But as the cluster of nightmare shapes moved away, leaving him there exhausted and spent, Rex felt his mind contracting, his senses turning back to merely human. Like a great maw closing around him, darkness consumed the new knowledge, leaving only disjointed images and scents and the taste of dust in his mouth.

By the time the old ones had disappeared on the horizon, he hardly remembered what had happened at all.

18

12:00 A.M.

MONSTER

Rex shambled back across the desert like a zombie.

His face was pale, his hands shaking as they had immediately after his transformation weeks before. He looked strangely like his father—eyes glazed and milky, his gait barely a shuffle.

He wasn’t bruised or bleeding, and his clothes weren’t torn, but the empty expression on his face made Jessica’s skin crawl.

“Are you okay, Rex?” she said.

He didn’t answer, just turned to Melissa. “Did you touch her?”

“No, I waited. I promised, didn’t I?” Melissa reached toward him. “Loverboy, you look like crap.”

“Feel like it too.” Rex took her offered hand and shuddered, then straightened, as if taking strength from her. “Thanks.”

“What the hell, Rex?” Jonathan said. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

Rex thought about the question for a few seconds, like it was a tricky one, but finally he shook his head. “I’m just trying to get all points of view. I think I’ve been a pretty crappy historian.”

“Pretty crappy driver, more like!” Melissa cried. She pointed at the old Ford, which was listing to one side; both tires on the right were reduced almost to bare metal rims. “The first time I let you take my car somewhere without me, and you totally kill it?”

“Yeah. Looks that way.”

“I can’t believe you, Rex! Mr. Responsible, who always gets his library books back on time, but when it comes to my car, you don’t even bother to use the road? The front axle’s busted!”

As Jessica watched Melissa continue her tirade—holding Rex tighter with every insult, their fingers intertwining, their bodies leaning against each other for support—she realized how well the mindcaster had concealed her fear that he might never return. Even when they’d touched, Jessica had only caught a glimpse.

Finally Melissa’s diatribe sputtered to a halt. Rex held her in silence for a moment, then said, “I’ll always remember the old beast fondly. It died saving me and Angie.”

Melissa pulled away and turned to stare at the frozen figure in the wrecked car, her voice lowering to a growl. “Well, she’s my consolation prize, then. She really owes me now.”

“Wait a second,” Rex said.

“No way. I’ve already waited too long for this.”

He drew Melissa back to him, placing one palm against her cheek.

After a moment her eyes widened. “What? Why not?”

“I made a deal.”

“Well, I didn’t make any deal!”

“You did. With me.” He shook his head. “We have to wait for midnight to end.”