“How can you tell?” Jessica asked, glancing up at the huge, baleful eye above them. The dark moon crossed the sky much faster than the sun, taking only an hour to rise and fall, but it was still like watching a minute hand move on a clock. “Isn’t it sort of too slow to see?”

“For you, maybe.” He smiled. “But I am a seer, you know.”

“Oh, right.” Jessica glanced at Jonathan, who shrugged back at her. These days it was easy to forget that Rex was gifted with special sight and deep knowledge of the lore. The transformation out in the desert had left him…different. Lately his gaze was so freaked out and wild-eyed that he seemed more like a stoner than a seer.

“So the moon didn’t rise?” Dess asked. “It just appeared out of nowhere?”

“Or it rose really quick.” Rex glanced at his own watch; on a midnighter’s wrist, windups worked in the blue hour. “We got out here in less than three minutes.”

“Why is it such a big deal what the moon’s doing?” Jessica asked quietly. “I mean, isn’t this all completely screwed up anyway?”

“The moon makes the secret hour, as far as we know.” Rex looked up again as he answered her, staring at the sky with a frown. “If it’s not moving, there’s no way to tell how long this will last.”

“Oh.” Jessica glanced at Jonathan, who had jumped to the top of a school bus to look around. “Um, then maybe…”

“Spot the problem, Rex,” Dess said. “Let’s do some math: zero velocity multiplied by any amount of time equals zero movement. What if the moon’s just stuck up there?”

“Stuck?” Jessica said softly. “Like, forever?”

“I didn’t say forever.” Rex dropped his eyes from the sky. “That would be…crazy.”

“This whole thing is crazy, Rex!” Dess cried. “It’s not midnight, except in Australia or somewhere, but it’s blue.”

“Yeah, what’s happening, Rex?” Jonathan said as he bounded softly back to the group.

Rex raised his hands. “Look, there’s nothing like this in the lore.” His voice stayed calm. “So I don’t know why you’re asking me.”

For a moment no one said anything, stunned by his words. Jessica realized that her jaw had dropped open. After all, that’s what you did when things got weird: you asked Rex what was going on.

With a cool seer’s gaze, he stared silently back at them for a moment, then smiled, his point made. “Okay, everyone, calm down and give Melissa some head space.” He turned to the mindcaster. “Can you feel Madeleine?”

“No, she’s staying hidden. But I bet you she’s just as freaked out as we are.”

“What about the darklings? Are they awake?”

Melissa stood in silence for a moment, eyes closed and head tilted back, casting her mind across the desert.

Jessica looked around at the others. It had been a while since the five of them had all been together. Probably since that night on the salt flats when everything had gone haywire—Rex kidnapped, Melissa thrown through the windshield of her car, and Dess…