BooksBarbecue
Back The Secret Hour
Chapters (39)
  1. Cover
  2. The Secret Hour
  3. Dedication
  4. Contents
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
  33. 29
  34. 30
  35. 31
  36. About the Author
  37. Credits
  38. Copyright
  39. About the Publisher

Dess returned right on time, just as the car rumbled to life beneath Rex and Melissa. She had kept the old Ford running—an engine frozen at midnight didn’t use up any gas.

They jumped off the hood and got in, Dess opening a rear door with a dazed expression on her face. When her head was really in the numbers, she didn’t talk much, so Rex and Melissa maintained a respectful silence.

Melissa drove them home through back roads, avoiding police cars by feel. At midnight on Sunday there were very few humans awake in Bixby, so the cops were easy to taste. But every once in a while Melissa did catch a snatch of thought here or there, a sleepless worry, a late night argument, an eruption of a dream or nightmare.

There’s no way I can pay this bill….

How was I supposed to know she was allergic to peanuts?

I can’t believe it’s Monday again tomorrow….

We must have Jessica Day.

Melissa started, her hands gripping the wheel tightly at the last intense burst of thought. She searched for the source, tried to distill it from the noise of worries and night terrors and dream stuff, but it had disappeared back into the chaos of Bixby’s mental terrain as quickly as it had surfaced, a stone dropping into a churning ocean.

She took a deep breath, realizing that it was 12:17 A.M., not midnight. That thought had been human.

“What was that?” Rex asked.

“What was what?”

“You tasted something. Back there. You practically pulled the steering wheel off.”

Melissa glanced at Rex, bit her lip, and shrugged, turning her eyes back to the road.

“It was nothing, Rex. Probably just some kid’s nightmare.”

image

About the Author

SCOTT WESTERFELD has written many acclaimed novels, including the bestselling Uglies books and the Midnighters series, SO YESTERDAY, and PEEPS. His books have been named New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and have won the Aurealis Award, the Victorian Premier Award, and the Philip K. Dick Special Citation. Scott lives in New York City and Australia. You can visit him online at www.scottwesterfeld.com.

Credits

Cover photograph © 2008 by Veer / PhotoAlto

Cover design by Joel Tippie

Midnighters symbols by Scott David Westerfeld

Copyright

MIDNIGHTERS #1: THE SECRET HOUR. Copyright © 2004 by Alloy Entertainment and Scott David Westerfeld. Midnighters symbols by Scott David Westerfeld. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Adobe Digital Edition May 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-195452-8

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

image

About the Publisher

Australia