“If you have to ask, then you’ll never understand why.”

Renee lunged forward, surprising Sato despite his stance. She crashed into him, slamming his back against the side of the cage. On instinct, Sato stuck the needle into her back. She cried out in pain then lashed out at his face, scraping her nails across his right cheek. Sato pulled out the needle and bent his knees, letting his body fall to the floor, Renee landing on top of him.

They rolled and wrestled, Renee punching and clawing like a panicked bear. Sato had the syringe under her, pointed it at her face, trying to threaten her because he didn’t know what else to do. She grabbed his hand, thrusting the needle away, twisting his wrist so the syringe was heading toward his own skin. He couldn’t believe her strength. He groaned with effort, but she kept winning, pushing the needle closer and closer to the soft skin of his lower neck.

He pushed her away with a final burst of exertion; she surprised him by pulling back instead of fighting it. Caught off guard, his grip on the syringe slipped and Renee yanked it free. She twisted backward and pressed the point of the needle against his leg.

“You . . . had . . . your . . . chance,” she spit out, her face red with exertion and anger as she drove the needle into Sato’s skin. He felt the prick, the achy slide of the sharp sliver of metal. Then Renee slammed downward on the plunger of the syringe.

Pain exploded through Sato’s body as the needle dug in deeper, as the blood sample rushed into him. He cried out as the syringe emptied, its infected contents now swimming inside his tissue and veins. It felt like millions of tiny bugs squirmed underneath his skin.

“No!” he screamed, a surge of adrenaline giving him the strength to throw Renee off his body completely. “NO!”

He scrambled to his feet, unable to stop the tears from flowing as pain racked his body. “What . . . what . . . have you done to me?”

“You’ll be one of us now,” Renee said, crouched in the corner with a smile on her face.

“No, I won’t. Never.”

The elevator slammed to a stop.

“What the devil’s goin’ on here?”

Sato looked over to see Klink, his eyes moving back and forth between Sato and Renee, surprise and concern on his face.

Sato didn’t hesitate. He grabbed his backpack, ran from the lift cage, down the tunnel, and toward the steel door that led outside. He ran.

“Go, then!” Renee called out from behind him. “It won’t matter—you’ll be mine anyway. Run and take me to Master George. It’ll be fun to have a spy—”

Sato didn’t hear the rest. He was through the door, squinting his eyes against the blinding snow, scrambling down the stone stairway, slipping and falling and not caring.

Down the mountain he went.

“I’ve got him!” Rutger yelled.

He pushed the golden button on top of the Barrier Wand, and Sato appeared in front of them. The boy collapsed to the ground, a terrible mess of blood and dirt and torn clothing, sweat-ice crusted all over him.

“Goodness gracious me!” Master George yelled as he and Mothball reached forward to help Sato. They grabbed him by the arms and pulled him over to a leather chair, plopping his exhausted body onto the cushions.

“What happened?” Mothball asked.

Sato answered, his voice shaky and barely audible. “Lock . . . me . . . up. Chain me. Then . . . I’ll explain.”

“Lock you—” Rutger began.

“Just do it!” Sato snapped, his hand pressed to a wound on his leg. “Just do it before Chu can control me!”

“What happened?” Master George asked, leaning over to look at the boy. “Did you get the sample?”

“Yes,” Sato said through a moan of pain. His eyes narrowed, like a wolf on the hunt. “It’s . . . inside me.”

“Oh, lad. Oh, you poor, poor lad.” Master George paused. Then he straightened, his shoulders square. “Ready the holding cell, Rutger. And get me some rope.”

Part

3

The Circle Of Time

Chapter

29

Tickets to Fourth City

I’m really getting sick of this place,” Paul said.

Tick couldn’t have agreed more as he scanned the walls and ceiling of the small restaurant where they had stopped to eat something that was a cross between pizza and toast. Five days had passed since Sally winked back to Master George, and they’d spent every waking hour investigating the town for signs of where they were supposed to be at five o’clock the next afternoon. Though they didn’t know what they were looking for, they looked nonetheless.

And, just like this place—one of the last buildings they’d yet to explore—they’d found nothing. No signs, no clues, no Barrier Wands, no magic portals, no further riddles. A big fat zero.

And time was running out. Reginald Chu’s riddle had been clear—5:00 pm, tomorrow. Maybe they’d finally been stumped.

“Maybe it’s a good thing if we don’t figure it out,” Paul said. “Beats going off to have more adventures with a psycho mad genius of the universe.”

“He said, ‘win or die,’” Sofia said. “Dying sounds worse to me.”

Tick picked up his last piece of dinner, but then put it back down, his appetite gone. “Sally said we need to be the ones to win it—so we can put a stop to whatever Chu’s doing.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure that’ll be a piece of cake,” Paul muttered. “Hey, Chu dude! We won, but please stop that knuckleheaded horseplay you’re up to. Thanks kindly.”

“You want to give up?” Sofia asked. “Then quit. I’m sure Master George will wink you away if you cry enough.”

“No, Miss Italy, I don’t want to quit. Someone has to protect you.” Paul leaned back and rubbed his belly. “Man, that was pretty good.”

“Come on,” Sofia said as she got up from her chair. “It’s our last night—we’d better get searching.”

They searched until well past dark. They looked on every corner, behind every bush, under every sidewalk bench. They walked the underground pathways of the train stations again. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Even the trains seemed to avoid them; they’d yet to actually see one despite several trips to the stations.

Tick thought about quitting more than once that night, but the urgency of the dwindling time spurred him on, despite his exhaustion. Finally, a roving policeman told them they needed to get off the streets, that curfew was far past. Sofia complained, but the officer made it clear they’d get one warning and one warning only.