“Um.” Jessica thought about her plans to unpack tomorrow. To finally get her life under control. Of course, it didn’t look as if it were going to be that simple anymore. “Yeah, sure. Where’s that?”

“It’s close to the main library. Just follow Division.” Rex pointed toward downtown. “Meet us downstairs.”

“Okay.”

“And don’t worry, Jessica. We’ll figure out what happened tonight. We’ll make sure you’re safe here.”

Jess looked into Rex’s eyes, seeing the concern there. He seemed confident that he could figure out whatever had gone wrong. Or maybe he was just trying to make her feel better. It was strange. Even though nothing he said made sense, Rex managed to sound as if he knew what he was talking about. Here in the blue time he stood straighter and the thick glasses didn’t hide his calm, serious eyes. The guy seemed like much less of a loser than he did in the daylight.

“So, you don’t really need those glasses, do you? It’s an act, like Clark Kent?”

“Afraid not. In daylight I’m blind as a bat. But here in the blue time I can see perfectly. Better than perfectly.”

“That must be nice.”

“Yeah. It’s great. And I can see more than…” He paused. “We’ll explain it all tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Jessica looked at the three of them. Dess circling happily on her bike, Rex’s eyes clear and confident, Melissa silent, but without her usual headphones and pained expression. They all seemed to actually like this midnight time.

Of course, why wouldn’t they? It didn’t seem like their lives were going so great during the “daylight” hours. Here there was no one to push them around or notice how weird they were. For this one hour a day the whole world was their private clubhouse.

And now she was in the club. Great.

They took Jessica right to her door. She realized that the light was slowly changing. The dark moon had almost set, now mostly hidden behind the houses across the street.

“So how are you guys getting home?” she asked.

“The usual way. During regular time,” Rex said, mounting his bike and reaching into his shirt pocket. He pulled out his glasses.

Jessica looked around, her eyes searching for any sign of the panther. “And you’re sure this blue thing is almost over?”

“Happens every night, as regular as sundown,” Rex said.

Jessica realized that they must be miles from home. “What about the curfew? I mean, everyone’s going to wake back up, right? What if the police see you?”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “We’ve been dealing with curfew for years. Don’t worry about us.”

“But we should get going,” Rex said. “You’ll be okay here, Jessica. And it’ll all make more sense in the morning.” He pedaled down the walk and into the street. “See you at noon.”