“See what?” Lisa asked warily. “You want us to come out there?”
The old woman let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes. Come on, I’m trying to be nice, you little ingrate. Such a historic moment—wouldn’t want you to miss it.”
Lisa squeezed Kayla’s arms, then moved to get up from the bed.
“No!” Kayla shouted.
“It’ll be okay,” Lisa said softly, taking her sister by the hand. She hated saying those words again. “Come on.”
Kayla looked up at her with moist eyes, then slowly slid off the bed and followed Lisa, their hands still clasped. They walked to the doorway and into the hall. From there, the woman led them down a set of stairs and into a living room that was as ugly as the rest of the house, all dull colors and boring furniture. Several other ladies were sitting on chairs and a worn-out sofa. Every pair of eyes was glued to a television set on a small table.
When Lisa saw and heard what was coming from the TV, she almost forgot how terrified she’d been just moments earlier. It was a news program, a man’s tight voice narrating as the view switched from one scene of destruction to the next.
Fires. People trapped under cement, bloody and crying. Sirens. Shaky film of a large building, the horrendous crashing sounds booming from the television speakers when the structure crumbled to the ground. A massive car wreck. Smoke everywhere.
At first, Lisa was too shocked to read the words flashing across the bottom of the screen or hear exactly what the reporter was saying. But then she focused. The scrolling words accompanying the images made it clear the disasters were happening in different parts of the world. Paris. London. Berlin. Moscow.
Wait, she thought. Those cities were all in Europe and spread apart by hundreds and hundreds of miles. What could possibly be happening?
“The earthquakes are still rumbling as we speak,” the reporter was saying. “They’ve already shattered all known records in terms of length of time, and they still continue, as you can tell from the shaky video footage. All of Europe and Asia seem to be affected by these quakes. Mass panic is spreading out of control.”
Lisa felt an entirely new fear grip her. It made what she’d been feeling back in that prison of a room seem silly. That fear had been about just her and Kayla, trapped in a room, but otherwise safe and sound. This was something else. And whatever it was that was happening, Lisa knew the world would never be the same.
“What’s going on?” Kayla asked, her small voice breaking Lisa’s heart.
“I don’t know, sweetie. I don’t know.”
The last word had barely left her mouth when the lights suddenly went out. The TV made a popping sound as the screen went black. Kayla screamed, and the ladies in the room started bustling about in the darkness, each of them calling out things that jumbled into a chorus of panicked nonsense.
The room started to vibrate.
The floor trembled.
And then the house shook like someone had picked it up and thrown it.
~
Tick couldn’t take it anymore. He had to do something.
As the black tree hummed and throbbed its pulses of energy, as people ran about adjusting computers, as Mistress Jane stood completely still, her expressionless mask pointed at the tree, as Paul and Sofia and Master George fidgeted in their chairs, Tick leaned forward, closed his eyes, and searched once again for the flame of his Chi’karda.
With mental hands, he probed and picked and prodded.
There it was—a puff of heat.
He found it much more quickly this time. Encouraged, he threw all his thought and concentration into the warmth, grasping it, tensing his body as he imagined himself enveloped in the heat, consumed by it. Once again, he had no real clue what he was doing, but he did it anyway. Somehow, with his mind and heart, he became one with the Chi’karda. He felt it spread through his organs and veins and skin. Felt himself burn.
Ordering the power to stay, to wait, to hold, he opened his eyes.
Everything was as it was before, except for one small change. He saw things more clearly, more crisply. He heard sounds more distinctly, each one somehow separated from the other, each one crystal clear. He sensed vibrations in the air, particularly from the black tree, its power tickling across his skin with every throb.
He looked at Jane standing in front of the tree, probably throwing her powers into the Blade of Shattered Hope, maybe even close to flicking the final switch and severing the Fifth Reality. Tick turned his gaze back to the black tree. Its darkness was so deep, its edges so finely detailed, he had a hard time believing his own eyes. His vision had gone beyond anything he thought possible—maybe this was what they called four-dimensional sight. Maybe five or six. Maybe infinity.
None of it mattered. He had to act. He’d convinced himself of this without realizing when or how, but he had to try. His family would be safe. He’d make sure of it. He’d do whatever it took.
Focusing as deeply as possible on the trunk of the black tree, he imagined a pinhole in the imaginary barrier he’d created within him. With his eyes wide and his hands gripping his knees, he released the slightest bit of pent up Chi’karda. He felt an almost untraceable amount of heat leave his body.
A trickle, nothing more.
And not knowing what else to do, he focused all of his thoughts into one distinct line of words, saying them over and over in his mind, projecting them at the same spot where he’d aimed the Chi’karda.
Stop the Blade. Stop the Blade. Stop the Blade.
~
Sato ran, though he fell down with every fourth or fifth lunging leap forward.
The others did the same, stumbling and bumbling about like they’d just been granted the gifts of legs and were trying to figure out how to make them work. Rutger was having the hardest time of it. Sato swore he actually saw Rutger roll forward like a ball a few times.
Mothball stayed by her friend’s side, helping him along as best she could. Tollaseat and Windasill worked together, pushing and pulling and balancing each other. Sato was on his own. He kept his head down and ran.
The earthquake continued to rage, shaking the entire world and everything on it. Crashes and clangs and breaking glass sounded like small explosions. The air reeked of sulfur and gas and burning wood. Screams came from every direction, from young and old, male and female.
And even though neither Sato nor anyone else knew where they were running to, there didn’t seem to be any choice. You ran from terror, and that was that.
A booming crackle sounded to his left, splitting the air just as he caught a flash of bright light on the edge of his vision. He snapped his head around, but it was too late. The light was gone. It had been like a bolt of lightning.
Another one exploded in front of him. He barely had time to register the jagged line of brilliant white before he closed his eyes, hoping he wasn’t blinded for life. Electric thunder rocked the air and shook the ground. Sato fell on his face and rolled three times, feeling rocks bruise and batter his body.
Another lightning strike, somewhere to his right. Another one way behind him. Each one was an explosion of light and energy and sound.
He got to his hands and knees, searching the area for his friends. He caught sight of Mothball sprawled across Rutger, scrambling to get up. No sign of her parents.
Sato stood up, lurching back and forth as the land continued to shake and tremble violently. Lightning was striking everywhere, long, crooked bolts of white fire hitting the ground in quick flashes instantaneously with the world-crushing sound. He held his hands up to his ears, wondering if he’d ever be able to see or hear again.
A brief pause in the lightning storm was as sudden as it was welcome. Sato squinted against the bright blurs of afterimages obscuring his vision as he headed toward Mothball. He had taken a few steps before he realized something very strange. The screams had stopped. So had the yelling and crying.
In disbelief, he scanned the area, shocked that he couldn’t see anyone. Nobody. Nowher
e. Only Mothball and Rutger. Where had everyone else gone?
He cupped his hands around his mouth to yell something to Mothball. “What’s—”
A massive bolt of lightning shot from the sky, landing exactly on top of his two friends.
Sato threw his arm up to block the light, then looked as soon as it was gone. Barely able to see, he ran desperately toward the spot.
But even with his burned-out vision, he could tell Mothball and Rutger weren’t there. They were gone. Completely gone.
Not even charred remains or blackened, smoking skeletons were left behind. And, oddly enough, the grass wasn’t burning or even disturbed as far as he could tell. It was as if his two friends had just disappeared.
Maybe they’ve been winked away, he thought with an unexpected rise of jubilation. Maybe someone had saved them at the last second. In his present state of shock and panic, the idea didn’t seem so far-fetched. Anything was possible, right?
As if in answer to his question, the world around him suddenly turned white, a blanketing sea of complete and utter brilliance that engulfed his body even as the air singed with burning heat.
Sato felt his body erupt in flames.
Chapter
23
~
A Threat Reversed
Lisa’s only thought was to find Kayla and keep her safe.
The house shook and rattled around her, the echoes of wood groaning and cracking, glass breaking, and the terrible ladies screaming. Darkness pressed in, and the air filled with a choking dust. Something smelled burnt.
Lisa crawled forward on her knees, fighting to keep her balance. She didn’t understand why Kayla wasn’t crying or yelling for her. They’d been standing close together when the earthquake began, but lost each other in the first chaotic seconds.
“Kayla!” she shouted. “Kayla!”
No one answered, but Lisa heard a distinct whimper to her left, a miracle considering the sounds of destruction surrounding them. She shuffled in that direction and bumped into the small body of her sister, who was curled up into a ball, shaking with sobs.
“Kayla,” Lisa whispered. “It’s okay, sweetie, it’s okay. Come on. We need to get out of the house.”
“No, no, no,” Kayla murmured.
Scared the house might collapse on them at any second, Lisa put her arms around Kayla’s body and lifted, grunting with the effort. She staggered to the right, running into a table, then to the left, hitting a wall. Squeezing Kayla tightly to her body, she moved forward, taking heavy and careful steps so as not to fall down. The light was dim, but she could see a hallway leading to the front door, which was open and hanging crookedly on one hinge. The whole house jumped as if it had grown legs.
“Let’s get out of here!” she yelled as she decided to go for broke and sprinted for the door.
With a wobbly run, she made it to the opening and stumbled outside, falling into a clump of bushes. Tiny, sharp branches scratched her as she squeezed her arms even tighter around Kayla, trying to protect her. She kicked with her legs and used her elbows to maneuver their way out of the bushes and onto the front lawn.
The sounds of things breaking inside the house had been replaced with horrible, world-shattering cracks of thunder. Constant flashes of light illuminated their surroundings. Lisa saw people running, more people falling. The air smelled like burning plastic and tasted like . . . electricity. That was the only word she could think of.
Then, forty feet away, a bolt of lightning arrowed down from the sky and exploded around a woman in a bulb of pure incandescence. Lisa squeezed her eyes shut, though it was too late. When she opened them, she was completely blind, seeing only blurs of white in front of her.
Not knowing what else to do, she hugged Kayla and smoothed her hair, crushed by how the little girl’s body shook with sobs and terror. How could this be happening? What was happening?
The air around them exploded with heat and electricity. Pain ripped through Lisa’s body, and her arms suddenly closed on empty air.
Kayla was gone.
~
Tick didn’t know what he’d done.
He felt as though a chunk of his insides had somehow been squeezed through his skin and catapulted toward the black tree, engulfed by the pure darkness.
He fell from the chair, gasping for breath. His link to Chi’karda had vanished, replaced by a cold emptiness.
“Tick!” Sofia shouted, jumping out of her chair to kneel next to him. “Are you okay?”
Tick rolled over onto his back, looking up at her. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
Paul stood and reached down to grab Tick’s arm, then heaved him to his feet. “What happened?”
Tick shook his head. He couldn’t have answered even if he felt like talking. He had no idea what had happened and began to worry that he’d done something really stupid.
“Take your seats,” Master George snapped in a tight whisper. “She’s coming.”
Tick quickly sat down, as did Paul and Sofia. Sure enough, Mistress Jane was almost to them, marching with determined steps, her red mask showing an anger that made Tick’s heart want to stop.
“What did you do?” she screamed into Tick’s face. “What did you put in the Blade?”
Tick leaned back in his chair and looked up at her, embarrassed and terrified. “I don’t know,” was all he could get out.
Jane’s chest heaved up and down beneath her robe. “You . . . don’t . . . know?”
Tick shook his head, dread exploding within him. What had he done? What had he been thinking? She was going to kill his family. He knew it. She was going to kill them!
“I felt a surge of Chi’karda slice into the Blade,” Jane said, her breath still quick. “It had to come from you. What did you do? If I have to repeat the question again, your youngest sister will be killed. Then the other one. Speak.”
Tick fought the panic thrusting up his throat, threatening to choke him. He had to have lost his mind. How could he have been so stupid to try something when he didn’t even know how to control it or what he was doing?
“What did—” Jane began.
“Wait!” Tick shouted. “I . . . I just . . . I tried to use my Chi’karda. I don’t know what I was thinking. . . . I’m sure it didn’t do anything!”
“What did you expect?” Master George said, coming to Tick’s defense. “You tell us you’re about to kill billions of people, and you expect the boy will sit there quietly? He has something you don’t, Jane. Morals!”
Jane’s head slowly swiveled around until her eyes paused on Master George. “Enough talk. Frazier!”
The man was at her side before the ring of her shout had faded away. “Yes, Mistress?”
Jane returned her gaze to Tick, the features of her mask melting into a void of expression. “Order the Ladies of Blood and Sorrow to kill the younger girl. Now.”
“No!” Tick screamed, vaulting to his feet as Frazier walked away. He felt like an arrow had just sliced through his chest, tearing a jagged rip across his heart.
Jane’s hand shot out from her robe, her palm flat and facing Tick. A thump of solid air slammed into his body, throwing him into the air. He flipped backward and landed on the ground behind the row of chairs. Jolts of pain made him shudder as he turned his head to look back toward Jane.
“Stop it!” Sofia yelled. She stood up as well, her hands clenched into fists at her side. She rocked back and forth on her feet as if contemplating whether or not to attack Jane. “How can you be such an evil—”
Jane’s hand flicked toward Sofia and sent her body shooting through the air to ram into one of the screens that currently showed a burning building. Sofia and the screen crashed to the ground with a clatter of clanging metal rods and ripping cloth.
Tick pushed himself off the ground, groaning from soreness. Anger lit his insides like liquid flame, and he knew his Chi’karda was welling up again, threatening to explode out of him. Kayla. All he could think about was Kayla. What could he do . . .
/>
Movement by the chairs grabbed his attention. Paul had been sitting still, obviously waiting for the right moment. Just as Jane turned away from Sofia, Paul leaped from his chair and tackled Jane. He grabbed her around the waist and pushed her to the ground, falling on top of her. They’d barely landed when Paul suddenly shot straight up into the air, hovering ten feet above Jane. Then his body flew away until he slammed into another screen, with the same result as Sofia’s unwanted flight.
Jane got to her feet, brushed the dust and dirt from her robe, then looked at Master George. “You want to try something, George? Here, let me go ahead and save you the trouble.”
She pushed her hand toward the old man. He flew up and backward over the chairs, landing on his stomach just a few feet from Tick. He didn’t move, lying flat with his arms and legs twisted at awkward angles, his face on a rock. There was blood.
Tick couldn’t take it anymore. This woman was evil. She was too evil.
He got to his feet, staggering a little until he caught his balance. Then he held up a hand and pointed a finger at Jane.
“Listen to me,” he said, his voice straining from the internal effort of holding back the Chi’karda burning within him. “If you kill my sister—”
“What?” Jane snapped, taking a step forward. “What, Atticus? What will you do?”
“Then I won’t care what happens anymore,” Tick said. “If you kill Kayla, I won’t care about anything. I’ll build up this Chi’karda until it’s a million times stronger than it was back at Chu’s mountain. I’ll build and build, and then I’ll let it all out. I’ll throw it all at you.”
Jane shook her head. “So selfish, so . . . weak. You can still save your other sister and your parents. And you can help me achieve great things in the Realities, if you’d just grow up and see things with a bigger perspective.”