hand in his. Their drifting rotation slowed as they descended, somehow canceled out by his motion. A flash of a

Her irritation passed quickly, though. The moment felt too good to stay angry—falling like this, her head resting against his chest. She closed her eyes, sensing when they were about to land from the tightening of his muscles. Their legs intertwined for a moment as the ground caught them, knees bending and bodies pressing against each other for support.

They jumped again, Jessica following Jonathan’s lead, keeping both of his hands in hers. She opened her eyes: the leap had been just high enough to clear the house between their last landing and the parked Ford.

As they reached the peak, he said, “You seem better tonight.”

“Better than what?”

“This afternoon.”

“Oh, that.” There’d been a lot to digest, what with Darkling Manor and the half-being and something convoluted about Dess thinking that Rex and Melissa were… touching. “It’s just been a long week, that’s all.”

“It’s Monday night, Jess.”

“My point exactly. But yeah, I am better now.” Things were always better with Jonathan in the secret hour. “Anyway, it’s officially partly Tuesday.”

They landed in the street near the car, Jonathan’s clothes billowing a little as they corkscrewed down to a dead halt.

“Hey! I just realized… you’re wearing a jacket!” She stepped back to look at him in surprise, normal weight settling across her.

Jonathan shrugged. “In case I have to walk home. You know, if we find the stalker or something and I wind up following him.”

She smiled, looking into his eyes. Every night he was here, ready to protect her. Taking his hand once more, weightlessness rose in her like laughter.

“Jonathan, you don’t have to walk home. If you ever get stranded here in town again…” She turned half away. “It’s crazy to freeze to death. Just knock on my window next time.”

“Your parents would freak.”

“They won’t know you’re there.”

He laughed. “So you’ll hide me in your closet all night?” Jessica’s smile faded and she let out a groan. “Actually, my closet’s kind of… busy right now. Long story.” She dropped his hand and sighed. With Beth acting the way she was, Jessica was about as likely to get away with hiding Jonathan in her room as she would Melissa’s car.

The rusting Ford looked even more broken-down than usual tonight. One of the hubcaps was missing. “Where are they, anyway?”

“They probably haven’t gone too far.” He glanced at his watch. “Not in eleven minutes. Your closet’s busy?”

She sighed again. “You don’t have a little sister, do you?”

“No. But what’s that—?”

“Hey!” Rex’s voice called to them from across the street. He and Melissa emerged from behind a row of bushes, their black clothes almost invisible in the deep blues of midnight.

Jessica’s eyes widened. The two were holding hands, swinging them like ten-year-olds on a playdate. Melissa was wearing gloves, of course, but the sight of the mindcaster in casual contact with another human being was shocking. And she was actually smiling.

Jessica dared a quick glance at Jonathan.

“Ix-nay on the inking-thay,” he said softly, then called, “Find something?”

Rex shook his head. “Not a whiff. We’ve been driving around here since just after ten.”

“Nothing on the air but TV drones and wet dreams,” Melissa said.

“Oh,” Jessica murmured. “Thanks for sharing.”

Melissa giggled. Which was also a new and scary development.

“Looks like my grand theft domino has things on hold for the moment,” Rex said.

Jessica frowned. Leave it to Rex to be convinced the threat was over because he had his hands on the flamebringer domino. It figured. That was the way he saw the world: control the symbols, control everything.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Jonathan said. “All we really know is that they’re not hanging around tonight. And anyway, midnight’s not the natural time for them to pull something. If they really wanted to hurt one of us, wouldn’t they do it in the middle of the day?”

“True.” A thoughtful look crossed Rex’s face. “And with Jessica, they’re probably expecting her to come to them. An invitation to a party, maybe.”

Jessica frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Rex looked at Jonathan. “You haven’t told her?”

Jonathan looked down sheepishly. “Oh, Dess mentioned that to you guys?”

“Of course she did. Right away.”

“Mentioned what?” Jessica cried.

Jonathan’s dark eyes widened as he turned toward her. “Well, there was a lot of stuff to get through in one car ride. I was dumping so much on you already. Once I got you away from school, I figured you’d be safe until I told you tonight.”

“Told me what? Safe from what?”

“Well, Dess and I found out who owns Darkling Manor. There was a gas bill in the mailbox.” He swallowed. “It was addressed to Ernesto Grayfoot.”

Jessica blinked, dizziness welling up in her. “It must be a coincidence.”

‘It’s not exactly a common name, Jess,” Jonathan said. “And this is an awfully small town.”

“You don’t know that they’re related,” she insisted, her voice hollow in her ears. Constanza was her only normal friend in town… She couldn’t be one of the darkling groupies.

“I only found one Grayfoot in the Bixby phone book,” Rex said. “It’s the number for Ernesto out at Darkling Manor. But the place is empty. Constanza’s dad must be unlisted.”

“So maybe Ernesto’s from out of town!” Jessica cried. “From the other side of the country!”

“Or maybe he’s Constanza’s older brother.”

“She doesn’t have one.” Jessica paused, suddenly unsure. When she’d spent the night at Constanza’s house, she hadn’t met any siblings, but a much older brother who lived somewhere else might not have been mentioned. And it surely was just a coincidence that she’d run into Jessica in the parking lot and then offered her a ride home…

“Jess.” Jonathan took her hand, but she pulled away. “We’re not saying that Constanza’s one of them. Just that you should ask her about her family. Find out what you can.”

“We need to find Ernesto,” Rex said. “Melissa needs another crack at that woman we saw at Darkling Manor. She has some kind of plans in her head, about something being constructed out in the desert.”

Jonathan spoke softly. “Just tell Constanza you’re doing a report or something.”

“I’ve seen the name going back generations, even before the oil boom,” Rex said. “If you say you’re working on local history, it’ll make sense to her.”

“But it won’t make sense to me,” Jessica cried. “I don’t want to use her. Constanza’s my only friend…”