Sato eventually drifted away from the Higginbottoms. He suspected they probably wanted some time to themselves to bask in the joy of being together again. And, he admitted to himself, it hurt to see such a thing. It painfully reminded him that he’d lost his own parents, and that such a get-together would be impossible for him. It hurt, and he left them before it became unbearable.
But that’s when things had really gotten strange for him.
There were several hundred people from the Fifth Reality in the strange space, all of them winked in from the general location of where Mothball’s parents lived. How that had happened was beyond anyone’s guess, but they’d mostly gotten over their shock and just generally reveled in the fact that they were still alive.
Or, Sato figured, at least they hoped that was the case. The bizarre place to which they’d been sent didn’t seem like anything in the normal world. Maybe they had died and been sent to an afterlife. Who knew? Sato didn’t want to think about it until he absolutely had to.
Once all the people from the Fifth settled in, they began to notice him. They began to see the resemblance he had to their recently assassinated Grand Minister. His Alterant. And now they surrounded him completely, a huge crowd of giants, all of them staring at him, waiting for him to speak. But he refused, sitting cross-legged with his chin resting on his closed fists. Mothball had to get him out of this. She had to do something! If not her, then her parents.
But they seemed to be enjoying the spectacle, along with Rutger. The four of them sat outside the crowd somewhere—he’d lost sight of them a good half hour earlier.
Sato buried his face in his hands and groaned, hoping everyone heard the scream of frustration barely veiled within it.
~
The first thing Tick noticed was that the air was much cooler, laced with a wetness almost as thick as mist. Then he saw the tall, looming poles of shadow all around them—trees. Lots and lots of trees.
They were back in the Forest of Plague—the place they’d come a year ago on a mission to steal Mistress Jane’s Barrier Wand. This time they’d be going in the opposite direction; the Factory lay due east, according to the Haunce.
Tick felt the reassuring grip of Sofia’s and Paul’s hands in his own. “You guys okay?”
“Still in one piece,” Master George answered from a few feet in front of him. Tick couldn’t see his face very well. In fact, he couldn’t see much except for the trees and the dark shapes of his fellow Realitants.
“Fine,” Paul grumbled. “At least it’s not hot here. My pits are in desperate need of some deodorant.”
Sofia sighed. “Pleasant as always.”
“Okay, so where are we?” Paul asked.
“Yes, Atticus,” Master George added. “No more time for hasting about until you answer some questions. Where are we? What’s behind all this?”
Tick felt surprisingly calm despite the clock winding down inside his mind; he didn’t have the heart to look at his watch. He knew the calm wouldn’t last long. He knew terrible things lay ahead.
“Tick?” Paul prodded. “Speak up—can’t hear ya.”
“Alright, listen,” Tick began. “I’ll explain everything, but then we gotta get going. Jane screwed up the whole universe with her dark-matter tree—that stupid Blade of Shattered Hope. The barriers keeping the Realities whole and bound together are fragmenting, breaking apart. Right now there’s a lull, but the Haunce says in twenty-something hours from now, it’ll all snap, blow up, disintegrate. In no time at all, everything will cease to exist. That’s how the Haunce put it.”
“I feared the worst,” Master George whispered, a deathly rasp. “However, this is beyond even what I cooked up in my head. But if the Haunce told you as much, then it’s true.”
Tick nodded despite the darkness. “It thinks we can fix the problem somehow, but it’ll take me, Mistress Jane, and the Haunce itself together in the biggest Chi’karda spot in all the Realities. Which is this Factory place a few miles to the east of here.”
“Oh, goodness gracious me,” Master George said. The others stayed silent, maybe too shocked for words.
“Anyway,” Tick said, “we can talk more about the details, but the Haunce wants me to do a quick job first.” Tick reached into his pocket and pulled out the short metal message tube Master George had given him earlier. “First, it wants me to send an important note to somebody—wink it, actually.”
“Wink it?” Sofia repeated. “You mean . . .”
Tick held up the tube between his thumb and forefinger, barely able to see the silver shine of its smooth surface. “Yeah. The Haunce wants me to wink it with my so-called powers. Called it . . . practice.”
Chapter
33
~
Sending a Message
Tick finally remembered that he’d packed a flashlight before leaving his house. He swung his backpack off and pulled it out, then clicked it on. The light reflected off the silvery surface of the metal tube, making it look like a valuable piece of jewelry.
“Atticus,” Master George said as he moved closer and put a hand on Tick’s shoulder. “Listen to me carefully. I want you to describe what the Haunce looked like. Once I’m absolutely sure this all came from our strange and powerful friend, I promise I won’t doubt another word you say.”
Tick let the flashlight tip downward until it illuminated the leaf-strewn forest floor. “It was a big, silver-blue oval of pulsing light, with hundreds of faces replacing each other in the middle of it, their mouths forming the words as it talked to me. Creeped me out big time.”
Master George nodded as his eyes focused on the ground. “Indeed. Indeed. It’s hard to put into words what it means that the Haunce visited you, Atticus. There’s no longer any doubt that there is something special about you, something extraordinary. Especially if the Haunce thinks you can wink this message away without the use of a Barrier Wand.”
“Yeah, well, we’ll see,” Tick said. He shone the flashlight under his chin to make his face look scary. “You both can think I’m special all you want, but let’s see if I can actually do it.”
“You are special,” Paul said, not bothering to hide his sarcasm. “You’re so special.”
“He is,” Sofia snapped. “Be quiet and let him concentrate. Do it, Tick. Show him. Show us what you can do.”
Paul snickered, evidently thinking his joke was hilarious. “I’m just playin’, man. Sheesh. What’s the note in there say, anyway? And who are you sending it to?”
“It’s for Sally—” Master George began, but Tick cut him off.
“No, it’s not.”
“What do you mean? You changed it?”
Tick shone the light on the silver tube still clasped in his other hand. “Had to. The Haunce said we had no chance of getting all the Realitants together in time to help us. They’re spread all over the place, dealing with the earthquakes and junk that happened when everything went wrong.”
“Then who’s it for?” Sofia asked.
“It’s a note for someone who already has a bunch of people gathered, ready to fight the first bad thing that walks in front of them.” Tick paused, needlessly adding drama to the revelation, just for kicks. “It’s for Sato.”
~
Sato ignored every word spoken to him and every tap on his shoulder until he heard the voice of Lisa.
“Sato?” she asked. “You okay?”
He looked up to see she’d maneuvered her way through the tightly packed crowd. She stood in front of him, leaning down with her hands on her knees, looking at him with concern creasing her pretty face. The fact that she cared one whit made him feel a little better.
“I guess so,” he replied. He swept his eyes across the tall people of the Fifth who were packing in tighter and tighter around him, still gawking and pointing. “I just don’t know what they want. I’m not who they think I am—they have to know that! What do they expect me to do? Pretend I’m their leader raised from the dead?”
Lisa kne
lt down, the movement causing her blonde curls to bounce on her shoulders. “We all thought it was kind of cute until you put your head down and ignored them. Why don’t you come over and sit with my family? Maybe that’ll make them leave you alone.”
Sato shook his head slowly as he considered her offer. How stupid was this? These people fawning over him were the least of his worries. Where were they and how were they going to get out of there?
“Sato?” Lisa asked. “You want me to—”
“No, no, sorry,” he said. “I was just thinking that we need to figure out what’s going on around here. I need to talk to Rutger and Mothball. Figure out if we can get in touch with the other Realitants somehow.”
Lisa nodded. “Okay, sounds good. Why don’t you . . .” She paused, looked around quickly, then focused back on him. “Tell you what—I’ll get their attention so you can sneak off or something.”
“Get their attention? How’re you gonna do that?”
Lisa straightened, rubbing her hands together as if planning something evil. “I can be a brat when I need to be—ask Tick. I’ll think of something brilliant to make them leave you alone.”
Sato stood to join her, wincing at the gasps of anticipation his action elicited from the crowd. “Okay, fine by me. Good luck with that.” He started through the crowd of Fifth citizens standing between him and his Realitant friends.
“You people listen up!” he heard Lisa shout from behind him. “Sato will be right back. He has to, um, go use the bathroom.”
Sato stopped for half a second, thinking, That is the best she can come up with? But then he pushed on, making his way toward Mothball and Rutger.
~
Tick did his best to explain what the Haunce had said about Sato and the others being taken to some kind of way station anomaly in the Realities for safekeeping. But it was kind of hard when he didn’t really understand it himself.
“What is this place?” Paul asked. “Where is it?”
“I don’t know!” Tick practically shouted, though he toned it down to a rough whisper on the last word. They couldn’t risk Jane’s creations finding them yet. “All we care about is that they’re all safe—including my family, thank goodness—and that the Haunce is gonna move them very soon. Which is why I need to hurry. As soon as I get this note winked, we’ll have time to talk about stuff while we walk toward the Factory.” Annoyed, Tick pointed the flashlight in Paul’s face. “Okay?”
Paul reached out, flailing with his hands. “Alright, dude, get on with it!”
“Yes, Atticus,” Master George pitched in. “I’m very anxious to see what you’re about to do. Quite anxious indeed. And when we’re done, I’d love to hear more about this hideaway spot in the Realities you mentioned.”
Sofia reached out and lightly punched Tick in the arm. “We’ll leave you alone, now. Do your thing. I can’t wait to see it.”
Tick had a sudden rush of terror. He had no idea what he was about to do—or even where to begin. The Haunce had left him with some parting words of advice—mainly about envisioning a conduit between him and Sato and opening an imaginary slice through space and time. But mostly, he was supposed to sit back and let his power do its thing. He needed to believe in it and let the Chi’karda take his vision of need and manifest it for him.
His mind knew what it wanted. His heart did as well. He had all the power he needed, waiting for a spark to set it boiling. All the ingredients were there, even if he couldn’t lay out the scientific formulas on any chalkboard no matter how many times he tried. It was all there. The need, the ability, the power.
He just had to set it in motion.
He just had to believe.
“Tick, you waitin’ on something?” Paul asked.
Sofia shushed him. “Seriously, Paul, shut up!”
“Sorry,” he whispered.
Tick barely heard the exchange, but realized he was standing completely still, staring at some dark point in the distant woods. Giving his head a little shake, he knelt down on the ground, feeling the prick of a twig. Then he heard it snap, along with the crunch of leaves. He placed the flashlight on the ground, still lit, and brought the silver tube up with both hands to look at it, turning the thing slowly between his fingers.
Now or never, he told himself.
Now or never.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and urged a sea of calm to wash across his body. He thought back to his two main encounters with Chi’karda, the times when he’d actually been able to see it visually.
Sparkling, orange clouds of mist.
Heat.
Raging, burning heat.
Something flickered inside him. He’d found the spark. It grew, warming him from the inside out. Surprisingly, it didn’t terrify him. It felt more like comfort.
He squeezed his eyes tighter and threw all of his concentration into his thoughts. In the amoebas of darkness swirling there, he tried to form a picture of Sato. Different images kept flashing in his mind, different faces. Tick tried harder. The face of his friend wavered, then held. Unbelievably clear, it was like a photo had been implanted in his brain. Tick almost opened his eyes in shock.
But he controlled himself, focusing on keeping the picture clear. Sato. He thought of the silver tube, clearly told . . . who?—himself? maybe the Chi’karda itself—that he wanted that tube to dissolve into the quantum realm, travel through spacetime, and reach his friend.
The heat increased, forcing beads of sweat to break out all over his skin. He didn’t dare look, but he knew that misty swirls of orange were floating around his body, lighting the darkness of the forest with an eerie glow. He held onto that vision of Sato and onto the precise and clear thought of what he wanted to happen.
Then, not quite sure if he was doing the right thing, he formed words inside his mind.
The silver tube. To Sato. He waited. Now.
As a tingling wave sent goose bumps bursting out all over him, he felt the weight of the tube disappear from his hands. He heard Sofia and Paul gasp. Master George shrieked with excitement like an old woman. But Tick didn’t truly believe it until he opened his eyes and saw for himself.
The tube was gone.
The message had been sent.
Chapter
34
~
The Way Station
Sato never thought he’d be so happy to see Rutger.
“Why, you look a little uncomfortable!” the short man shouted when Sato finally made it through the crowd to his Realitant friends and Mothball’s parents. “I was, uh, just about to come out there and rescue you.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you were,” Sato muttered.
“They’ve all taken quite the likin’ to you, they ’ave,” Mothball said, an enormous grin revealing her big, yellow teeth.
Those two were enjoying this ridiculous scenario way too much, and it was really starting to annoy Sato. “What am I supposed to do? We’ve all been winked to this psycho place, and those people act like I’m gonna save them or something. Just because I look like their murdered leader. What am I supposed to do?”
Tollaseat and Windasill were holding hands, looking on with pinched up grimaces as if they were embarrassed by the whole affair. Tollaseat reached out—and down—to pat Sato on the shoulder. “There, there, little man. Don’t take it the wrong way, and don’t be feelin’ any pressure ’cause of this lot. We’re all a wee bit scared, and a familiar face gives a lift, it does. Even I’ll admit you seem like the natural person to take charge ’round these parts.”
Windasill laughed, a sound that held nothing but kindness—no hint of mockery or condescension. “Reckon I ruddy agree with me love on that one. Can’t you just pretend to lead a bit? Give ’em all a good talkin’ to? Bring ’em straight out of the doldrums, you would. I’d bet me own two ears on that.”
Sato knew he had to quit whining. Their problems were piling up by the minute, and—
An object appeared in front of his face—instantly, one second not
there, the next second there—a small, elongated stretch of shining silver. He barely had time to see it or register what it was before the tube of metal fell. He reached out to catch it, but he didn’t move in time. The tube smacked onto the weird marble floor and bounced with a couple of clings and clangs before rolling several inches and coming to a rest next to Rutger’s foot.
No one moved for a couple of seconds. Sato could tell they were all staring at the mysterious—and magical—visitor just as he was. He finally gained his wits and leaned over to pick up the tube, turning it this way and that for the others to take a look.
Sato was about to ask what it was when Mothball blurted out, “That there’s one of them fancy message tubes from Master George.”
“Open it!” Rutger yelled, jumping up and down in excitement—maybe reaching a grand height of three millimeters off the ground. “I knew he’d find us! I knew it! Don’t you worry, we’ll be out of here . . .”
He trailed off, a troubled look coming over his face.
Sato had been relieved to get the tube, but now worry swept over him. “What’s wrong?”
“Well, I just . . . It’s . . . well.” Rutger cleared his throat. “It’s just that if he could send us this message, why didn’t he just wink us out of here?”
“Got plenty of worries without lookin’ for fresh ones,” Mothball said. “Open the ruddy thing, Sato, and see what the old man has to say.”
“How do you do it?” Sato asked. He knew George often sent message tubes like these out before, but Sato had never helped him with them or even seen one up close.
“Just pull the ends apart,” Rutger said with an annoyed huff.
“Well, excuse me for not being a message-tube wizard,” Sato griped. Shaking his head, he gripped the two rounded ends of the tube and pulled in opposite directions. A seam appeared and expanded until he held two separate pieces. A rolled up piece of paper slipped out and dropped to the floor.