Note: This chapter is pretty dull, which is mostly why it took me so long to finish it. What can I say? I'm really not into Jonathan. But I can't just skip him, so here goes. Much more interesting stuff in the next chapter, I promise. Whenever I manage to write that.

7 Reverse 2:30 PM

In all his daydreams of finding other Midnighters, Jonathan had never imagined anything like this.

"Impressed?"Cynthia asked, peering into his face to gauge his reaction, amusement in her eyes.

"Definitely. We never had anything like this at home. Of course, there're only five of us…" Jonathan's voice trailed off as he took in the scene. The empty school gymnasium was dotted with people – the Knoxville Midnighters. He recognized a few faces from last night, but others were unfamiliar. There were so many of them. All training, he realized. Two kids that must have been mindcasters were locking eyes from across the room. A young man curled up on a beanbag chair, scowling down at a Geology textbook. And there were Rex and Ryan, with a girl that must be another seer, poring over papers so ragged and dusty it had to be lore.

"We meet every week," Cynthia explained, picking her way from group to group. "Once Sky found all of us, she set this up."

"How do you get away from your parents?" Jonathan asked. They'd always relied on sleepovers and study dates when they wanted to meet up. But this group's age range was too broad for that.

She shrugged. "I told them it's Youth Group. I don't know what everyone else says." They stood in silence for a while, looking across the crowd. "I haven't told them," she said suddenly. "What you guys think is happening. Mikayla filled me in on some of the stuff, but I don't want to cause a panic. It's pretty crazy, isn't it?"

Jonathan laughed. "Yeah, it's pretty crazy. But I've been there, done that with the whole 'life will never be the same again' deal. It never happens the way you think it will."

"But what if it does? Think about it," she said unhappily. "We won't be special anymore."

He hadn't thought of it that way. "Or everyone will be. Of course, the darklings would be out to get us all the time, and most people would be screwed…" He paused. "Unless everyone got talents? I'm not a hundred percent sure of how it works."

"Maybe we'll lose them," she said quietly.

Jonathan felt horror spread through him. Lose flying? In all the nightmares he'd concocted in his restless mind, he'd never even considered that. Then the horror was replaced with disgust. Talking about people being devoured by monsters was ok, but mention losing playtime and he freaked? What kind of monster was he? "We're going to try to stop it," he said finally. "For all those reasons."

Cynthia just smiled, and he realized she'd seen he panic in his eyes. His self loathing doubled. "I wouldn't want to lose flying either. It's amazing."

"It is," he agreed. It was interesting, talking about flying with another Acrobat. Someone to whom it came naturally, instead of with a touch.

"We should try flying together sometime," she suggested, brushing his fingers with hers.

He pulled away abruptly. "I don't think so."

"What?" she asked, pouting. "Not interest in older girls?"

"Not interested in you," he said, before realizing how that sounded. "I mean – I'm with someone."

"Jessica, right? The frozen girl." She nodded, subdued. "I should go now."

She might have been hoping he'd call her back. He didn't. Something about Cynthia felt… wrong. How she kept secrets from her own Midnighters. How she'd hit on him when she'd known he was with Jessica. "Yeah," he agreed. "You should."