As their flight peaked and they began to descend, reflexes honed by countless hours of flying together kicked in. Jonathan twisted to bring their spin to a halt, and as they settled back onto the gym floor—right on the Bixby seal, as if they’d been aiming for it—Jessica’s knees bent for a soft landing.

She looked back up at the bleachers and swallowed. The frozen crowd were all staring right at her and Jonathan. It reminded Jessica of her least-favorite recurring nightmare: being in a play she hadn’t rehearsed, the motionless audience waiting for her first line. It was stunning to see so many people captured by midnight. Their faces were waxy and pale, their eyes lifeless, like an army of plastic dummies.

“Never seen this many stiffs before.” Melissa’s soft words carried across the gym, echoing Jessica’s thoughts.

“Outside, quick!” Rex called. He was running down the bleachers, jumping over the frozen bodies like hurdles. Dess and Melissa followed him toward the door to the parking lot.

Jessica looked at Jonathan, who shrugged. “Might as well see what’s in the sky,” he said.

“Oh, right.” If this were midnight, the dark moon would be up there, bathing the world in its cold blue light.

But this wasn’t midnight. This was a Monday morning pep rally, which was just about as far away from the magic of the blue time as you could get.

“Come on,” Jonathan said, his knees bending.

They jumped together, covering the distance to the door in one easy leap, landing just as Rex got there. The three of them burst out into the parking lot together, staring up at the sky.

Behind a few frozen and wispy clouds, the dark moon was huge and fully risen. Its vast bulk seemed perfectly centered, blotting out the whole sky except for a thin sliver around the horizon, hiding the sun. A few white stars glittered at its edges, their light dulled, as if they were being squashed down against the earth by the huge moon’s weight.

Suddenly Jessica needed the feel of solid ground under her feet. She slipped her fingers from Jonathan’s hand, letting normal gravity fall back across her. Dizzied by the weird, absent light of the moon, she dropped her eyes down to the asphalt.

Its cracked surface shone uncanny blue.

Dess and Melissa charged through the door, staggering to a halt as they stared upward.

“This can’t be happening,” Rex murmured.

“Yeah,” Dess said, gazing at her own blue hand. “But it kind of…is.”

For a long moment they all stood there in silence. Jonathan pushed off from the ground nervously, rising a few feet into the air.

Jessica checked her watch. The numbers were still pulsing: 9:05 A.M. Just like during a normal midnight hour, her flame-bringer’s magic kept its electronic numbers flashing.

How many minutes had it lasted so far? Two?

“The moon isn’t moving,” Rex said.

“Isn’t what?” Dess asked.

His skyward gaze stayed steady, his eyes flashing violet. “It’s just stuck up there, halfway across.”