Tick couldn’t believe it. He was close to understanding how it all worked, close to really being able to control it. So close. And he had no idea how—it was just . . . instinct.

He turned back to face Sofia and Paul, their necks still ensnared by the cuffs of smoky fingers. “I know I’m a little bit weird right now,” he said. “But check it out. If I can really do this—”

“Dude, you gotta save it,” Paul said. “You’re freakin’ me out here, man. You’ve got the crazy eyes.”

Sofia tried to step forward, but the Sleek yanked her back. She let out a choking cough then said, “Tick, he’s right. Something’s wrong—on a lot of levels. Just let it go and stick to the plan. Let the Sleeks take us to Mistress Jane. Okay, Tick?”

Tick dropped his eyes and held out his hands to look at the glowing orange mist of Chi’karda swirling around his arms and through his fingers. Hunger burned within him almost as strong as the power itself, a fierce desire to wreak havoc on Jane and the rest of his enemies. But somewhere in the nooks and crannies of his mind, he realized that something wasn’t right about the way he felt. Something on the cusp of evil.

“Okay,” he said, barely a whisper. Then louder, “Okay.”

He closed his eyes and imagined the cloud of sparkles retracting, absorbing back into his body. He pulled it all inside, then let it go, releasing it to whatever place it lay dormant in the quantum realm, where it would wait for him to snatch it up again. When a refreshing coolness rushed through his body and filled the void left by the Chi’karda, he had the thought that he’d just extinguished himself.

He opened his eyes and noticed the stark silence and darkness of the forest. Sofia, Paul, and their spooky captors remained still, staring at him. He could just see the two sets of wide eyes and four pinpoints of silver.

“All right,” he said, amazed at how incredibly thirsty he was. “We’ll go with the Sleeks, nice and easy. But this time we’re walking. Don’t make me mad again.”

Chapter 40

Frazier’s Good News

Mistress Jane wasn’t happy. Everything had gone horribly wrong today, and the only thing that could make her feel better was for someone to pay the consequences. Anyone. Whether or not they were actually at fault for the debacle was a minor point she didn’t care too much about at the moment.

She sat at the window of her room in the Lemon Fortress, looking out at a land covered in night, no moon to break up the darkness. The earthquakes and shattering lightning storms had finally stopped, though the damage they’d caused would take months to repair and rebuild. It was a miracle the castle still stood at all. She wondered if it was foolish to be up here. Who knew what had happened to the foundations and inner structure—the whole thing could collapse at any moment.

Her foul, foul mood darkened to black.

What had gone wrong? After months of preparation, the tireless, tedious work required to retrieve and alter the dark matter into the form she needed, the time to find and secure every single one of her Alterants in the major Reality branches—after all the planning and sacrificing and

risking . . .

It had all gone wrong in an instant. The Blade of Shattered Hope had failed her.

That was the worst part. The second worst part was the fact that she didn’t really know why it had failed. The Higginbottom boy had done something—she knew that much. But her instincts told her that his meddling alone had not caused the catastrophic change in direction. His trickle of Chi’karda had not ruptured the connection of the Blade, causing its apocalyptic damage to explode from its course and spread throughout each and every Reality and the barriers between.

No, it wasn’t just him. She’d . . . missed something, done something wrong.

There—she’d admitted it to herself. But it didn’t make her feel any better. It made her feel worse. Angrier.

Maybe, just maybe, the Blade could’ve overcome this fault if the addition of Higginbottom’s usage of power had not occurred. Yes, maybe.

And that was enough for her. She had a focal point on which to exact her vengeance. Not that she really needed anything to make her hate the boy any more than she already did, but still, it helped.

The knock she’d been expecting finally rapped at her door.

“Come in!” she yelled.

She heard a thump then a small scrape. The big door was stuck because of the shifting of stones from the earthquake. With barely a thought, Jane dissolved the wood particles into the air to allow Frazier to enter the room. Once he was inside, she put the door back together again.

“I have news,” her most faithful servant said.

A fire roared in the brick hearth, a luxury Jane loved even as the coolness of winter faded into spring. She pulled a few sparks out with her power and lit the huge candles scattered throughout the room. The glow showed an eagerness on Frazier’s face that lifted her hopes.

“Have a seat and tell me what you’ve learned.” She pointed to the chair across from her. “I don’t have to tell you how

. . . disappointing further bad news would be at the moment.” She let the expression on her mask turn to anger for a second before bringing it back to smooth calmness.

Frazier nodded, the barest hint of a smile flashing across his face as he walked over and sat down on the edge of the chair next to her. “I think you’ll like what I have to say.”

“Then get on with it.”

“Yes, Mistress.” He leaned forward, his elbows on knees, hands clasped. “Over the last few hours, we’ve sent people to all the Realities to gather as much data as possible. We, um, had to send out quite a few, because they kept dying in all the chaos. More than half, actually.”

Jane’s first instinct was to snap at Frazier for wasting time about such an unimportant detail, but she kept her cool. “Yes, a worthy sacrifice, I’m sure. Whatever it took to learn what we needed.”

“Yes. Yes, of course. Anyway, the devastation we saw here was universal. Massive earthquakes, catastrophic storms, tornadoes, you name it—it all happened in each and every Reality. Lasted for a good hour or two. Killed, um, millions of people.” His eyes flickered to the floor at this last part.

“Feel no shame, Frazier. Remember, we knew there would be collateral damage in our mission for Utopia. For Chi’karda’s sake, if the Blade had worked today like it was supposed to, six billion people would’ve died! What’s a few million? Keep your focus! We don’t have time to mourn the losses along the way.” In truth, she felt a constant, choking swell of guilt, but had learned to accept it and live with it.