She took out Geostationary and noted the coordinates of its center. Almost exactly on the 36th parallel.

Maybe not worth getting up at six-thirty in the morning for, but interesting.

“Okay, good. No daylighters around,” Rex said.

“That’s because they’re all in bed,” Dess pointed out.

Rex ignored her. “I want to do a few experiments here today, and I want all of you to see them. When Samhain comes, all of Bixby—at least—is going to be swallowed by this contortion. And as we’ve noticed, the rip isn’t exactly the same size as the blue time. You’ve all seen those leaves falling at midnight?”

“Yeah,” Dess said. “But what’s the point? It’s not midnight now.”

“Not yet,” Rex said.

“No.” Dess looked down at Geostationary. “And it won’t be for another 62,615 seconds. So why are we here so—?”

“Whoa!” Jonathan interrupted. “What’s up with Melissa?”

Dess turned to see the Cadillac galloping across the field. It climbed up the railway embankment and straddled the tracks, its tires spitting gravel and dust as it bore down on them like a maniacal pink freight train, headlights flicking on.

“Has she gone crazy?” Dess shouted.

“Nope,” Rex said, glancing at his watch. “She’s right on time. But we might want to get out of the way.”

The four of them skidded down the slope of the embankment, and the Cadillac seemed to roar its approval, bolting forward with a burst of acceleration, the spinning tires churning up a giant cloud of dust.

Dess felt a tingling in her fingertips, stronger than she had in the lunchroom, and suddenly knew what was about to happen.

“It’s back,” she said softly.

“You got it,” Rex answered.

Dess looked up at the charging Cadillac with alarm. “But won’t she…?”

The inky blue of an eclipse swept in from the east, across the cloudless sky and open fields, stilling the icy wind and blanketing the world in silence. The dark moon shot into the sky, like a huge flying saucer hovering just out of reach.

Yet the Cadillac kept rolling across the red-tinged oval of the rip.

Its engine died, the headlights going dark, but it didn’t freeze like it should have. The car continued to coast until it finally skidded to a halt in a shower of dust and gravel.

Dess blinked as she took in the sight: instead of throwing Melissa through the windshield, the pink Cadillac had maintained its momentum.

“Is she okay in there?” Flyboy asked.

Rex nodded. “She’s fine. As I suspected, the rip brings everything into the blue time, not just people. I figured if dead leaves could still fall, then dead metal would cross over too.”

“It’s awfully lucky you figured right.” Dess didn’t much care for Melissa anymore, but it wasn’t like she wanted her back in the hospital. Her current scars were creepy enough.

“She was wearing a seat belt,” Rex said calmly.

“Wait a minute, Rex,” Dess said. “How did you know there was going to be an eclipse?”