I sighed as I looked around the blank desolation that was the badlands.
It was dangerous to be out here so close to Midnight, if we were still here when the secret hour rolled around we'd be Darkling food.
Jessica and Jonathan looked on edge as well, their hands were clasped together tightly and Jonathan looked like he was ready to fly out of there with her if anything happened to go wrong.
"How much longer, Dess?" Rex asked from beside me.
"Seven hundred and eighty seconds." I stated as my Polymath mind rested on an answer.
Of course they probably weren't sure how long this gave us, probably only I knew that we had thirteen minutes before the Secret Hour washed over us.
Rex sighed and stepped away from me, making his way across to Jessica and Jonathan. His long black coat flowed behind him as his huge black combat boots boomed against the dry lifeless ground.
That seemed to be all Rex, Melissa and I wore these days. Black clothes, black combat boots and dark sunglasses during the day.
The other two always wore colorful clothing. They had escaped being cursed with eyes that couldn't tolerate anything bright. They could wear whatever they want, and didn't have to wear ugly sunglasses all day long.
"Where's Melissa?" Jonathan asked, sounding extremely impatient. "Shouldn't she be here by now?"
He was right, we only had four hundred and twenty seconds left. Where was the Mindcaster now?
Couldn't she hear our distress at the fact she wasn't here? Was she making her way over now?
"She'll be here." Rex answered firmly, his face hard.
And then she was, as if Rex had summoned her.
Her old car pulled up a few yards from us, bringing with it a huge bellowing cloud of desert-dust.
"Sorry I'm late…" she muttered as she stepped out of the clunker and slammed the door behind her.
Rex's face softened as he looked at the Mindcaster, which was totally gross, I mean, couldn't I escape the gooey coupledom for more than ten minutes at a time? First Jonathan and Jessica and now Rex and Melissa.
"Come on!" I groaned in my mind.
Melissa shot me a dirty look, obviously hearing what I was thinking and tasting my annoyance.
Those were two of the many drawbacks of having Melissa as an acquaintance, she could read your mind and taste your emotions.
"So why are we here exactly?" I asked Rex, letting my annoyance show.
"I wanted to test out Jessica's powers. See how much damage they could do against a fully grown Darkling."
Melissa's eyes narrowed as she let her own annoyance show at the situation.
"So you needed all five of us to test out one of our powers?" she asked as she glared t Rex.
"Well, um, yes…" he said slowly. "Just in case something happens and we need to get out of here fast.."
She sighed and nodded, whispering a whatever and agreeing to the situation.
I glanced over at Jessica who looked both concerned and confused at the same time. I noticed that her grip on Jonathans hand was much tighter than earlier.
But, Jessica remained silent, she was still getting used to this new Midnight she'd discovered a few days ago, right after she moved to Bixby.
"That okay Jessica?" Rex asked, frowning slightly.
She nodded and managed a "Yes." Before diving back into her silence.
I rolled my eyes. I had nothing against Jessica, but she needed to get over this and soon.
Suddenly, the familiar warmth of Midnight washed over us. I saw Melissa relax as the onslaught of thoughts escaped her mind. The only thoughts she could hear now were of the five of us.
"Catch." Rex said to Jessica as he through her a huge stainless steel flashlight.
She caught it, finally releasing her hand from Jonathan's.
"I already named it." I said, nodding towards the flashlight, "It's called Unanticipated Illuminations."
It was a good strong name, both containing thirteen letters, the ultimate Darkling repellant.
"So… when you see a Darkling just try to turn it on and point the light at it."
Jessica nodded and before we knew it a small black figure was slithering around us.
"Stupid Slither…" I muttered glaring at it.
Normal Slithers weren't really dangerous, just annoying and their bites hurt.
Of course the newbie panicked and quickly turned the light on, pointing it at the small snake-like creature.
The snake quickly caught on fire, blue fire, and shriveled up, dying.
"Woah…" the other four of us said at the same time, amazing that the light actually worked.
No technology worked during the Secret Hour, but Jessica could make it work…
"What?" Jessica asked, looking at all of us with her wide green eyes.
"I think your power is going to be very, very useful…" Rex said, smiling widely.