“It’s the front end of the rip,” he cried. “Get ready!”

Jessica started to answer, but a wall of water struck her in the face.

She’d never flown through frozen rain before. Her first time in the secret hour, Jessica had walked around in a midnight shower, a magical experience no worse than dashing through a sprinkler in summer. But at seventy miles per hour, hitting the motionless storm was like having a fire hose trained on her.

The water soaked her already damp clothes, filled her mouth so she could hardly speak or breathe, and reduced their path to a blur before them. The highway flare sputtered in her hand, hissing like an angry snake. She could hardly see the ground rushing up at them.

She took a blind jump, and they began to spin.

“Stop! I can’t see anything!” she shouted into the wall of rain.

“Can’t stop for long—the rip’s too close.”

Jessica looked backward, which shielded her vision from the water. A huge sheet of red was streaking across Bixby, moving almost as fast as they were.

Turning back to face the deluge, she found she could finally make sense of the watery blue chaos. Through slitted eyes Jessica saw that they were entering downtown. On their next jump they bounded up onto the roof of a six-story building, then jumped higher.

Before her the tallest building in Bixby waited, a huge and winged shape glittering at its summit.

“Is that…?”

“Don’t you recognize Pegasus?”

“Wow.” She had seen the giant horse from up close before, but never illuminated like this. A long finger of lightning reached down from the heavy clouds above, wrapping the sign in a thousand bright filaments.

They came down on another rooftop, skidding to a halt across wet black tar. Her soaked sneakers stumbled through a clutter of small shapes.

“Yo! Watch the fireworks!”

Jessica wiped water from her eyes. “Oh. Sorry, Dess.”

“Where’s Rex and Melissa?”

“Long story,” Jonathan said. “We’re on our way up there.” He pointed at the lightning-sheathed Pegasus sign.

“What the hell for?”

“Rex thinks we can seal the rip.”

“What, with lightning?” Dess swore. “You do know Rex is crazy these days, right?”

Jonathan looked at Jessica, who felt doubts rising in her again.

But she set her teeth. “We can’t let this go on. We have to try.”

“Don’t ask me. But can I have that?” Dess pointed at the hissing flare. “Just in case you guys are crazy too?”

“Sure.” Jessica handed it over.

“Come on.” Jonathan was already perched on the edge of the roof. “The rip’s right behind us.”

“Good luck,” Dess said.

“You too.” Jessica ran to Jonathan and took his hand. She looked up at the glittering winged horse above them.

“Let’s try to make it in one jump,” Jonathan said.

“Can we get that far?”

“I hope so. Three…two…one…”

Jessica pushed off as hard as she could, and they soared into the air. At the peak of their arc, she was almost at eye level with the giant horse, higher than she’d ever flown before. But as they came closer, she realized that they were falling short.