"I'll go." Deron looked directly into Dess' eyes. He didn't want the look afraid, but it took all his willpower not to burst out into tears.

He could never tell his family where he went; they'd just think he'd disappeared, run away. And even if he left a note or something, what if he never came back?

Deron suppressed a shudder and stepped back.

"When do you think Melissa can come with us?"

Dess and Jonathan exchanged a look.

"She told us to look for the rest of the group as she recuperates," Dess said. "And we only have a few other places to look. We might not get up to thirteen people to go in time."

"So…There's a certain date?" Jonathan asked.

"Can't you feel it?" Dess waved her hand. "The call is getting stronger and stronger. It's in our blood as midnighters to do this."

"What happens if we don't?"

Jonathan shivered. "Probably something real bad."

Dess nodded. "I don't know. But I agree with Jonathan."

Melissa sat in the hospital, feeling utterly alone. It was not a feeling she'd experienced much, just the brief period of time before she had met Rex.

She felt a tear fall slowly down her pale cheek. Angrily, she wiped it away. She'd promised not to think about him. He'd made his choices. Life had happened.

And that was all there was to it.

Deron hopped in the car with two total strangers. It was 1 30, and the teal green truck was rumbling down deserted dirt roads, in almost total darkness.

He had his face against the window. Silence. The cold glass pressed against his cheek, keeping him awake. An owl calls out in the night.

Jonathan's asleep.

Dess doesn't speak. She's trying too hard to stay alert.

Why couldn't sleep come? That was all Deron wanted: to go to sleep and wish that none of this was really happening.

Tink. Something hits the roof. Daron jumps.

Tink. Tinktink.

"What's that?" he asked rather franticly.

"Rain," Dess replies.

He calmed down. Only rain. There was a clap of thunder, and the skies poured down water by the gallons.

Tinktinktinktink…

Daron fell asleep to the whisper of the rain.

The town of Heeds was asleep. Everyone but those two.

Their figures were one with the shadows as they raced through the blue hour.

They stopped just outside of town, where a car was parked.

"How do I know I can trust you?" asked the girl, pulling down a hood and letting her long, pink hair flow over her shoulders.

"Just trust me. How many other helping hands do you see out here?"

She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

"Okay, then. Explain on the way."

The boy nodded, his eyes flashing with midnight. Little did the girl know, those eyes saw and had seen much more than anyone knew.

Daron jerked. Even in his sleep, he could feel the car stop.

"What is it?" he asked. It defiantly wasn't morning. Black still showed outside.

"There's another car."

It was coming from the left. Dess was waiting for it to turn. But it didn't. The headlights stayed on, and the dark figure inside didn't make a move to go.

"Okaaaay…" Dess honked the horn. "GO already."

The lights on the other car flipped off. The driver's door opened.

Dess' eyes widened, and she got out too.

"Dess! What are you doing?" Daron whispered. But Dess didn't stop. She ran up to the other person and gave him a huge hug.

"REX!"