Free Blue Noon by Scott Westerfeld

need to get out of here right now, and I can’t explain why.”
    “And you’re going to sneak out right in front of me?” Beth crossed her arms. “So I’ll be in trouble too when you get caught?”
    “That’s your fault, Beth. I told you to leave half an hour ago.”
    “Can you at least explain when you come back… in eighteen minutes?”
    Jessica sighed. “Sorry, Beth, I’d love to. I just can’t.”
    “Got your flashlight?” Jonathan said, one foot already out the window.
    She thumped a bulge in her jacket. “Yeah, right here.”
    They slipped out, dropping to the soft earth of the garden. Jonathan heard one last complaint cut off by Jessica’s sliding the window closed and thought again how he couldn’t wait for midnight gravity to arrive. Finally he would be unstuck from Flatland, able to fly again, and all little sisters would be mutely frozen.
    And the darklings will come to life, he realized, checking his watch as they jogged toward the car.
    Midnight was coming, all right. Way too soon.
    “Why did you have to say that?”
    “Say what?”
    “That thing about eighteen minutes exactly,” Jessica said. “It was kind of obvious, don’t you think?”
    Jonathan shrugged. The clock had said 11:42, and he could fly Jess back here by the end of the secret hour, midnight on the dot. He did see her point, though. Maybe he had been a little too precise about exactly when Jessica would return.
    He sighed, watching a flattened armadillo flash past on the road. Listening to Dess talk math all afternoon had crowded his brain with numbers. “What’s the difference, anyway?”
    “Beth’s starting to figure out that midnight’s important.” Jessica was staring out the passenger window. “She’s noticed that I’m always getting ready to leave around twelve, and she’s started showing up just before the secret hour starts. If I kick her out, she’ll probably just go get Mom and Dad. It’s like she knows. Ever since that night I shoved her in the closet—right at the stroke of midnight.”
    Jonathan chuckled. “Well, maybe you shouldn’t shove her in closets.”
    “You’re lucky—nobody but your father, and no hassle from him.”
    He winced a little at that and took one hand off the wheel, reaching out to her. She was nervously playing with Acariciandote, the bracelet he’d given her, and he stilled her hand. “That was my mom’s, remember?”
    “Oh. Sorry, Jonathan.”
    “It’s okay. She ran off all the time, so it wasn’t a huge surprise when she didn’t come back. But you’re lucky to have family.”
    She was quiet for a moment. “Yeah.”
    Jonathan wished he hadn’t brought it up. Talking about this kind of stuff never helped. “Anyway, Beth probably isn’t going to guess that time freezes at the stroke of twelve and a secret blue world full of monsters appears.” Jonathan laughed. “She might be smart, but she’s not that smart.”
    Jessica turned toward him. “You don’t really mind her that much, do you? You like her.”
    “Sure. Don’t you?”
    “Yeah. But she’s my sister. I sort of have to.”
    Jonathan chuckled again. “Listen. You guys used to get along before you moved here, right? You will again, once Beth gets used to the weird ways of Bixby. And yeah, I do like her. Since you introduced us, I feel like less of a stalker when I’m sneaking around.”
    Jessica drew closer, leaning her weight against him. “Yeah, it’s been better since she got to know you. I think she trusts you. At least, she doesn’t think you’re a serial killer anymore.”
    Jonathan smiled, but the expression faded as he glanced at his watch: only ten more minutes before the blue time fell, and they were about that many miles from Jenks. He stepped on the gas, the old car shuddering as it accelerated. They had more important things to worry about tonight than little sisters.
    They zoomed passed an old Chevy that was lumbering down Creek Turnpike. This far out of town the roads were almost