She ignored him, unfolding the map. It showed the snake pit almost due east of the fire pit. Jessica pointed the flashlight at Dess’s compass and turned away from the fire, heading east.

She heard Steve’s footsteps behind her but ignored them, hoping he would lose interest and go away.

Jessica shoved everything back into her pockets, quickening her stride. Dess had said she couldn’t miss the snake pit. Supposedly the sinkhole stood out on the desert as a long dark patch.

Steve’s hand grabbed her shoulder. “Hey, wait up, Jessica. I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was that big a deal.”

She yanked herself away. “Go mess with someone else.”

“I wasn’t…” He stopped walking, and his voice faded. “You’ll get lost out there, Jessica. The snakes’ll get you.”

“Better them than you,” she said to herself.

“And the evil spirits too, Jessica,” Steve called. “It’s almost midnight. Do you want to be out here all a—”

His voice was silenced as suddenly as a radio being switched off. The light changed, the familiar blue sweeping across the desert like dawn. The air became still and silent. It was instantly warmer, but Jessica shivered.

Midnight had come.

She started to run.

25

12:00 A.M.

THE SNAKE PIT

As Jessica began to run, she glanced once quickly over her shoulder, grimacing at the sight of Steve. He’d been looking straight at her when midnight had frozen him. Somehow she had to get back here at the end of the secret hour. If she wasn’t standing in exactly the same position, it would seem to him as if she’d suddenly shifted place.

But Jessica smiled as she turned away and broke into a headlong run. If she didn’t come back at all, he would think she had disappeared into thin air.

She could live with that.

The desert was a blue expanse, broad and flat, as if she were running across an endless ocean. In the midnight light, though, a few features became visible. Wisps of cloud were scattered overhead, and a few scraggly scrub plants clung to the hard earth. The stars were still visible, and Jessica could tell from the Milky Way that she was headed in the right direction.

There was no sign of darklings or slithers, at least. Not yet.

Nor was there any sign of the snake pit.

Jessica felt like an idiot for having trusted Steve. If she had stuck to the plan, leaving the party alone and following Dess’s map, she’d have been safely at the snake pit by now.

“I’m such a wimp,” Jessica spat through clenched teeth. How was she supposed to survive darklings and slithers if she was afraid of a short walk in the dark alone?