She ran three steps and leapt up onto the hood of the car nearest him, then jumped from it toward Jonathan’s dangling feet. Her fingers grasped his ankle, giving it a yank earthward.

She expected lightness to flow into her, Jonathan’s midnight gravity to take the sting out of her fall. But Jessica still felt heavy, tumbling like a brick toward the asphalt.

Then she realized that she wasn’t touching Jonathan’s skin, only the leg of his jeans. With only seconds before they hit the earth, there was no way to reach up to his bare hands, to share his acrobat’s weightlessness. She was dragging him down too fast.

Jessica let go…and the ground rushed up.

The blue time ended just as she hit, the Oklahoma sun suddenly blinding as she stumbled across hot, black asphalt. One ankle twisted under her, and she crashed shoulder-first against the side of a car. The collision knocked the breath out of her.

Jessica fell to her knees, clutching her ankle and wondering why an earsplitting shriek had filled the air.

Suddenly Jonathan was crouching beside her.

“Are you okay?” he shouted above the noise.

“Ow. I don’t know. What’s that…?” Jessica’s voice trailed off as she realized that the wailing sound was coming from the car next to her. Crashing into it just as the blue time had ended, she’d set off its burglar alarm. “I did that, didn’t I?”

“Don’t worry about it. And thanks for saving me.” Jonathan raised up a little from his crouch, peering over the hood of the car. “Dess is talking to Sanchez. It looks like he’s more embarrassed than anything else. I think she’s lecturing him about the evils of smoking.” He ducked. “He’s looking over here, though, wondering about the car alarm. Just stay down.”

Jessica tested her sore ankle, wincing as pain shot up her leg. “No problem with that. So you’re okay?”

He nodded. “You pulled just hard enough; perfect timing. I wound up with only a few inches of regular-gravity acceleration. And I was falling straight down, so I didn’t stumble like you did.” He smiled. “Plus I do have a couple more years’ practice at landing than you.”

“Oh.” She sighed. “Guess I was stupid, trying to save you.”

He took her hand. “Not stupid at all, Jess. I would have been at least ten feet up if you hadn’t given me a yank. That’s a long way to fall onto concrete, believe me.” He leaned over and kissed her, then pulled away, smiling. “That was really fast thinking and excellent use of the laws of motion.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Like I said, thanks for saving me.”

“From a sprained ankle. Brave me.”

“Could have been worse than a sprain.” He rose slightly and peered over the car again. “They’re all sneaking back into the gym now, Mr. Sanchez too. Looks like no big deal.”

“What about this stupid car alarm? Someone’s going to check it out.”

He shook his head. “I doubt anybody inside can hear it over that chanting. Can you walk?”