“So, you don’t sound like you’re from Bixby.”
“I just moved here from Chicago.”
“Chicago? Wow. Real skyscrapers. Oklahoma must seem completely weird to you.”
“It’s different, yeah. Except for the wind, which is pretty much just like Chicago.”
“You’re really cold, aren’t you? You want my coat?”
Steve was wearing a down jacket. It looked incredibly warm.
Jessica shook her head. “No, I couldn’t.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” She checked her watch. “Actually, I’ve got to go.”
Disappointment flashed in Steve’s eyes. “You’re leaving the party already? Something I said?”
“No, not at all. I was just going to take a walk. Over to the snake pit.”
Steve nodded. “For midnight, huh? You know where it is?”
“Sort of. I mean, I have a map.”
“I’ll take you.”
Jessica bit her lip. She’d never thought of bringing a non-midnighter along. But what would the problem be? Steve would be safe no matter what happened at the snake pit. He’d be frozen for the whole thing. And in the featureless darkness, the idea of walking away from the fire alone wasn’t a pleasant one. At least with Steve along she wouldn’t get lost.
He was half smiling, waiting anxiously for an answer. “Sure,” she said. “Let’s go.”
The cold clutched her body from the moment they left the fire, creeping into the borrowed jacket like chilly fingers. Jessica’s legs, protected only by tights, were freezing, and her hands grew colder and colder no matter how deep she thrust them into her pockets.
“So who told you about the snake pit?” Steve asked.
“Um, everyone. Constanza was talking about it one day, and it sounded, you know, interesting.”
“And you were going alone? Wow, you’re one brave girl.”
“I have my moments of stupidity,” Jessica agreed. She could hear her teeth chattering.
“You are cold, Jessica.” Steve put his arm around her. The down jacket around her shoulders actually helped, even though it didn’t really feel right to be this close to a guy who wasn’t Jonathan.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
As they walked across the desert, Jessica wondered how Steve knew where he was going. There were no landmarks that she could see except the Milky Way, which ran in the direction they were walking. That meant that they were headed either east or west. She’d have to check the compass to be sure.
“You sure you know where we’re going?”
“Oh, yeah. Born and bred in Broken Arrow, I’m not very proud to say.”
“Okay.”
She looked at her watch. Five minutes.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get there by midnight,” Steve said. “Right on time for the evil spirit show.”
She smiled ruefully. “Wouldn’t want to miss that.”
There was a flicker of light at the corner of her eye. It was the bonfire, off to their right. She wondered why it wasn’t behind them anymore.
Jessica looked up into the sky. Now the Milky Way was spread out sideways across their path. They had turned either north or south.
“Steve? How far is the snake pit?”
“Oh, maybe another ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes? But it’s almost midnight.” A shiver traveled through Jessica, more chilling than the cold. “My friend said it was really close to the fire pit.”
“Are you cold? We can stop off in my car if you want.”
“Your car?”
“It’s right up here,” Steve said, pulling her closer to him. “We could warm up.”
She pulled away. “But I have to get there by midnight!”
The row of parked cars was visible now in front of them. He’d led her in a circle.
“Listen, Jessica,” he said. “The snake pit’s no big deal, all right? It’s just this old sinkhole full of rainwater and snakes. That’s Broken Arrow’s idea of magic, I’m afraid.” He moved closer. “I can show you something much more interesting.”
Jessica whirled around and walked quickly back toward the fire, thrusting a hand into her pocket for the map and flashlight. Her fingers fumbled, made numb and clumsy by the cold.
“Jessica…” She heard his footsteps following her.
She ignored him, unfolding the map. It showed the snake pit almost due east of the fire pit. Jessica pointed the flashlight at Dess’s compass and turned away from the fire, heading east.
She heard Steve’s footsteps behind her but ignored them, hoping he would lose interest and go away.
Jessica shoved everything back into her pockets, quickening her stride. Dess had said she couldn’t miss the snake pit. Supposedly the sinkhole stood out on the desert as a long dark patch.
Steve’s hand grabbed her shoulder. “Hey, wait up, Jessica. I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was that big a deal.”
She yanked herself away. “Go mess with someone else.”
“I wasn’t…” He stopped walking, and his voice faded. “You’ll get lost out there, Jessica. The snakes’ll get you.”
“Better them than you,” she said to herself.
“And the evil spirits too, Jessica,” Steve called. “It’s almost midnight. Do you want to be out here all a—”
His voice was silenced as suddenly as a radio being switched off. The light changed, the familiar blue sweeping across the desert like dawn. The air became still and silent. It was instantly warmer, but Jessica shivered.
Midnight had come.
She started to run.
25
12:00 A.M.
THE SNAKE PIT
As Jessica began to run, she glanced once quickly over her shoulder, grimacing at the sight of Steve. He’d been looking straight at her when midnight had frozen him. Somehow she had to get back here at the end of the secret hour. If she wasn’t standing in exactly the same position, it would seem to him as if she’d suddenly shifted place.
But Jessica smiled as she turned away and broke into a headlong run. If she didn’t come back at all, he would think she had disappeared into thin air.
She could live with that.
The desert was a blue expanse, broad and flat, as if she were running across an endless ocean. In the midnight light, though, a few features became visible. Wisps of cloud were scattered overhead, and a few scraggly scrub plants clung to the hard earth. The stars were still visible, and Jessica could tell from the Milky Way that she was headed in the right direction.
There was no sign of darklings or slithers, at least. Not yet.
Nor was there any sign of the snake pit.
Jessica felt like an idiot for having trusted Steve. If she had stuck to the plan, leaving the party alone and following Dess’s map, she’d have been safely at the snake pit by now.
“I’m such a wimp,” Jessica spat through clenched teeth. How was she supposed to survive darklings and slithers if she was afraid of a short walk in the dark alone?
As she ran, Jessica searched the horizon for the snake pit, for anything bigger than a scrubby weed. How far had Steve taken her out of her way? Her watch said she’d been running for six minutes.
Her feet pounded to a halt. That seemed too far, for what was supposed to have been a five-minute walk.
She pulled out the compass. Would it work in the secret hour?
“Come on, come on,” Jess whispered. The needle swung lazily in a full circle, then finally pointed the way she had come.
But she’d been running east. North could not be behind her.
A sound came across the desert, a chirping call.
Jessica scanned the sky. Directly in front of her, batlike wings were silhouetted against the rising moon. A flying slither, close enough to have spotted her. She had to keep moving. But which way?