Midnighters 1: The Secret Hour

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The Midnighters 1: The Secret Hour, is a science-fiction fantasy book written by Scott Westerfeld. It was published by Eos in 2004. It is the first book of The Midnighters trilogy.

1 Plot summary
2 Characters
3 Darklings and slithers
4 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

15-year-old Jessica Day moves with her family to Bixby, Oklahoma after her mom gets a job offer at a high-tech aerospace company. Soon after the move, Jessica awakens to find time frozen, rain stopped in mid air. Jessica discovers that each night at midnight in this small town, she and four other teenagers - each born at exactly the stroke of midnight - can enter a 25th hour of the day that for other people is rolled up so it instantly passes unnoticed. Within the secret hour or "blue time," Jessica, Dess, Rex, Melissa, and Jonathan encounter predatory creatures - darklings and slithers - which sometimes hunt the midnighters.

[edit] Characters

Each of the other Midnighters has a midnight-related talent. Desdemona, called Dess for short, is a Polymath. Her skill with numbers is unmatched by anyone in the country, and she is probably much better with numbers than any computer. She is the group's expert on defense and weaponry.

Rex, the Seer, can read the lore, which is the history of all midnighters in Bixby. During the day he wears glasses. Without them he can see the other midnighters and anything touched by darklings or slithers in a strange focus, while everything else is blurry.

Melissa, the Mindcaster, can read other peoples' minds but cannot shut them out. This leaves her irritated, so the other midnighters have given her the nickname "the bitch goddess." The connection to another person's mind becomes extremely intense if skin to skin contact is made.

Finally, Jonathan, who comes in later in the book, is an Acrobat. During the blue time, Jonathan's personal gravity is reduced, so that he can leap to much greater heights than during normal time. In addition, he can share his weightlessness with others by skin contact. Jonathan's normal weight comes back when midnight passes, so he must be careful to not get too high during the last few minutes of the midnight hour.

At the end of the first book, Jessica, whose special ability is unknown to that point, is discovered to be a Flame-bringer. Her ability allows her to use any electrical device during the blue-time. This makes her a much more valuable member of the team, as she can use this ability to be a formidable opponent against the darklings. Her primary weapon is a flashlight named Enlightenment.

[edit] Darklings and slithers

Darklings and slithers are predatory creatures that only exist in the secret 25^th hour of the day. They formerly existed in all 24, but ancient men drove them into the 25^th hour, which the darklings created for themselves. They can take on many forms depending on what their victims fear. They can sometimes fly and can read minds. They have a certain type of epilepsy related to the number 13. Anything related to the number can cause them harm, so the Midnighters often give weapons 13 letter names to increase their effect. Objects made of stainless steel and other alloys have the capability to burn the darklings and slithers with a sort of blue lightning that will project from the object. These alloys must also be "untouched" by slithers and darklings in order to continue to possess this ability.