Midnight

Sage said, "A planet with only one corporeal form of life upon it. The Great Tree that covers an entire world. The crown covers al but the natural freshwater lakes it needs to survive."

Elena looked into the heart of the twilit world. "We’ve come so far, and maybe together – maybe we can find the star bal that wil save our town."

"This is the door you pick?"asked Sage.

Elena looked at the rest of the group. They al seemed to be waiting for her confirmation. "Yes – and right now. We have to hurry."She made a motion as if to put her cup down and it disappeared. She smiled thanks at Sage.

"Strictly speaking, I shouldn’t give you any help,"he said. "But if you have a compass…"

Elena had one. It was always dangling from her backpack because she was always trying to read it.

Sage took the compass in his hand and lightly traced a line on it. He gave the compass back to Elena and she found that the needle no longer pointed to the north, but at an angle northeast. "Fol ow the arrow,"he said. "It wil take you to the trunk of the Great Tree. If I had to guess at where to find the largest star bal , I would go this way. But be wary! Others have tried this path. Their bodies have nourished the Great Tree – as fertilizer."

Elena scarcely heard the words. She had been terrified at the thought of searching an entire planet for a star bal . Of course, it might be a very smal world, like…like…

Like the little diamond moon you saw over the Nether World?

The voice in Elena’s mind was both familiar and not. She glanced at Sage, who smiled. Then she looked around the room. Everyone seemed to be waiting for her to take the first step.

She took it.

Chapter 34

"You’ve been fed and taken care of as best as we can manage,"Meredith said, looking at allthe taut, frightened young faces turned toward her in the basement. "And now there’s just one thing I want to ask of you in return."She made an effort and steadied her voice. "I want to know if anybody knows of a mobile phone that connects to the Internet, or a computer that is Stillworking. Please, please – if you even think you know where one might be, tel me."

The tension was like a thick rubber cord, dragging Meredith toward each of the pale, strained faces, dragging them to her.

It was just as well that Meredith was essential y well –

balanced. About twelve hands went up immediately, and their lone five-year-old whispered, "My mommy has one. And my daddy."

There was a pause before Meredith could say, "Does anybody know this kid?"and an older girl spoke up before she could.

"She just means they had them before the Burning Man."

"Is the Burning Man cal ed Shinichi?"Meredith asked.

"’Course. Sometimes he would make the red parts of his hair burn up way over his head."

Meredith filed that little fact away under Things I do not want to see, honest, cross my heart, ever.

Then she shook herself free from the image.

"You guys and girls, please, please think. I only need one, one mobile phone with Internet access that Stillhas power right now. One laptop or computer that is Stillworking now, maybe because of a generator Stillmaking electricity. Just one family with a home generator Stillworking. Anybody?"

The hands were down now. A boy she thought she recognized as being one of the Loring siblings, maybe age ten or eleven, said, "The Burning Man told us that mobile phones and computers were bad. That was why my brother got in a fistfight with my dad. He threw al the mobiles at home in the toilet."

"Okay. Okay, thanks. But anybody who’s seen a working mobile or computer? Or a home generator – "

"Why, yes, my dear, I’ve got one."The voice came from the top of the stairs. Mrs. Flowers was standing there, dressed in a fresh sweat suit. Strangely, she had her voluminous purse in her hand.

"You had – have a generator?"Meredith asked, her heart sinking. What a waste! And if disaster came al because she, Meredith, hadn’t finished reading over her own research! The minutes were ticking away, and if everyone in Fel ‘s Church died, it would be her fault. Her fault. She didn’t think she could live with that.

Meredith had tried, al her life, to reach the state of calm, concentration, and balance that was the other side of the coin from the fighting skil s her various disciplines had taught her. And she had become good at it, a good observer, a good daughter, even a good student for al that she was in Elena’s fast-paced, high-flying clique. The four of them: Elena, Meredith, Caroline, and Bonnie had fit together like four pieces of a puzzle, and Meredith Stillsometimes missed the old days and their daring, dominating pseudo-sophisticated capers that never real y hurt anyone – except the sil y boys who had mil ed around them like ants at a picnic.

But now, looking at herself, she was puzzled. Who was she?

A Hispanic girl named for her mother’s Welsh best friend in col ege. A hunter-slayer of vampires who had kitten canines, a vampire twin, and whose group of friends included Stefan, a vampire; Elena, an ex-vampire – and possibly another vampire, although she was extremely hesitant to cal Damon a "friend."

What did that alladd up to?

A girl trying to do her best to keep her balance and concentration, in a world that had gone insane. A girl Stillreeling from what she’d learned about her own family, and now tottering from the need to confirm a dreadful suspicion.

Stop thinking. Stop! You have to tel Mrs. Flowers that her boardinghouse has been destroyed.

"Mrs. Flowers – about the boardinghouse – I have to talk to you…"

"Why don’t you use my BlackBerry first?"Mrs. Flowers came down the basement stairs careful y, watching her feet, and then the children parted before her like waves on the Red Sea.