1 Night Watch 11:56 PM

Jonathan's crappy Ford pulled to a creaky stop and Melissa jumped out, sick of his nervous anticipation at such close range, heavy sweetness on her tongue twisted with a trickle of sharp sour, like swallowing bile. Every midnight his excitement built as the last few seconds ticked away, until his rush of open joy almost overwhelmed her, reminding her again of what she'd left behind.

Not waiting for Flyboy to get out, she scanned the ground, looking for the pile of rocks that marked Jessica's position from last night. It didn't help that some assholes had kicked them around, but she sat down as close as possible and reached out towards the outside of town.

At this time of night she only felt the buzz of sleeping minds and the occasional sleepy individual watching TV or reading, random images and works flickering past her eyes. She felt the cool veil of midnight sweeping towards her, like cleansing rain on her parched throat.

Suddenly silence fell, and she tasted Jonathan's simple pleasure at his midnight gravity and, a little further away, Jessica waking up.

Rex changing into a darkling had been way past creepy, feeling the shadows in him growing every time they touched. But Jessica was different too. Her coppery flamebringer taste was still there, zingy, like ozone you got from staticy clothes. But below that was the cool taste of midnight, an inner core that grew every night, like Jessica was turning more a part of midnight, less human.

Jessica's mind was confused, as it always was in the first few minutes of midnight, seeing how everything had shifted before her, remembering that a whole day had gone in the real world, while no time had passed for her. Melissa pulled her mind away from their sappy reunion, too sweet and with an edge of the usual melancholy, salty as tears. The mental landscape was empty, whatever darklings that survived not daring to show their faces. She wished she could hear all the way back to Bixby, hear Rex's calm collected thoughts edged with lemon-sour darkling, or even Dess's brain buzzing with mathy equations. Anything familiar in this stifling quiet.

Quiet. Suddenly Melissa realized what'd been bothering her. Someone in the city should have woken up - Dess had guessed about one for every 9000 people - she didn't remember exact numbers- and there should be at least a few in a city this size.

All she heard was silence.

And then she felt something stirring, darklings old and hungry beyond belief, too desperate to be afraid of the flame bringer and her two companions. Melissa stood and raced past Jonathan and Jessica, who stared cluelessly after her, too wrapped up in themselves to notice anything. They didn't have many weapons - Jessica was worth a million - but she wanted something in her hand.
She found a stainless steel kitchen knife in the trunk, glittering with blue fire in the dark moon's light, and whispered, "Biodegradable." The hilt buzzed with energy. "Come and get it, boys," she muttered.

But the darklings weren't coming for them. Someone else was waking up now, minds flickering through confusion, uncertainty, and then filling with a fear so urgent, so intense that Melissa had to tear her mind away. Even then, she could still feel it, radiating from the dark city on the horizon.

"Jonathan! Jessica!" They stared at her, oblivious, and she could have screamed her frustration. Couldn't they hear that? "We've got problems."

As if on cue, a cloud of slithers and darklings rose, silhouetted against the dark moon. They were old, these ones, back before the split, but she couldn't feel their minds past the hunger - burned meat thick on her tongue. Beside her she felt Jessica's ozone taste double as she whispered something to her hand - did it have a name? Melissa glanced over at it and had to look away, a ghostly image of Jessica's palm imprinted on her eyes. "Jeez, Jess. Can you tone it down?"

She sounded annoyed. "I haven't exactly got an off switch."

"Not just your hand - your mind. It's... tingly." Her whole body was buzzing with the flame bringer's energy, like diving into a pool filled with electric eels.

Jessica didn't answer, just giving off a vague taste of annoyance.

"Whatever," Melissa snapped. She took Jonathan's hand and bent her knees, ignoring his shock.

Mentally, she instructed Grab Jessica and jump. I'll fill you in on the way.

Obediently he jumped, and the earth fell away below them. Jessica's pale face glared across him, annoyed at always being out of the loop. Melissa ignored her, instead sending Jonathan everything she knew - and guessed.

All those days driving, stopping at every small town they came across, hoping to find new Midnighters waking up, but they'd never found a thing. Just missing person ads. Melissa's mental battles, trying to convince herself everything was all right. Maybe you were more likely to be born at midnight in the city. And so she'd waited.

And now, hearing the hunger, the fear, she couldn't push it away any longer. Suddenly she just knew - there were no Midnighters because they were all dead. Somehow darklings were just appearing out of nowhere, and she feared they would be too late.

Shocked by this knowledge, Jonathan stumbled and they spiraled out of control, Melissa's fingers almost slipping through his. She felt earth under her feet and pushed hard, propelling them all towards the dark outline of town.