Rutger, temporarily blinded by Sato’s trick with the flashlight, was making his way forward, waddling along on his short legs and reaching out with his free hand to make sure he didn’t bump into anything. “Calm down, you worry-wart. Everything’s fine.”
Mothball’s eyes seemed to have already adjusted. She made it to Sato before Rutger was even halfway there. “The wee man is right, Master Sato. No need for your worries. Just come to give ya a bit of a break, we ’ave. Thought we’d come and visit me mum and dad. Let ya see what real nice folks are like here in the Fifth.”
Sato felt a strong surge of relief, which made him worry that maybe he was worrying too much. Oh shut up, he told himself. “Serious? We’re going to see your parents?” He was surprised at how much the idea lifted him.
“Right ya are,” Mothball replied. “’Long as we can get our guide here to quit stumbling about like an eyeless toad. Come on, Rutger, set your dials and switches and get on with it.”
Rutger grumbled something too quiet to make out, then held the Barrier Wand up, concentrating. “A light, please?”
Sato shined the flashlight on the Wand, then asked, “Where do they live? Around here?”
“No, grumpy cheeks,” Rutger responded as he turned a dial or two, his tongue caught between his lips. “We’re going to wink to another cemetery near them. It’s a good ten thousand miles from here, so hold your hats.”
“I’m not wearin’ a ruddy hat,” Mothball said.
“It’s an expression,” Rutger huffed. “Alright, we’re ready to go, and I’m locked onto all of our nanolocators. Here we go.”
Without another warning, Rutger pushed the button on top of the Wand. Sato heard the metallic click and felt the familiar tingle on his neck, and then everything changed.
It was daytime, the sun above almost blinding. Sato shielded his eyes, and at first he thought that what he saw in front of him was a trick of the light on his mind. But then it came into better focus, and he had no doubt.
Several people were trying to kill each other with swords.
And they were dressed like clowns.
Chapter
10
~
Ribbons of Orange
Tick couldn’t believe how quiet Paul and Sofia had been since coming down the stairs—especially Sofia. The girl could never keep her mouth shut. And Paul—he had to be terrified to stay so silent. And his face showed it. Tick thought about how many weeks he’d been dying to see these guys, and now that they were here, he’d give anything to send them safely away.
“What do you mean?” Master George asked Jane after a long period of silence, Jane seemingly content to let her pronouncement sink in. “What plan are you talking about, and why would you want us to witness it?”
Tick had been trying to look at the floor, avoiding the menacing mask on Jane’s face. But his eyes kept drawing back to it, fascinated at its almost magical ability to change expressions. Upon Master George’s question, it melted into compassion, almost sadness.
“You have always known my wishes,” she said in a flat voice, as if beginning a long lecture. “My ways and means may have changed—certainly my abilities have—but I’ve never wavered from my lifetime mission, George. And that is to see the suffering of countless Alterants end. To create one and only one Reality, where the strongest of each one of us can live, and where we can stop the torturous splitting of worlds.”
“I’ve never heard you put it quite that way before,” Master George said. “I remember your talk of a Utopia, a paradise, a place where all can be happy. The way you describe it now sounds more like the wishes of an evil, insane, power-hungry monster. What’s happened to you, Jane?”
She paused to let him speak, but then acted as if she hadn’t heard a word he said, continuing her lecture without missing a beat. “The first step of my plan is not going to be easy. I hardly expect any of you to understand what I do or to give it your blessing. But I couldn’t possibly care less. For what the lot of you have done to me, I don’t expect to let most of you live long enough to see the end come to pass.”
She paused, turning her head to look at each person in the room. “But you all will see what I plan for tomorrow. You’ll see it, and you’ll know my power once and for all.”
Master George wouldn’t quit pushing. “Jane, this is madness.”