“Don’t ask me,” Jessica answered, squeezing his hand. “Did you notice what he said at the end, ‘They’re coming for you’?”

“As in us—not him. Makes sense, though. He’s on speaking terms with the darklings these days.” Jonathan waited until they’d caromed from the long top of an eighteen-wheeler on Kerr Street, then added, “But I guess we’re safe, you and me.”

“Oh, that makes me feel a lot better.”

He glanced at her. “I just mean, we’re safe as long as we stick together.”

She didn’t say anything, just squeezed his hand again.

They climbed the buildings of downtown like stepping-stones, bounding to the summit of the old Mobil Building. This was where they had hidden in the days before Jessica had found her talent, back when the darklings were desperate to kill her—before she discovered who she was.

Jonathan looked out across Bixby, laid out before them in the even, deep blue glow of the secret hour. He looked in the direction of Jenks, trying to see the rip, but its red tinge didn’t show on the horizon.

Not yet, anyway. It was growing every time an eclipse fell.

“We haven’t been up here in a while,” Jessica said.

“Yeah. I was kind of missing Pegasus.” He looked up. The huge neon Mobil sign in the shape of a flying horse hovered over them protectively.

“That’s not all I missed,” Jessica said, a smile playing on her lips. “You remember what happened here, right?”

Jonathan nodded. “You mean, us hiding from the darklings?”

“Yeah. But not just that.”

He thought for a moment. They hadn’t really been up here since those early days. He shrugged.

Jessica let out a groan. “I can’t believe you. This is where we first kissed!”

“Oh, right!” He swallowed. “But that was around the same time, yeah? I mean, I just said how we were hiding here, and that was when we…” Jonathan stumbled to a halt, realizing that explanations were only making things worse.

He took her hands, hoping that his midnight gravity would bring her smile back.

She just stared at him. “I can’t believe you forgot.”

“I didn’t forget. I just didn’t know what you were talking about.”

“Ugh. That’s even worse!”

“Why?”

“Because it’s like you’ve totally forgotten.” She pulled her hands away, looking out over the blue-lit city. “We haven’t exactly…This last week we’ve hardly touched each other.”

“No, I guess not.” He sighed. “It seems like we’re always in crisis mode.”

“I guess it’s not that big a deal, compared to the whole town getting sucked into oblivion. But shouldn’t that make us closer or something?” She looked at him for an answer, like this was a particularly tricky problem from physics class.

“Look at it this way, Jessica,” he said, putting his arm around her. “Once Samhain comes, we’ll get to spend a whole day flying together.”

“Jonathan!”

“What?” He held up his hands in surrender. “I’m just saying.”

She groaned, turning away from him. “I knew you were thinking that way.”